Award Winners

David Butler-Jones
R.D. Defries Award

Dr. David Butler-Jones has made an outstanding contribution to public health in Canada and his leadership has been an important factor in the revitalization of public health in Canada.

He is Canada’s first Chief Public Health Officer, appointed in 2004, and has led the establishment of the Public Health Agency of Canada. He also co-chairs the Council of the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network, where he has helped create a positive and collaborative approach.

In addition to his role within government, Dr. Butler-Jones has made an important contribution through his service to many NGOs, not least to CPHA. He was a member of the Board from 1995 and President from 1999-2001. He has also served as Vice-President of the American Public Health Association; Chair of the Canadian Roundtable on Health and Climate Change; International Regent on the board of the American College of Preventive Medicine; Member of the Governing Council for the Canadian Population Health Initiative; Chair of the National Coalition on Enhancing Preventive Practices of Health Professionals; and Co-Chair of the Canadian Coalition for Public Health in the 21^st Century.

He has also worked at the international level, serving as a consultant to WHO Europe on immunization programs (2003-04), co-chairing the Technical Advisory Committee for a CIDA project with the National School of Public Health in Brazil (1998-2003) and consulting in Kosovo and Chile in 2001, among many other activities.

Dr. Butler-Jones accomplishes all of this with a gentle demeanor and a sometimes puckish sense of humour, but also with great thoughtfulness and insight. He is deeply committed to the cause of public health in Canada and internationally, and he is a most worthy recipient of CPHA’s highest honour.

Marie des Anges Loyer
R.D. Defries Award

Dr. Marie des Anges Loyer graduated from high school in Ottawa and earned her diploma in nursing in 1955 (University of Ottawa), certificate in public health (University of Ottawa), baccalaureate in nursing (University of Ottawa) and then travelled to New York City to achieve in 1964 a Masters of Arts (Public Health Nursing), and in 1965 a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University. Returning to Ottawa, she earned a Masters in Education in 1968 and a PhD in 1982 from the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa. In 1988, she completed post-doctoral studies in the assessment of psychiatric disorders at the University of St. Louis in Missouri.

Dr. Loyer began her career as a staff nurse at the Ottawa General Hospital in 1955, moving to public health in 1959 in the Prescott-Russell and Carleton Health Units. She worked as a supervisor of public health nursing in New York while studying at Columbia University. Returning to Ottawa, she joined the School of Nursing, rising to become Dean of the School (1974-78) and Associate Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Director, School of Nursing from 1978-80.

Throughout her academic career, Dr. Loyer’s community service continued with significant leadership contributions to CPHA, of which she was the President in 1981-82; Board of Certification, Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspection; Royal Ottawa Hospital; Ottawa-Carleton District Health Council Continuing Care Board; Canadian Nurses Association and Canadian Nurses Foundation; Canadian and Ontario Region Associations of University Schools of Nursing; St. John Ambulance; Canadian Armed Forces; and the Maycourt Club.

In her retirement, she continues her volunteer work, travels, and enjoys music and gourmet cooking.

Charlene Beynon
Honorary Life Membership

Charlene Beynon, RN, MScN, is a member of the senior management team at Middlesex-London Health Unit and a Casual Associate Professor, Arthur Labatt School of Nursing, University of Western Ontario.

Ms. Beynon has more than 35 years experience in public health in a variety of roles including district public health nurse, attachment nurse seconded to a group of family physicians, and nursing supervisor. She is currently the Director of Middlesex-London’s Research Education Evaluation and Development Services and the Director of the Middlesex-London Public Health Research Education and Development site, an applied public health research and education program.

She is involved in externally-funded research related to childhood obesity and physical activity and was the co-lead of an initiative to develop an evaluation plan for Ontario’s Ministry of Health Promotion Action Plan for Healthy Eating and Active Living. In addition, Ms. Beynon was the Co-Principal Investigator of a cluster of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the Northern Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program, a large-scale health promotion project sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion.

