Annual General Meeting

Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) Alberta Chapter Bylaw Amendments

There are no proposed Amendments to the Bylaws

Financial Reports

The Associaton of Family and Conciliation Courts, Alberta Chapter 2024 Financial Information

Board of Directors Vacancies and Nominations

Outgoing Board Members

We would like to take this opportunity to say good-bye and give our thanks to two of our Board members who are leaving us in 2025.

Judith Lake, our Past President, has served on this Board since March 2017, including 8 years on the Executive having held the positions of Secretary, Vice President, President and Past President.

Tracy Brown has been a Director on the Board since 2019, serving on many Board committees and being a tireless cheerleader of AFCC. We are grateful for their dedication and contributions to our organization.

Departing Board member and past-president, Judith Lake

Departing Board member, Tracy Brown

AFCC Alberta Chapter Board Candidates 2025 - 2028 Term

The Nominations Committee has recommended the following slate of candidates

The Board now has the option to fill up to three positions, one of which may be reserved for a member of the judiciary. In accordance with the AFCC Alberta Chapter Bylaws, the Nominations Committee presented a slate of potential candidates to the Board at its January meeting. In creating this slate, the committee considered several factors, including the skillsets of the two departing members and the need for a balanced Board based on geographical and professional representation.

The following two candidates were chosen and have let their names stand for election.

Meet The Nominees

Elizabeth Kinhnicki

Barrister & Solicitor, Mediator

I obtained my Juris Doctor from the University of Calgary in 2012 and have worked in Leduc, Alberta ever since. Being outside of Edmonton, gives me the opportunity to serve rural clients from areas like Leduc, Wetaskiwin, Camrose, and Drayton Valley. I regularly appear in rural courthouses as Duty Counsel helping self represented litigants or even just as a friend of the court when there are no duty counsel services. I also do Duty Counsel for Emergency Protection Orders and assist Claimants with their EPO reviews. Accepting Legal Aid Certificates has always been part of my practice because I believe it is important to serve the vulnerable and marginalized families. I am currently the Co-Chair of the Child and Youth Section of the Canadian Bar Association and a longstanding member of the Alberta Chapter of Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC). I am interested in serving on the AFCC board because I believe in the good work that this organization and its members engage in. Family Law has always been the bulk of my practices. Recently, much of my family practice has transitioned to representing children in both family law disputes and child welfare matters. I am always saddened to see how conflict directly impacts the children. Representing ‘tiny humans’, as I call them, is my favorite, because I believe they are the most important people in the room and am sad that their needs are often forgotten when parents are lost in their own feelings and conflict. My altruistic hope is that if we as professionals continue to work together, we can help families reframe their focus and move forward in a healthier way. I believe that the collaboration of professionals, who are keen on minimizing conflict and helping

Krista Bolton

Mediator and Family Conflict Resolution Specialist

Krista Bolton is an accomplished Family Mediator and Conflict Resolution professional based in Edmonton. With over 15 years of experience in resolving family disputes, Krista has worked extensively in various mediation and conflict coaching roles, helping individuals navigate complex family dynamics, including separation and divorce. Krista supervised the Child Support Resolution Program for Alberta Justice Resolution Services and now coordinates their Regional Family Mediation Program and supports the Children’s Services Mediation Program. Krista has valuable board experience as former Chair and Public Member for the Real Estate Council of Alberta, where she contributed to major organizational projects such as strategic planning and financial oversight. She also served as a hearing panel member for Tribunal Hearings for licensed industry members and as a public member on the Alberta Real Estate Foundation board. In addition to her leadership roles, Krista is a passionate educator and has assisted in developing and co-facilitating training courses in conflict resolution. She is also a lifelong learner, committed to staying current with evolving mediation practices and conflict resolution strategies. Her diverse background includes certifications in conflict management, training in Meeting with Children, Coaching for Conflict, Administrative Justice, as well as extensive family violence and trauma informed practices.

Board Members

Traci Bannister

President

Lawyer

Traci Bannister practiced as a Family Law Lawyer and Mediator in South Africa for 20 years before moving with her family to Calgary, Alberta in 2012. She has requalified as a Barrister/Solicitor in Alberta and was called to the bar in June 2015.

