Bios

Noel Burke, Chair of the Committee
Noel Burke, the founding Dean of the School of Extended Learning at Concordia University, combines a rich background in management, leadership positions, and teaching. He served at the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport as Assistant Deputy Minister for the English-Speaking Community, prior to which he was Assistant Director General and Educational Services Director for the New Frontiers School Board. His accomplishments include leadership in the implementation of Quebec’s current school reform and significant developments in Vocational Education. He is also responsible for the establishment of the Leading English Education Research Network (LEARN) as well as the Community Learning Centres (CLC) network. He has most recently established the Quebec English-speaking Research Network (QUESCREN) at Concordia.  Burke, who joined the QCGN Board of Directors in October 2010, is also the Chair of QCGN’s Priority Setting Steering Committee. 

John Gancz
John Gancz is a resident of Chelsea where he lives with his wife and two children. Born, raised and educated in the Montreal area, he has lived in the National Capital region for the past 25 years. 
John has been involved meaningfully in the community as a volunteer, as a leader, and as a professional. John’s community and volunteer engagements include the following:

John is committed to learning at personal, organizational and community levels. He possesses a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies and is a Member of the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia University.  Mr. Gancz has a Graduate Diploma in Community Economic Development and Master of Arts degree in Human Systems Intervention from Concordia University. John works at the House of Commons as a Manager of Organizational Effectiveness.

Cheryl Gosselin
Cheryl Gosselin is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and coordinator of the Gender, Diversity and Equity program at Bishop’s University. As an academic, a significant part of her research and teaching interests have focused on the English-speaking communities of Quebec.

Mrs. Gosselin has been involved in her English-speaking community for many years in a number of ways and has wide-ranging experience on the boards of many organizations including Townshippers’ Association.

She currently sits on the advisory council of QCGN’s Institutional Vitality Project and joined the QCGN Board of Directors in June of 2011.

Debbie Horrocks
Debbie Horrocks has been actively involved in public education since 1990.  She was President of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) and on the Board of Directors of the Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA) from 2007-2011. Debbie has been a school board commissioner since 1996 and Vice Chairman of the Riverside School Board on the South Shore of Montreal since 2003. She believes that a strong public education system is a crucial component of a healthy community.

Debbie has worked in community development with the English linguistic minority community in Quebec for more than a decade, first with CEDEC, and most recently with the Community Learning Centre (CLC) initiative. She is committed to ensuring that the English community is a vibrant and cohesive component of Quebec society – now and in the future.

Debbie has also had extensive experience dealing with the media – print, radio and television, local and national, in both official languages, and has worked closely with many different government departments and levels of bureaucracy. Debbie was born in Montreal and has lived in Brossard on the South Shore of Montreal for more than 25 years.

Leila Marshy
Leila Marshy is the Literary and Video editor of The Rover, an online arts and culture journal based in Montreal. She writes regularly for Rover and works with a talented pool of writers and contributors. 

A graduate in Film Production from Concordia University, Leila has worked at the National Film Board in both production and consultative capacities, including three years as the Director of Marketing for the Montreal and Halifax offices. She co-founded the film festival Image+Nation. She also spent many years in radio, including as the producer for the flagship program, Montreal This Morning with L. Ian MacDonald (CKGM) and then as writer-broadcaster for Daybreak and Radio Noon (CBC).

Leila has published fiction and poetry in a number of literary journals and magazines in Canada and the US, and her short films have won awards and screened at conferences and festivals.

Like many in the field of arts, Leila has worked in other tangential milieus: she spent 8 years designing games and applications for cell phones; 3 years working for the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Cairo and travelling the Middle East; and 1 year working as a baker’s assistant in Ottawa.

Most recently, Leila founded Friends of Hutchison Street/Les Amis de la rue Hutchison, the very first community and activist group that is comprised of Hasidic and non-Hasidic members.

Brad McDonald
Brad McDonald is Vice-President at Francoeur McDonald, a project management, communications, and marketing firm. Since 2005, he has served as a municipal councillor for the city of Gaspé. Mr. McDonald was educated at Vanier College in Montreal, the Royal Military College of Canada, and at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean. During his career, he has worked as a member of the Canadian Forces, nurse, teacher, personal development planner, and political aide. As a project manager and as a volunteer board member, Mr. McDonald has worked to promote and improve the delivery of services (primarily health and social services) to English speakers in the region.

Ann Marie Powell
Ann Marie Powell is the current President of Megantic English-speaking Community Development Corporation (MCDC).  She has been serving on the Board since the creation of MCDC in 2000 and as President since 2005.  She has also served as Board Member in a number of other regional and provincial organizations whose mission is to serve the English-speaking communities of Quebec:  the QCGN (from which she recently stepped down, having completed her 6-year mandate), the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN), the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC) in Chaudière-Appalaches and the Voice of English-speaking Quebec (VEQ).  In addition, Ms. Powell is a member of the Comité régional d’accès aux soins et services sociaux en langues anglaise de Chaudière-Appalaches under the umbrella of Agence de santé et services sociaux de Chaudière-Appalaches. 

Ms. Powell immigrated from Boston to Ste-Agathe in 1981 for the reason so many of us move: for love. She married an English-speaking Irish Quebecer. In 1981, services in the English language in the Province were quite rare. She got in touch with the Voice of English-speaking Quebec and MCDC, two member organizations of the QCGN, and got answers to her questions regarding health services, job market and French-second language courses, to name a few.

Ms. Powell has experience in a number of fields but most specifically in rural communities, access to health services in English, agriculture and farming, and family matters (being a parent of 3 and a grand-parent of 2 and having been a foster parent of 4 children with special needs). 

Peter Quilliams
Peter Quilliams, current Vice President of the Townshippers' Association, has spent many years volunteering in leadership positions for the English Speaking Community of Quebec and in particular in the area of the Eastern Townships of Quebec. He graduated from secondary education during the 'high school' era of Quebec and graduated from Sir Gerorge Williams University in its last year of existence. Volunteering began as his children entered the "English/Protestant" school system, joining the school committee, the parents committee, chairing various board committees and continued as the Chairman of the District of Bedford School Board for their final 8 years of existence. More recently (last decade), his volunteering/leadership accomplishments has taken him to President of the Board of the Fulford United Chuch, President of the Townshippers' Association, Vice President of the QCGN, chairman of the QCGN Strategic Planning Committee, and chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee of the Townshippers' Association and most currently as a member of the QCGN’s Priority Setting Steering Committee.
 

Irene Tschernomor, M.Sc., D.I.A., B.Admin., R.N.
Irene Tschernomor is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex (QEHC), a pioneer health care institution comprised of expert health professionals in public and private sector organizations offering a comprehensive range of quality medical services all under one roof.  Irene is an engaged and respected leader of the English-speaking community in Montreal, particularly in the health and social services field.

Irene works with a Board of eminent community members to ensure the continuing success of the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex.  The Centre functions without government funding, running on the philanthropic support of the community and revenues the Centre generates.  Irene manages this multi-million dollar operation, providing comprehensive financial management for all revenue streams. 

Irene shares her expertise in the field of institutional administration, having both taught on the subject at the John Molson School of Business, and continuing to act as an MBA mentor through the School’s Women in Business Club.

As a QCGN Board member, Irene has taken an interest in the concerns of the English-speaking Community of Quebec, and is increasingly involved in contributing to public awareness and knowledge of Canada’s English linguistic minority community.  For example, she is a key force behind a research project that will soon study the vitality of English-speaking Quebec’s institutions.

Irene Tschernomor is an accomplished business woman, fund raiser, expert in the institutions that provide health and social services, and emerging leader within the greater English-speaking Community of Quebec.