Clyde Hertzman
Honorary Life Membership

Dr. Clyde Hertzman is Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), an interuniversity, interdisciplinary consortium (College for Interdisciplinary Studies, UBC). He holds a Canada Research Chair in Population Health & Human Development, and is a Professor in Population & Public Health. Dr. Hertzman is Leader of WHO’s Early Child Development (ECD) Global Knowledge Hub (at HELP). He is President of the Council on ECD, a national NGO, and he is a fellow of the Experience-based Brain & Biological Development Program and Successful Societies Programs of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Dr. Hertzman is the Principal Investigator of the ECD Mapping Unit, the Child & Youth Developmental Trajectories Research Unit & Population Data BC. He is involved with many scholarly committees, and serves as an Advisory Board Member, Institute of Population & Public Health, CIHR; Governing Council Member & Team Leader, Measurement & Monitoring, Centre of Excellence in ECD; Member, BC Provincial Child Care Council; and Advisor, BC Minister of State for Child Care. He holds an honorary appointment at the Institute for Child Health, University College, London.

Anna Banerji
Certificate of Merit

Dr. Anna Banerji graduated medical school from the University of Toronto in 1989. In 1995, she started a pediatric infectious disease fellowship in Montreal, and was captivated by a visit to Baffin Island. In 1997, she won a CIHR clinical research fellowship in respiratory infections in Inuit children. Dr. Banerji received a Masters of Public Health (International Health) from Harvard School of Public Health, and was honoured to be named the “promising graduate” of the class in 2003. Soon after, she was requested to provide strategic consultation to Toronto Public Health during the SARS crisis, and acted as Associate Medical Officer of Health in Communicable Disease Control until 2005.

Dr. Banerji’s clinical practice has since focused on general pediatrics as well as refugees and new immigrants. She has remained passionate about building capacity in this area, chairing the first-ever Canadian Refugee Health Conference in November 2009.

Dr. Banerji currently practices at St. Michael’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, and the Hospital for Sick Children, and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She is the Principal Investigator of a circumpolar surveillance study on infants admitted to hospital with lower respiratory tract infections.

Betty Burcher (posthumously)
Certificate of Merit

Betty Burcher obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo in 1971, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1976 and a Masters of Science in Nursing in 1992 from the Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto.

She began her career as a public health nurse with Toronto Public Health (1976-79). This was followed by a year as Parent Worker with Parent Resources and three years as a primary care nurse with York Community Services (1982-85). After a year as an instructor of Community Health Nursing at the University of Western Ontario, Ms. Burcher returned to public health nursing with Toronto Public Health (1987-89). In 1990, Ms. Burcher worked as a Research and Teaching Assistant at the University of Toronto before returning to Toronto Public Health in 1991 where she held a number of positions. In 2002, Ms. Burcher became a Lecturer at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Nursing and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008.

Ms. Burcher passed away suddenly on July 5, 2009. She was best known for her passion for public health, politics, social justice and women’s rights. She was respected and loved by a legion of friends, co-workers, students and family. She was recognized for her outgoing nature, her laughter, her passion for life, and her willingness to go above and beyond.

Dexter Harvey
Certificate of Merit

Dr. Dexter Harvey is a leader in linking evidence and action to advance chronic disease prevention. His ability to inspire coherent, sustained initiatives across organizations has created enduring enterprises that are accelerating progress in our collective quest to improve the health of Canadians.

Dr. Harvey was a leader in the Canadian Heart Health Initiative, which aligned research and practice so that evidence would improve public health. During his academic career, Dr. Harvey became engaged in the realm of policy and practice in Manitoba. He catalyzed Canada’s first provincial Alliance for the Prevention of Chronic Disease, and was its first volunteer Director. Next, he became Founder and Director (volunteer) of the Canadian Cancer Society’s innovative Knowledge Exchange Network, then led the formation of the Partners in Planning for Healthy Living Coalition in Manitoba, which enables local data collection to support public health planning and evaluation in all health regions. His personal leadership has advanced many initiatives at the national as well as provincial levels.

Dr. Harvey’s dedication, integrity, and leadership are reflected in a myriad of contributions. He is an unassuming, selfless man, whose inspired, wise and practical leadership has done much to advance public health in Canada.

Ronald Labonté
CPHA International Award

Dr. Ronald Labonté holds a Canada Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity at the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa. He is Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan. Prior to his appointment in 2004 at the University of Ottawa, he was founding Director of the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, a bi-university interdisciplinary research organization that was committed to “engaged research” on population health determinants at local, national and global levels.

Prior to his work in global health, Dr. Labonté worked, consulted and published extensively on health promotion, empowerment and health, and community development for over 20 years, including 15 years employment with provincial and local Canadian governments. Much of his earlier writings in this field are still taught in many universities, and his practice models continue to be used by public health practitioners internationally.

Dr. Labonté has over 100 scientific publications and several hundred articles in popular media.

Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition
Ron Draper Health Promotion Award

The Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition (OHCC) brings together a broad-based group of community and provincial associations, spanning the social, environmental, economic and political spectrums. It is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of regional, association and network representatives.

The broad approach to the creation of healthier communities is seen in the criteria for membership: An OHCC community member is “a coalition of organizations that involves at least three community sectors, has adopted a Healthy Community approach and is working towards improving the social, economic and environmental well-being of their community”.

Its commitment to local action is demonstrated in its staffing; the OHCC currently has only 3.5 full-time staff in its Central Office in Toronto, while 2 full-time Community Animators and 7 regional consultants live and work in regions across Ontario, supporting multi-sectoral collaborations to strengthen local economies, deal with social issues and improve the environment.

Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors
Public Health Human Resources Award (Organization)

On January 1, 2010, the face of public health in Canada changed. Prior to this, there was no ongoing maintenance of competency program for Environmental Public Health Professionals (EPHPs) in Canada. The Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (CIPHI) managed the certification of new students to the field, but once certified, the practicing professionals did not need to formally show their ongoing maintenance of competency. In essence, they were certified for life.

Five years ago, CIPHI started to develop the CIPHI Continuing Professional Competency Program which was launched January 1, 2010. The Program includes four components: Standards of Practice, a Code of Ethics, Discipline-specific Competencies and a Professional Development Model which quantifies the areas in which EPHPs should direct their professional development in order to maintain and improve their professional competency. A Council of Professional Experience was created to oversee the process of monitoring professional competency.

The Continuing Professional Competency Program has impacts on public health workforce development beyond the enhanced competencies for EPHPs. EPHPs are the first public health discipline to develop a database which captures information about every EPHP in Canada. This will assist in the enumeration efforts. As a spin-off of the process, retired EPHPs were mobilized as CIPHI Senators. This group has made inroads in identifying opportunities and challenges in engaging retired public health professionals back into the workforce. CIPHI has been a leader in using innovative communication strategies and educational events to engage their membership. CIPHI has shared its tools with other public health disciplines and the work has piqued interest internationally. The U.K. Chartered Institute of Environmental Health contributed to the Program and there has been interest in expanding the work of CIPHI’s discipline-specific competencies to the international level.

Claire Betker
Public Health Human Resources Award (Individual)

Ms. Claire Betker has worked in public health and community health for over 30 years at the local, regional, provincial and national level. Her public health nursing career began in rural Manitoba in a single-nurse office serving several small communities. Since then she has worked in public health, home care and primary health care in a variety of settings and positions.

Ms. Betker is a Registered Nurse with a Baccalaureate degree in Nursing from the University of Manitoba and Masters in Nursing from the University of Calgary. Her focus of study during her Masters was family systems nursing – with a specific interest in what contributed to the health of a family and communities. She began study towards her PhD in Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan in January 2010 with a focus on community health nursing, population and public health with a focus on determinants of health, practice and theory development, evaluation and the philosophy of science.

Currently, Ms. Betker is working with the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health as the Director of Research with the Early Child Development Initiative. Prior to that, she worked for the Public Health Agency of Canada as a member of the Skills Enhancement for Public Health team and led the pan-Canadian consultation to develop the Core Competencies for Public Health. Ms. Betker was also the Director of the Public Health Program with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

Ms. Betker is a Certified Community Health Nurse and Past President of the Community Health Nurses of Canada and an associate member of the Canadian Nurses Association.

Rob Cunningham
CPHA National Public Health Hero Award

Born and raised in Ottawa, Rob Cunningham is a lawyer by profession and has degrees in political science (BA, University of Western Ontario), law (LLB, University of Toronto), and business (MBA, University of Western Ontario).

He first became active in tobacco issues while at university in 1988-90 when he was Founding President of the Student Movement Aimed at Restricting Tobacco.

Mr. Cunningham has become a recognized expert in the field of tobacco control. He has worked as a consultant for provincial, national and international health organizations including the World Health Organization. His regular e-mail bulletins to those working in tobacco control have become legendary.

As one of the core group of Canadian activists fighting for tobacco control, Mr. Cunningham has testified before parliamentary committees, given hundreds of media interviews in Canada and abroad, published numerous tobacco-related articles, and initiated private prosecutions for violations of tobacco-control laws.

He is the author of Smoke & Mirrors: The Canadian Tobacco War which has been a top seller among the publications of the book’s publisher, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The book has been translated into French and Russian. Mr. Cunningham is a regular and popular presenter at national and international health conferences. He works in Ottawa as Senior Policy Analyst in the Public Issues National Office of the Canadian Cancer Society.