Brandi Smith

Vice President

R. Psychologist

Brandi Smith has been working as a Registered Psychologist in Alberta for 11 years and working with children and youth since 2001. She has a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology. Brandi began working with children and youth as a crisis intervention worker, youth worker, and family support worker in the Child and Family Services system while she completed her clinical education and registration process. Once registered, Brandi continued to make child and youth her primary clinical focus and worked both in the Child and Family Services system and the health care system. Brandi has been in private practice at Creating Solutions for the last 13 years and works with diverse clients, including children, youth, adults, and families both in evaluation and therapy. When working with families experiencing separation and divorce, Brandi’s primary focus continues to be healthy children and healthy family systems regardless of the current level of conflict. As a result, Brandi works with families at various levels of legal involvement, from those completing a “kitchen table” agreement to those within a litigation process. Outside of separation and divorce clients, Brandi also specializes in clients experiencing the impacts of motor vehicle accidents, educational assessments, and various mental health diagnoses.

Jonathan Tieman

Treasurer

Lawyer

Jonathan Tieman is a lawyer, mediator and collaborative lawyer who practices law in Brooks and Medicine Hat, Alberta. Jonathan has appeared at all levels of court in Alberta, and has expansive experience in resolving disputes (through alternative dispute resolution and the courts). Jonathan is a part-time instructor at Medicine Hat College (since 2008) teaching business law.

Dr. Susan Clark

Secretary

R. Psychologist

Dr. Susan Clark is a Registered Psychologist and co-founder of the Calgary-based private practice: Taylor Clark Psychological Services. Dr. Clark has extensive clinical and forensic experience, in Canada and the USA, specializing in divorce and separation. She is a member in good standing of the College of Alberta Psychologists. In addition to her private practice, Dr. Clark often volunteers her time as an Expert Witness for the University of Calgary Trial Advocacy Program. Dr. Clark has lectured at the University level and presented at nationally and internationally renowned conferences. Her involvement within the psycho-legal arena has led her to specialize in high conflict Child Custody Evaluations, Parent Consultant, Views of the Child Interventions, Parenting Coordination-Arbitration, Reunification Therapy, and Litigation Support. Most recently, she contributed to the latest provisions of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Practice Note 7 and 8.

Judith Lake

Past President

Mediator

Judith Lake is a Chartered Mediator with over 20 years experience mediating in the areas of workplace, separation and divorce, civil claims and restorative justice. Judith teaches ADR for the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Business and she co-authored and instructs ADRIA’s Separation & Divorce Mediation program. She was a family mediator with Alberta Justice Resolution Services for nine years before returning to private practice and now mediates for their Family Mediation and Civil Claims programs.

Tracy Brown

Board Member

Lawyer

Tracy joined the Board in 2019 and has been instrumental in establishing the AFCC Alberta ad hoc Committee on Parenting Coordination tasked with coordinating a Provincial Working Group with the overarching goal of advancing the practice of Parenting Coordination (PC) in Alberta. Tracy is a passionate advocate for reasonable “do no harm” resolutions to Family disputes. She is a trained Mediator, Parenting Coordinator, and a registered Collaborative Lawyer with considerable experience working with high-conflict families. She represents both children and parents in and out of Court. As the founder and managing lawyer for Brown Law Group, a Family Law firm in Edmonton, Tracy mentors young lawyers and students. In addition to her contributions to the AFCC Board, Tracy is on the Executive of the CBA Family Law Section (North) and the CBA Small Solo & General Practice Section (North), she is a member of the Women’s Legal Forum of the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association and the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Family Law Consulting Committee, and she volunteers with the Edmonton Community Legal Centre. Tracy obtained a B.A.Hons (1994) from the University of Toronto in International Development Studies and spent some 20 years before Law working on international human rights and post-war development in the Americas and Africa. She obtained a Juris Doctor Law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School (2009), and was called to the Ontario and Alberta Bar in 2010.

Dr. Beth Archer-Kuhn

Board Member

Social Worker

Beth brings with her twenty-five years of practice experience, starting in child welfare. Beth was employed in children’s mental health for over 20 years as a clinical social worker, clinical director of services, and executive director. For 15 years, Beth completed child custody and access evaluations for the family court in Ontario. Beth’s research experience and interests include the overlap of child custody decision-making and domestic violence, specifically in relation to shared parenting. The implications of this work invite partnerships in the fields of social work, child welfare, children’s mental health, domestic violence shelters and law. As a Teaching Scholar and Professor at the University of Calgary, Beth’s second area of research is social work education with a specific interest in inquiry-based learning, on campus, on-line and study abroad. She teaches across programs, clinical, ICD, leadership, and across levels of programs, BSW, MSW, and PhD.

Dr. Erin Buhr

Board Member

Ph.D., R. Psychologist

has been in clinical practice since 2001 working with parents, children and families. She is a Registered Psychologist with an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Calgary and a graduate degree in Counselling Psychology from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Ms. Lux has specialized training and experience in working with couples and their families as they go through divorce and post-divorce. Ms. Lux provides divorce-related forensic services such as parent mediation, parent coordination, co-parenting counselling, reunification therapy, psychological testing, parenting-time/parenting responsibility assessments (previously known as bilateral custody and access assessments), parental fitness evaluations and litigation support. She has published in the area of coercive control and its relevance to best interest determinations in Canadian family law.

