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. As a university student, I worked with organizations committed to ending gender-based violence. That experience motivated me to attend law school, where I wanted to learn how to use the law as a tool for social change. After completing my law degree, I dedicated my career to human rights. I was fortunate to be part of the launch of Pivot Legal Society, a social justice organization in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and I spent 17 incredible years with that organization.

During my later years as an advocate and litigator, I became increasingly drawn to dialogue and restorative/transformative justice as ways to support people, organizations, and social movements in achieving positive change. 

Now, as a facilitator and 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 bridges divides, builds understanding, and shifts relationships that feel sticky, complicated, or difficult. My approach encourages self-reflection, connection with values, open communication, relationship-building, and collaboration. 

I work with a diverse range of individuals and organizations. My clients include non-profit organizations, cooperatives, government, post-secondary and other educational institutions, and values-driven companies.

Given my background, I frequently work within the non-profit sector, helping organizations build strong, honest, and resilient workplaces so they can achieve their mandates. 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 shared values and goals. 

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

• 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 peace circle facilitators.

• I am involved in a new and innovative program called Bridging Divides, which draws on the wisdom of peace circles to compassionately address conflicts, tensions, disagreements, and disconnection in community. This program is the outcome of the work of the Restorative Collective Vancouver.

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

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.