Louis Gauvin
CPHA National Public Health Hero Award

For over twenty years, Louis Gauvin has been striving to help society cut down on tobacco use. As part of his job with the Public Health Department of Montérégie, he helped smokers to quit, set up prevention programs in schools, and acted as a consultant for businesses implementing policies on tobacco use.

In the mid-1990s, following a drastic cut in cigarette taxes, Mr. Gauvin came up with the idea of creating a movement that would promote widespread anti-tobacco measures and fight against the tobacco industry.

In 1996, the Association pour la santé publique du Québec (ASPQ) created the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control, an initiative spearheaded by Louis Gauvin and Heidi Rathjen. Launched officially in June 1996 and sponsored by the ASPQ, the Coalition now includes thousands of health care organizations and professionals from all areas of Quebec.

For 14 years, until he retired in September 2009, Mr. Gauvin acted as spokesperson for the Coalition, representing the Quebec anti-tobacco movement in a dignified, calm and reasoned – at times even humorous – manner. Thanks to his skills as moderator and conciliator, Mr. Gauvin was able to maintain ongoing harmony between the Coalition’s partners.

Mr. Gauvin’s vision and determination have contributed to prolonging lives and improving the quality of life for thousands of individuals living in Quebec.

Gar Mahood
CPHA National Public Health Hero Award

Garfield (Gar) Mahood was born in Windsor, Ontario in 1941 and educated in Windsor and Brantford public schools. He first entered a sales career, and national sales awards followed. But during this period, he also began taking a serious interest in public issues. In the late 1960s, Mr. Mahood decided to work professionally on public issues and returned to university to study political science, sociology, and social change.

Upon graduation from York University, he assumed the position of Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, a position he held for three years prior to assuming his position with the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association (NSRA) in 1975. Since then, he has built the NSRA into one of the leading tobacco control organizations in the world. He has given countless presentations in Canada and around the world, including addressing eight world conferences on tobacco control, and has participated in numerous international strategy sessions.

Mr. Mahood was a member for several years of the Editorial Advisory Board of Tobacco Control published by the British Medical Journal. He is also the author of an expert report on labeling and packaging prepared for the World Health Organization in 2003.

Ts’ewulhtun Health Centre
CPHA-Amgen Award for Innovation in Family Health

The Ts’ewulhtun Health Centre opened in 1992 in Duncan, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. The Health Centre manages public health and communicable disease control for Cowichan Tribes which consist of over 5,000 community members. Various health education programs and administrative services are also offered by the Ts’ewulhtun Health Centre.

The Healthy Families program helps community members set and achieve healthy goals. This program includes prenatal health, infant/pre-school/school aged children’s health and women’s health, an HIV support group, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder support group and a tobacco strategy group.

The Elders program ensures the Elders are well cared for physically, mentally, spiritually and culturally. Programs involve personal and palliative care, healthy eating habits, swimming programs and arthritis awareness.

Child and youth programs include infant development, social skills, self-esteem, and cultural pride. Promotion of education, immunizations, nutrition and bonding between parents and children are key.

The Counseling and Mental Health program provides support services such as sobriety and suicide prevention, family violence intervention, healing in relationships and community outreach, which help build and strengthen community support and healthy relationships.

The Dental Program provides oral health care to community members and promotes education on dental health and disease prevention.
 

• Please read the complete case study of the Ts’ewulhtun Health Centre.

Angela Mashford-Pringle
Dr. John Hastings CPHA Student Award

Angela Mashford-Pringle is an urban Algonquin Aboriginal woman and PhD candidate and CIHR Doctoral Fellow in Public Health Policy at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She is studying Aboriginal health, including health policy and health care. She is a member of the Collaborative Program in Aboriginal Health and is currently working on the First Nations Regional Health Survey Report. She has worked in a variety of positions with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada in social programs over the past ten years. Ms. Mashford-Pringle is interested in social inequalities and Aboriginal education and health.

Population and Public Health Student Awards

Masters Level

• Lisa Nobel, McGill University
• Dorian Watts, University of Manitoba

PhD Level

• Ananya Banerjee, McMaster University
• Kate Zinszer, McGill University

NCCPH Knowledge Translation Graduate Student Awards
 

• Fabian Besner, Université du Québec
• Kora DeBeck, University of British Columbia
• Erica Pufall, University of Guelph
• Jena Webb, McGill University