Staff and Board
Staff:
Board of Directors:
• Arnold Amber, President
• Morteza Abdolalian
• Bob Carty
• Havoc Franklin
• Peter Jacobsen
• Anjali Kapoor
• Alice Klein
• Donald Livingstone
• Anita Mielewczyk
• John Norris
• Mary Deanne Shears
• Frank Switzer
• Anna Maria Tremonti
• Paula Todd
• Philip Tunley
Board of Directors:
Arnold Amber, President
Arnold Amber is a former executive producer at CBC, and the current Director of CWA-SCA Canada, the parent body of the Canadian Media Guild and 25 other smaller union locals that represent employees in the newspaper industry.
Arnold’s dedication to CJFE is based on his drive to protect the right to free expression both on the national and international stage. During Arnold's time as president of the board, he has witnessed CJFE grow from a handful of journalists passionate about the right to freedom of expression, to a rapidly expanding organization taking its rightful place alongside its international partners.
Arnold joined the board, at the request of the organization's founder, Nick Fillmore, in 1993. In 1995, he was elected president when the organization received its Federal Charter. Since then, Arnold has been re-elected president each year. He is an active member of several committees and brings a wealth of knowledge of the freedom of expression community both locally and abroad. Despite his early roots at CJFE, Arnold credits his colleagues for its success and growth. He does not work alone.
"Without the work of CJFE's board of directors, it would be difficult to meet the ongoing and formidable challenges we face," he says.
CJFE's responsibility as manager of IFEX is the achievement he is most proud of. The organization's hard work of managing the network strengthens its international effectiveness.
Arnold says the board's effectiveness and excellent results are due to the experiences and perspectives of its members.
Morteza Abdolalian
The journalist, poet and translator Morteza Abdolalian has spent much of his academic and professional career abroad. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was in the Philippines to continue his education and the struggle against the Iranian regime. Articles by Morteza that were published in the university campus newspaper which were critical of authorities resulted in him being blacklisted and was cautioned by security for expulsion.
From 1980 to 1982, he worked for the Iranian students' publication Akhgar. The following year, he returned to Iran and was arrested at the airport and was transferred to Evin prison. After repeated persecution, re-arrest and imprisonment and in one occasion kidnapping, he decided to escape Iran and go back to Philippines.
Returning to the Philippines, Morteza continued to write about Iran and the political and human rights situation when the Philippines became unsafe for Morteza, he moved to Japan and after a short stay in Japan, where he worked as reporter for an Iranian political newspaper and carried on with his advocacy of human rights in Iran, he settled in Canada in 1989. He is a member of the Oakville Writers' Group and Pen Canada writer in exile and contributes to several local Iranian publications. Morteza currently runs a blog called Iran Watch Canada (www.moriab.blogspot.com) which monitors daily violation of human rights in Iran.
Morteza joined the Board in 2002. He is very active with CJFE, and he is a member of the CIFET Board of Trustees. He would like to use his position to develop the multicultural diversity of the Board.
Bob Carty
Bob Carty started working with CJFE in 1991 when he was asked to join a fact-finding mission to Guatemala on violence against journalists.
Prior to his journalism career, in the 1970s, Bob was involved in human rights and international development research and activism with a focus on Latin America. He was a regular media commentator and wrote numerous papers and studies and co-authored two books - one on a Canadian multinational mining corporations, the other on the political-economy of Canadian foreign aid.
Bob joined CBC Radio in 1981 and soon became the foreign editor and senior producer for Sunday Morning. He worked for shorter periods for As It Happens, Commentary and as the senior producer of Morningside. In the late 1980s, Bob spent five years in Latin America covering military conflicts, human rights, and the environment for the CBC, National Public Radio, Monitor Radio, and the Globe and Mail.
Returning to Canada in 1993, Bob resumed full-time documentary work for the CBC on Sunday Morning, This Morning, The Current and The Sunday Edition. He participates in investigative projects with CBC TV and Radio News. His documentaries have won numerous awards including the prestigious Peabody and Gabriel awards. Other accolades include New York International Radio Festival Gold awards and its Grand Award, multiple Canadian Association of Journalists honours for investigative journalism, Canadian Science Writers' recognitions, a Michener citation, computer-assisted reporting awards and Amnesty International of Canada's trophy for human rights reporting.
