[4][5] Following the 2023 resignation of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Melanie Mark, Phillip was acclaimed as the BC NDP's candidate to contest the by-election.

[10][1] Phillip, then Carter, was a member of the Native Alliance for Red Power (NARP), an Indigenous militant organization established in the 1960s.

[1][14] Glen Coulthard described Phillip, then Carter, in the Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies as one of the core NARP members alongside Ray Bobb, Willie Dunn, David Hanuse, and Henry Jack.

[1] Phillip has an extensive career as an environmental activist, having previously worked to oppose the Trans Mountain pipeline, Ajax mine, Site C dam, and the salmon farm industry.

[7] In solidarity with the ongoing Oka Crisis in 1990, Phillip and her husband Stewart organized a rail blockade of Seton Portage, being arrested by the RCMP in the process.

[16] Climate organization 350 degrees Canada dubbed Phillip one of seven candidates to watch during her previous runs for federal office.

[4] Before elected to political office, Phillip worked for a various First Nations organizations including as a youth counsellor at the Outreach Alternate School through Britannia Secondary School, program director at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre (then the Vancouver Indian Centre[4]), as part of the native police liaison committee in Vancouver,[4] at the First United Church's outreach alternative school,[7] and as the lands manager for the Penticton Indian Band.

[10] Phillip retired as land manager for the Pentiction Indian Band in September 2019, having served in the position for 20 years.

[18] Following two unsuccessful runs for federal office in Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, Phillip was parachuted in to the riding of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant as the nominee for the provincial New Democrats.

[20] Upon her victory, she became the second ever First Nations woman to serve in British Columbia's Legislative Assembly, after Melanie Mark, her predecessor.

[20] Her predecessor, Melanie Mark, stated that a "toxic culture" at the Legislative Assembly contributed to her resignation.

According to the Vancouver Sun, Phillip was dismayed at BC United's assertions that prescribed opioids contributed to human deaths.