Community mourns Joan Phillip, Amshen, who fought for justice and ‘loved very hard’

Community mourns Joan Phillip, Amshen, who fought for justice and ‘loved very hard’ After the beloved leader passed last week, her loved ones and colleagues gathered in snpink’tn, honouring her life and vowing to carry on her ‘fearless’ legacy BY AARON HEMENS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER ● NEWS, OKANAGAN, VANCOUVER ● SEPTEMBER 4, 2026 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit Share on WhatsApp Email this Page Joan Phillip, Amshen, stands next to the Grandview Park Cenotaph in 2024. She passed away on Aug. 28, 2026, at the age of 74. Photo by Kayla MacInnis Fearless. Fierce. Wise. Courageous. Cherished. Those were just a few of the words that colleagues and loved ones used to describe the late Joan Phillip, Amshen, at her funeral service in snpink’tn (Penticton, B.C.) on Wednesday.  Before Amshen was laid to rest in the community cemetery in syilx Okanagan homelands, leaders, dignitaries, and people from near and far packed the Outma Sqilx’W Cultural School’s gym — with hundreds more watching a livestream online — to remember the beloved leader. “It was one of the dreams and hopes of our people for years to have our own school in our community to teach our children. Joan helped get this here,” said caxasket Joseph Pierre of the Penticton Indian Band (PIB), who moderated the funeral service. Amshen, an Indigenous leader and lifelong activist from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, died last Friday on Aug. 28, at the age of 74. Her grandfather was the late Chief Dan George. At the time of her death, she was serving as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia. She represented the Vancouver-Strathcona riding — previously Vancouver-Mount Pleasant — through the NDP, a position she held since 2023. ‘Do not be afraid to stand like Joan stood’ Amshen spent more than 20 years as the lands administrator for PIB, retiring from that role in 2019. She was a member of the Penticton Band Council and married to Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, the president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, who was chief of PIB for 14 years. The couple split their time between “Vancouver” and snpink’tn. “I thank the Creator, I thank kʷuləncutn, for putting Joan on my path — for herself and my path,” the Grand Chief said at Amshen’s funeral, whom he had grown to know as “Bunny” during their marriage. “We were able to have such a wonderful life together.  I feel no regrets. My heart is in a good place. I feel gratitude.…