Board of Directors

Chief Barry V. King, O.O.M. (Chair)
David Nicholson (Vice Chair)
Anne M. Lavack, Ph.D. (Treasurer)
Beverley Clarke (Secretary)

Members-at-Large:
Normand (Rusty) Beauchesne
Leonard Blumenthal, LL.D. (Honorary)
Mike DeGagné
Jean T. Fournier
Heather Hodgson-Schleich
Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr., O.B.C., LL.D. (Honorary)
A.J. (Bert) Liston
R.A. (Sandy) Morrison

Ex-Officio Board Members:

Michel Perron
Morris Rosenberg
Suzanne Hurtubise

Normand (Rusty) Beauchesne (Ontario)

Rusty Beauchesne is a part-time member of the National Parole Board of Canada (Ontario Region) following his appointment in 2002. During his career, he worked as an officer and detective with the Toronto Police Service. Following completion of a law degree, he articled at the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario and spent a year at the City of Toronto Legal Department before returning to the Toronto Police Service. He was appointed as civilian legal advisor to the Toronto police in 1989 and provided legal advice to the Chief of Police and other members of the Service. He then became the Director of the Legal Services Unit and served in that capacity until his retirement in January 2002.

Mr. Beauchesne has been a member of the CCSA Board since 2003 and is a member of the Nominations and Governance Committee and the Audit Committee. He is also a member of numerous community and charitable organizations. He is a Life Member of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He currently sits as a Trustee of Lakeridge Health Corporation, which oversees the administration of four hospitals in the Durham Region. He is also a member of the Federal Minister of Health's Stakeholders Committee on the Medicinal Use of Marihuana.

Mr. Beauchesne studied Pharmacology at the University of Toronto and obtained his licence as a Funeral Director before obtaining a degree in Law from Osgoode Hall.

Leonard Blumenthal, LL.D. (Honorary) (Alberta)

Leonard Blumenthal has 39 years of experience in the field of addictions.  As CEO of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC), he was responsible for developing and delivering the total spectrum of treatment, prevention, and education services dealing with alcohol, drug, and gambling issues and problems throughout Alberta.  He is currently the Chair and a Class A Trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Board, and a Director of Capital Health Authority in Edmonton.

A CCSA Board member since 2000, Dr. Blumenthal is also a member of the Finance Committee. He has served on many UN/WHO/ILO expert committees, acted as an external evaluator for UNDCP, and participated in numerous working groups and task forces within Canada and abroad.  He was Canada's expert at the Government Experts Group (GEG) for the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) for the Inter-American Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States (OAS) from 1999 through 2003. He has and continues to receive many honours from a wide variety of sources.  His awards include an Eagle Feather for wisdom, bravery, and courage from the Nechi Institute. He was also presented with CCSA's national award of excellence in 1993 and a commendation from Canada for outstanding contributions to all phases of Canada's Drug Strategy.

In 2000, the University of Lethbridge presented Dr. Blumenthal with an LL.D., honoris causa.  He is an honorary Life Member of the Canadian Society of Addictions Medicine.

Beverley Clarke (Newfoundland)

Ms. Clarke is the Chief Operating Officer for Community, Children and Mental Health/Addictions Services, and Executive Officer of Health and Community Services for the St. John's region in the new Regional Integrated Health Authority-Eastern Health, Newfoundland and Labrador. Prior to this position she was the CEO for Health and Community Services-St. John's. She has also held various senior posts within the Department of Health and Community Services, including Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy and Planning (2000-2002) and ADM of Community Health (1998-2000). She was formerly Director of Addictions Services with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Beverley Clarke has been a CCSA Board member since 2003 and is a member of the Executive Committee. From December 2003 to June 2004, Ms. Clarke also was the Chair of the OxyContin Task Force in Newfoundland and Labrador, which presented a comprehensive report to government on this important addictions issue.

Ms. Clarke obtained her Master of Social Work at Carleton University in Ottawa and was a part-time lecturer at the School of Social Work at Memorial University.

Mike DeGagné (Ontario)

Mike DeGagné has been active nationally and internationally in the area of addictions and First Nations issues for the past 20 years. He is currently the founding Executive Director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. He has previously worked with provincial, federal, and non-governmental departments and organizations in the health field. Before joining the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, he held key positions with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, Health Canada, and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. Mr. DeGagné served as Senior Negotiator for the Federal Government in its negotiations of the Labrador Inuit Association Comprehensive Claim.

Active in volunteer efforts, Mr. DeGagné is a current Board Director of the Child Welfare League of Canada, the Michigan State University College of Education Alumni Association, and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ottawa's Queensway-Carleton Hospital.

Mr. DeGagné holds a Master's degree in Health Administration, and a Ph.D. focusing on First Nations post-secondary education.

