• PRESIDENT:  Dorothy Hays
• SECRETARY:  Doug Thomas
• TREASURER:  Linda Shaw
• DIRECTOR, REGION 4 (pro tem): Barrie Webster
• DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE (pro tem):  Simon Parcher
• DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE:  Bill Broderick
• DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE:  Laura-Lee Balkwill

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PRESIDENT - Dorothy Hays; B.A, B.Ed, HBSW

Dorothy Hays is a retired social worker, residing in the Thunder Bay area. Working with newly released adult prisoners and high-risk Young Offenders, she was President of the local Ontario Association of Social Workers, and Editor of the local Social Work Newsletter. Having served on a Unitarian Board, on a township council, she is President of the Thunder Bay Humanists. Her articles been published many times in The Chronicle-Journal with letters to the editor, defending secularism, has given talks at the Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship, is a columnist for Canadian Freethinker magazine  and promotes humanism and the separation of church and state wherever she goes. A loyal member of the organization for over 15 years, Dorothy is the President of Humanist Canada and the Membership Secretary. She is also the Humanist Canada liaison to the Atheist Alliance International Board of Directors.

SECRETARY - Doug Thomas; B.A, B.Ed, O.C.T

Doug is a secondary school English and Experiential Learning teacher in Elmira, Ontario, where he lobbied successfully to remove Christian prayer from graduation ceremonies and continues to lobby for an open secular environment in the school and in southern Ontario. His specialty is in Constitutional History and North American Literature. Doug has served on six different boards of directors: as president/chairperson of four of them. A published author of historical fiction (The Bloody Boy, 2001), Doug is a longtime respected columnist for Humanist Network News and a contributing editor of Canadian Freethinker magazine. A lifelong Agnostic, he is Vice President of the Society of Ontario Freethinkers and is currently CEO of the local Green Party of Canada Association. As a dynamic longtime member of Humanist Canada, he served on the Federation Model Committee, he has been a speaker at several HAC events, he was the moderator for our first annual lecture series in April 2009, and he helped draft our new bylaws to conform to proper governance, Industry Canada, and Charities Directorate standards. We are pleased to welcome Doug as our Secretary.

TREASURER - Linda Shaw; B.A (Hon), M.B.A

A lifelong atheist and Humanist, Linda Shaw joined the Board of Directors of Humanist Canada in the spring of 2008. She brings to the table an impressive array of business management and financial education skills. Her analytical acuity and project management experience in diverse professional settings, from hospitals, to corporations, to nonprofits, coupled with her straightforward communication style, make her a great asset to Humanist Canada. Linda is also an award-winning professional artist and sculptor, providing illustrations, paintings, and sculptures to a long list of individual and corporate clients across North America, Europe and the Middle East, for over 20 years. She is currently producing a children’s book on how to handle and communicate with dogs, built on her credentials as a certified dog trainer, specializing in the German Shepherd breed. We are grateful to have Linda aboard as our Treasurer and financial advisor.

DIRECTOR, REGION 4 - Barrie Webster; B.Sc, M.Sc, Ph.D.

