Poste - Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children

C A N A D I A N C O A L I T I O N F O R T H E R I G H T S O F C H I L D R E N
Convention Article 19: Abuse and Neglect
Task Leader: Sandra Scarth is the former executive
director of the Child Welfare League of Canada (CWLC).
She is currently a special children’s advisor for Health
Canada (BC/Yukon Region) and manager of CWLC’s
Siksika Nation project in Alberta.
Jeremy Berland is director of performance management in
the British Columbia Ministry for Children and Families
and co-author of the province’s Child, Family and
Community Service Act.
Mel Gill was executive director of Children’s Aid Society
of Ottawa-Carleton for 12 years. He spent years in frontline
and management positions in child welfare, mental
health and social service settings. In 1996, he chaired
Canada’s Children... Canada’s Future conference, where a
framework for a national children’s agenda was drafted.
Gail MacDougall is the past president of the Canadian
Association of Social Workers. She is a Nova Scotia social
worker with particular expertise in child welfare and
health.
Jade Rox is a former Crown ward who is involved with the
Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa-Carleton’s teens’
planning team. She has met with many youth from across
Canada who are in the care of the state and has learned a
great deal about child welfare. She hopes to participate in
Katimavik next year and experience volunteer work in a
different Canadian setting.
Thanks to reviewers: Jean Bremner, president, Children’s
Aid Society Board of Halifax; Sandra Dunsford,
Government of Prince Edward Island; Janine Granchelli,
Government of New Brunswick; Reid Hartry, Winnipeg
Child Guidance Clinic; Margot Herbert, University of
Alberta; Sharron Richards, Children’s Aid Society of
Toronto; Mary Scott, Child Find Canada; Wendy Trull,
Nova Scotia Association of Social Workers; and Michael
Udy, Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, Montreal.
Convention Article 22: Refugee Children
Task Leader: Fernande Meilleur is president of the
Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children and a past
president of the Canadian UNICEF Committee. She
currently is a consultant to UNICEF Canada on issues
concerning children and the Canadian government.
Andrew Brouwer is manager of the refugee and immigrant
program at the Maytree Foundation in Toronto. He has
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authored two papers on Canada’s refugee and immigration
policies as a joint project with the Caledon Institute of
Social Policy and the Maytree Foundation.
Tom Clark is coordinator of the Inter-Church Committee
for Refugees and a former member of the Steering
Committee of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of
Children.
Gerald Dirks is professor of politics at Brock University,
St. Catharines, with a particular interest in global migration
issues and the formation of Canadian immigration and
refugee policies.
Andrew Ignatieff is program director with the international
programs division of UNICEF Canada.
Thanks to reviewers: Medin Admasu, youth representative
for the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children;
Gaynor Ehlext, COSTI Reception Centre in Toronto; and
Sheena Scott, Justice for Children and Youth
Convention Article 23: Children with Disabilities
Task Co-Leader: Dawn Walker is a member of the Board of
Directors of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of
Children and executive director of the Canadian Institute of
Child Health. She was the former executive director of the
Canadian Association for Community Care and former
chief of the Family and Child Health Unit of Health
Canada.
Task Co-Leader: Sharon Hope Irwin has been the director
of SpeciaLink, the National Centre for Child Care
Inclusion, since 1990. She promotes high quality, inclusive,
accessible early education and child care services across
Canada through her work on various commissions and
committees and through her organization’s teaching videos,
speakers’ bureau and publications.
Dana Brynelsen is the provincial advisor on infant
development programs in British Columbia. These
programs serve families with young children who are at
risk for or with a disability. She has personal and family
experience with disability and has served on the Premier’s
Advisory Council on Disability in British Columbia.
John Draper is a high school student in Oshawa, Ontario.
He promotes the building of inclusive communities through
presentations at numerous conferences from the perspective
of a person with a physical disability and as an
augmentative communication user.