Jean T. Fournier (Ontario)

Mr. Jean T. Fournier became Canada's first Senate Ethics Officer in April, 2005, following a distinguished career in the Federal Public Service. He joined Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1968 and held a number of positions there, including Executive Director of the Office of the Native Claims, which he was responsible for establishing. He has also served as an Assistant Deputy Minister in the Departments of Communications and Finance, as Under Secretary of State and a member of the Advisory Council of the Order of Canada, as Executive Director of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and as Deputy Solicitor General. In this last position, he served as Chair of the Organization of American States' 34 member state committee on drugs. In 2000, Mr. Fournier was appointed Canada's High Commissioner to the Commonwealth of Australia.

Mr. Fournier is a past member of the Boards of Directors of the Canadian Arctic Producers and Canadian Arctic Cooperative, Telesat Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Public Service Management Insurance Plan  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Vanier Institute of the Family.

Mr. Fournier graduated from Stanislas College in Montreal and earned a bachelor's degree in Economics at Queen's University and master's degree in Economics at Laval University.

Heather Hodgson-Schleich (Ontario)

Mrs. Hodgson-Schleich has 17 years of police experience, 10 years of teaching experience at the community college level and is currently a consultant for the Council on Drug Abuse. She has been involved in the drug, alcohol and impaired driving education field since 1981.  In addition to this role, she is the proprietor of a tourist attraction featuring a critter village and story centre. As a police officer, she assisted in the development of the Drug Abuse Prevention Training Officers Course (DAPTOC) for the Canadian Police College and was involved in the development and implementation of many other training initiatives. She presented a paper entitled The Role of Police in Drug Education in Ontario...There is Something We Can Do in Berlin in 1990 as well as in the United States and Canada.

A member of the CCSA Board since 2000, Mrs. Hodgson-Schleich is also a member of the Nominations and Governance Committee and the Audit Committee. She is a member of the Grey Bruce FOCUS Coalition. She has received several awards for her service, from organizations such as the Solicitor General of Ontario, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, several police services and from the community.

Mrs. Hodgson-Schleich has a B.A. from York University and is currently working on a Master of Distance Education from Athabasca University. She is the author of a widely used textbook, Community Policing: Working Together to Build Safe Communities, and a series of programs on drug awareness and bullying awareness under the umbrella title of "Living Life".

Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr., O.B.C., LL.D. (Honorary) (British Columbia)

Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr. is the founder of the Kaiser Foundation and Chairman/CEO of Kaiser Resources. Mr. Kaiser is currently Chairman Emeritus of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a member of the Board of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Addictions Research of BC at the University of Victoria.  He was also Vice-Chairman Emeritus of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.  Previous government appointments include that of Chairman of the Royal Commission on Education Reform for the province of British Columbia. His broad business experience includes being former Chairman/CEO of both the Bank of BC and Kaiser Steel Corp., as well as a former Director of the Toronto Dominion Bank.

He was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of British Columbia in June 2005, and was awarded the Order of British Columbia in June 2003. The Kaiser Foundation was awarded the Medallion of Distinction of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in 1993.
  
A CCSA Board member since 2002, Mr. Kaiser is the Chair of the Audit Committee and is also a member of the Nominations and Governance Committee.

Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr. is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Business School.

Chief Barry V. King, O.O.M., Chair (Ontario)

Chief King's 45-year career includes 19 years as Chief of Police in the cities of Brockville and Sault Ste. Marie, 18 years with Peel Regional Police (Superintendent) and service with the Ontario Provincial Police and the Canadian Forces Military Police.

Chair of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse since 2001, he is a member of the Executive Committee. Chief King is also Chair of the Board of the St Lawrence College Police Foundation, Board member of the Safe Community Foundation of Canada, the National Steering Committee of Youth Asset Building Champions-Canada, and Lead Team of "Every Kid in our Communities of Leeds and Grenville". Chief King co-chairs the Safe Community Coalition of Brockville and District. He was directly responsible for Brockville's accreditation by the World Health Organization as the first "Designated Safe Community" in Ontario, second in Canada and fourth in North America in 2001. Chief King is also Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and served for 12 years as Chair of the CACP Drug Abuse Committee. He is co-founder of Canada's Health, Education and Enforcement in Partnership (HEP) network, which is a key component of CCSA's mandate through Canada's renewed Drug Strategy.

