Chairperson: Vic Stone
Vic has been a relentless advocate for his 11-year old son who
has ADHD, Tourette’s, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and
Autism Spectrum Disorder, successfully advocating government,
school boards, the child care system and provincial agencies
for fundamentally necessary supports, that will provide him
with equal opportunities that most other children can take for
granted. Vic presently works as a Certified Relationship Development
Consultant and helps families who have children on the Autism
Spectrum with ASD remediation.
Vic has been involved in the Autism community and brought Relationship
Development Intervention (RDI) to Manitoba by organizing two
successful training events attended by over 600 parents and
professionals headlined by Dr. Gutstein. Vic is a board member
for the Independent Living Resource Centre of Winnipeg and embraces
the Independent Living philosophy which asserts that everyone
is entitled to live as independently as possible and that even
the most severe and profoundly disabled individuals should be
enabled to exercise maximum control over their lives. Vic has
done graduate work in Spanish/English translation and volunteered
for new Canadian programs with the International Centre and
the University of Manitoba. As a parent of a child with disabilities
Vic is a passionate believer in SpeciaLink’s goal to expand
the quality and quantity of opportunities for inclusion in child
care, as fundamental right to which all Canadian families are
entitled.
Secretary: Hubert
Fenton-Smedts
Hubert Fenton-Smedts is an Early Childhood Educator with 20+
years experience. For the past 17 years he has been the Director
of Kid Gloves Day Care Inc., in Winnipeg, a 50 space work-site
centre which welcomes all children and families. Hubert has
been involved in advocacy for children and families with additional
support needs for many years. Hubert has many years of experience
in teaching adults including various workshops and college level
training as well Hubert has been involved in the local childcare
community including membership on a wide variety of committees,
groups, coalitions, etc. In 2006, Hubert was awarded a President’s
Award for Leadership in Early Childhood Education, by Community
Living Manitoba, in recognition of his work to promote more
inclusive practice in Manitoba’s child care system.
Vice Chair: Dr. Phil Baker
Phil is Director of the University of Winnipeg Bachelor of Education
Access Program, which provides opportunities and supports to
residents of Winnipeg's inner city, as well as to single parents,
mature students and immigrants and Director of the Community-based
Aboriginal Teacher Education Program at UW. He has been a teacher,
principal, and special education coordinator and has taught
for all three of Manitoba's universities. He was the developer
of UW's innovative Education Assistant Diploma Program where
he has taught for over 20 years. Phil's areas of interest are
special education, gifted and talented children, and children
and youth at risk.
Treasurer: Reg Malanchuk
Reg Malanchuk is a Chartered Management Accountant with Hemenway
Silver Chartered Accountants in Winnipeg. He serves as the inaugural
Independent Trustee of Sapotaweyek Cree Nation’s Treaty
Land Entitlement Framework Agreement and has been associated
with the Band, located in northwest central Manitoba, since
1994. His connection to the disability community is long standing;
with the Manitoba Marathon which raises money to support Manitobans
who live with an intellectual disability since it’s founding
in 1979 until 1991; and as the Treasurer for Community Living
Manitoba since 1980. Reg now acts as a liaison between SpeciaLink
and our community partner and serves as our Treasurer too. Reg
says he is a good curler and wants to be as good a golfer and
loves to spend time with his family at his cottage at the Lake
of the Woods in Ontario.
Executive Director: Debra Mayer
Debra assumed the role of Director of SpeciaLink, the National
Centre for Child Care Inclusion, April 1 2007 after 1.5 years
as project manager for the organization and several years as
a volunteer board member. She helped negotiate the transition
from SpeciaLink from Nova Scotia to its new home at the University
of Winnipeg, where she teaches inclusion and management and
leadership courses for the university’s early childhood
degree program. Since 2000, Debra has been the early childhood
consultant for Community Living-Manitoba but has also worked
for the YWCA Canada, Manitoba Child Care Association and the
Manitoba Government. She began her career as a front line ECE
and director, and as a nursery school teacher in an assessment
and therapeutic program at Winnipeg’s Children’s
Hospital. Debra was Chairperson of the Child Care Advocacy Association
of Canada from 2004-2006, an executive committee member of the
Child Care Human Resource Round Table (now Sector Council) and
a board member for the Canadian Child Day Care Federation.
