Sheila Papa

It is with the deepest love and tenderness that we announce the crossing over of our beloved Sheila Papa (aka Berto, Bertolucci, Papito, Billy).

Sheila passed away peacefully at home in Iqaluit, Nunavut after 18 months of treatment for cancer.  Always positive, she used the time she had to polish her already loving, glowing self. She deeply affected everyone that spent time with her, with her boundless love of life and determination to survive. When the end finally came, she surrendered with such beauty and grace to the infinite, peacefully at home surrounded with the love of her two sisters, Rosalie and Kit, her wife Jamie, and their three adored dogs. Countless friends and family also were supporting from her hometown in Vancouver as well as her many loving friends in Iqaluit. 

Sheila’s family misses her deeply. She is grieved by mother Jovita Ursua, stepfather, Luis Ursua, her four siblings; Jocelyn Damkohler, Gerardo Papa, Catherine Papa, Rosalie Lin, and nieces and nephews; Kristoffer Damkohler, Sofia and Matthew Wardal, Sabrina and Braden Papa, Knyx Diaz and Jaecen Legaspi. Also the husbands and wives of her siblings, who have supported Sheila with so much love, and her extended family in the Philippines.  A special mention also to her adored grandparents, RIP in Camiling, Emeterio and Aquilina Apostol, who did so much in her early years, helping to raise her into her successful, joyous, loving self.

Her wife and devoted partner of 18 years, Jamie Griffiths, is grateful for every day spent with the love of her life, her soulmate, her rock. Sheila was an enthusiastic supporter of Jamie’s life as a visual artist, filmmaker and photographer. It was their mutual love of photography that brought them together in 2005 when Sheila first met Jamie through experimental darkroom classes at Langara College.

Jamie’s family in the UK grew close to Sheila over the years, supporting their relationship and adventurous life together, especially Jamie’s mother Glenys Griffiths who (despite dementia) always asked after Sheila, her brother John Griffiths’ family, sister Michelle Sammons and brother John Cooke and all the Scottish Griffs.

Sheila was born in Camiling in the Philippines, emigrating to Canada in 1989 at the age of 15, with her family. The youngest sibling, she embraced her life in Canada to the full. Working in the airline industry, she travelled the world, visiting out of the way places; fearless, curious and deeply respectful of people and cultures. She learned languages easily and made many friends along the way, with her infectious joy and laughter. By 2006, Sheila felt a strong pull towards a new career, so she returned to school, gaining her degree in International Relations at the University of British Columbia. She then sought out work that she felt could make a difference to the everyday lives of people in need. In 2014, this eventually brought her and Jamie, to live in Iqaluit, Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic. Feeling deep respect for Inuit cultural values and learning quickly about life in the North, Sheila immediately found her dream job where she flourished, and they adopted three dogs, bought their first home, and made deep friendships.

Sheila was very special. All who knew her are heartbroken. There has been an outpouring of love and support in celebration of the legacy of her love, passion, wisdom and generosity. We feel her love with us still. We have no doubt that she is joyously travelling still, beyond anything our earthbound lives can comprehend.


When the blossom is shed,

The fruit comes to a head;

When the body is shattered,

The spirit lifts up its head.

~Rumi, Mathnawi, Book I

Every person is a world to explore.

The world inside is as vast as the world outside.

Nothing has passed away and nothing is lost.

Together we are one.

~Thich Nat Han

Impermanence!

~Sheila Papa