After achieving his BSc and MSc at the University of British Columbia, Barrie travelled to Australia to complete his Doctorate in photochemistry. After a couple of years in England doing post-doctoral research (natural product and mycotoxin chemistry) Barrie was offered a  position at the University of Manitoba, where he founded and directed the Pesticide Research Laboratory in the Faculty of Agriculture for 26 years. Interdisciplinary studies on the environmental consequences of pesticide use in agriculture formed the main focus of his research work. He mentored over 40 grad students in the area of the trace analytical chemistry of the residues of pesticides, their metabolites, and other organic environmental contaminants. Environmental decision-making also became part of Barrie's interests for over 20 years during his part-time participation in the work of the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission, a quasi-judicial part of the provincial government. Following his retirement from teaching, he spent some years in the private sector in the specialty environmental analytical area, developing an interest in the development of generic pharmaceutical drugs from plant based natural products. Barrie balances his scientific career with the arts, having played the cello since age 12. He also plays the cello and mandolin in several amateur musical groups. Barrie joined the Humanist Association of Manitoba in the early 1990s and was HAM’s president from 2003-January 2009. He has held executive positions with other organizations as well, such as the Funeral Planning and Memorial Society of Manitoba, Friends of the Field Station (University of Manitoba), Manitoba Violoncello Society, Manitoba Soil Science Society, and the Entomological Society of Manitoba. He has also been on the editorial boards of several international scientific journals. Over the past few years, Barrie and a colleague from the HAM executive have taught a course on Humanism in the 55+ Program in Continuing Education at the University of Winnipeg.  This past year, the course celebrated the life and science of Charles Darwin. This coming winter, he is co-teaching a 6-week course on Darwin, Evolution, and Human Values at Creative Retirement in Winnipeg. Barrie was recently invited as the Humanist spokesperson for the city project,  “Make Winnipeg a Human Rights City”, having taken the lead from the Conference on Human Rights and Social Justice in 2007 at the University of Winnipeg chaired by its President, Dr. Lloyd Axworthy. We are honoured to have Barrie as our Director for Region 4.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE - Simon Parcher

Simon became a member of Humanist Canada in 1992. In 1993 he helped the Humanist Association of Ottawa apply for the authority to certify marriage officiants on Ontario. This authority was granted by the Registrar General in 1996. As this meant that only members of HAO could become officiants, Simon helped prepare the paperwork and bylaws to incorporate HAC in 1996 in order to transfer licensing authority to HAC. After approval by the Registrar General, he performed the first wedding as a Humanist Officiant in 1996. That same year, Simon set up HAC's Ceremonies Program, which included an officiant application and selection procedure, training and certification, and set up a committee to help with the development of the program, chairing that committee from 1996-2006. He also served as HAC Vice President from 1997-1999 and was an HAO Board member and President from 1993-1998. From 2000 to now, he has been President of Canadian Humanist Publications (which publishes Humanist Perspectives Magazine). Professionally, Simon is a Computer Systems Project Leader with Statistics Canada. As well, he is a longtime Toastmaster, serving as District Governor for 3500 members in District 61 in 2007-2008. The latest addition to his family is 2-year old grandson, Jayden, who is a great source of pride, joy and constant activity!

DIRECTOR AT LARGE - Bill Broderick

A member of Humanist Canada since 2002, Bill joined the Board in 2004. He took on the task of editor of HAC's newsletter in 2005, retiring in 2009. For over 40 years, Bill has been an ardent naturalist and amateur astronomer. He has his own home-built observatory on a hill on his property northeast of Belleville, Ontario. As well, he takes a keen interest in geology, natural history, and many other scientific subjects. He enjoys long walks in natural surroundings, and travelling and exploring new places. He particularly enjoys hiking in mountainous areas in British Columbia and Newfoundland. One of his favourite foreign countries is Iceland with its glaciers and volcanoes which sits astride the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the north Atlantic Ocean. Bill has had the pleasure of attending four HAC conferences: Ottawa, 2005; Vancouver, 2006; Milton, 2007; and Toronto, 2008. Bill believes that HAC must become much more vigorous and innovative in the way it promotes itself and in defending secularism in Canadian society. Our freedoms and rights are being more seriously threatened today than at any time since WW II and people generally are unaware of the problem.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE - Laura-Lee Balkwill; B.A, M.A, Ph.D

Laura-Lee is relatively new member of Humanist Canada, after finding herself in complete agreement with the principles shared by several of her favourite authors (e.g. Mark Twain, Isaac Asimov, and  Kurt Vonnegut). As there was no regional Humanist group in Kingston, she became a founding member of the Kingston Humanist Association and is the faculty advisor for a new Queen's University student group: Queen's Secularists and Inquirers. She is currently an Ethics Education and Compliance Advisor in the Office of Research Services at Queen's. At home she is 'Moooom!" to a 4-year old natural scientist and wife to a professional musician.