The Ministerial Council On HIV/AIDS

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Annual Report April 1, 2003 - March 31, 2004

Appendix 2: Members of the Ministerial Council on HIV/AIDS

CO-CHAIRS

Louise Binder
Louise Binder, a retired lawyer, is Chair of the Canadian Treatment Advocates Council, Chair of Voices of Positive Women and a member of the board of the Wellesley Central Health Corporation. She is a member of the University of Toronto's HIV/AIDS Human Subjects Review Committee, the Canadian Trials Network Community Advisory Board and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network Treatment Committee and a former board member of the HIV/AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario. Ms. Binder was the recipient of the YWCA of Metropolitan Toronto's 1999 Women of Distinction award for social action and of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for volunteerism in 2002. Ms. Binder received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Queens University in October 2001.

Lindy Samson
Dr. Lindy Samson is a pediatric infectious disease specialist and HIV physician at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa. She is Director of the CHEO HIV clinic and is a strong advocate for mothers and children dealing with HIV infection. Dr. Samson has participated in studies and programs that have led to the early recognition of HIV in pregnancy and the peripartum management of HIV to prevent infection of children. She is Chair of the Canadian Pediatric AIDS Research Group.

MEMBERS

Margaret Dykeman
Dr. Margaret Dykeman has been working in HIV/AIDS in various capacities for more than 10 years as a nurse practitioner, researcher, community representative and advocate. She is an Associate Professor in the University of New Brunswick's Faculty of Nursing. Dr. Dykeman is President of AIDS New Brunswick, the provincial HIV/AIDS organization. She has broad experience and knowledge of the injection drug user population which is one of the most vulnerable to HIV infection.

Richard Elliott
Richard Elliott, a lawyer formerly in private practice, is Director of Policy and Research for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. The Legal Network is a non-governmental organization working on HIV/AIDS and human rights issues. The Legal Network is a partner organization of the AIDS Law Project, South Africa and has Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Mr. Elliott has written numerous papers and articles on legal and human rights issues relating to HIV/AIDS, and has presented to community groups and national and international conferences. He has been active with a variety of community organizations addressing HIV and human rights issues and helped found the Global Treatment Action Group, a working group of Canadian civil society organizations engaged in collaborative advocacy to realize the human right to health. Mr. Elliott served as rapporteur for the Third International Consultation on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights that revised the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.

Dionne A. Falconer
Dionne A. Falconer has extensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS issues through her involvement with community-based AIDS service organizations since the late 1980s. She is Managing Director of her own consulting firm in Toronto and works nationally and internationally on HIV/AIDS, health and social issues. Her previous staff positions include Clinical Director of Lawrence Heights Community Health Centre, Interim Executive Director of Access Alliance Multicultural Community Health Centre and Executive Director of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP). Ms. Falconer has many years of active community service and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario AIDS Network and the Canadian AIDS Society. She is Past President of the Board of Directors for the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development. Ms. Falconer holds a Master of Health Science degree in Health Administration.

William Flanagan (term ended in September 2003)
William Flanagan is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law of Queen's University and Executive Director of the Canada AIDS Russia Project, an HIV/AIDS research and training project in Russia sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency. He has published numerous HIV/AIDS legal articles and has been actively involved in HIV/AIDS community and legal issues for many years. He has served as Chair of the Board of the AIDS Committee of Toronto and as a board member of the HIV/AIDS Legal Clinic of Ontario.

Jacqueline Gahagan
Jacqueline C. Gahagan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Health and Human Performance of Dalhousie University. She holds cross appointments in Community Health and Epidemiology, Women's Studies, and Nursing at Dalhousie University. Dr. Gahagan is a Research Associate at the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women's Health where she leads the development of the research arm of the proposed International Institute on Gender-Mainstreaming and HIV/AIDS. She serves as a Commissioner on the Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS and was a member of the National Reference Group on Women and HIV/AIDS. Dr. Gahagan has extensive research experience in the field of HIV and gender. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in program planning, measurement and evaluation and community health promotion strategies. Her current research studies include: HIV and Hepatitis C prevention, care, treatment and support needs of women in federal prisons; HIV prevention education needs of young heterosexual males; and the impact of unpaid caregiving on women's health.

Sholom Glouberman (term ended in September 2003)
Sholom Glouberman is Philosopher in Residence at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Associate Scientist at the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. He holds a BA from McGill University and a PhD in Philosophy from Cornell University. For the past 25 years Dr. Glouberman has applied philosophical methods and conceptual analysis to organizations and systems. In recent years, he has focused increasingly on the notoriously intractable area of health and health care as the single most challenging and little-charted frontier. Dr. Glouberman recently completed a major policy research effort, A Toolbox for Improving Health in Cities, which presents and tests ways of intervening in complex systems.

Michael Grant
Dr. Michael Grant has been involved in the basic science of HIV/AIDS research since 1987. He trained in Vancouver and Hamilton and is now an Associate Professor of Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr. Grant has been a member of the Canadian Association of HIV Research since its inception and was a National Health AIDS Scholar from 1996-2002. He holds grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) research and is a Canada Foundation for Innovation Researcher.

