Chairperson: Vic Stone
Vic has been a relentless advocate for his 13-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 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.
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.
Secretary: Joanne Vinet, Secretary
Inclusion has always been a big part of Joanne’s philosophy as a front-line ECE, a director and as her students can attest; as Professeure Éducation de la jeune enfance at École technique et professionnelle, Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, in Winnipeg Manitoba. Joanne notes that she has been fortunate to be a part of the Community Living MB’s Child Care Inclusion Committee where she has the privilege of working alongside some very talented members of the child care field who share the passion and the drive to keep pushing towards quality enhancement and inclusion in the child care sector. Through this committee, she participated in the planning of SpeciaLink’s National Symposium that was held at the UW in 2008. Joanne is committed to being of assistance to Trait d’union in reaching out to the Francophone community across Canada as French is her first language.
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.
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.
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.
Donna S. Lero
Donna is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph and holds the Jarislowsky Chair in Families and Work. She directs a program of research on public policy, workplace practice and community supports in the University’s Centre for Families, Work and Well-Being, which she co-founded. The Centre is an interdisciplinary research centre that provides an important focus for faculty and students with shared interests in various aspects of work-life. The Centre’s mission is to use research and teaching expertise to promote individual and family well-being, responsive and productive work environments, and strong, sustainable communities.
Dr. Lero teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Social Policy. She has been involved in Canadian research and policy analysis on work and family issues in a variety of areas, including child care, support for parents of children with disabilities, parental leave, self-employment for women, and work and elder care. She is the author of over 50 book chapters, articles and government reports.
In the last two years, Donna has developed an inventory of policies that affect fathers for the Father Involvement Research Alliance (FIRA) project, co-edited TheHandbook of Work-Family Integration: Research, Theories, and Best Practices and has worked with Sharon Hope Irwin on evaluating the Partnership for Inclusion model for promoting high quality, inclusive child care. Her current work includes research on the validation of the SpeciaLink Inclusion Principles and Practices scales .
Dixie Lee Mitchell
Dixie is
from Fredericton, NB has worked in early learning and childcare since 1986 when she was the Director of an inclusive child care centre. She is the early childhood consultant for NB Association for Community Living and for the last 8 years has coordinated the Opening the Door to Quality Child care and Development project. The staff of this project works with early learning and child care staff throughout the province of NB to increase their global quality and to enhance their capacity to include all children. Opening the Door staff also implement SpeciaLink’s Early Childhood Inclusion Quality Scale in all regions of the province and consider it one of their important tools to enhance inclusion capacity within centres. Dixie operates her own business, Solution Path, through which she conducts her early childhood work in First Nation Communities and other professional development ventures. Dixie has been the co-author of two bilingual inclusion training guides including Each Child Matters, which was produced by NBACL 1.5 years ago. She also co-developed for NBACL and Mawiw Council, a Social Inclusion Tool Kit for Families, which was funded by the federal government and is being used in many First Nation communities across Canada.
SpeciaLink: The National Centre for Child Care Inclusion
76 Cottage Road,
Sydney, NS B1P 2C7
Phone (902) 562-1662
FAX (902) 539-9117
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