Maegen is proud to support an organization that puts the profits from strong financial management to work in the service of people and communities. As a Board Director, she wants to help guide Vancity’s success on both fronts.
A practicing lawyer focused on environmental and social justice, Maegen is a Partner at Ratcliff & Company LLP, a long-time Vancity business member. After earning a B.A. from Simon Fraser University and LL.B from Dalhousie University, she was awarded a clerkship with the two senior justices of the B.C. Court of Appeal and has since gone on to have a deeply interesting and challenging legal career.
During the past 17 years practicing law, Maegen has used litigation and policy work to advocate for Indigenous communities around environmental protection and the improvement of services and outcomes for Indigenous children in care. She recently served as lead counsel in a major Aboriginal treaty rights trial, which is the first of its kind in Canada. She holds the philosophy that her success as a lawyer is best measured by the communities she serves, and by ensuring she works with them – not just for them – to solve a problem.
Maegen serves on the boards of several organizations committed to creating a clean and fair world, including as a founding director of both the Urban Indigenous Health and Healing Co-operative (Kilala Lelum) and the Pacific Center for Environmental Law and Litigation. She previously served on the board of the Savary Island Land Trust for ten years.
Maegen has called the Lower Mainland home all her life. She grew up in Port Moody and now lives in the Little Mountain neighbourhood of Vancouver with her husband and daughter, where they can often be found playing at the Queen Elizabeth Park tennis courts. “I’ve had the benefit of beautiful surroundings and healthy community throughout my life. I know these are not to be taken for granted, and require vigilance, effort and support. The Vancity co-operative model is a commitment to that.”