Join us as our Engagement Lead
Engagement Lead
Health Justice is hiring an Engagement Lead to support our community engagement work. We are open to the role being anywhere between 0.8-1.0FTE (between 28 hours/4 days per week and 35 hours/5 days per week). The position will run until March 31, 2027 with the possibility of extension depending on funding availability.
About Health Justice and this role
Health Justice is a non-profit organization that uses research, education, and systemic advocacy to transform the laws and policies that govern coercive mental health and substance use care in BC. We use an alternative non-profit governance model that centres the communities most impacted by our work, and particularly people with lived or living experience of involuntary treatment. We strive to bring human rights, decolonial, and equity-oriented approaches to all of our work.
Engagement is central to our work and this position is an opportunity to play a key role in helping us centre, learn from, and support people with lived and living experience of involuntary treatment under the Mental Health Act as well as others impacted by the issues we address. This role will support an existing project involving the BC Human Rights Tribunal.
More specifically, the role will include tasks like:
Working in collaboration with the Health Justice governance bodies and staff team to identify engagement priorities
Working with other project staff, design and implement processes and tangible supports to ensure people can access Health Justice services and navigate the tribunal complaint process, which can be isolating, overwhelming, and inaccessible
Providing ongoing, relational support to people with lived and living experience who participate in Health Justice activities or projects
Designing and delivering engagement processes like meetings, interviews, focus groups, surveys, and other tools
Planning meeting agendas, facilitating meetings, taking meeting notes, and tracking honoraria payments
Co-presenting with other Health Justice staff on organizational learnings from ongoing engagement
Maintaining and continually improving Health Justice’s engagement ethics and consent processes
Working with Health Justice staff to provide input and feedback on internal and external documents, policies, processes, etc.
Collaborating with Health Justice staff on other tasks as needed
Qualifications and Attributes
The successful applicant must have lived or living experience of detention and involuntary treatment under BC’s Mental Health Act or Adult Guardianship Act.
In addition, it is beneficial if you are willing to be open about the fact that you have had that experience in some situations, particularly with project participants and in other situations where common experiences are important to building trust and accessibility. The successful applicant will have control over how much they would like to share about their experience within the context of their role and in any specific situation. We also maintain a supportive work environment with established practices on how to do this important work in a safer and thoughtful way. Additionally, other Health Justice staff and volunteers with lived experience collectively share their strategies on what they’ve learned in our specific contexts.
The following will be an asset in the role:
At least one year of paid or unpaid work experience in a remote or in-person office setting
Experience supporting community engagement, including lived and living experience engagement in various forms, such as in-person groups, individual interviews, storytelling, surveys, and other formats
Experience and/or training in peer support, and particularly in a context that allows time and space to build ongoing relationship
Experience and comfort working on new projects that are developed iteratively and don’t have a pre-existing structure or roadmap
Experience facilitating groups, presentations, or workshops for diverse audiences
Experience with flexible and creative approaches that centre trauma and violence-informed approaches, cultural safety, leading practices in accessibility, as well as other forms of safety and inclusion
An awareness of the ethics and accountability related to witnessing, carrying, and integrating lived experiences of oppression into an organization’s work
Comfort with bringing a critical lens to professionalism and power, including collaborating with partners/co-workers who bring multiple forms of expertise
Compassionate, clear, non-judgmental verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to adjust style and tone for a variety of audiences
Comfort navigating relationships with people and communities with a diverse range of beliefs and values
Interest in law and policy related to state intervention and detention systems and the disproportionate impacts those systems may have on people who are marginalized on the basis of disability, substance use, Indigeneity, gender, poverty, race, age, etc.
Lived experience related to or a demonstrated understanding of and commitment to decolonizing and combatting oppression on the basis of Indigeneity, race, place of origin, immigration status, ability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, family status, and socio-economic status
Comfort carrying out work remotely and sometimes independently, with collaboration through virtual meetings and Teams during core working hours
Health Justice values diversity, and particularly acknowledges the expertise applicants may bring related to their Indigeneity, race, place of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family status, and socio-economic status. We encourage applicants to explicitly self-identify any personal characteristics or experiences that will support our commitment to bringing diverse perspectives to the organization if you feel comfortable.
Salary and benefits
The wage range for this position will be between $37 and $39 per hour depending on experience. Health Justice also offers a comprehensive compensation and benefits package that strives to provide decent work, including:
20 days per year paid personal/sick time for fulltime employees (pro-rated for part-time employees)
25 days per year paid vacation for fulltime employees (pro-rated for part-time employees)
Two paid office closure periods per year, one in late December and one in early August (averaging to 11 paid days annually for full-time employees);
The option to substitute statutory holidays to reflect cultural or community events that are relevant to you;
Extended health and dental benefits and access to a health spending account after 3 months of employment;
7.5% group RRSP contributions after 3 months of employment with no employee matching requirement;
A program to supplement the income of employees while on sickness, parental/maternity, or caregiver EI benefits;
A fully remote workplace with some limited access to shared office space in Vancouver; and
A highly flexible and inclusive workplace.
Working conditions
The successful applicant can work from anywhere in BC with stable internet access that can reliably support video calls.
Health Justice will provide equipment and remote working infrastructure; employees are required to provide a reasonably private workspace and adequate internet access.
The role will require the successful applicant to be available for work during core working hours of 10:00am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday, with work schedule flexibility for their remaining hours.
Health Justice has a standard fulltime workweek of 35 hours, 7 days per week.
Travel for work may be required, but we do not expect it to be a regular occurrence.
To apply
Please send your resume and a one-page cover letter to jobs@healthjustice.ca (PDF format is preferred). Please submit your application by October 18, 2026.
We anticipate holding at least one round of interviews by video, with information about the interview panel and the interview questions shared in advance to support accessibility. It is possible that we may do a second round of interviews with a very small number of short-listed candidates using the same process depending on the applicant pool. We will request contact information for 2-3 references at a later stage and only from candidates who move to the final stages of the hiring process.
If you have any accessibility needs or if there is anything we can do to support your comfort and participation in the hiring process, please do not hesitate to let us know.
A note for all applicants on the use of AI
We know it can be tempting to use AI to help prepare your application materials, but we have found that it results in applications that sound very similar to others and that do not communicate an applicant’s unique skills and experiences. This makes it very hard for us to assess applications developed using AI. As a result, we encourage applicants to avoid AI unless you’re using it for accessibility purposes. If you use generative AI, we ask that you disclose it in your application.