FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting - Governance

FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting is a non-profit watchdog group for Canadian programming in the audio-visual system. FRIENDS is not affiliated with any broadcaster or political party. An important part of FRIENDS’ mission is advocacy – in support of Canadian content on radio and television. Consequently, FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting is not a charitable organization and donations are not tax deductible.

Stewardship of FRIENDS’ work falls to our Steering Committee. To keep operating costs to an absolute minimum, FRIENDS operates without any traditional infrastructure – there are no full-time or part-time staff and no “headquarters.” The Steering Committee establishes and oversees a work plan through a combination of in-person meetings and teleconference calls. Support services are secured from independent contractors. FRIENDS enjoys the ongoing support of an Advisory Board.

Read on for more information about our spokesperson and the members of our Steering Committee and Advisory Board.

Ian Morrison is FRIENDS' spokesperson. As the former Executive Director of the Canadian Association for Adult Education (CAAE), Ian was instrumental in the creation of Friends in 1985. He is a member of FRIENDS’ Steering Committee and represents FRIENDS with the media and in public presentations, such as CRTC hearings. Prior to his work with CAAE, he served as President of the Frontier College.

You can contact Ian by emailing him at friends@friends.ca. A higher-resolution photo of Ian can be downloaded here.

- Ian Morrison, chairing a candidates meeting on Canadian ownership of media during the federal by-election in Vancouver Quadra, March 7, 2008

 

Noreen Golfman is a professor of Film and English at Memorial University of Newfoundland. A founding member of the International Women’s Festival, she has previously been the president of the Association of Community College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) and vice-chairperson of the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation.  She also sits on the board of directors of Newfoundland’s Resource Centre for the Arts and on the editorial board of Topia, a Canadian journal of cultural studies. She is the author of several essays and volumes on Canadian literary criticism, and is an editorial consultant for the scholarly journal Essays on Canadian Writing.

 

Patrick Flanagan is the Youth Advocate with the Department of Public Safety in New Brunswick. He has held prior executive positions in the not-for-profit and private sectors, working with at-risk youth, social housing and labour market programs. He has lectured in social policy at the University of New Brunswick, and maintains a consulting practice in social policy research, program evaluation and organizational change. Patrick holds an MA in the social sciences from the University of New Brunswick, and has undertaken further studies at McGill and at the University of Stockholm. 

Michael Garvey, a chartered accountant, has served as Chair of the Boards of The Donwood Institute, the University of Waterloo, The Michener Institute of Applied Health Sciences and The Friends of Ontario Universities. He has sat on the Boards of the Canadian Association for Adult Education, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and The Canadian Club of Toronto. He is currently a Board member of the World Wildlife Fund Canada and two public companies.

Mark Goldman is a musician, composer, communications and marketing specialist who has worked in broadcasting and the cultural industries for more than 30 years. He has produced and recorded some of Canada's best talent in the fields of jazz, pop, folk, rock and classical music and has garnered awards for his work including several Canadian Music Council Awards, a Juno, a Canadian Independent Record Association Award, and one from the New York International Film Festival.  He is the president of Polymedia Consultants Inc., a Montreal-based company.

Tom Hockin is the former President and CEO of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada. From 1984 to 1993 he served as the Member of Parliament for London West, and served consecutively as co-chair of the Special Joint Committee on Canadian international Relations; Minister of State, Finance; Minister of State, Small Business & Tourism; Minister of Science; and Minister of International Trade. He has taught at York University and the University of Western Ontario, and served as Headmaster of St. Andrew's College and as President of Sotheby's Canada.

Stephen Kimber is an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster who has written five non-fiction books, most recently Sailors, Slackers and Blind Pigs: Halifax at War (2002). His work has appeared in most major Canadian publications, including Canadian Geographic, Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail and Chatelaine. He has also been a producer for CTV and a producer, writer, editor and host for several CBC television and radio programs, including Rough Cuts and Sunday Morning. He has taught journalism at the University of King’s College since 1983 and has been the school’s director since 1996.

Mary Pat MacKinnon is Director, Public Involvement Network, for the Canadian Policy Research Network.  She was formerly Director of Government Affairs and Policy at the Canadian Co-operative Association/Credit Union Central of Canada, and has also been Social and Economic Policy Consultant with the Social Planning Council of Ottawa, Planner at the Department of Development in the Government of Nova Scotia, and Research Associate to the Pepin-Robarts Task Force on National Unity.

Ian Morrison is FRIENDS' spokesperson. 

Walter Pitman has been a Member of Parliament and a Member of the Ontario Legislature. He has also been the Dean of Arts and Science at Trent University and the president of Ryerson University, as well as the director of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the director of the Ontario Arts Council. He has been president of Canadian Civil Liberties and the Canadian Association of Adult Education, and sits on the National Advisory Board of Fair Vote Canada. He has received honourary degrees from several universities for his public service and volunteer work, and is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of Ontario.

Maggie Siggins has been a magazine writer, political columnist, television producer and professor. She won a Southam Fellowship in 1974 and began teaching journalism after winning the University of Regina’s Max Bell Chair in Journalism in 1983. She was awarded the Arthur Ellis Crime Writers of Canada Award for A Canadian Tragedy: JoAnn and Colin Thatcher, which was subsequently made into the popular CBC miniseries Love and Hate. She was also awarded a Governor General’s Award for her 1992 non-fiction book, Revenge of the Land, which has also been adapted for television. She has been involved with the Writers' Union of Canada, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, and the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Industry Association.

R.H. Thomson trained at the National Theatre School of Canada and in England and has won Genie, Gemini and Dora Mavor Moore Awards for his work in film, television and on the stage. His directing credits include productions for CanStage’s Dream in High Park, Bard on the Beach in Vancouver, the Belfry Theatre, the Great Canadian Theatre Company, Theatre New Brunswick and Theatre Calgary. On television, he is recognized for his critically acclaimed roles as Dr. Frederick Banting in Glory Enough for All and as Jasper Dale in The Road to Avonlea. He is co-artistic director and co-founder of ShakespeareWorks, a theatre and education company dedicated to the works of William Shakespeare.

The following individuals have been very supportive of FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting and serve on our Advisory Council:

Gretchen Brewin
Anna Cameron
Pauline Couture
Gordon Cressy
Anne Ironside
Janis Johnson
Ken Kirkby
Marcia McClung
Teresa MacNeil
Farley Mowat
Frank Peers
Susan Rubes
Paul Siren
Mary Sparling
Sylvia Sweeney
Lois Wilson