Speakers

Diana Lowe, KC is the Senior Director of the Centre for Transformation at the University of Calgary. She is a lawyer by training, with 40 years of experience which includes legal practice, research, reform and transformation of the civil and family justice systems in Canada. Most recently Diana was Executive Counsel to the Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta and after retiring from the Court in late 2020, she established a consulting practice - “Re-imagining Justice” which provided support for the Reforming the Family Justice System (RFJS) initiative in Alberta, and also supported collaborations with other Canadian jurisdictions interested in family justice system transformation.

Mary Birdsell, B.A., LL.B., is the Executive Director of Justice for Children and Youth (JFCY). Mary has been a lawyer at JFCY since she was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1996. She is one of Canada’s leading experts on children’s rights in a broad array of legal subjects; in particular, with expertise on the application of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children in domestic law. For over 25 years she has been a tireless advocate for individual young people facing significant adversity. Click here for full bio. Mary has been active in all areas of JFCY’s work, including direct representation of young people, test case litigation, public legal education, community development, systemic law reform, and mentoring and supporting child rights advocates in our office and beyond. She has been instrumental in increasing access to justice for young people, including services for homeless and unstably housed young people, through the creation of JFCY’s innovative Street Youth Legal Services program. Mary has advocated on a range of youth justice issues at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as tribunals and inquests. She has been extensively involved at the local community level, and provincial, national, and international levels. She works with people from public school students to lawyers, judges and other professionals educating about the rights of children and the law as it affects young people across a range of legal subjects – including children’s rights, youth criminal justice, rights to education, privacy, child protection, health, mental health, incarceration, homelessness, and the legal representation of children. Mary is the Chair of the CBA Child and Youth Law section; a board member of A Way Home Canada; a member of the OBA’s Access to Justice committee; was a founder, and is a past chair of the OBA’s Child and Youth Law section; is a former board member of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children; and has been involved in many committees and activities to advance the rights of children including Ryerson University’s Cross-Over Project; Legal Aid Ontario’s Criminal Justice Advisory committee; the Ministry for Children and Youth Services Provincial Roundtable on Youth Criminal Justice; the OCL’s VYSA advisory group; and on the development committee of 311 Jarvis Court’s mental health diversion court. Mary is a co-author of Prosecuting and Defending Youth Criminal Justice Cases, 2d. ed. (Toronto: Emond Publishing, 2019). In recent years Mary has been the recipient of the Senate of Canada’s Sesquicentennial Medal (2018), the Law Foundation of Ontario’s Guthrie Award (2018), Legal Aid Ontario’s Sidney B. Linden Award (2018), the Bertha Wilson Honour Society of Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law (2020), the Law Society of Ontario’s J. Shirley Denison Award (2020), and the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada’s Lynn Factor Stand Up for Kids Award (2021).

Jared Hydamaka is a young adult who has personal experience with the Family Law system. Jared will share his stories, highlighting the challenges he faced and how Family Law decisions affected his life, well-being, and relationships with his parents. This personal account will offer powerful insights into the real-world consequences of families being involved with the Family Law legal system. Jared Hydamaka is a 25-year-old youth advocate and UBC graduate. For 20 years, the family justice system played a massive role in his and his parents’ lives and it continues to do so today. He began his own legal journey at 15, and since the age of 17, he has spent over 600 hours volunteering to promote the autonomy of youth, Indigenous individuals and self-represented litigants while raising awareness of litigation abuse and coercive control.

