About Pamphinette

Pamphinette Buisa is a first-generation Congolese community organizer, activist, and Olympian. Pamphinette earned a gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games. She has been living in Lekwungen Territories, also known as Victoria BC, to pursue her Olympic dreams and has been a member of the National Senior Women’s Rugby 7s team for 6 years. For Rugby Canada, Pamphinette is a leading member of the BIPOC Working Group there to create policies, workshops, and programs to center decolonial and anti-racist frameworks throughout the organization in efforts to promote equity, diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility in rugby at the local, provincial, and international stage.  

Pamphinette Buisa is presently completing a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a focus on social justice and intersectionality. Pamphinette is the founder of a community relief fund called Vancouver Island Steps Up (VISU) to assist individuals across Vancouver Island and exceeded the collective’s goal of raising over $ 15 000 for those whose needs were not adequately met by standardized aid programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also co-created a fundraiser named Stand With MEEGAN to raise over $13 000 to support the unhoused community on Lekwungen territory that have been severely affected by the pandemic and have found themselves unhoused with minimal government and community support. 

Pamphinette is passionate about amplifying the voices of disenfranchised communities and dedicates a lot of her focus to issues around safe and inclusive practises in sport for all bodies, overdose prevention, harm-reduction and safe supply, equitable housing, police reform, racial justice, prisoners’ rights, and decolonization. Pamphinette was nominated for BC Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism 2021 – Emerging Leader Award for her efforts in fundraising, organizing, rallies, and events developed at the local level and has transcended internationally. She led the Canadian Women’s rugby team at the Olympics to use their platform to call attention to the mass graves of Indigenous children who were killed in residential schools being unearthed here in Canada as well as calling for Black liberation. With Decolonize Together, Buisa strives to evoke intersectional approaches to her work to create intentional and deeply rooted relationships to see a revolutionary change in the world.