LIST OF NOMINEES
All CCJA members may select their preferred candidate for each province in the 2018 elections.
The nominees are:
Dick Cotterill, Nova Scotia
Dick is an active member of the Halifax Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He is a member of the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC), the peace and social justice agency of Quakers in Canada. Representing the CFSC program committee Quakers Fostering Justice (QFJ), he sits on the board of both the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice (NAACJ) and the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC). Dick is a member of the Canadian Criminal Justice Association (CCJA), the East Coast Prison Justice Society (ECPJS) and is a director of the Truro Homeless Outreach Society (THOS). Dick has been involved in the sport of Rugby Union Football for over 50 years as a player, coach and administrator and currently volunteers as grounds manager at Farnham Mill Rugby Park, Truro’s seven-hectare facility. Past volunteer activities include serving as manager of the Bible Hill Cemetery for two years and four years as a director of Dismas Society, owner and operator of Laver’s House, Truro’s halfway house. With the Dismas Society, Dick served as President and Chair of the Building Committee during construction of a new 20-bed facility and sat on the board of the Atlantic Halfway House Association. Dick continues to live in Truro, Nova Scotia with his wife, Margie. His two sons, their wives and four grandchildren live nearby.
John Scoville, Nova Scotia
John graduated with a BA in Psychology from the University of Manitoba in 1989. He began his career as a probation officer in NFLD and progressed to Regional Supervisor in 2000. He was promoted to Superintendent of Prisons for NFLD in 2000 and served in that capacity for 8 years.
In 2008 John accepted the position of Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity for NFLD and Labrador, remaining there until 2012 when he moved to Halifax NS to serve as property manager for the Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority.
In 2014, John accepted a senior position with NS Correctional Services and is currently Chief Superintendent, responsible for all adult Correctional Facilities in NS.
National Committee involvement has included: National Crime Prevention Centre roundtable discussions on crime prevention, Atlantic Community Safety Assoc., Canadian Assoc., of Chiefs of Police Advisory Committee on Policing and Literacy, FPT Committee on Crime Prevention and Community Safety, and FPT Committee on Institutional Security.
John is currently Vice President of the NS Criminal Justice Association (NSCJA) and has been a member since 2016. He is the primary link between the NSCJA. and the NS Department of Justice. This year John has served as the NSCJA lead in the planning of the creative “Harm and Harm Reduction” Conference that will be held in partnership with the Critical Criminology Department at Saint Mary’s University on June 21, 22, 2018. John is respected in Nova Scotia as a progressive justice professional and leader.
Ashley Avery, Nova Scotia
Ashley has prior experience working in men and women’s halfway house. She also sat on the board of an Elizabeth Fry Society. Ashley has also served women involved in the criminal justice system while working as the Women’s Services Coordinator at Coverdale Courtwork Society. Furthermore, she worked as a Research Assistant for a project looking at the causes and consequences of breaches in Nova Scotia. Ashley has significant training and certifications including women’s centred parole certification and an educational background in women’s studies and social services.
Hesam Seyyed Esfahani, New Brunswick
Hesam has a Doctor of Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences from Université de Nantes (France) and currently works as an Assistant Professor at Université de Moncton in the Department of Sociology and Criminology.
Nick Cutler, New Brunswick
As the Provincial Director of Community Services with the Department of Justice and Public Safety, Government of NB, he oversees a portfolio that includes four distinct programs; Probation Services, Victims Services, Diversion Services and Open Custody Services for youth. Nick has been in his current senior leadership role for 3 years, with a career of over 15 years in the field of Criminal Justice. In 2017, he completed a 6-year volunteer term with the Board of Directors of the Crime Prevention Association of New Brunswick, ending as Vice President of the Association for three years. Nick has over 20 years of additional community volunteer experience in the field of criminal justice, including involvement in RCMP Victim Services and as a Restorative Justice facilitator. Current areas of work, passion and interest include the advancement of client centred models of care and intervention, trauma informed practice and focusing on youth criminal justice, indigenous criminal justice and mental health in the criminal justice system. As a graduate from St. Thomas University with a BA double major in Sociology and Criminology, Nick feels that his current and past employment and volunteer work could be assets to the Board of Directors and aligned priorities.
Ardath Whynacht, New Brunswick
Ardath Whynacht is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Mount Allison University and a Research Fellow with the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research at UNB. She has been teaching in the Federal prison system since 2008 and writes and publishes about trauma, violence and the carceral system. She is the provincial representative for the Violence & Society research cluster of the Canadian Sociological Association and is a regular guest on news media for stories related to gender-based violence. She is currently running a SSHRC-funded qualitative research project on transformative justice and intimate partner homicide and producing a podcast series about transformative approaches to family violence, sexual assault and child abuse.
Michel Gagnon, Quebec
Michel Gagnon has over 25 years of senior experience in personnel management, contract management, property management, community relations, as well as negotiation with senior government officials. He designed and implemented various support services (including residential services) for elderly men in conflict with the law, and various In-Reach and Out-Reach services to men and women serving life sentences. Michel also designed and saw to the implementation of the Waseya Treatment Program for Sex offenders and Violent Offenders residing at the Waseskun Healing Centre (Quebec).
Michel has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Laval University and Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
Since 1991, Michel has been the Executive Director of Maison Cross Roads, a community residential centre in Montreal. The Executive Director is responsible for the delivery of the corporation’s numerous programs and services; the management of the financial affairs of the corporation; the management of the personnel; contract negotiations, public relations and property management. He is responsible for the evaluation of the quality of services delivered.
François Boillat-Madfouny, Québec
François Boillat-Madfouny holds a law degree (LL.B., Université de Montréal, 2016) and passed the Quebec bar in the Fall of 2016 (École du Barreau de Montréal). He is fluent in both French and English. During his studies, he worked as a criminal law research assistant for defense counsel and has accumulated several board membership experiences in different academic committees. He is currently as a criminal prosecutor for the City of Montréal and is simultaneously pursuing graduate studies through which he is examining the relationship between modern media and the criminal justice system (LL.M. candidate, Université de Montréal).
François has been a member of the Canadian Criminal Justice Association (CCJA) since 2016. He worked as an intern for the organization in the Summer of 2017 and has since become an active member of its Policy Review Committee. He participated in the drafting of several briefs and appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on behalf of the CCJA. He has also published several articles, including in the CCJA’s Justice Report, attended the CCJA Youth & Justice Congress in the Fall of 2017 and will be a speaker at the upcoming National Conference on Critical Perspectives: Criminology and Criminal Justice at Saint-Mary’s University (Halifax, 2018).
At the end of the nomination process, there was only one candidate from Ontario, Mihael Cole, he has been acclaimed.