Dr. Ziba Vaghri is the director of the GlobalChild program of research and a senior research associate at the University of New Brunswick-Saint John Department of Psychology. In 2014 she received a five-year Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award in recognition of her decades of work on child development and child rights. She was trained and mentored by one of the most prolific researchers of early child development, the late Dr. Clyde Hertzman (OC).
Ms. Cairine MacDonald spent 20 years as a senior executive in Alberta and British Columbia as president/vice-president and deputy minister in both business and government organizations. She serves on the TELUS Victoria Community Board, the Leadership Victoria Board of Directors as well as the School of Business Advisory Council for Royal Roads University. She also provides pro bono board consulting through Volunteer Victoria. Ms. MacDonald was awarded Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100TM in 2010 and Diversity 50TM by the Canadian Board Diversity Council in 2013. During 2012-2013 she served on the Expert Advisory Panel for the University of Waterloo Graduate Diploma in Social Innovation. Ms. MacDonald served as deputy minister with the Government of British Columbia from 2003 to 2013 for the ministries of environment, housing and social development, employment and income assistance and management services as well as the innovation and technology portfolio within Advanced Education.
Mr. Brent Parfitt has a distinguished career in the area of human rights and the delivery of fair and equitable public services. The care, protection and rights of children and youth have been a special feature of his professional activities Mr. Parfitt, who has a Bachelor of Law degree, was with the Office of the Ombudsman in British Columbia since 1979. For his last 10 years he served as deputy ombudsman, and earlier held specific responsibilities for children and youth.
He has also served as adjunct professor with the University of Victoria’s School of Child and Youth Care, and in 2001 was an associate of the Institute for Child Rights and Development. Among other distinctions, Mr. Parfitt has held the positions of president, Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children and chairperson, Institute for Child Rights and Development International (non profit, charitable, NGO), and served on the Task Force on Children’s Rights in Education sponsored by CIDA, developing modules on articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Ms. Debbie Chaplain is the director for Child Youth and Family Services at Island Health including rehabilitation, medical genetics, perinatal and pediatric programs. Previous to this, Ms. Chaplain worked at Interior Health as a director for a wide portfolio of services at the Royal Inland Hospital including the ER department, ICU, mental health services, pediatrics, rehab and nursing. Ms. Chaplain also worked in senior nurse practice leadership positions at B.C. Women’s Hospital as well as nursing and midwife positions in the UK.
Dr. Richard Stanwick is the chief medical health officer for Island Health in Victoria. He is responsible for overseeing a variety of critical public health programs as well as engaging in advocacy and seeking general improvements in the health of the public. Dr. Stanwick completed his medical school training and received his Fellowship in Pediatrics after training at the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Stanwick is the author of numerous scientific publications and has presented at local, national and international meetings. He is a recognized authority in the area of childhood injury prevention and smoking control and is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his contributions to public health.
Dr. Philip Lancaster has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Ottawa and holds an appointment as adjunct professor at the School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, Canada. He also lectures at Royal Roads University in Victoria. He has worked as an independent technical and political researcher for the OECD, the World Bank, UNICEF, the British Government and a number of international NGOs.
Though his primary research interest is in political and economic security, he has a solid background in child soldier programming and has authored a number of internationally published reports on civilian protection and the phenomenon of child soldiers. He has a wealth of experience working with and leading international teams of researchers.
