Meet Stephanie Higginson

Mother, MLA, Maple Syrup Connoisseur

BY FRANCESCA PACCHIANO

Stephanie Higginson never thought she’d run for MLA. In fact, she turned down the opportunity originally. It wasn’t until her dad challenged her that she decided to run. Now, a year into her first term in the as the NDP MLA for Ladysmith-Oceanside riding, she’s just getting started.

Since the beginning of her career as a secondary school teacher, Stephanie has been more interested in making improvements over political statements. “When [I was] teaching a classroom in Ontario, sometimes I had up to 36 kids in my class. I had to hear all the perspectives, keep people engaged, make sure they [felt] heard and that what they [needed was] reflected in what’s being taught and how it’s being taught.”

That same practice of listening and advocating served her well in her role as the president of the school trustees. “We had 60 school boards that had really unique factors, and all of those school boards needed to make sure that they saw themselves and their community’s needs reflected in what the association was advocating for. It really taught me strong listening and engagement skills.”

Stephanie has always known what she believed in and grew up in a family culture that encouraged her to articulate her ideas and values. “We used to have really good, strong debates in my family. I always knew where my values were.” Those personal politics, however, were not always public information. “It was my job to represent the school boards and not be accused of making partisan decisions. [I] had to work with whoever was in government and not have them feel that my politics were influencing my ability to advocate well for the boards.”

When advancing in a career that’s on the edge of the political sphere, it’s very easy to get pressured into it. “As soon as you become president of the school trustees, people start planning your next steps.”

While she was positioned to take that next step into politics, it wasn’t the reason she took the job with the school trustee board. “I did it because I believe in public education, and I wanted them to have the strongest advocacy they could.”

Instead of caving into the pressure, she held to her values. “I’ve always said to myself that you do the job that you’re doing right now in front of you really well, and that will open doors, the next doors. But if you start thinking about what you want to do next, then it will influence the decisions you’re making in the current job.”

After finishing with the school trustees, Stephanie enjoyed the anonymity of just being herself. She spent time with her family, watching her kids play sports and working on their hobby farm. “We tap our maple trees. We have quite prolific sap runs. We have a south-facing slope, and the maple trees are at the bottom of the slope. … We have a wood-fired evaporator.”

Her father-in-law suggested the idea of tapping the trees. Having done it in Ontario on the sugar maples, he even offered the supplies. “He went home and dug out some old steel taps and old steel buckets and came back down, and we did the whole thing. We connected with a local person here, Gary Backlund. who was was super helpful in teaching us how to do this.”

Now that she’s been working in Victoria, they have yet to render this year’s sap into syrup, but when they do, they sell it at local shops in Yellow Point. “We have someone from Quebec. He still calls every year, and we ship him four or six bottles. I feel like if someone from Quebec is calling us for maple syrup, we’re doing something right.”

Being in the constituency is something she is enjoying about the job of MLA, but she’s also trying to soak in those special moments with family and friends this summer. “I’m really looking forward to being in my garden, getting my hands dirty. When you’re away for four months, it feels like a series of starts and stops. It’ll be nice to just get in there and finish some home projects … and being on the coast, I think we wait for summer all year. We’ve earned this weather.”