VIJAY AGNEW is a Professor of Social Science and former Director of the Centre for Feminist Research at York University. Her book Resisting Discrimination: Women from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean and the Women’s Movement in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996) won the Gustav Myers Award as an “outstanding book on the subject of human rights in North America.” Her other books are Interrogating Race and Racism (Toronto; University of Toronto Press), Diaspora, Memory and Identity: A Search For Home (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), Where I Come From (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2003), In Search of a Safe Place: Abused Women and Culturally Sensitive Services (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), and Elite Women in Indian Politics (Delhi: Vikas, 1979). She was appointed to the Public Policy Research Fund of the Status of Women Canada by the Minister for Multiculturalism Heidi Frye for 1998-2002.
VALERIE JOAN CAMPBELL, LLB, has been a positive force for change in Alberta’s criminal justice system. Through tremendous dedication and compassion, she spearheaded significant changes in the way the province deals with domestic violence. As a Crown prosecutor, she worked on many high-profile cases, including one that garnered national attention on W-five. She was the coordinator of family violence initiatives for Alberta Justice from 2004 to 2007 and is now the Director of the newly established Alberta Relationship Threat Assessment and Management Initiative (ARTAMI), a multi-disciplined specialized unit designed to reduce and prevent serious violence and death in high-risk family violence and stalking cases. She has developed and delivered training to police, prosecutors, victim advocates, social workers, health professionals, mental health experts and corrections personnel locally and nationally since 2002. As a subject matter expert in the area of family violence and stalking, she is a regular guest speaker on radio and television, and guest lecturer at Universities and Colleges across Alberta. She has received awards including the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award; Alberta Centennial Award; University of Alberta Alumni Award of Excellence; Department of Justice Awards for development of the Domestic Violence Handbook for Police and Crown Prosecutors in Alberta and for contributions to the development of the Alberta Relationship Threat Assessment and Management Initiative (ARTAMI).
ADRIAN DARMON is the Staff Sergeant in charge of the Waterloo Regional Police Service Domestic Violence Investigation Branch located at the Family Violence Project of Waterloo Region. He is in his 28th year of police service to his community. Prior to this he was the Officer-in-Charge of the Waterloo Regional Police Service’s Homicide Branch from 2002 until 2008.
Adrian has extensive experience in criminal investigation and has represented the Waterloo Regional Police Service in an executive position on the Ontario Homicide Investigators Association and as a member of the Ontario Major Case Management Committee. As a member of the Ontario Major Case Management Committee, Adrian was appointed to a team that worked with the Ontario Police College to redesign the Ontario Major Case Management Course. In his current role, Adrian is a member of various committees and works closely with Community Partners focused on providing service to victims of domestic violence and elder abuse.
Adrian is also committed to his community outside of policing. He is in his fourth year as a member of the Board of Trustees at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Guelph, Ontario and is also a member of the Health Center’s Mission, Ethics, Quality Health Care Committee. Adrian finds this experience very challenging and rewarding, and enjoys interacting with and learning from the dedicated and talented employees, board and committee members.
Having focused much of his policing career in Criminal Investigations, Adrian is committed to ensuring that victim’s of domestic violence and elder abuse receive the utmost level of support and investigation from the Waterloo Regional Police Service and working closely with the co-located community services to provide a seamless and holistic response to domestic violence and elder abuse. Tackling these social ills is a new challenge for Adrian and he welcomes the opportunity.
KATIE KITSCHKE, Public Educator with SAFFRON, the Strathcona Sexual Assault Centre. Our mandate is to provide greater education, public understanding, and action regarding sexual assault and abuse. We provide public education presentations as well as crisis intervention, counselling and on going support to victims and survivors of sexual assault and sexual abuse.
MARIE MANSFIELD, Education Coordinator and Group Counsellor for the St. Albert SAIF (Stop Abuse in Families) Society. The St. Albert SAIF Society is a registered not-for-profit society that strives to eliminate family violence through prevention, support advocacy and education. SAIF provides violence prevention education to schools in and around St. Albert, and individual and group counselling for individuals who have experienced violence in their intimate relationships.
DR. GEORGE MCCLANE is a 1985 graduate of the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University. He completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and in 1990 served as Chief Resident. Dr. McClane has lectured extensively on the medical aspects of domestic violence, in both national and international conferences.
Dr. McClane worked as an emergency physician for Sharp Hospitals for 15 years before becoming the full-time Forensic Medical Unit Director for the City of San Diego's Family Justice Center Department, co-sponsored by Sharp Healthcare.
Dr. McClane developed the Med School Series for Judicial & Behavioral Professionals, consisting of Med School for Prosecutors; Med School for Judges; Med School for Behavioral Professionals; & Med School for Police. Information on the seminar series is available on his website, at www.DrMcClane.com .
Dr. McClane received a professorship at Stanford Medical School in 1997 for the Sharp Family Practice Residency Program. Currently he serves on the faculty for the University of San Diego, California School of Medicine and developed the Clinical Forensics Rotation for medical residents. He originated and directs the International Family Justice Center Alliance and has developed an international internship for graduate students from abroad to come to San Diego and study the Family Justice Center model. In October of 2001, Dr. McClane co-authored a series of strangulation articles published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine. Dr. McClane lives in Point Loma with his wife and three redheaded daughters.
ERNIE PUDWILL is the Prevention of Family Violence and Bullying Coordinator for Edmonton and Area Child and Family Services, which is a division of Alberta Children and Youth Services. As a retired police officer with more than 30 years experience he has extensive knowledge of the huge impact bullying can have not only on the individual but also on the family and the community.
Education and awareness, as well as supporting communities in their bullying prevention efforts, is a priority for the Government of Alberta. Through the Prevention of Family Violence and Bullying Initiative, Alberta Children and Youth Services is taking a leadership role in bullying prevention and delivering the message that bullying is not acceptable.
Information on bullying and bullying resources can be obtained through the Government website located at http://www.child.alberta.ca/home/586.cfm or by calling the Bullying Helpline at 1-866-456-2323, toll free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
IRENE SEVCIK holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work and a Masters of Religious Education from Asbury Theological Seminary. She has extensive experience developing and managing intervention programs for children and families, including those affected by domestic violence. Prior to her resent retirement she served as Program Director to FaithLink, a program designed to engage religious/spiritual/ethno-cultural communities in the broader Calgary community’s response to domestic violence through raising awareness, developing educational resources and building understanding with service providers. With Dr. Nancy Nason-Clark, Irene has researched the efficacy of a centered meditation practice on how family and sexual violence service providers handle work related stress. She is currently involved in a research project exploring the importance placed on spirituality by victims of abuse and counsellors who work with them. Irene has authored An Ecological Perspective of Child Neglect: Relevant Research Re-ordered: A Service Delivery Model Examined, University of Toronto Press, (1984) and co-authored with Norman Giesbrecht, “The Process of Recovery and Rebuilding Among Abused Women in the Conservative Evangelical Subculture,” (Journal of Family Violence 15(3), 229-248). She has assisted The Free Methodist Church in Canada in developing congregational guidelines for increasing child safety in church-sponsored programs and has contributed articles on domestic and sexual violence to the denominational magazine.
