Board of Directors

Meet the current DABC Board of Directors.

Sheryl Burns

Sheryl Burns is a long-time social justice activist.  She has been a participant in the women’s movement, working as a front line worker in transition houses and as a legal advocate for battered women.  In addition, she has been an activist in the disability rights movement for the past several years.

Sheryl has co-authored a report on the child protection system and mothers with disabilities entitled “Mothers with Disabilities and the BC Child Protection System”.  She recently wrote two reports on behalf of YWCA Vancouver on Mothers without Legal Immigrant Status.  The first, “Single Mothers without Permanent Status in Canada:  The Intersection of the Immigration System and the Family Law System: Information for Service Providers” is for front line support workers of mothers without status.  The second report is entitled “Single Mothers without Permanent Status: Caught in the Intersection Between Immigration Law and Family Law”.

As a social justice activist and person with a disability, Sheryl has worked to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities within and external to the Labour movement. She is a member of the City of Vancouver’s Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee, a current Board member of Disability Alliance BC, former Chair of the CUPE National Persons with Disabilities Working Group, former chair and current member of the CUPE BC Persons with Disabilities Working Group, former CUPE BC member representative on the CUPE National Women’s Task Force and current Persons with Disabilities Representative on the CUPE National Women’s Committee.  Sheryl also represents persons with disabilities on the BC Federation of Labour Human Rights Committee and the BC Federation of Labour Executive Board.

Jennifer Campillo

Jennifer Campillo is a peer support program coordinator at Richmond Mental Health Consumer and Friends’ Society (RCFC) and a freelance writer. She is passionate about advocacy for mental health and disability.  She holds a Master of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature.

Pat Danforth (Chair & CCD Representative)

Pat Danforth has more than 30 years of governance and board experience in a wide variety of government and not for profit sectors. She is committed to embracing and leading change that makes a difference.

Pat has worked on rights based issues since becoming reliant on a wheelchair in 1970.  She has taken a leadership role with the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD). She represents the Disability Alliance BC on CCD’s board. She also volunteers on CCD’s Transportation Committee and is a member of its Human Rights Committee.

She is a founding mother of the Disabled Women’s Network [DAWN]. Pat’s career includes work for provincial and federal governments, Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, as well as the Canadian Labour Congress. Her varied background includes the Saskatchewan Public Service Commission Board of Commissioners, Regina Health District Board, National Transportation Agency and CUPE National’s Disability Working Group. She has specialist knowledge of rights and disability issues, policies and programs.

Pat currently serves on a variety of committees including:

  • BC Ferries Accessibility Advisory Committee,
  • Chair, Disability Alliance BC,
  • Transportation Committee and human rights committee, Council of Canadians with Disabilities,
  • Working Group for development of Saanich Accessibility Committee

Past committee work includes Vice Chair, Accessible Transportation Advisory Committee, BC Transit and Member, Advisory Design Panel, District of Saanich.

Pat recognizes that volunteer work is essential in making a difference to the lives of people living with disabilities.

Michelle Hewitt (Secretary)

Michelle Hewitt has a long history of volunteerism and advocacy. In 2008 she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of MS and has been in a wheelchair since 2009. Since then, she has turned her volunteerism and advocacy to disability issues, including being a member of the MS Society of Canada BCY Division Government relations committee, the Accessible Transit Working Group in Kelowna, the Patient Voice Network and PEiR (Patient Engagement in Research). In Kelowna, Michelle has developed the Central Okanagan Disability Coalition (CODC) as a mechanism to inform disabled people about issues and opportunities available to them.

Prior to her disability, Michelle was a principal in School District 23.

Michelle Hewitt lives in Kelowna, with her husband who is her full time carer and their two Bernese Mountain dogs.

Pam Horton (Vice-Chair)

Pam was the first coordinator for this organization and moved us into our offices on West Broadway. She is
currently Vice Chair of the Board. Pam has served on municipal committees such as The City of North
Vancouver Adaptable Design Working Group and North Shore Coordinating Committee to End Violence Against
Women in Relationships. She has recently completed a term on the Integrated Transportation Committee for the
City of North Vancouver. She is presently the Vice Chair of TransLink’s Access Transit User’s Advisory Committee.
Pam lives in a purpose-built, fully accessible apartment in North Vancouver.

Johanna Johnson

Johanna is a special education and classroom teacher with a long history of volunteer involvement with the disability community through the BC Paraplegic Association, TETRA Society, and a support group for women with disabilities.

A member of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association, Johanna is passionate about education and health issues. She currently teaches Kindergarten at Nootka Elementary.

Johanna was the 2005 Courage to Come Back award recipient in the Physical Rehabilitation category.

Elizabeth Lalonde

Elizabeth Lalonde, mother of two young sons, has extensive personal and professional experience in the field of blindness and disability issues. Ms. Lalonde, blind since birth, founded the Pacific Training Centre for the Blind – a grassroots, empowering organization that teaches blind people independence skills- run entirely by blind people; she is now the director of this Centre.

In 2010, Elizabeth completed a nine-month intensive blindness emersion training program including Braille, travel with the long white cane, adaptive technology, industrial arts, cooking and other life skills at the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston, Louisiana. This training center is world-renown for its positive approach to blindness; its problem-solving, or structured discovery teaching method; and its promotion of complete independence for blind people.

Elizabeth served as president of the Canadian Federation of the Blind for nine years and has been an advocate and mentor in the blindness and disability communities for over 25 years. She completed a course called EntreActive, a self-employment program for persons with disabilities run through Business Victoria, and taught grant-writing for this organization.

She served as president of the Society for Students with a Disability for three years, where she organized several awareness and advocacy-related events and activities.

She earned a BA in journalism and anthropology from the University of Victoria and worked for several years as a communications coordinator for the Province of British Columbia.

Elizabeth has a positive, can-do attitude and strongly believes in the importance of promoting a positive approach to disability and the abilities of all people with disabilities.

Terry Pipkey

Terry is 62 years old and legally blind. He is currently updating his old house in Prince George. He continues to advocate and participate in numerous community non-profit groups that deal with disability issues. His past year’s activities are listed below:

  • Current Chair of ATAC (Accessible Transportation Action Committee), the local Prince George public transit advocacy group.
  • Board Member of PG Carefree Society, the local HandyDART service operator.
  • Provincial Board Member on the BC-Yukon Division of the Canadian Council of the Blind.
  • Twelve-year member of the Spruce City Lions Club.
  • Director of local BC Gaming Association: “Northern Interior Communities Association”
  • Member of several low vision/blind advocacy and social organizations – namely: Canadian Council of the Blind, Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, and a member of the PG Blind Curling Club.

Jill Stainsby (Treasurer)

Jill Stainsby has been involved with mental health services since age 5 when her mother was diagnosed with a mental illness, and she was herself similarly diagnosed in her early twenties. After completing a Masters at SFU in Women’s Studies she was employed by Riverview Hospital for five years and then by the Vancouver Community Mental Health Services for six years. She was the recipient of the 2003 Courage to Come Back Award for Mental Health from Coast Foundation.

In the spring of 2006, Jill completed a Masters of Social Work Degree at UBC and then briefly taught in the Thompson Rivers University Human Services Program in Lillooet, followed by terms in Prince Rupert, Abbotsford and Chilliwack.  She is now on leave from the Fraser Health Authority and is living in Lillooet where she volunteers with the local Friendship Centre.  She has built a cabin there, and has settled into it happily.

Jill has enjoyed being a member of the DABC Board and working with DABC’s staff, volunteers, membership and other community activists, and hopes to continue to do this.