Bob is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and one of the founders of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX). He is a cancer survivor and a part-time singer-songwriter.
Havoc Franklin
Havoc Franklin is Director of local program development for CBC Radio and works within the senior radio management group under the leadership of the CBC Radio Program Director
He plays a role in the development of all local and regional morning, noon, afternoon and weekend programs for radio. Havoc also works closely with CBC News, recently he has been involved in Local Radio News Renewal across the country.
Havoc has worked as a radio producer for most of his career in various places across the country working on both network and local programs (Ideas - Halifax Morning Show - The Radio Show - Quirks and Quarks etc). He has worked in Moncton, Saint John, Halifax, Toronto, and Winnipeg. He has done some work in almost every CBC Station across the country.
From 1983 - 85 Havoc was president of the National Radio Producers Association (NRPA), representing all radio producers working for the CBC outside of Quebec and Moncton. NRPA certified as a union in 1984.
In 1996 he moved from Winnipeg to Toronto to work in Radio Training. From 1998 - 2003 he was the manager of Radio Training. During that time he created many new courses involving the craft of producing radio - (vetting/tape/talk/documentary etc). He also did some international training for IMPACS in Cambodia and for CJFE he worked on a train the trainer course in Thailand with Jane McElhone.
During the 90s Havoc worked on a couple of award winning documentaries and stories. He has won the CAJ Investigative Award for an Ideas series on Indian Stereotypes and an Oscar in Agriculture for an investigative story involving crop treatment produced by Monsanto.
Havoc has been a member of CJFE since the start of the organization.
Peter Jacobsen
Peter Jacobsen is a founding partner of the firm Bersenas Jacobsen Chouest Thomson Blackburn LLP and has over 30 years of experience in practice as a litigator and provider of legal advice.
A graduate of McGill University, Peter practices mainly in the areas of defamation law, media law, administrative law, and constitutional law. He is a seasoned litigator and has significant experience in trials, appeals and judicial reviews at all levels of court and before numerous administrative tribunals. Peter is rated as one of the best lawyers in Canada in the specialty of Defamation and Media Law in the most recent edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada. He provides regular pre-publication advice and defends defamation actions for major media print and electronic outlets and their insurers as well as and book publishers, their insurers and individual authors and editors. He also represents plaintiffs and as well as national organizations.
Peter has participated in several pivotal cases that have advanced freedom of expression in Canada involving libel and slander issues, free press rights, access to courts, publication bans, sealing orders and subpoenas to journalists and editors. He has also appeared in several significant cases at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Although his practice consists largely of defending freedom of expression either through Charter applications or defending defamation cases he maintains a vigorous plaintiff's practice where to do so would not involve media interests.
Peter has worked and volunteered with many organizations including the International Bar Association, Ad Idem/ Canadian Media Lawyers Association, Advisory Board of OntarioNewsWatch.com the Toronto Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council Foundation and the Writers' Trust of Canada. He has also served as Ontario Chief Negotiator - English - Wabagoon Mercury Pollution Negotiations (1984 - 87); 1850 Treaty Negotiations (1990 - 1994); Grassy Narrows Mediation (1990 - 1994).
Anjali Kapoor
Anjali Kapoor is the Managing Editor, Digital at The Globe and Mail where she oversees the editorial digital strategy for Globe and Mail sites.
Previously, Anjali held the position of Director, Product & Editorial at Yahoo! Canada where she was responsible for overseeing the product strategy and business goals of the Media Group. She oversaw the launch and development of core web products like Front Page, News, Finance, Lifestyle, Sports, Community and Video. She managed a team of product and editorial people to create a rich content and interactive experience to engage Canadian users.
