
Board of Directors
Meet the current DABC Board of Directors.
Jake Anthony, CCIP (Chair)
Jake was elected to the DABC Board in October 2020. He has been an advocate for people with disabilities for over fifteen years and has a lived experience with a disability (specifically autism, with co-occuring mental health challenges.) He works as an accessibility consultant, licensed BC Security Worker and he holds his professional designation as a Canadian Certified Inclusion Professional (CCIP) from the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. Jake also currently serves the President of Disability Alliance Canada and as a Board Member of Neworld Theatre. He is a Past President of Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture and Low Entropy Foundation, as well as being a past member and chair of TransLink’s Access Transit Users’ Advisory Committee. From 2018-2021, he was a ministerially-appointed member of the Community Living BC (CLBC) Board of Directors. In addition, Jake has been a guest lecturer and departmental advisor for Capilano University’s Applied Behaviour Analysis-Autism Program since 2017.
Liss Cairns (Vice-Chair)
Liss is the current Program Manager at Plan Institute (PI), a national nonprofit devoted to empowering disabled people to live a good life, whatever that looks like to them. Their work includes managing PI’s free national Disability Planning Helpline Service, developing and facilitating educational and caregiver-focused webinars, supporting advocacy initiatives, and fostering meaningful partnerships across Canada. Liss has volunteered for two terms with the UBC Interprofessional Health Mentors Program as a Health Mentor and continues to participate when possible in ad-hoc UBC patient partner education opportunities.
Outside of their caregiving, work, and volunteering, Liss enjoys spending time with their family, playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends, cuddling their furry orange and white cat, Zeus, being surrounded by nature, and working on their spiritual practice.
Julia Lamb (Treasurer)
Julia joined the Disability Alliance BC Board in 2020 and is currently Treasurer. She is a multiply disabled person with a bookkeeping certificate from the University of the Fraser Valley. Julia works in administrative and program support at Community Futures South Fraser. There, she helps connect with local entrepreneurs, small businesses, and community projects.
Julia’s advocacy comes from her own lived experiences in community and from working with groups like Cure SMA Canada and Muscular Dystrophy Canada since childhood. She also helped start the City of Chilliwack’s Accessibility Advisory Panel, which is now the city’s Accessibility and Inclusion Advisory Committee. Julia believes in disability justice and works for change through collective action and solidarity, always focusing on what makes a real difference in people’s everyday lives.
Julia lives in Chilliwack, on the stolen and ancestral lands of the Stó:lō people, with her partner and their rescue cats. She enjoys attending book club, writing poetry, and being outdoors on accessible trails.
Sarina Mawji (Secretary)
Sarina has decades of experience as a disability rights advocate, with her experience working and supporting children and youth. She lives with invisible disabilities and is also a caregiver. She works within and for communities through ongoing community engagement programming initiatives through identifying community needs, capacities, & assets.
She is committed to creating a better world, which is evident through her work of organizing initiatives that foster genuine connections and promotes well-being for all. With her decades of experience in Organizational Leadership, Strategic Planning and Community Development, she leads & supports others in overcoming their own challenges which leaves a legacy of wellness in her community by creating a more connected community.
She has created and designed a variety of programs based on the Growth and Community Development Models that assist in the long-term improvement of Children, Youth and Families. Active in her community, Sarina has served on the boards of directors of the Steve Nash Youth Basketball League, Tri Cities KidSport, amongst others. She also sat on the Participation Provincial Grant Committee for the BC Parks and Recreation Participation Initiative and Sarina is a recipient of the BC Community Achievement Award.
Sarah Cheung (Director)
Sarah Cheung joined the Board of Directors in March 2019. She was born with a degenerative condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and this sparked her passion for improving the lives of persons with disabilities. Sarah graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of British Columbia in 2018, and she uses her education and experiences to eliminate barriers in society, improve accessibility, and advocate for the health and well-being for persons with disabilities (i.e., affordable, specialized health care, increased funding for personal care and medical support, more subsidized, accessible housing, and easy access to accessible transportation). In addition to working with the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, she has served on numerous advisory committees over the years, such as the City of Vancouver’s Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee, TransLink’s Users’ Advisory Committee, and the Board of Directors for Cure SMA.
