Tumia’s education and career have been dedicated to supporting Indigenous self-determination and governance and she has spent over twenty-five years working in her own home community of q̓ʷa:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen First Nation) in a leadership role as a member of Council, as well as in a variety of administrative roles.

Tumia has served as a Council member for Kwantlen First Nation for over the past two decades and has been involved in leading a variety of government, land, economic and resource self-determination initiatives, and program development on behalf of Kwantlen during this time.

Tumia is a practicing lawyer with a focus on indigenous self-determination, and rights and title advocacy and negotiation. As a member of Council, she spends most of her time with Kwantlen involved in lands and resources issues on behalf of the Kwantlen community, and is passionate about protecting indigenous rights and title interests and developing meaningful relationships that promote opportunities to ensure a Kwantlen voice in decisions affecting Kwantlen territory.

With the Kwantlen Chief and Council, she has been involved in several recent partnership initiatives with local First Nations and other levels of government in areas of shared territory and highly values this unity, collaboration and collective capacity growth.