Barb Byers (Executive VP – Canadian Labour Congress)

Everything you need to know about Barb Byers can be summed up in just two words: "Prairie populist". From her early years as a social worker to heading first the Saskatchewan Government Employees Union and then the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) before being elected as a CLC Executive Vice-President, Barb's life has been spent fighting for the underdog. Barb was a social worker for 17 years, addressing issues of poverty, youth unemployment, aboriginal concerns, equality for all and labour rights. Moving from the SFL to the Canadian Labour Congress in 2002, Barb is responsible for labour education; medicare and health care; workplace training and technology; employment insurance; apprenticeships; and issues of concern to women workers, workers with disabilities and gay, bi-sexual, lesbian and transgendered workers.
 

Joel Harden (Registrar)

Joel Harden is the Registrar of the Labour College of Canada, and Director of the CLC Education Department. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Labour Studies at Brock University, and was previously an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at Nipissing University. He is currently writing an article on the CLC’s “Retirement Security for Everyone” campaign.

Elaine Dumais (Senior Administrative Secretary)

Elaine Dumais is the administrative anchor of the Labour College and CLC Education Department, overseeing its daily operations. She is the first point of contact for 2011 Intensive Program students, faculty and guest speakers. Elaine is a proud member of COPE Local 225, and a member of the CLC staff for 22 years. She has served under three different CLC Presidents and worked in most aspects of the Congress’s organizational structure.

 
Morna Ballantyne (Theory and Practice of Unionism)

Morna Ballantyne is Director of the Regional Services Branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. She brings more than thirty years of union experience to the Labour College at a variety of levels: member, organizer, labour council executive member, convention delegate, national service representative, research director, director of policy development, director of organizing, director of front-line service delivery, and assistant to the National President.

Grace-Edward Galabuzi (Canadian Society: Changing Lives and Work)

Grace-Edward Galabuzi is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, and a member of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies, at Ryerson University. His current teaching areas include equity and human rights and third world politics. He has previously taught at York University (International Relations) and George Brown College (Anti-Racism; Multiculturalism; and Local Politics). In addition to his academic career, he has also worked in the Ontario government as a senior policy analyst on justice issues, and as a former provincial coordinator of the Ontario Alliance for Employment Equity. He has been involved in many community campaigns around social justice issues such as anti-racism, anti-poverty, community development, human rights, education reform, anti-poverty, and police reform. He is a frequent contributor to public debates on social justice issues in Toronto.
 

Teresa Healy (Workers in a Global World)

Teresa Healy is a Senior Researcher in the Social and Economic Policy Department at the Canadian Labour Congress. She specializes in North American integration, labour, and public sector issues. Before coming to the CLC, she worked in the Research Branch at the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Prior to working in the labour movement, she held academic posts as Assistant Professor of International Relations at Wilfred Laurier University and Lecturer in International Political Economy at Trent University. Currently, Teresa is involved in ongoing research on the Canada-EU trade negotiations, Canadian Communities in Crisis, North American integration, as well as health care privatization. Teresa Healy’s book, Gendered Struggles against Globalisation in Mexico was published by Ashgate Publishing in 2008. Her edited collection, The Harper Record, was published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, also in 2008. She is also a recording singer-songwriter.
 

Tom Juravich (Labour Research, Advanced Labour Research)

Tom Juravich is a Professor of Labour Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass). He is also Director of the UMass Labour Relations and Research Centre (LRRC), and director of the LRRC’s Union Leadership and Administration program. He is an internationally-recognized expert on union organizing, comprehensive campaigns, the nature of work, and labour history and culture.

Kai Lai (Re-Imagining Leadership)

Kai Lai is the Equality Rights Representative at the Canadian National Office of the United Steelworkers. He is a labour educator in human rights and conflict resolution, and, a professional mediator. He has collaborated extensively with major Canadian labour affiliates in building internal conflict resolution programmes and designing conflict education.
Kai has also facilitated conflict workshops at the University of the Western Cape (South Africa), been a visiting professor in mediation at the University of Ravensburg (Germany), and will be teaching conflict resolution in the MA in Expressive Arts and Conflict Transformation at the European Graduate School (Saas Fee, Switzerland). Currently, he is writing a chapter for a book on conflict and creativity which will be published by the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Law, Dispute Resolution Programme. Kai has an MA in Conflict Analysis and Management from Royal Roads University.
 

Chris Roberts (Canadian Political Economy)

Chris Roberts is a Senior Researcher in the CLC’s Social and Economic Policy Department, where he works on pensions, immigration policy, and other issues. He has taught courses for the CAW-McMaster certificate program, and spent several years as a Professor of Labour Studies at York and McMaster Universities.
 

Joan Sangster (The History of Work in Canada)

Joan Sangster is a Professor of History and Women's Studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. She is currently researching a book on women and paid labour from the end of World War II to the 1970s, as well as pursuing a project on 'Modernizing Colonialism', examining images of the First Nations in the post World War II period.

 
Barbara Saxberg (Re-Imagining Leadership)

Barbara Saxberg was recently elected to her fourth term as National Director of Education for the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), a union which represents almost 6000 workers in various media outlets from print to television. She established CMG's labour education program in 2001. Prior to that, she revitalized its human rights portfolio as the National V-P for Equity and Human Rights. In addition to her duties within CMG, she works at the international level as the Eastern Canada Vice-President of The Newspaper Guild Sector of the Communications Workers of America. She is also a key contributor to course development in the broader labour movement through the CLC Education Advisory Committee. When she's not doing union work, she's a senior producer for CBC National News and an important contact for member concerns on pensions, benefits, and reintegration issues.
 

Jim Stanford (Canadian Political Economy)

Jim Stanford is an Economist in the Research Department of CAW Canada, and writes a regular economics column for the Globe and Mail. He speaks regularly to the media on current economic issues, and to audiences of unions, community activists, and others concerned with building a more democratic, critical approach to economics. He was the founding chairperson of the Progressive Economics Forum, Canada’s network of progressive economists. His previous book, Paper Boom (James Lorimer & Co., 1999), was well-reviewed as an accessible critique of the wasteful practices of the financial industry.