The Author

Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, PhD grew up in Inuvik, NT, graduating from Samuel Hearne Secondary School. She went on to earn a BA in Political Science at the University of Alberta, including an exchange year at the University of Plymouth, England. She completed her MA in Political Science at the University of Alberta, and has since worked for Indigenous peoples’ organizations in the NWT on self government and related political development initiatives. She received a PhD from Cambridge University during 2005, focusing on the relationship between self government and social suffering, undertaking an interdisciplinary analysis drawing from theoretical approaches of political philosophy, social anthropology, and sociology. During her PhD studies she received various academics awards, and was both a Major Scholar and Magdalene-Donner Scholar of North American Studies at Magdalene College, Cambridge University.

Her second book, Finding Dahshaa: Self Government, Social Suffering, and Aboriginal Policy in Canada (UBC Press, 2009) is the result of over a decade of a combination of academic research and experience working on self government negotiations in the NWT.

In addition to working on various projects as an advisor for Indigenous organizations in the NWT, Stephanie works with the Institute of Public Health Research in Yellowknife. Her main research interests include social determinants of health in northern communities; strategies for professionals to work more effectively with populations suffering colonization impacts in the North; and is conducting ethnographic research on Northern economic development. She holds appointments as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health; Research Associate with the Canadian Circumpolar Institute; and Research Associate at the Stefansson Arctic Institute, Iceland.

Stephanie lives in Yellowknife with her husband Andrew and their two sons.