Justice Loparco was appointed in 2019 as a Justice of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. She graduated from McGill Law School in the bilingual and bijural program, earning degrees in Common Law and Civil Law in 2002, and her MBA in 2003. She was admitted to the Quebec, New York, and Alberta Bars and worked in various law firms before deciding to return to her hometown of Edmonton. She became a partner at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP (later Dentons LLP), and practiced in various litigation areas, including intellectual property, constitutional, language rights, education, personal injury, insurance, family, estate, and professional liability. She served as counsel to the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate for over 15 years and helped establish a new framework for child representation, ensuring children’s rights to participate in proceedings that affect them. She represented children in sexual and physical abuse cases, acted as a liaison to the courts in the province, provided advice on the process for investigations of deaths and serious injuries of children in care, and recommended changes to improve children’s services in Alberta. Justice Loparco is the co-founder and co-chair of The Beverley Browne - Wîyasôw Iskweêw – Restorative Justice Committee project, involving justices from the Court of King’s Bench and Alberta Court of Justice, crown prosecutors, defense counsel, Indigenous groups, victims’ rights groups, restorative justice practitioners, policing agencies, and many other stakeholders in the community. While currently focused on criminal matters, the project aims to expand restorative practices to family and civil contexts in the future. Justice Loparco has chaired the French Language and Interpretation Steering Committee of the Court of King’s Bench since 2020, assisted in developing a French policy to improve access to justice in French, and regularly presides over French matters, which has included French jury trials - the first in over 25 years in Alberta. She was recently appointed to serve as co-chair of the Family Law Steering Committee of the Court of King’s Bench.

Honourable Justice Kachur will join the panel to discuss Alberta’s Family Justice Strategy and the Court - Family-Centered Justice Pilot Project: a new approach to family matters in Court of King's Bench

Vincent Xu is joining us from Alberta Resolution Services to discuss Alberta’s Family Justice Strategy and the Court - Family-Centered Justice Pilot Project: a new approach to family matters in Court of King's Bench

Justice Jerke has been a justice of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta since March 2011, originally resident in Lethbridge, and more recently in Edmonton. In addition to his sitting duties with the Court, since September 2018 he has been the Court’s Co-Convenor of the Reforming the Family Justice System initiative which is inspiring the re-imagining of the family justice system to improve outcomes for children and families. He has served as a Co-Chair of the Court’s Access to Justice Steering Committee, and continues to be a member of the Court’s Diversity, Inclusion and Access Steering Committee. Prior to his appointment, Justice Jerke was called to the Bar in Alberta in 1980 and practiced civil litigation in Lethbridge, Alberta. He was a frequent lecturer in trial advocacy for a number of professional organizations, and an active member of the Law Society of Alberta. He served as President of the Law Society from 2010-2011. He was also the President of Pro Bono Law Alberta, the Chair of the Law Society of Alberta Conduct Committee. He served his community on the Lethbridge Regional Hospital Foundation, the Lethbridge and District United Way, the Victorian Order of Nurses, and the Rotary Club of Lethbridge. His four grandchildren, which he shares with his wife Corinne, are all seeking to re-inspire his interest in puppetry – which has lain dormant for far too long.

Dr. Jon K Amundson, MA; MAPP, PhD was registered as the 579th psychologist in the Province and opened A/A in 1980 in Calgary. He has taught at the university and college level, trained and supervised countless psychologists over the years; consulted on practice and ethics with hundreds, provided opinions to the Alberta Courts over 500 times, provided over 40k hours of clinical service and guided both his professional Association and the College licensing body: twice named psychologist of the year in Alberta. He has supported vulnerable populations in his work through the profession and outside the office, personifying the scholar-activist role for psychologists. Aside from direct services, Jon has written and published contributing to research in such journals as Family Court Review, The journal of Marriage and Family Therapy, Alternative Higher Education, American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, and Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, not to mention the Alberta Fishing Guide. This little bit of here/there/a lot of everywhere’s intellectually, also, has included senior/elder athlete endeavours: hundreds of kilometres of cross country ski racing as sponsored athlete and several times several times World Champion in Polynesian canoe racing. Jon always has one or two shelter dogs in residence in residence with him. He says he is lucky because he “never really worked a day in his life!” in his joy as a psychologist. He continues to challenge and energize the practice with his commitment and enthusiasm.

