The People of SWOVA

Our Staff

Lynda Laushway Executive Director

Executive Director, Lynda Laushway has a Masters Degree in Criminology and has worked in the Canadian Criminal Justice System in various capacities over the past thirty years. She has taught criminology at Memorial University in Newfoundland, been the Assistant Editor of a monthly publication on criminal justice for the Solicitor General of Canada, and for the past fourteen years has focused on prevention of violence against women and children. She is the mother of two grown sons.

Lynda is the recipient of the Attorney General’s, Regional Awareness and Promotion Award for a outstanding contribution towards crime prevention and community safety in British Columbia, as well as the 2005 winner of the YM-YWCA Women of Distinction Award for education, training and development for the Vancouver Island Region.

She is also one of the authors of the book Freedom From Fear, The How-to Guide on Violence Prevention, Inspired by Teens for Teens.

 

Megan Manning-Burton Assistant to Executive Director and Administrative Support

Megan comes to the organization with years of administration experience including arts organizations, advertising agencies and the civil service. She has a background in film, photography and graphic design and is also a published writer. She recently relocated to Salt Spring from England where she’d been living for 13 years, enjoying the weather!

 

Randie Clark Assistant to Executive Director

Randie Clark holds a Masters Degree in Mental Health Counselling and has worked primarily in Social Service agencies providing services to victims of crime, and survivors of traumatic loss, domestic abuse and childhood trauma. Randie has also led workshops and training for Emergency Responders, intervention specialists, bereavement counsellors and educators. In addition to her work with SWOVA Randie works with Salt Spring Community Services as a USTAT Clinical Counsellor as well as providing on-call Emergency Mental Health assessment and support after hours; she volunteers with the RCMP Victims Services Program, and offers Psychotherapy/Counselling at Arbutus Therapy Centre. She joined SWOVA in 2004 as Assistant to the Executive Director and is honored to be a part of the Respectful Relationships/SWOVA team.

 

Christina Antonick Program Coordinator – R+R and Pass-it-On Project

Christina Antonick has worked as a social justice educator for the past 13 years. Christina attended McGill University in Montreal where she studied Communications, Women's Studies and Fine Art. In 1995 she completed certification in a feminist counselling and facilitation training with a strong focus on anti-oppression practices. Christina is a visual artist and jewelry designer and her most important work to date has been the parenting of her two inspiring sons, Deva and Cedar.

 

Debbie Magnusson Program Coordinator – Pass-it-On Project

 

Alison Vida Team Member – Pass-it-On Project

 

Carol Grier Communications Coordinator

Carol Grier has been an activist for most of her adult life. She moved to Canada in 2003, and considers herself a “Canadian in Training.” As Community Connections Coordinator for the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation in Ojai, California, Carol mentored a youth staff of eight, and founded and coordinated an annual Martin Luther King Day Event which is ongoing.

Additionally, Carol coordinated a variety of community “wellness projects” with the Youth Foundation: a monthly teen cabaret, a substance abuse prevention project, and a teen peer counseling group.  She also developed and coordinated a community policy advisory council using a youth/adult partnership model.

As a board member for the National Conference for Community and Justice, a human relations organization, Carol facilitated and participated in the launch of the California Central Coast Project’s CommUnity Leadership Camp, a leadership institute for youth peer leader training on issues of dismantling oppression.

Carol studied “Council Training” with Jack Zimmerman and Gigi Coyle (The Way of Council, 1996, Bramble Books) at The Ojai Foundation, and subsequently facilitated youth communication circles for grades 6 and 8 at The Palms Middle School in Los Angeles for two years.

In addition to her work with SWOVA, Carol and her partner Dick currently coordinate the Our Island, Our World documentary film festival (focusing on social justice and human rights films) on Saltspring Island.

Carol received her BA in Communications from Antioch College, Santa Barbara in 1995.

 

Robert Birch Provincial Trainer – R+R Outreach

Robert Birch, the R+R Provincial Trainer, is celebrating his 25th year as a drama educator, consultant and artist. He began his relationship with SWOVA several years ago as the project's adult male facilitator and has been one of the many curriculum writers involved in the R+R program. He lives on Saltspring Island with his husband, Mark where they grow organic heritage seeds for Saltspring Seeds and the Seed Sanctuary of Canada. At present he is in the middle of his graduate studies in Applied Theatre at the University of Victoria.

 

Nicola Temmel Adult Facilitator - R+R SD#64

 

Sean Mulligan Adult Facilitator – R+R SD#64

 

SWOVA Board of Directors

Lorna Cammaert Board Chair

 

Sarah Hook-Nillson

Sarah has recently joined the board, after moving to Canada from Spain with her husband and sons. She is trained in Social Work and holds a graduate degree in Literature. Her 2 teens attend G.I.S.S.on Saltspring and she is very impressed by the flexible approach to learning demonstrated in our schools. Most of all she brings her enthusiasm for the R+R program and would like to see this preventative approach to violence introduced both nationally and internationally.

 

Anne Marshall

BEd, MA (Counselling Psychology)
Married (42 years) 3 adult children, two of whom are teachers, 5 grandchildren, Host “Mom” for 9 Rotary International Students Volunteer Guider (13 years) for groups of girls ranging in age from 10 – 17 years Camp Advisor, International Advisor

Anne has been involved with S.W.O.V.A. since its inception fifteen years ago. Employed at that time as a Community Worker with Salt Spring Community Society, she was working in the front lines with women and children in abusive relationships. Since then she has seen the establishment of a transition house on Salt Spring and has watched S.W.OV.A. evolve into one of the most effective violence prevention educational programs in the country.