Marie Anésie Harérimana
Marie Anésie Harérimana is Executive Director of the Centre de resources et d'interventions en santé et sexualité (CRISS), a Montreal community agency whose primary mission is to provide support to women living with HIV/AIDS and their loved ones. She is an important spokesperson on the problems of countries where HIV is endemic, and especially the problems of African communities and women in Quebec. Ms. Harérimana coordinates the publication by CRISS of the Quebec newsletter De tête et de coeur. In 2002 her contributions were recognized by her peers when she received a Fahra Foundation Hero award, which is presented to individuals for their outstanding service in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Quebec.

Barney Hickey (resigned in 2003)
Barney Hickey (RN, MScN, CPMHN(C)), is a registered nurse with more than 20 years of extensive experience with the populations most affected by HIV/AIDS. In 2001 he received an award of excellence in AIDS care from the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. In 2002, he received a similar award from the Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia. Mr. Hickey has been involved with the Canadian HIV/AIDS community movement since his HIV diagnosis in 1985. He has formed international ties as a result of his work with UNAIDS and international HIV/AIDS nursing groups in the United States, the United Kingdom and Africa.

René Lavoie
René Lavoie is the coordinator of the Réseau Sida/maladies infectieuses du Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec. He is former Executive Director of Séro-Zéro, a community-based HIV/AIDS prevention organization for gay men in Montreal. He is a co-researcher for the Omega Study and participates in other research on gay men. Mr. Lavoie is a long-time gay activist and founder of a number of programs for gay men. He was a member of the National Reference Group on Gay Men.

Bob Mills (deceased)
Bob Mills was a board member of both the Canadian AIDS Society and the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS North America; he was also the Canadian representative to the Global Network Board of Directors. Mr. Mills was a former board member of HIV Edmonton, the Living Positively Society and the Canadian Treatment Action Council. In 2003 he received the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and was awarded the Volunteer Medal of Merit Award by Minister McLellan for his work in HIV/AIDS. Mr. Mills died in 2003 and is greatly missed by the members of the Ministerial Council.

Ken Monteith
Ken Monteith is the Executive Director of AIDS Community Care Montréal/Sida bénévoles Montréal (ACCM). Trained as a lawyer, he worked in the community youth sector as Legal Coordinator and Executive Director of Head & Hands/À deux mains for nine years before joining ACCM in 1999. Mr. Monteith is a member of the board of the Coalition des organismes communautaires québécois de lutte contre le sida (COCQ-Sida) and is the Coalition's representation on the Canadian Treatment Action Council. He holds degrees in Industrial relations, Common and Civil Law from McGill University and was a member of the Québec Bar from 1991-2001, when he resigned to devote himself more fully to his community work in HIV/AIDS.

Anita Rachlis
Dr. Anita Rachlis is a Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, University of Toronto. She has worked in HIV/AIDS care since 1983 at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre and has been involved in clinical research in the treatment of opportunistic infections and antiretroviral therapy. Dr. Rachlis received a Council Award in 2002 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for her work in the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. She facilitated the development of the Canadian HIV Primary Care Mentorship Program and the Ontario HIV Observational Database (HOOD). Dr. Rachlis is a member of the board of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, is Associate Director for the Ontario Region of the Canadian HIV Trials Network and serves as a scientific reviewer for granting agencies. She is a member of the Ontario Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS. Dr. Rachlis is Clerkship Director of the Undergraduate Medical Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

Sheena Sargeant
Sheena Sargeant is Communications Coordinator of Positive Women's Network in Vancouver. In addition to her work with women, she spent more than four years at YouthCO AIDS Society working directly with youth to develop prevention education programming at the local, regional and international levels. Ms. Sargeant was selected as the Canadian youth representative to the 2001 UN Theme Meeting on Youth, Drugs and HIV/AIDS. She served consecutive appointments as member and Co-Chair of the British Columbia Ministry of Health Planning's HIV/AIDS Advisory Committee in 2000-2001.

Esther Tharao (term ended in September 2003)
Esther Tharao is a graduate student in the University of Toronto's Department of Public Health Sciences, Social Science and Health Program. She also works on HIV issues with Women's Health in Women's Hands in Toronto. Ms. Tharao is considered one of Canada's primary voices on issues facing countries where HIV is endemic. She has spoken on this subject at many conferences, including the annual conference of the Canadian Association for HIV Research. Ms. Tharao is a member of the Ontario Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS and the HIV Endemic Task Force. She is Co-Investigator on two HIV studies: the Polaris Seroconversion Study and the East African HIV/AIDS Study at the University of Toronto.

Art Zoccole (resigned in 2003)
Art Zoccole is a two-spirited Anishnawbe (Ojibway) from Lac Des Mille Lacs First Nation in Ontario. He has been a community-based HIV/AIDS activist since 1989. Mr. Zoccole has coordinated the Aboriginal Women and AIDS Forum, the 3rd Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS, and initiatives on related issues in Aboriginal communities. Considered one of Canada's leading voices on HIV/AIDS issues facing Aboriginal peoples, he was Coordinator of the B.C. Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Task Force from 1997-1999. Mr. Zoccole is former coordinator of British Columbia's Red Road HIV/AIDS Network Society and former Executive Director of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network. He is Executive Director of 2-Spirited People of the First Nations.

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