Marne is a nationally chartered mediator and certified coach who provides mediation, coaching, facilitation, teambuilding and training to workplaces, families, organizations and business. Marne has taught at the UofA and is an instructor, coach and assessor for the ADR Institute of Alberta (ADRIA) and chairs their Alberta Mediation Designation Committee. She mediates for the Alberta Justice Resolution Services Family Mediation Program, the Edmonton Police Mediation Program, and for an employee assistance program. She was also a mediator and mentor in the Catholic Social Services Parent Teen Mediation Program. Marne recently delivered New Ways for Families training for the Reforming the Family Justice System (RFJS) initiative in Grande Prairie and, after over two decades of work in the conflict management world, she is still passionate about empowering people to come together to manage and resolve their differences.

Tracy Brown has a been a Director on the AFCC Alberta Board since 2019, serving on several Board committees and as a tireless cheerleader of AFCC. As a Collaborative Family lawyer, Mediator, Child Counsel and child-focused Litigator when/if there are no other pathways to dispute resolution, Tracy believes that Family lawyers have an enhanced ethical obligation to “do not harm” to children and families. She values the expertise of mental health professionals in parenting disputes and advocates for a Family Justice System that is oriented to better outcomes for children. In addition to managing a Law firm, mentoring and training Law students, speaking on Family Law topics, organizing fundraising and educational events, volunteering extensively in the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and the Alberta Family Lawyers Association (AFLA) on Family Justice and Access to Justice policy advocacy, Tracy has dedicated countless hours to AFCC Alberta initiatives. She is a past Chair of the Membership Committee, has worked on 6 Annual Conferences, and Chaired the Ad Hoc Parenting Coordination Committee that undertook a provincial consultation on Parenting Coordination in Alberta.

The Honourable Justice Bokenfohr will share her views on the conference panel: What Moves the Needle on Parenting: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Ms. Smith has been a Registered Psychologist since 2002. Ms. Smith has a long history in providing psychotherapeutic interventions for families, couples, individuals, youth and children experiencing interpersonal difficulties. Ms. Smith’s direct communication style is effective with clients who have been stuck in their interpersonal conflicts. Ms. Smith has extensive experience in providing services to high conflict couples and families in that areas of separation and divorce matters. In addition to her clinical background, Ms. Smith taught Family Therapy for City University for several years. Ms. Smith is a Parenting Expert in The Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta with experience in Interventions including: Practice Note 7 Evaluative Interventions (voice of the child and triage), PN7 Therapeutic Interventions (family therapy, co-parenting counselling, counselling with children and reunification therapy). Ms. Smith is well versed in using cognitive behavior and dialectical behavioral therapy. Ms. Smith has been an active community member historically volunteering as a board member for the Psychologist Association of Alberta, the Association of Family Conciliation Courts and as a community member for the Northern Alberta Appeals Committee for Legal Aid.

Sharon Crooks was appointed a Q.C (now K.C., King’s Counsel) in 2022. She has participated in and conducted various mediations /arbitrations since she began practicing law in New York City in 1988. She was introduced to mediation and arbitration when attending her Masters of Law degree at the University of London in England in 1986/1987. Sharon has practiced in the areas of international commercial law including shipping and aviation, international humanitarian law, including war crimes, criminal law, child welfare law, corporate law and offshore structuring, wills and estates. Since 2002, Sharon has been the managing partner at a midsized law firm in Central Alberta, where she has specialized in family law and representing children. Sharon’s belief is that Court is a client’s last worst option. The goal should be to reduce the conflict and not exacerbate it, as Courts tend to do. Sharon is the Chair of the Alberta Family Mediation Society (AFMS) and serves on 2 committees for Family Mediation Canada (FMC). Sharon, along with her FMC colleague, Ken Markley, co-hosts FMC Live, a monthly broadcast on Trauma Informed Practice in Mediation. She is on various committees related to children, mediation, parenting coordination, and is active in the promotion and development of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Alberta and across Canada. Sharon enjoys assisting people and businesses in resolving their disputes through mediation and/or arbitration. Sharon has mediated disputes for businesses and private clients, including children as clients, and has been appointed by the Court to assist children and their families in various capacities over the years.

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.