Debra is the granddaughter of a remarkable woman who fought
back against society’s pressure to institutionalize her
son (Debra’s uncle) when he was diagnosed with mental
retardation as a young child at a time long before welfare,
community living, inclusive child care or school. Although much
later he did in fact become a resident at Manitoba’s institution,
he was always an important part of the family and this story
and his presence in her life had a profound impact on her values
and beliefs. Debra is the mother of three young men, who went
through the preschool and school age child care systems. She
has a MA in Integrated Systems/Community Studies from Athabasca
University.
Members at large:
Ruth Bancroft
Ruth has worked in child care for over 30 years. Since 1978,
she has been the Director of the Langara Child Development Centre,
which is an inclusive campus child care program serving 62 children
from 18 months to 5 years of age and their families. Ruth has
been involved in the development of Supported Child Care in
Vancouver from its inception and is a member of the Vancouver
Local Advisory Committee to the Supported Child Development
Program. She is also on the Board of the Coalition of Child
Care Advocates of BC. Ruth is very excited about returning to
the SpeciaLink Board and adding her voice to those who advocate
for a quality inclusive child care system.
Mary-Anne Bédard
An early childhood educator for over 20 years, Mary-Anne Bédard
has worked with children of all ages in child care, provincial
advocacy, developmental services and taught at the community
college level. Mary-Anne joined the Toronto Children's Services
team four years ago, where she now manages the Special Services
Unit focusing on Inclusion and child care quality. Under her
leadership, supports for children with special needs in child
care has risen to the forefront of child care policy and access
to community child care has been enhanced for hundreds of children
with extra support needs.
Margaret Burke
Margaret has worked in child care for over twenty-five years.
Since 1994, she has been the Director of the Town Daycare Centre
in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, which is an inclusive child care
program serving 94 children from 18 months to 12 years of age
and their families. Margaret has been involved in the development
of the Cape Breton Non-Profit Directors group, and has recently
been part of the federal consultation on the child care spaces
initiative. Margaret has also been a member of the Board of
Directors of SpeciaLink for the past ten years and looks forward
to continuing this role as the SpeciaLink Centre moves to Winnipeg.
Shirley Chernin
Shirley has been involved in child care since 1975, when she
and two colleagues at the Citizen’s Service League in
Glace Bay decided that their town needed a child care centre.
As the first chairperson of the Town Daycare Centre (1977-1985),
Shirley brought her broad range of community, provincial and
federal contacts into play as the centre moved from the second
floor of a United Church manse into a large renovated-for-purpose
building that enrolled 94 children. Among her many volunteer
activities, she also became chairperson of SpeciaLink in 1992,
a position she has held until the move, in 2007, to Winnipeg.
Tracey Law
Tracey graduated from Mount Allison University with a Bachelor
of Science Degree in Child Development where she focused on
exceptional learners (children with disabilities). As a teenager
she volunteered at a local institution for children with disabilities
and moved on to her role at the Preschool Centre in Fredericton,
NB (the largest integrated child care centre in the Maritimes)
as a "Special Needs Coordinator". After 2.5 years
she was asked by the Board of Directors, to temporarily assume
the role of Administrator until another candidate could be found.
Seventeen years later, the Preschool Centre has grown from one
integrated, parent-directed, non-profit charitable, cooperative
child care centre, to four centres that provide integrated services
for 400+ families in the Fredericton area with a staff of 80+.
Tracey has been a board member with Fredericton Early Intervention,
on the Premiers Council for the Disabled and has facilitated
a number of courses on Integration at University of New Brunswick,
Family and Community Services and School District 18. Tracey
worked with Special Link for a year, as a parent advisor. Tracey
has four children of her own and the eldest stepson, now 25,
has global delays.
SpeciaLink-the National Centre for
Child Care Inclusion
University of Winnipeg, 2E22-515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB,
R3B 2E9
Phone: (204) 258-2901 · Toll Free: 1-866-902-6333 ·
Fax: (204) 786-7803
info@specialinkcanada.org
© 2004 SpeciaLink. All rights reserved.
Webmaster: FADERCommunications