In her spare time, Sarah loves to explore local coffee shops and bakeries (she is a foodie!), go for walks along the seawall, and watch reality TV.
Sarah Grindlay (Director)
Sarah is a queer woman with ADHD, chronic pain and other invisible disabilities. She is grateful to live on the unceded lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən, Songhees, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, also known as Victoria, BC. Sarah’s background is as a communications professional and an accessibility consultant. She holds her designation as a Certified Professional in Accessible Core Competencies (CPACC). She is also a member of Plain Language Association International (PLAIN), Disability Alliance BC (DABC), and the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP).
In late 2024, Sarah opened Sarah Grindlay Consulting. She specializes in accessible communications. She uses universal design principles to create barrier-free communications for all audiences. Her services include writing, editing, training teams, and providing document and website accessibility.
Before starting her own business, Sarah worked at the University of Victoria. She was working for over for seven years in communications and project management. Most recently, she led the communications team for the Provincial Employment Strategy for Youth with Disabilities (ESYD). This was funded by the Department of Social Development and Poverty Reduction.
She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria (2015). She majored in English and writing and minored in Professional Writing. She is now completing certificates in Editing and Plain Language Writing (Simon Fraser University).
Sarah lives with her husband and their beloved, senior rescue shih-tzu/terrier, Chewie. She is an amateur ceramicist specializing in porcelain jewellery and sculpture.
You can learn more about her work by visiting sarahgrindlay.ca.
Nicole Kopchia (Director)
Nicole Kopchia joined the Board of Directors in September 2025. As a survivor of an ischemic stroke, she has turned her experiences into a commitment to inspire others by sharing her journey. With over twenty years of experience as a human resources professional, Nicole is skilled in organizational leadership and strategic planning. Throughout her life, she has actively volunteered with various organizations, including Victim Services with the West Vancouver Police Department (WVPD) and the Pacific Assistance Dog Society (PADS), where she has provided valuable insights and formed meaningful connections within the community.
Elizabeth Lalonde (Director)
Elizabeth Lalonde has been blind since birth and is a passionate advocate, mentor, and leader in the blindness and disability communities. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Pacific Training Centre for the Blind (PTCB), a grassroots, blind-run organization that provides empowering, nonvisual skills training to blind and DeafBlind adults across Canada.
For more than two decades, Elizabeth has championed the need for independence-based training programs led by blind instructors. In 2010, she completed a nine-month immersion program at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, where she studied the innovative Structured Discovery model—an empowering, problem-solving approach to blindness rehabilitation. Determined to bring this model to Canada, Elizabeth returned to Victoria and launched PTCB, which remains one of the only CARF-accredited blindness skills training programs of its kind in the country.
Elizabeth is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Community Development at the University of Victoria, where she is focusing her thesis on the impact and effectiveness of structured discovery training in the Canadian context. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Anthropology and Professional Writing, and previously worked as a Communications Coordinator for the Province of British Columbia.
Elizabeth is also deeply involved in community leadership. She is a member and past president of the Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB) and currently serves on the board of the Disability Alliance of BC (DABC).
A dedicated mother of two, Elizabeth brings lived experience, professional expertise, and a deep belief in the capacity of blind people to lead meaningful, independent lives. Her work continues to challenge outdated perceptions of blindness and open doors for future generations.
Louella Vincent (Director)
Louella is based out of Aldergrove. She is a Metis woman, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Louella is a longtime labour activist and disability rights advocate. Over the years, Louella has been actively involved with the BC Federation of Labour’s Accessibility Caucus, as well as serving on their Indigenous Peoples’ and Human Rights Committees. Beyond her union work, she is involved in her community, serving on the Langley Accessibility Committee and as a Director on the Board of CoDevelopment Canada.