Inspector Jim Potts, O.O.M., Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Retired, Ottawa, ON. Inspector Potts retired from policing in 2002 after 45 years of service (36 years with the RCMP and 9 years with the OPP). He has 24 years of operational experience and served for 12 years as a liaison officer with the Mohawk Warriors. He has acted as a mediator during various major First Nations disputes, traveling extensively across Canada and internationally. He was the first Status Indian to receive a Commission in the RCMP’s 125 year history and is the recipient of numerous awards. From 1996 to 1999 he was an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario. In 2002, he was appointed “Officer of the Order of Merit” for Police Forces by Her Excellency the Governor General of Canada.

Chief Mark Wedge, Carcross Tagish First Nation, Carcross, YT. Chief Wedge was formerly the President of the Yukon First Nation Development Corporation and Chairperson of däna Näye Ventures. He was the Chief Lands Claims Negotiator for Carcross Tagish First Nation, which negotiated a final and self-government agreement with both the federal and territorial governments. He has worked internationally in conflict resolution and community justice. In 2003, he received the CANDO Economic Developer of the Year award, created to recognize and promote recent or long-standing Aboriginal economic development initiatives throughout Canada. Chief Wedge co-authored Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community.

Ed Buller, Plains Cree, Director, Aboriginal Corrections Policy, Public Safety Canada, Ottawa, ON. Over the last fifteen years, Aboriginal Corrections Policy has worked with communities that are exploring traditional approaches to the healing of victims, offenders, their families and community. These communities have included Mnjikaning First Nation in Ontario, Hollow Water First Nation in Manitoba, the Hinton Friendship Centre in Alberta and the Ahousaht First Nation in British Columbia. The results of this work have been published in a series or reports as part of the Aboriginal Peoples Collection.

Jason Campbell, Justice Worker, The Qwi:qwelstom – Sto:lo Nation Justice Program, Chilliwack, BC. Mr. Campbell has been working with the Sto:lo Nation Justice Program since January 2006. Prior to this role, he was a by-law enforcement officer for the Kyuquot-Checkleset First Nations. Mr. Campbell also has over 15 years of experience in various security and enforcement positions.

Dr. Liz Elliott, Associate Professor and Co-Director, Centre for Restorative Justice, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC. Dr. Elliott holds an MSW from Carleton University and a Ph.D from Simon Fraser University. She teaches and publishes in the areas of restorative justice, prisons and criminological theory. She is the co-editor of the recently published New Directions in Restorative Justice (Willan, 2005), has written several book chapters and journal articles on restorative justice or prison, and is a founding editor of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons. She has been active in prisons and in restorative justice since 1981, first as a community-based social worker, then as a teacher and currently as a professor and volunteer. Dr. Elliot is also involved in an extensive amount of community work.

Jack Hicks, Social Research Consultant and Co-ordinator of a major suicide follow-back study, NU. Mr. Hicks moved to the Arctic in 1981, and after working in community development and adult education across the Western and Eastern Arctic he moved to Ottawa in 1991 to become the executive director of the Inuit Tapirisat Canada. He returned to the north in 1994 to serve as Director of Research for the Nunavut Implementation Commission. From the creation of Nunavut in 1999 until the fall of 2004 he was the Government of Nunavut’s Director of Evaluation and Statistics. He is currently involved in several research initiatives, and is also an external Ph.D student at Ilisimatusarfik (The University of Greenland).

Joanne Jefferson, Justice Manager, Qwi:qwelstom – Sto:lo Nation Justice Program, Chilliwack, BC. Ms. Jefferson is a member of the Skowkale First Nation and was born and raised in Chilliwack, BC. She attained a Bacholors of Arts degree from UCFV in 2001 and has been working for the Qwi:qwelstom since that time. Ms. Jefferson has four children and has been married for 23 years. She enjoys being part of a community empowering Aboriginal people to embrace traditional ways to resolve conflict.