With a background in journalism, Anjali's main focus for the past ten years has been within the digital industry in Canada. Her main areas of expertise are user/audience experience and engagement, content development and product strategy. She has worked for Microsoft Canada, Transcontinental Media, Sun Media (Canoe) and Rogers. She continues to be actively involved in the online news industry in Canada and co-chaired the Online News Association conference in Toronto in November 2007.
Anjali has covered a variety of women's issues and topics over the years as a freelancer for Elle Canada, Canadian Living, Homemaker's Magazine, Today's Parent, Chatelaine, Reader's Digest, Sears Travel and the National Post. Anjali is also the co-author of Comfort Heart: A Memoir published by ECW Press in 2001.
"I am interested in joining the CJFE board in part because of my active interest in how digital media has changed and challenged free expression in the digital age. Social media tools have altered the way journalists and even citizens report on news events around the world, turning a spotlight on stories that might not otherwise been heard. But even in this digital age we know censorship still exists and I have been continually amazed at the innovation of reporters and media to get their opinions and influence out to a broader group. I look forward to learning more about this and other issues by joining the board of the CJFE and being able to participate in moving forward discussions around this and other topics of freedom of expression."
Alice Klein
Alice Klein is the co-founder, editor and CEO of Toronto's NOW Magazine, a free alternative news and entertainment weekly with a circulation of 355,000. She has been a CJFE Board member for two years.
As a writer, Alice's current focus is on the economy and the environment. She also dabbles in documentary film-making
Call of the Hummingbird, (2007) her first film, was an official selection at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin and Toronto's Hot Docs. She is also on the Board of the Toronto Arts Council, the Centre for Social Innovation and Green Enterprise Toronto.
Since joining the board, Alice has focused on the structural imperatives of the organization. In Alice's view, CJFE could benefit from plunging more whole-heartedly into the web to grow our base and influence.
Donald Livingstone
Donald Livingstone is a founding partner of Promeus, a Toronto search firm specializing in public sector leadership recruitment.
Donald is a physician and has practiced as a General Internist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre since 1985 where he was Head of the Division of General Internal Medicine for a number of years. He also provided leadership to Sunnybrook for more than a decade in a variety of capacities including Vice President Medical Affairs, Vice President Professional Affairs, and Senior Vice President, Medical Services and Chief Medical Officer.
Subsequently he served as a consultant in business strategy to a variety of private sector healthcare entities.
He has been formally undertaking senior level recruitment in a professional capacity for approximately 5 years and his clients include hospitals, universities, government and not for profit service organizations. He is particularly interested in strategic positioning and leadership development.
Donald will bring a wealth of practical experience to the CJFE Board in business operations, strategic planning, and governance. He is a graduate of the Rotman School of Management and of the Institute of Corporate Directors Not-For-Profit Governance Essentials Program. He is passionate about the defense of human rights including freedom of speech.
Anita Mielewczyk
Anita Mielewczyk is an Associate at Kim Orr P.C. practicing in class actions and complex commercial litigation. She acts on behalf of plaintiffs in cases ranging from product liability and pharmaceutical matters to insurance class actions.
Prior to be called to the bar in 2010 she had worked as an investigative journalist. After starting her career at CBC TV's, "The Fifth Estate", she went on to continue producing investigative documentaries for "The National".
Her documentaries have been about a wide range of topics, including human rights, genocide, copyright infringement, automobile insurance law, environmental rights, employer liability, corporate liability, drug research, war criminals, refugee law, fraud, multinational corporate responsibility, risk management, drug approval, Canadian sovereignty and BSE.
Access to information, protection of off-the-record sources and protection of journalistic work product formed the backdrop to many of her investigations. Several of her documentaries led to litigation, which highlighted, for her, the difficulties that all journalists can face when bringing to light contentious stories.
Anita welcomes the opportunity to continue to work with the CJFE in order to ensure that all journalists have the opportunity to practice their craft in a climate free of fear and harassment.
During her tenure on the board, Anita has worked on the Banquet committee and the Membership committee. She would like to see CJFE reach more people than ever in the next year to let them know who we are, what we do, and how we can help further the aims of free expression.