Anne coordinated the Peer Counselling Program at Gulf Islands Secondary School for fourteen years, a program through which students participated in such workshops as Self-esteem, Family Violence, Sexual Abuse, Substance Abuse, Co-dependency, Bullying, Depression and Suicide, learning the skills needed to support peers experiencing a problem or concern.

As a counsellor at Gulf Islands Secondary School, she followed the development of SWOVA’s work from its first in-classroom presentations on abusive relationships to the comprehensive Respectful + Relationships curriculum now being delivered in schools across the Province. From the beginning, it has been her firm conviction that it will take men and women together to stop the cycle of violence.

 

Christine Hunt

Christine Hunt was born and raised in Alert Bay BC. She is a member of Kwakiutl First nation. Her education includes Langara College and the Justice Institute and University of Lethbridge.

Christine brings a wealth of experience and wisdom to the SWOVA Board of Directors. Her background includes; Legislative Assistant to 4 opposition critics , Special Native Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and Minister of Health, President and Executive Director of Kwakiutl Territorial Fisheries Commission, reporter and photographer for the Kwakiutl newspaper “Awakwis”, Health Planner for Kwakiutl District Council, child care Worker for Family Services Society for North Vancouver Island, Executive Director of Native Information Centre, Counsellor at Nasaika Lodge, as well as having worked as commercial fisherman off and on over the years.

Christine's current board positions:
SWOVA
World Fisheries Forum – Coordinating Committee Member
Native Fishing Association – Board member
North Island Crisis and Counselling Centre – Honourary Life Board member

Her interests are Global Warming, Human rights, Food Security, aboriginal fishing rights and politics. She enjoys traveling, reading and walking.

Richard Kerr

Richard is an economist specializing in the analysis of social programs and issues. He has advised the National Crime Prevention Centre on the cost-benefit analysis and evaluation of their programs. His reports for the federal Department of Justice and various bar associations have been cited in court decisions, including by the Supreme Court of Canada. He is co-author of the report "Paying for Violence: Some of the Costs of Violence Against Women in B.C." Richard has also been a volunteer probation officer and a member of Salt Spring Island's restorative justice and community policing programs. Before becoming a Salt Spring resident in 1993, he worked with community economic development groups in Canada, Africa and Asia.

 

Jean Elder

Jean Elder, Ph.D, has spent most of her working life in universities--Smith College, University of Saskatchewan and the University of British Columbia where she was a member of the history department and organized and maintained the development of a baccalaureate program in Medieval Studies. Her own baccalaureate is from the University of Toronto and she has an advanced degree from Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia. Jean retired from the University of British Columbia and subsequently moved to Salt Spring Island where she was, among other things, a member of the board of SWOVA through the days of the major grant from the National Crime Commission. As treasurer, she tried to maintain, with mixed success, some sort of financial viability despite the vagaries of granting agencies.

 

Janice McLean

Janice has worked on women's equality issues for over 30 years in both her professional and volunteer life. She was a founding board member of Ottawa's Women's Place and later an elected Director of the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW) and was appointed to the CCLOW national executive for each of three years.

Self-employed from 1980, much of Janice's consulting work has focused on women's concerns. She has organized five national consultations with women's groups for the Federal Government, job-shared as the Manager of the Women's Program at Algonquin College, researched and written on health topics such as over-medication of seniors and new reproductive technologies, and co-authored the BC study on some of the economic costs of violence against women.

Janice has lived on Salt Spring Island since 1993 and been a member of SWOVA for 12 years.

 

Linda Quinn

Linda has recently joined the SWOVA board. She has a Master's Degree in Music Education and has worked as a music educator for well over thirty years. Before moving to Salt Spring, she taught in secondary schools both in London, U.K. and Vancouver and in the Music Education Department at SFU. Before retiring from teaching in 2004, Linda taught music in grades K-5 at Fulford Elementary School from 1986 to 2004 and is delighted to see former Fulford students on the SWOVA youth team. Now retired from teaching, Linda continues to be actively involved in the community through music. She volunteers her time as musical director of Women of Note, a group which has sung at many local events including the SWOVA sponsored Candlelight Vigil each December 6th.

 

Karena McAllister

Zelly Taylor

Judy Thompson

 

Elly McKeague Team member – Widening the Circle Project

Elly has a Master's Degree in Physical Education and Administration. She has 28 years of experience working in public education. She has worked in Ontario and British Columbia as a teacher, curriculum consultant and administrator. From 1989-95, Elly was a trainer for Quest International, delivering positive youth development workshops throughout North America. Most recently, she has worked with youth at Gulf Islands Secondary School on Salt Spring Island as Grad Transitions Coordinator. At GISS, she has served as host-teacher for the implementation of SWOVA's R+R programs in grades 9 and 10 classes. Elly is bilingual and has taught French immersion classes in grades 6-12. In her personal time, Elly enjoys a physically active lifestyle including tennis, cycling and hiking with family and friends.

 

 

 

Peter Morin Lead Male Facilitator – "Widening the Circle"

Peter Morin is of the Crow clan of the Tahltan Nation of Telegraph Creek, BC.  As a practicing artist and educator, Peter’s work looks deeply into issues of First Nation’s identity, de-colonizing through relationship building and speaking one indigenous language.  Peter recently spent time working in Lower Post BC, organizing and facilitating projects for youth and elders. He has an upcoming exhibition at the ODD gallery, called, Things that I leave behind for Ravens.

 

Chris Gay Lead Female Facilitator – "Widening the Circle"

Chris comes to SWOVA with 30+ years experience in early childhood education and early intervention. In addition, she was the senior manager for learning and organizational development within a provincial Ministry's Strategic Human Resources area. Chris' passion is facilitation whether on a personal, team, organizational or community level. Chris approaches facilitation strategically, building on the collective vision of the group, allowing for experiential opportunities within safe, respectful and collaborative environments.

 

 

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