In 2003, Chief King was appointed an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces by Her Excellency the Governor General of Canada. Chief King is also a recipient of the Ontario Medal for Police Bravery and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, and was decorated with the "Order of the Grand Master" by the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus for his leadership in mentoring Chaussy, Belarus to establish a Safe Community Partnership and for his assistance to their Police and Fire Services. In addition, he is the recipient of both Canadian and Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Service Awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Advancement of Law Enforcement, and the Addiction Research Foundation (Ontario) Community Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Development of Youth Drug and Alcohol Educational Programs in Canada. He is also a recipient of the YMCA-YWCA 2001 Canada Peace Medal and Ontario's Crime Control Commission 2002 Award of Excellence.

Chief King graduated from the 128th session of the FBI National Academy, the FBI LEEDA Executive Program, the Canadian and Ontario Police Colleges, Humber College of Applied Arts,  the Queen's University Community Policing Management Program, and Queen's School of Business - Executive Development Centre - "Queen's Fundamentals of Governance" Program. He attended Northwestern and Wilfrid Laurier Universities and was also awarded the St. Lawrence College Board of Governors 2002 Honorary Diploma.

Anne M. Lavack, Ph.D. (Saskatchewan)

Dr. Anne Lavack is Associate Dean and Director of the Levene Graduate School of Business at the University of Regina. She has previously taught at the University of Winnipeg, Concordia University in Montreal, and Bond University in Australia. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Lavack worked in the advertising field for more than 10 years where she coordinated numerous tobacco, alcohol, and drug campaigns for Health Canada and other organizations. Her Ph.D. thesis examined the use of fear appeals in social marketing advertising campaigns directed at tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse. Her current research focuses on tobacco denormalization.

A member of the CCSA Board since 2002, Dr. Lavack is a member of the Executive and Finance committees. She has previously served on the Board of Directors for organizations such as Literacy Partners of Manitoba, the University of British Columbia Alumni Association, the Advertising Association of Winnipeg, the SAM Awards for Advertising Excellence in Western Canada, and the Manitoba Youth Hostelling Association.

Dr. Lavack has of a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Toronto (1984) an M.B.A. from the University of Manitoba (1988) and a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of British Columbia (1997).

A.J. (Bert) Liston (Ontario)

Since 1993, Bert Liston has been president of A.J. Liston & Associates Ltd., providing consulting services to the pharmaceutical, medical device and food industries on regulatory issues.  Prior to that time, he was Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Protection Branch, stewarding regulatory programs governing the sale of food, food additives, novel foods, drugs, medical devices, diagnostic kits, radiation emitting devices, pesticides, and programs involving environmental chemicals and water quality.

Dr. Liston has been a member of the CCSA Board since 2000 and is a member of the Finance Committee. He is past-President of the Senior Citizens Council of Ottawa. He has also been past-President of his Community Association and was active in the CNIB. He is a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada and a former member of the Board of the National Institute of Nutrition. He has lectured at Queens University on policy making in the federal public service.

He received a B.Sc. from St. Patrick's College, his M.Sc. from the University of Ottawa and a Ph.D. from the University of Montreal. Dr. Liston also followed post-doctoral study at the University of Michigan in pharmacology. 

R.A. (Sandy) Morrison (Ontario)

Sandy Morrison is Chair of the Board of Directors of NAV Canada, a privately owned, not-for-profit air navigation provider set up in 1995 to take over responsibility for air traffic control services throughout Canada and in the international airspace assigned to Canada. Mr. Morrison is also President of Sakamor & Associates Inc., a consulting and business services firm specializing in government relations, charitable fundraising, and event planning.

He joined NAV Canada in 2004 after a long career with the Brewers Association of Canada, most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer. Among his many achievements there, he developed, executed and managed the brewing industry's "Responsible Use" programs promoting the moderate use of alcoholic beverages. It was also during his tenure that the Brewers joined forces with other beverage alcohol industry representatives and Health Canada to fund CCSA's Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Information and Consultation Service. Mr. Morrison also served as Vice-President, Government Relations and Corporate Communications with Air Canada between 1991 and 1995.

Mr. Morrison has been a member of the CCSA Board since 2004. He is also past-chairman and director of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, and past-chairman and member of the Board of Trustees of the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation in Baltimore, MD.

David Nicholson (Prince Edward Island)

Mr. Nicholson retired from the Public Service of Canada as Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs Canada, President of The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and President of Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation in 1999. He is currently employed as a private consultant on federal-provincial affairs. Between 1985 and 1989, Mr. Nicholson was Assistant Deputy Minister of the Medical Services Branch of Health and Welfare where he had responsibility for the delivery of Indian and Northern Health Services, including the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program.

David Nicholson has been a member of the CCSA Board of Directors since 2000 and is currently Vice-Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Nominations and Governance Committee.  Mr. Nicholson was awarded the Public Service of Canada Outstanding Achievement Award. He is past-President of the Charlottetown Club, past-President of the College Of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada, and a past member of the Board of the Fathers of Confederation Trust.