Dave Jones, Founder, Turtle Concepts, Garden River, ON. Mr. Jones is an Ojibwe of the Garden River First Nation. He founded the Turtle Concepts program to build confidence in First Nations youth. A former schoolteacher, he is presently an entrepreneur and motivational speaker.

Dr. Samuel Law, MD, FRCPC, Toronto, ON. Dr. Law is a staff psychiatrist at St. Michael’s Hospital, the Clinical Director of Assertive Treatment Team at Mount Sinai Hospital, and an Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, with a focus on its Culture, Community, and Health Studies Program. His clinical work centers on community psychiatric outreach services to the inner city populations with severe and persistent mental illnesses, with additional focus on immigrants and ethnic minorities. He collaborates and conducts research on cross-cultural psychiatry issues. From 1999 to 2003, he worked for two and half years as the first full time psychiatrist to reside on Baffin Island, Nunavut, and maintains connected to clinical and research issues in Inuit mental health.

Sgt. Mark Linnell, RCMP, Hobbema, AB. Sgt. Linnell has been a member of the RCMP since December 1981, and has served at a number of detachments across Alberta. He assumed command of the Hobbema Detachment in 2005 and was instrumental in starting the Hobbema Community Cadet Corps. Born in England he previously served in the Royal Marines Commandoes for 14 years fighting in many parts of the world. On leaving the Marines he came home to Canada and was commissioned in the Canadian Forces and ran an adventure school for one year before joining the RCMP. He has almost 41 years in uniform for Queen and country.

Constable Yvonne Niego, National Aboriginal Policing Services, Ottawa, ON. Ms. Niego grew up primarily in the arctic, remote isolated community of Baker Lake, Nunavut. In 1991 she became a member of the RCMP and has served in her home community several times, as well as Iqaluit, and Yellowknife, NWT. During the leave she took to raise her three children, she also worked at the territorial and municipal governments. She has over 17 years of policing experience and currently works at the National Aboriginal Policing headquarters in Ottawa, ON.

Dr. Brenda Restoule, Registered Psychologist, Sudbury, ON. Dr. Restoule is from Dokis First Nation. Her spirit name is Waub-Zhe-Kwens (Little Swan Woman) and she is from the Eagle Clan. She presently holds dedicated contracts with First Nation communities (Nipissing First Nation and Whitefish Lake First Nation) and an Aboriginal Health Access Centre in Sudbury (Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre) where she provides direct intervention services, program and community development and clinical consultation to their mental health programs. She has worked with numerous projects and organizations including the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Dream Catcher Tour, Prison for Women, the Northeast Mental Health Centre, Health Canada and Nadmadwin Mental Health Clinic. She has also provided presentations on Aboriginal mental health to the Arbour Inquiry into certain events at P4W and the Kirby Commission that lead to Out of the Shadows at Last, a report of mental illness in Canada. Ms. Restoule is the vice chair of the Native Mental Health Association of Canada.

Chief Superintendent Doug Reti, Director General, National Aboriginal Policing Services, RCMP, Ottawa, ON. Chief Superintendent Reti is a member of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, and hails from Old Crow, Yukon. Throughout his career with the RCMP, he has served in 11 detachments across Canada focusing on Aboriginal Policing. Commissioned in 2000, his past positions include head of the Inuit Recruiting and Development Program, District and Criminal Operations Officer in Nunavut, and Officer-In-Charge of the Wetaskiwin-Hobbema detachment. He played an integral role in establishing the Hobbema Cadet Corps, developing an integrated crime prevention initiative, and securing the second largest Community Tripartite Agreement in Canada. Prior to his 2006 appointment as Director General he worked in Ottawa with the NAPS Branch and National Headquarters Recruiting and Staffing. A member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police he received his 20 year RCMP Long Service Medal in 2004. He is also a recipient of the Alberta Centennial Award.

