Introducing the 2021-25 Board of Directors
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Marc-André Fabien
President
Marc-André Fabien, one of Fasken Martineau’s most seasoned lawyers, has been involved in Paralympic sport for over 20 years as a fundraiser, board member, fan and supporter.
Fabien, based in Montreal, Que., is senior partner and has been with Fasken Martineau since 1982. He is recognized for his consummate grasp of complex litigations frequently under the media spotlight. Fabien specializes in commercial and shareholder litigation, securities-related litigation and criminal prosecution, as well as litigation involving the federal, provincial and municipal governments. He has pleaded before all levels of courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court of Appeal of Québec, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Superior Court, various administrative courts and the International Court of Arbitration for Sport. He has also lectured for the Université de Montréal’s law faculty where he taught, among other things, the art of pleading.
Fabien has been on the fundraising committees for several major sports competitions including the 1996 Para alpine world championships inLech, Austria, the 1999 International Standing Volleyball Tournament, the 2000 Para Nordic world championships in Crans Montana, Switzerland and the 2010 Para cycling world championships in Baie-Comeau, Que.
Fabien was on the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s Board of Directors from 1998 to 2006, including a term as vice-president and the Canadian Paralympic Foundation Board of Directors from 2010 to 2012 and again since 2015.
In 2013, Fabien was the honorary chairman at the very successful 2013 IPC World Championships in Para swimming, which were held in Montreal. He’s been a familiar face at numerous Paralympic Games around the world –having attended eight of them –- along with six world championships, The Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games and numerous Para sport events. In 2000, Fabien was Counsel for the Canadian Paralympic Committee before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”), 2000 Olympics in Sydney, in the matter of Chantal Petitclerc.
In 2012, the Québec Bar awarded Fabien the honorific title of Lawyer Emeritus (Advocatus Emeritus, Ad. E.), for his outstanding professional career.
Gail Hamamoto
Vice-President
Gail Hamamoto is a passionate advocate for equity in sport for athletes with a disability. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Special Olympics Canada.
Gail is the Vice-President of the Canadian Paralympic Committee and is CPC’s representative on the Board of the 2010 Games Operating Trust stewarding the financial legacy from the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Gail serves on the Board of World Wheelchair Rugby, was co-chair for the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships and chairs the Canada Cup International Wheelchair Rugby Tournament held every two years at the Richmond Olympic Oval, and previously served as the Executive Director of BC Wheelchair Sports Association, and has worked with the organization for 30 years.
She has organized multiple national and international events in wheelchair rugby, tennis, and athletics, focused on creating legacies that include increased awareness, schools programs, equipment, communications, and sport development.
Gail was the co-creator of the Bridging the Gap Program that removes barriers to participation in sport for individuals with disabilities, supporting their ongoing participation, and is currently leading the development and implementation of the Indigenous Bridging the Gap Program. Gail also serves on the Board of OneAbility, the Greater Victoria Collaborative for Adapted Sport and Physical Activity.
Gail enjoys mountain biking on the North Shore, escaping in her Airstream whenever possible, and playing hockey with an amazing group of women who are showing her the true meaning of lifelong sport!
Robert Fenton
Director & Chair, Governance Committee
Robert Fenton has been a lawyer for the Calgary Police Service for the past 16 years after practicing law with a large national law firm in Ontario for seven years. He specializes in the law of policing, corporate/commercial law, human rights and civil litigation. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1994 and the Alberta Bar in 2001.
Robert is the former President of the Canadian Blind Sports Association and a member of the Executive Board of the International Blind Sports Federation. He also serves as a member of the CNIB National Board of Directors and is a member of CNIB’s Finance and Risk Management Committee.
Robert is the Chair of CPC’s Governance Committee.
Judy Joseph-Black
Director
Born in Vancouver and raised in Port Alberni, Judy has worked in sport in a myriad of positions over the past three decades. Most recently, she worked for the BC Games Society as an Event Manager, the Provincial Government as a sport consultant, managed the national women’s soccer team, owned her own sport communications company, was the executive director for Badminton BC, and the Sports Information Director for the University of Victoria athletic department. She is currently an Event Manager for the 55+ BC Games.
A self-admitted Games junkie, she was the Assistant Press Chief for Team Canada at the 2012 and 2008 Paralympic Games; media attaché for the 2000, 2002 and 2004 Paralympic Games; Team BC Communications Manager for several Canada and Western Canada Games and a member of the communications team for both the 1994 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. She has been an advocate for accessibility, inclusion, and equity her entire career and is passionate about using the power of sport to move the dial in these areas.
She won the 1998 YMCA Women of Distinction Award for public relations and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Canada Games Council, BC Wheelchair Sports Association, and the Gabriola Island Chamber of Commerce.
Away from work, she loves walking the trails of Gabriola Island with her dog, Hooper, and enjoys playing rounds of golf with her old soccer cronies throughout the spring and summer.
Peter Lawless
Director
A respected litigator and dedicated coach with a passion for coaching and developing high performance athletes, Peter Lawless has devoted his life to the Olympic and Paralympic movement in Canada, helping athletes realize their potential and achieve their dreams.
As an athlete, a Chartered Professional Coach and an administrator, Peter believes in the power of sport to change lives. A recipient of BC’s Medal of Good Citizenship (2017) and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) Peter is a four-time winner of the National Coaching Excellence Award and was B.C.’s Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2012. Having worked with athletes and coaches at every level in sport from grassroots to high performance, Peter is one of the most respected coaches in Canadian sport. Peter’s athletes have broken 28 world records and won 15 Paralympic and World Championships medals.
Beyond sport, Peter is a well-respected litigator in the Health and Social Services Group of the Ministry of Justice and has broad experience with a wide range of litigation matters having spent more than a decade in a large Victoria, BC law firm where he was a partner. He has published articles on harassment and morality in sport and taught post-secondary courses in dispute resolution, civil procedure & drafting and ethics in sport. He is also a frequent presenter at Continuing Legal Education seminars.
David Masse
Director
David Masse is Director of Corporate Operations & Human Resources at Grand Challenges Canada, supporting Operations, Communications, IT, Legal, Administration and Finance.
David worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for 34 years. During his time at the CBC he worked in a variety of leadership roles in just about every genre of content including Movies, Variety, Documentaries, Current Affairs, Childrens, Comedy and for the last 20 years in Sports. His time in Sports included working on 11 Olympic Games, and numerous FIFA World Cups, Pan Am Games, Commonwealth Games, Paralympic Games and the iconic Hockey Night in Canada. Several of these projects have been recognized as the best in the world.
David has degrees in Communication Studies and Commerce from the University of Windsor and is currently a student at the University of Toronto in the GPLLM program Masters of Laws. David is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors for Save the Children Canada, which is a member of Save the Children International, the world’s largest independent child advocacy organization. Each summer for the last 15 years David has travelled to the Colorado Rockies to deliver courses with Outward Colorado.
Cindy Ouellet
Director
Cindy Ouellet is one of Canada’s great athlete leaders and has been one of the stalwarts on Canada’s women’s wheelchair basketball team for many years. First joining the national team in 2007, two years after being introduced to the sport by a physiotherapist, Ouellet has since represented Canada at the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 Paralympic Games, where the team’s best finish has been fifth place.
She has also competed in three world championships, winning gold in 2014 and bronze in 2010, and four Parapan Am Games (gold in 2019 and silver in 2007, 2011, and 2015). At the 2019 Parapan Am Games in Lima, she was among the tournament leaders in fouls drawn and free throws made as she helped Canada to gold and a berth in the Tokyo Paralympics.
In 2018 she became one of the world’s few athletes to compete at both a winter and summer Paralympic Games when she made her debut in PyeongChang in Para nordic skiing. A few months later, she helped Canada to fifth spot at the wheelchair basketball world championships in Hamburg.
Ouellet, who was diagnosed with bone cancer when she was 12 years old, is also working hard to make her mark for people with disabilities off the field of play. She graduated in exercise science, earned a Masters in exercise physiology, and played wheelchair basketball for the University of Alabama. She received an academic scholarship and is currently studying for a doctorate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in biomedical engineering. Her ambition is to do research for prostheses for amputees and work in neuromuscular technology and nanotechnology.
She is also an advocate for many causes such as mental health, safe sport, and LGBTQ2S+ rights, and has been open about sharing her experiences to help others.
Janet Petras
Director
Janet Petras is the Director of High Performance Programs & Administration at Tennis Canada which includes leading the Paralympic Program, Olympic Program, and Domestic national and international wheelchair, junior, and senior competitive calendars. Janet has a wealth of experience as a Senior Sport Director at Tennis Canada since 1998.
Janet was the Team Lead or Head Coach at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, 2021 Paralympic Games in London, and most recently the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Janet has been an active member of the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Committee since 2010.
Janet is a member of Tennis Canada’s Gender Equality Working Group and the CPC Paralympic Athlete Transfer Steering Committee. She has completed the Respect in Sport Programs and Gender Equity Lens Training via the Canadian Women in Sport organization. Janet is certified as a level 3 coach, has led multiple teams to World Team Cup events, and was the competition manager for the 2015 ParapanAm Games in Toronto.
Janet was elected to the Canadian Paralympic Committee Board of Directors in 2021. Janet’s involvement as an athlete, coach, official, volunteer and sport director spans more than 35 years and includes professional experience serving on committees, strategic planning and event and project management.
David Rattray
Treasurer & Chair, Finance, Audit and Risk Committee
David Rattray was an Associate Partner working as a management consultant from 2004 to 2015 and prior to that was an Assistant Auditor General of Canada for 16 years before his retirement in 2004.
David has been active in the volunteer community. He has a strong academic and experience background in Not-for-Profits in the areas of governance, finance, audit, risk management and performance management. He founded, chaired or been a key member of numerous boards. These have included Scouts Canada and its Foundation, Ottawa Christmas Cheer Foundation, Nepean Sports Wall of Fame, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Foundation, Ottawa Senators Foundation, Ottawa Children’s Treatment Center Foundation, University of Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation. David was member of the Paralympic Foundation of Canada Governance Committee and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee until March 2021.
David has a degree in Commerce from Concordia University, is a Chartered Professional Accountant/Certified General Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor and a Certified Management Consultant. He also has a designation with the Chartered Governance Institute. He holds Fellowships with both CPA Canada and CGI Canada.
David is a recipient of the Canada 125, Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals and the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers. He is a recipient of the Order of Ottawa and is a Chevalier Commander of the Order of St. George. He is an international Baden-Powell Fellow and was awarded the Paul Harris medal from Rotary International.
David serves as CPC’s Treasurer and Chair of CPC’s Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.
Michelle Stilwell
Director
Michelle Stilwell is one of Canada’s most accomplished Paralympians, attaining the rare feat of winning Paralympic gold medals in two different sports – wheelchair basketball and Para athletics. Being able to win gold medals in both a team sport and an individual sport is one of her proudest sporting achievements.
Stilwell, who became a paraplegic at age 17, was a member of the Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team that won gold at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.
Complications to her spinal cord injury resulted in her switching sports after Sydney and she took up wheelchair racing, a sport in which she would soon become a force. At her first Games as part of the Para athletics team, she raced to gold in the 100 and 200-metre races in Games record times at Beijing 2008. Four years later she collected gold and silver at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. She continued her dominance in the women’s T52 wheelchair racing sprint events with gold in the 100m and 400m at the 2016 Paralympic Games. She is also a nine-time world champion.
Even before she retired from high performance sport, Stilwell was already immersed in a successful new career as a politician. She was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly for British Columbia for Parksville-Qualicum on May 14, 2013 and was appointed Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation on February 2, 2015.
In 2017, Stilwell was re-elected MLA for Parksville-Qualicum, a role she held until 2020. She served as the Official Opposition Critic for Tourism, Arts and Culture and Deputy Chair of the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth.
She has also worked as a public speaker and advocate for people with a disability and children with special needs.
Ian Troop
Director
Ian Troop’s career is highlighted by 20 years at Procter & Gamble leading businesses in North America, Mexico and Poland, and 6 years as President of ConAgra Foods’ International Division where he built a $1.5 billion Global Food business.
Ian followed his passion for sport and was CEO of the Toronto 2015 Pan/Para Pan American Games. This organization delivered the largest sports event in Canadian history on schedule and under budget.
He has served on numerous Public and private business boards.
Ian is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University, where he was also an all-star football player, drafted professionally by the Hamilton Tiger-cats.
Ian was named the Wilfrid Laurier University Alumnus of the Year in 2009; one of Laurier’s top 100 Alumni of the past 100 years in 2011. In 2012 Ian was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for his “significant community achievements”, and in 2019 he was awarded the Sovereign’s medal for Volunteers by the Governor General of Canada.
Ian and his wife Nicole have two children.
Ellen Waxman
Director & Chair, Human Resources Committee
Ellen Waxman is an expert strategic management consultant specializing in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Possessing a unique combination of over two decades of public sector senior management with strategic consulting experience, Ellen works with organizations to meet and surpass their objectives. Ellen knows that strategy is all about making the best possible choices for the future and partners with organizations to discover those choices and to improve outcomes for their teams. A creative problem solver, Ellen takes a collaborative approach with her clients in tackling challenging issues.
Ellen has first hand knowledge in building organizations from the ground up, and in developing and assessing organizational structures. She develops strategic and operational plans in keeping with an organization’s mandate, core values and corporate business practices. She is a recognized expert in developing strategy, moving it to implementation and delivering on results.
Ellen has extensive experience working with stakeholders and facilitating inclusive meetings where everyone has the ability to access and digest information, to be heard and to participate. With almost three decades of experience leading public consultations and group facilitations, Ellen is an expert in bringing people together to find common ground.
Ellen is a collaborative and experienced strategic planner, coach, and mentor who partners with clients to achieve, and most often surpass, goals. Ellen provides customized consulting designed to support these leaders to operate strategically, authentically, and in a manner that achieves results. Ellen has consulted with leaders in government, the broader public sector and community agencies to meet organizational and personal goals.
Ellen’s public sector career largely focused on disability-related policy and programs. Ellen led the establishment of Special Needs Offices for students with disabilities across the Ontario post-secondary sector. She has been the Director of the Ontario Disability Support Program and the Director of the Ontario Government’s Developmental Services Branch, developing programs and services for people with intellectual disabilities. As well, Ellen is Ontario’s leading expert on accessibility and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). From 2007 – 2013, Ellen was the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario. She led the development of the 5 AODA standards, the establishment of the compliance system, and oversaw a multi-million dollar grants program aimed at promoting inclusion for people with disabilities.
In her addition to her consulting practice, Ellen is an experienced leadership and executive coach. Her clients include management staff and executives from the Ontario Public Service, the Yukon Public Service, the City of Toronto and community-based agencies.
Ellen is an Associated Certified Coach (ACC) of the International Coaching Federation. She holds a Master’s of Education from the University of Toronto, and completed in the Queen’s University School of Business Executive Development Program.
Ellen has been a member of the Canadian Paralympic Committee Board of Directors since 2013 and is a founding Director of the Paralympic Foundation of Canada.
Ellen is Chair of CPC’s Human Resources Committee.
Stephen Burke
Coach Director
Stephen Burke is currently the Director of Domestic Programs for Canadian Blind Sports. Prior to his role with CBSA Stephen, was a para cycling coach; working independently and for a number of organizations including the Repsol Sport Centre the CSI Calgary and the University of Calgary, Olympic Oval Cycling Centre.
As a Coaches of Canada Designated Charted Professional Coach and NCCP Level 3 certified cycling coach (road, mountain bike, track), he researches, plans, delivers, and evaluates training programs for para, youth and adult cyclists. Linkages include the Alberta Cerebral Palsy, Amputee, Blind and Spinal Cord Injured Sports Associations. Stephen is also a member of Cycling Canada’s Para Cycling Advisory Group. He also works part time for the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport as a doping control officer and is a technical classifier for the Union Cyclist International. Stephen is a board member of the Calgary Para Sport Working Group and is a past board member of Coaches of Canada.
He started his cycling coaching career in 1998 at the National Cycling Centre in Calgary where he founded the Para Cycling Program and Junior Development Programs. Athletes from these programs have represented Canada the Paralympic Games since 2004 and every Olympic Games since 2008.
Stephen was the assistant coach at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics and the Head Coach at the Athens 2004 Paralympics, he lead the Canadian Cycling Association Para Cycling Program from 2003 to 2007 and he was a member of the working group related to the New NCCP Development and the 1st Edition of the Para Cycling LTAD.
Chelsey Gotell
Member, IPC Governing Board
Chelsey Gotell is an advocate, athlete, leader, and a prominent voice within the Paralympic community. Through her position as a member-at-large on the IPC Governing Board, she also sits on the CPC Board.
A decorated Paralympian, Chelsey represented her country at three Paralympic Games – Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and Beijing 2008 – winning 12 medals in Para swimming.
Since her Paralympic career ended, she has played many different leadership roles in sport and has now been a valued and strong leader within the Paralympic Movement for many years. She worked on the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games organizing committee and is former chair of both the IPC Athletes’ Council (2017-2021) and Canadian Paralympic Athletes’ Council. She was also one of 12 members of Canada’s Working Group on Gender Equity in Sport, where she worked alongside the federal government and other esteemed sport leaders on how to address the lack of gender equity in sport participation and sport leadership in Canada.
In addition to her roles in the sport community, Chelsey is also an osteopathic manual practitioner and owns her own practice in Etobicoke, Ont.
Josh Dueck
Member, IPC Athletes' Council
Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame member Josh Dueck is a respected athlete leader throughout the global Paralympic community. As a member of the IPC Athletes’ Council, Josh also sits on the CBC Board.
As an athlete he solidified himself as a star on the Canadian Para alpine ski team in 2014 with a double medal performance at the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. Josh took gold in the super combined and silver in the downhill, and was named Canada’s flag bearer for the Closing Ceremony. In his debut Games, on home soil at Vancouver 2010, he captured a silver medal in the slalom.
He has grown his active and strong leadership in the sport community immensely since his retirement from high-performance sport. Recently, he was chef de mission for the Beijing 2022 Canadian Paralympic Team. He was also a member of the CBC broadcast team on the ground at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.
Since September 2018, he has also been executive director of Freestyle BC where he directly impacts the future of Canada’s freestyle skiers who are similarly vying for international success.
Erica Gavel
Director, Athlete representative
Erica Gavel has been passionate about basketball ever since she can remember. A star on the rise, she was a highly sought-after recruit coming out of high school and went on the play for the University of Saskatchewan women’s basketball program. However, her career was cut short after a serious knee injury forced Gavel to the sidelines.
Since taking up wheelchair basketball in 2012, she has fast tracked her way to competing for her home province and earning an athletic scholarship to the University of Alabama.
Gavel ultimately set her sights on representing Team Canada at the Paralympic Games, which she achieved in 2016. She first took a step in that direction in 2014 after seizing a full-time roster spot on the Senior Women’s National Team.
Jeremy Hall
Director, Athlete representative
When Jeremy Hall and his racing partner Jessye Brockway finished third at the last Paralympic qualification regatta in Italy in early June, they thought their dream to compete in Tokyo had evaporated, just missing out the result they needed to qualify.
But three weeks later Canada was allocated a bipartite spot for the PR2 mixed doubles sculls event, which meant Hall and Brockway had indeed earned a ticket to their first Games.
Hall competes under the PR2 classification, which is for athletes with leg injuries who can’t use the traditional sliding seats. PR2 boats have fixed seats and are propelled only by the athlete’s trunk and arms.
