KATRINA PACEY

pronouns: she/her

I have been guided by values of justice, equity, and peacebuilding for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I held a deep yearning for a just and equitable world, whether it was on the playground, in my community, or in the broader social structures I observed around me.

These values carried me into adulthood and continue to shape my life and work. I have been fortunate to focus my career on service to community and cultivating change towards equity, justice, and human rights. 

I was born and raised on unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver), and I have been part of a range of social change and human rights movements in this city and across Canada. In my early years as a university student, I worked with organizations committed to ending gender-based violence. That experience led me to law school where I realized law can be a powerful tool for social change. After completing my law degree, I dedicated my career to human rights litigation and was fortunate to be part of the launch of Pivot Legal Society, a social justice organization in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. After 17 incredible years at Pivot, I moved into providing consulting services to the non-profit sector.

During my years as a litigator, I became increasingly drawn to dialogue and conflict resolution as a way to support people, organizations, and social movements to achieve positive change. 

Now, as a mediator, I offer support to people and organizations when they need to have courageous conversations to improve their relationships, work, or lives. I love creating space for dialogue that will build understanding and shift relationships that feel sticky, complicated, or difficult. My approach encourages self-reflection, connection with values, open communication, relationship-building, and collaborative problem-solving. 

I work with a range of clients, both individual and organizational. Given my background, I am drawn to working with the non-profit sector and helping organizations build strong, honest, and resilient workplaces so they can achieve their mandate. With so many incredible principled people working in this sector, facing internal conflict can be hard. However, I see how working through differences is essential to the evolution of progressive organizations. My role is to ensure that people are ready to listen and be heard, build unity with one another, and reconnect with their shared values and goals. 

I am grateful to collaborate with various organizations throughout British Columbia, including:

• Mediate BC, where I am a member of the Board of Directors and a Registered Roster Mediator.

• The BC Human Rights Tribunal, where I am a mediator.

• Peace of the Circle, where I have the opportunity to work with an incredible community of facilitators and changemakers and be part of the Restorative Collective Vancouver.

My life outside of work continues to profoundly shape who I am. My experience as a parent, partner, daughter, sister, and community member has helped me understand how to foster trust, love, and respect in relationships. And I am over-the-moon in love with my two kids. They are, of course, two of the biggest reasons that I work to create justice and equity in the world.