John Norris
John Norris is a practicing lawyer in Toronto. He received a B.A. (Honours Philosophy) from Carleton University in 1982 and an M.A. (Philosophy) from the University of Western Ontario in 1984. He received his LL.B. from the University of Toronto in 1991 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1993. Since then he has maintained a trial and appellate practice in the areas of criminal, constitutional and national security law. He is an adjunct member of the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, where he has taught Advanced Criminal Law, Evidence Law and Advanced Evidence, and of Osgoode Hall Law School, where he teaches in the part-time LL.M. program in Criminal Law.
John is the author of several scholarly articles, an Assistant Editor of the Canadian Rights Reporter and a regular contributor to continuing legal education programs. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression where he is a member of the Canadian Issues committee. He has also acted for CJFE in interventions in legal proceedings.In 2008, he was appointed by the Minister of Justice to the roster of Special Advocates for security certificate proceedings under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Mary Deanne Shears
Mary Deanne Shears has been with the CJFE board for the last two years. She has been a very active member of the fundraising committee and is also part of the International Press Freedom Awards committee.
Now semi-retired, Mary Deanne Shears was described recently by the National Newspaper Awards as a "media legend" for her 35 years of work at the Toronto Star, the last seven of which she served as the Managing Editor. In addition to her volunteer work for the CJFE Board and the Aphasia Institute, Mary Deanne also teaches at Sheridan College's Canadian Journalism for Internationally Trained Writers program. In what's left of her spare time, she is learning to play the piano.
Mary Deanne brings to the CJFE Board determination to raise its profile and spread its good story.
Frank Switzer
Frank Switzer is Vice-President of Corporate Communications at Sun Life Financial. In this role, Frank oversees the enterprise-wide internal and external communications and media relations functions. He is a member of Sun Life's International Marketing Centre.
Frank joined the Company in November 2009, bringing 30 years experience in communications and media relations in government, corporate and financial services.
He started his career as a broadcast journalist for a number of Canadian news outlets, and has served as a communications advisor to an Ontario cabinet minister and as Press Secretary for the Official Opposition in the Ontario Legislature. Frank also worked in corporate communications for an infrastructure development company and was Director of Communications for the Ontario Securities Commission. Prior to joining Sun Life, he was Director of Public Affairs for Scotiabank Group.
Frank holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University and is a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board for the Ontario Central East Division.
"As a former journalist, with many friends and former colleagues still in the business, serving on the Board of CJFE is an opportunity for me to give back to a craft that I am still passionate about. As an officer at a Canadian-based multinational corporation, I'm pleased I can assist an organization that promotes freedom for the news media. It's a cause that contributes to stronger, more stable local institutions, and helps to create and maintain an environment for economic growth and social justice in countries where Canadian firms do business."
Anna Maria Tremonti
Anna Maria Tremonti has been the host of The Current, on CBC Radio One since its creation in the autumn of 2002. Prior to that, she spent almost two decades as a television correspondent, mostly for The National and the investigative program the fifth estate.
Anna Maria was a foreign correspondent based in Berlin, London, Jerusalem and then Washington in the 1990s. She covered politics on Parliament Hill for almost five years, and has been a radio and television reporter in Alberta and the Maritimes.
Anna Maria is pleased to be working with the CJFE in its recognition of journalistic excellence and in calling attention to those journalists whose reporting of the truth puts them at great personal risk. She has been moderating the CJFE's Free to Speak fundraising series, and has worked with the board on strategic planning to bring more Canadian journalists into the organization.
Read Anna Maria's 2011 Minifie Lecture
Paula Todd
Canadian journalist Paula Todd has divided her career equally between print and broadcast. She currently works on-air for CTV as an investigative reporter with W5 and occasional host for Canada AM and Bravo! Television.
Also a lawyer, Paula was the founding host of "The Verdict with Paula Todd," the country's first nightly live prime-time legal affairs program on CTV News Channel. Prior to joining CTV in 2007, Paula was the host and co-producer of TVO's program, Person 2 Person with Paula Todd. The award-winning, in-depth interview show ran for seven years, while Todd also co-hosted (for a decade) the nightly, live Gemini-Award-winning current affairs program Studio 2.