Rosemary Rowlands, Kaska Dena First Nation, YK. Ms. Rowlands is a member of the Wolf Clan and since 1989 has been involved in developing culturally and socially appropriate Justice Programs in the Yukon. She has worked for the Kwanlin Dun First Nation for 15 years and established the Kwanlin Dun Community Social Justice Program where the main focus was healing, community involvement, and utilizing the circle to facilitate these objectives. Ms. Rowlands is a qualified Instructor and Coach in the JIBC Conflict Management, Mediation, and Dealing with Anger courses offered at Yukon College. She is a Justice of the Peace, a practicing Mediator, and presently runs her own management and training business.

Dr. Joe Solanto, Ph.D, Vancouver, BC. Before coming to BC in the early 90’s, Dr. Solanto served as a School Psychologist in the public schools of New York for 18 years. He then completed a doctorate in psychology, and for seven years was the Director of a multi-disciplinary outpatient treatment centre for addictions and trauma. Since coming to Canada, Dr. Solanto has been teaching a wide variety of courses at the Justice Institute of BC and has developed and instructed the Justice Institute’s Aboriginal Trauma Certificate Program in various Aboriginal communities in BC. In the past few years he has been working in First Nations communities throughout Canada, assisting with healing and training. He has also served as a consultant for the Federal Department of Justice, as well as for Corrections Services Canada, and currently provides consultation and training to a variety of organizations in BC and other provinces.

Elizabeth Sanderson, Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio, Ottawa, ON. Ms. Sanderson was born in BC’s Similkameen Valley, growing up on a fruit farm in the small town of Cawston. She holds a B.A. from McGill University, an M.A. from Carleton University, and an LL.B. from the University of Ottawa. In 2002, Ms. Sanderson joined the Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio. Prior to that, she headed the Public Law Policy Section where she was responsible for the public law policy mandate of the Minister of Justice. This included judicial affairs, private international law, and reform of the Access to Information Act, the Canadian Human Rights Act, and the Privacy Act. Ms. Sanderson also worked on the Charlottetown Constitutional Reform process.

Judge Barry Stuart, B.A., LL.B., LL.M., Adjunct Professor, Criminology and Dialogue Associate, Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC. Judge Stuart has 25 years of experience as a Judge. His work has always focused on how decisions are made and conflicts resolved. He has helped build governing structures for new governments at the national and local levels. His work in the public sector either as Chief Land Claims Negotiator or as a mediator in a wide range of issues or as a consultant to governments and corporations has received national and international recognition. In the fields of child protection, justice and self government, he has generated partnerships providing innovative ways to collaboratively work through difficulties in a good way. He is the recipient of the Governor General's Medal and the Independence Medal of Papua New Guinea.

Theresa Wesley, Program Manager, Price Rupert Urban Aboriginal Justice Program, Prince Rupert, BC. Ms. Wesley is a member of the Lax Kw’alaams Band. She has dedicated her working life to public service and public administration. She has held a variety of positions in non-profit societies, worked for the federal government, various band councils and tribal councils. She has been the Coordinator/Manager of the Aboriginal Justice Society in Prince Rupert for the past nine years. In this position, Ms. Wesley facilitates community circles that includes Crown Counsel referrals, Department of Fisheries referrals, police referrals, community referrals, and sentencing advisory for lawyers, probations and the courts.

Dr. Stephen Wormith, Ph.D, Chair of Forensic Psychology, Psychology Department, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK. Formerly, Dr. Wormith was Psychologist-in-Chief for the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and Deputy Superintendent (Treatment) at Rideau Correctional and Treatment Centre. He provides forensic clinical consultation services to the Regional Psychiatric Centre, youth and adult court, the Saskatchewan Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Saskatoon Police Services Commission, the Correctional Service of Canada and the National Parole Board. He is the Canadian Psychological Association’s representative on the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice (NAACJ). He is active in the voluntary sector as Vice-president of the Canadian Training Institute, and is on the Board of Directors of The International Institute on Special Needs Offenders and Policy Research. Dr. Wormith’s research activities have concentrated on the assessment, treatment and therapeutic processes of offenders, including various special offender groups, such as young offenders, sexual offenders and mentally disordered offenders. He is co-author of the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory.