2008

Advisory Board

Mary CollinsSpring09BWWebHon. Mary Collins PC

From 1984 – 93 Mary Collins served as a Member of the Canadian Parliament representing the constituency of Capilano – Howe Sound in BC. From 1989-93, she was a Cabinet Minister and was the first woman to hold the position of Associate Minister of National Defence. She also served as Minister of Health, Status of Women, Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State for Environment.

After spending five years in Russia working with the World Health Organization on health reform and health policy, she returned to Vancouver in late 2007, and is now the Director of the Secretariat of the BC Healthy Living Alliance.

Mary Collins was born in Vancouver and graduated from Queen’s University in Political Science. She has three adult children and continues to be an active participant in many community activities and Boards as well in the advancement of women in political life. She has served as the Honorary Co-Chair of the Canadian Women Voters Congress Women’s Campaign School and is a regular participant in the School.

She was President of the YWCA in Sudbury Ontario in the early 1970’s  and later was a member of the Board of the Calgary YWCA as well as a recipient of the Calgary YWCA Women of Distinction Award.  She has honorary degrees from Royal Roads Military College and Royal Roads University.  She was the recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award from Queen’s University in 1999.  In 2009, she was the inaugural recipient of the Kathleen Beaumont Hill award given by the Vancouver Queen’s Alumni for service to the university and the country.

JoyMacPBWJoy MacPhail, Chairwoman, OutTV

Joy Kathryn MacPhail was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1952 and lived there until 1975. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a B.A. in Economics and then attended the London School of Economics where she was awarded a Diploma in Trade Union/Industrial Relations Studies. For the next 13 years Joy worked as an economist and negotiator in the union movement in Ontario and British Columbia, rising to the position of Chief Economist for the BC Federation of Labour. In 1991, Ms MacPhail was successful in her first attempt at electoral politics when she was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vancouver-Hastings in British Columbia. She was re-elected in 1996 and in 2001, before retiring from politics in 2005. During her political career, she held many significant portfolios:

    • Deputy Premier 2000-2001
    • Minister of Education 2000-2001
    • Minister of Labour 2000
    • Minister of Finance 1998-1999
    • Minister of Health 1996-1998
    • Minister of Social Services 1993-1996
    • Government House Leader 1996-1999
    • Government Caucus Chair 1992-1993

In 2001, Ms MacPhail was elected leader of the New Democratic Party of BC and thus became Leader of the Opposition until her retirement in 2005. Joy MacPhail tackled some very challenging public policy issues and pursued solutions with a vigour and dedication that became the mark of her career:

Joy MacPhail is currently a media commentator, a lecturer nationally and internationally is and is the Chairwoman of OutTV, Canada’s GLBT television channel. She married to James Shavick, a film/TV producer. She has one son, Jack, and resides in Vancouver.


TeresaWatBWTeresa Wat, CEO & COO

Mainstream Broadcasting Corporation Media Group

Teresa Wat is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Mainstream Broadcasting Corporation CHMB AM1320 and ITM International Top Model Corp.

Prior to this position, Teresa Wat was the News Director at Channel M Television (now Omni Television). She was instrumental in successfully launching the first ever live Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi daily television news programs.

From 1996-2002, Ms Wat worked with the British Columbia Provincial Government in various senior positions, including Executive Director of Multiculturalism and Diversity Branch, and Director of Equal Opportunity Secretariat, which provided her with the opportunity to develop media relations and communications strategies, employment equity and multicultural programs, and cross-cultural policies.

Teresa Wat’s career began with journalism, holding various senior positions within television, radio and print media in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vancouver. She also worked in the Hong Kong Government as the Principal Information Officer for many years before migrating to Vancouver in 1989.

Teresa Wat is a Member of the School of Journalism Advisory Board at the University of British Columbia.

Ms Wat was awarded the East West Centre Scholarship to pursue a Master of Arts in Communication at the University of Hawaii. She obtained her Bachelor of Social Science Degree with first class honours at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 2002, she was one of the few bureaucrats chosen by the Provincial Government to attend the Executive Development Program at Royal Roads University.






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