Joan Phillip Reshapes What It Means to Be a First Nations MLA – The Tyee

Her predecessor Melanie Mark showed the role can exact a cost. A year in, Phillip shows no signs of fear.

In February 2023, Melanie Mark stood before the “B.C.” legislature, visibly shaken, as she read out her resignation speech.

“This place felt like a torture chamber,” she said, holding an eagle feather and wearing her grandfather’s beaded moosehide fringe jacket.

A descendant of the Nisg̱a’a and Gitxsan people on her mom’s side and Cree, Ojibway, French and Scottish on her father’s side, Mark was the first First Nations woman to serve on the cabinet of “British Columbia,” from February 2016 until April 2023.

“I wanted to be an MLA so I could be a strong voice for my community and the people I grew up with and so I could be a champion for change. I wanted to disrupt the status quo. I wanted big systems to change,” she said.

While she made an impact during her time on the cabinet, Mark ultimately concluded: “Institutions fundamentally resist change, they’re allergic to doing things differently, particularly colonial institutions like this legislative assembly and government at large.”

Read More: https://www.thetyee.ca/News/2024/05/21/Joan-Phillip-Reshapes-What-Means-First-Nations-MLA/