Larissa joined the federal public service in 2008. Her first experience as a public servant was to pull a canoe down the Fraser River for seven days with Indigenous and government partners. Since experiencing the power of connection through the Pulling Together Canoe Journey, she has focused on building positive relationships between Indigenous communities and the Government of Canada (Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Transport, Justice Canada).
As the British Columbia Regional Coordinator of the Indigenous Justice Program with Justice Canada, Larissa worked alongside Indigenous communities in support of developing restorative, community-based approaches to justice, including building and maintaining delicate relationships between Indigenous communities and RCMP, Crown, Probation, federal and provincial governments and other justice partners.
She is now the senior advisor of national policy with the Indigenous Justice Program where she supports the Government of Canada’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Inquiry Calls for Justice, and various restorative justice initiatives across the country.
Larissa holds a Bachelor degree in Political Science from Simon Fraser University and a Masters in political science from Dalhousie University. She is honoured to be part of the Centre for Restorative Justice at SFU.
Larissa lives in North Vancouver in the beautiful territory of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) people, with her husband and their two sons.
Email: Larissa.Rutquist@justice.gc.ca
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