Paula has written extensively for numerous publications, including The Globe and Mail (where she is a regular literary critic for BOOKS), the Toronto Star, Elm Street Magazine, Canadian Living, and The Law Times. A former legal columnist, she is the author of the best-selling book, A Quiet Courage: Inspiring Stories from All of Us (Thomas Allen).
Paula entered broadcasting full-time in 1997 after more than a dozen years at Canada's largest newspaper, the Toronto Star, where she worked as a reporter, feature writer and political correspondent. She spent four years on The Star's Editorial Board with a focus on law and politics. She's served as a judge for the National Newspaper and the National Magazine Awards, the Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize, and the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) Awards. Paula is a frequent conference and debate host, inspirational speaker and committed volunteer, particularly in the areas of literacy, media, and learning disabilities. She is the recipient of the Paramedic Association's Media Award for public education, a National Magazine Award nominee, and served on the Board of Directors of Integra.
A frequent contributor to radio and television before joining TVO, Paula was a regular host on CBC Newsworld's Face Off, a Global TV and CBC panelist, and a political analyst for CBC Radio in Toronto and Ottawa.
Paula earned her B.A. in English literature and political science at York University (where she served as editor of the University's student newspaper, Excalibur). She is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B) and is called to the Ontario Bar. She mentors both journalism and law students. She is currently at work on her second non-fiction book and writes CTV's blog (hhtp://paula.ctv.ca) "Live on Bike."
As a journalist and a lawyer, Paula both values and depends upon a free press. She is keenly interested in evolving international media law, and is a student of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She devotes much time to mentoring young journalists, here and abroad, and would be honoured to use that experience in aid of CJFE.
Philip Tunley
Philip Tunley joined the Board on November 14, 2005. His expertise as a lawyer has provided guidance and recommendations on the most effective strategy to battle free expression within the legal framework. Among these issues is the formal confirmation of CJFE as manager of IFEX.
Insofar as the day to day running of the organization, Philip is a member of the Canadian Issues Committee. He is a past member of the Personnel Committee and a former CIFET Trustee, and as the Vice President from 2007 to 2009, he was also on the Executive Committee. From his perspective, the staff and Board have made progress in pulling together in terms of the structure and governance of CJFE since 2005. In the future, Philip would like to see board members deal with fewer administrative matters, and spend more time on their core mandate and commitment to advocating for the right to free expression.
It is a little known fact, that Philip served from 2004 to 2009 as a member of Metro Toronto Committee of the prestigious Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee. The Committee was established to improve the process of recommending candidates for the Federal judicial appointment. This Committee provides a rigorous vetting process to evaluate the credentials and other characteristics qualifying candidates to be judges. The Committee's recommendations cover the Superior and Federal trial courts and Courts of Appeal. Members of the Committee are appointed by the Federal Minister of Justice, in Philip's case as the nominee of the Attorney General of Ontario, however the Committee operates at arm's length and independently of both the Federal and Provincial Governments. Philip served two terms on the Committee, over a total of five years.
Staff
Anne Game, Executive Director
Leslie de Freitas, CJFE Manager
Laura Tribe, CJFE Web and Social Media Editor
Elena Romanova, CJFE/IFEX Office Manager
Karen Knopf, CJFE/IFEX Finance and Accounting Consultant
Rachel Kay, IFEX Manager
Michaël Elbaz, IFEX Senior Action Alerts Coordinator
Natasha Grzincic, IFEX Online Editor
Maureen James, IFEX Fundraising Coordinator
Zaynah Khanbhai, IFEX Development/Outreach Coordinator
Kristina Stockwood, IFEX Development/Outreach Coordinator
Lama Mourad, IFEX Action Alerts Coordinator
Erin Woycik, IFEX Action Alerts Coordinator
Elysse Zarek, IFEX Action Alerts Coordinator
Christina Rutherford, Web Coordinator