Dr. Terry Singh

Board Member

Ph.D., R. Psychologist

Dr. Terry Singh is a Registered Psychologist. He holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with post-graduate specialization in Child and Family Forensics, and has had more than a decade of clinical experience in Canada and the USA. He has served as a Professor at the university level, is an internationally-recognized researcher, and has been the recipient of several national and provincial awards over the course of his career. At this time, Dr. Singh’s primary work involves assisting Court-involved individuals, couples, and families of divorce and separation during and after the transition via evaluation (Practice Note 7 and Practice Note 8), treatment, mediation, parenting coordination, and arbitration. He has been qualified as an expert witness and provided testimony in both the Provincial Court and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta. His areas of special interest include child custody evaluation, consideration of cultural factors in assessment and treatment, and the treatment of severe and persistent psychopathology.

Glenda Lux

Board Member

M.A., R. Psychologist

Ms. Lux has been in clinical practice since 2001 working with parents, children and families. She is a Registered Psychologist with an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Calgary and a graduate degree in Counselling Psychology from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Ms. Lux has specialized training and experience in working with couples and their families as they go through divorce and post-divorce. Ms. Lux provides divorce-related forensic services such as parent mediation, parent coordination, co-parenting counselling, reunification therapy, psychological testing, parenting-time/parenting responsibility assessments (previously known as bilateral custody and access assessments), parental fitness evaluations and litigation support. She has published in the area of coercive control and its relevance to best interest determinations in Canadian family law.

Jane Gillespie

Board Member

RSCW

Jane Gillespie is a Registered Clinical Social Worker with over two decades of experience assisting at-risk children and families. Ms. Gillespie has a Clinical Master of Social Work (MSW) with a children's mental health specialization; her practice is focused on assessment and intervention with children impacted by family violence, involved in family law matters, or caught up in contentious parenting disputes. In 2020, Ms. Gillespie co-created a Therapeutic Access program used exclusively with separated and divorced families, or where there is a history of family violence. Ms. Gillespie has presented on the topic of Therapeutic Access locally and internationally and has lectured on the topic at the University level. Ms. Gillespie is a member of the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), the Social Work Association of Alberta (SWAA), the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), the Alberta Family Mediation Society (AFMS) and Circle of Security Parenting International. Her areas of practice include Counselling for Children and Adolescents, Practice Note 7 Interventions including Views of the Child, Child Consultant, Child Development Consultations, Therapeutic Access and Reunification Family Therapy.

Yoko Azumaya

Board Member

Family Lawyer

Yoko obtained her Law Degree from the University of Alberta in 2007 after achieving a Master’s Degree in Neuroscience from the University of Hiroshima and a second Master’s Degree in Psychiatry from the University of Alberta. Yoko has focused her practice in Family Law, including divorce, parenting, support, and division of property issues, with a goal to help families transition through this difficult period. She is diligent in explaining not only the law but also the process to her clients to reduce the emotional and psychological stress of the breakup. Yoko believes that parties reach the most satisfactory outcomes through collaborative negotiation, preferring to avoid litigation unless no other reasonable solution can be reached. She has been training to become a mediator through the ADR Institute of Alberta (ADRIA) and stays current with changes in the law by regularly attending legal education courses and Canadian Bar Association seminars. She is also a registered Collaborative lawyer. Yoko joined Barr LLP in 2013 and became a partner in 2015. Yoko is proud to be a part of Barr LLP, a highly regarded Family Law group with a wealth of knowledge and years of expertise from which to draw from. Yoko’s mother tongue is Japanese, having moved to Edmonton from Hiroshima, Japan in 1998. She has been actively involved in the Edmonton Japanese Community Association and is a past-president of the organization. Much of Yoko’s free time is dedicated to volunteering. She has been an executive member of the Family Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) North section since 2016. In 2023, she was voted in to be a CBA Board Member to support fellow members further.

Honourable Justice Ola Malik

Board Member

Alberta Court of King's Bench Justice

Justice Malik entered private practice after being called to the Alberta Bar in 2002. Justice Malik was a lawyer in the Legal Services department at the City of Calgary, where he has practised in the areas of prosecutions, regulatory law, and Charter litigation. Justice Malik is deeply involved in professional organizations, and in 2019-20, he served as the President of the Canadian Bar Association for Alberta. Justice Malik is deeply committed to understanding the challenges that many of our most vulnerable and marginalized communities face and to improving the administration of justice so these communities can be better served.

BACK TO HOME