Team

 

Our Board is made up of individuals with a diversity of experience and a passion for universal health care in Canada.

Executive

Pauline Worsfold, RN
Chair
Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU)

Pauline is a staff nurse in the post-anaesthetic recovery room at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta. She has held the elected position of Secretary-Treasurer for the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions since 1999. Pauline has received several awards for exemplary commitment and contributions to the community and union. Pauline takes part in an annual medical mission with the Canadian Association of Medical Teams Abroad in Quito, Ecuador, providing orthopedic surgeries to children and adults who could not otherwise afford treatment. In her spare time, Pauline enjoys driving stock cars and has achieved success in the sport.

Marie Clarke Walker
Vice-Chair
Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)

Marie started her career working in a home for the elderly, later with adults and children with developmental disabilities, as a counsellor and family-support worker in Toronto, and once again at the School Board as an Early Childhood Educator working with children with disabilities. Marie made history in 2002 when she was elected as the first racialized woman and youngest person ever elected to the position of Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). She served in that position for five terms before once again making history in May 2017, being elected as the first-ever racialized woman to serve as CLC Secretary-Treasurer.

Rita Morbia
Co-Treasurer
Inter Pares

Rita has been the Executive Director of Inter Pares since 2009. She first joined the organization in 2001 as a Program Manager managing Inter Pares’ extensive Burma program and currently has program responsibilities in the Philippines and Sudan in the area of women’s rights and reproductive health. She has a background in environmental activism. Rita believes strongly in CHC’s mandate to strengthen Canada’s universal health care system.

Vanessa Gruben, B.Sc.H (Queen’s), LL.B. (Ottawa), LL.M. (Columbia) 
Co-Treasurer
Law Professor, University of Ottawa

Vanessa is an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Common Law and a member of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics. She is co-editor of the 5th edition of Canada’s leading text on health law and policy in Canada, Canadian Health Law and Policy, co-edited with Joanna Erdman and Erin Nelson (LexisNexis, 2017). Professor Gruben teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Health Law, Public Health Law as well as a seminar on Access to Health Care. She is also a member of the Health Professions and Appeals Review Board and the Health Services Appeal and Review Board.

Linda McLaren
Secretary
United Church of Canada

Linda McLaren is an Ordained Minister in the United Church of Canada. Linda was ordained to ministry in 2016 following a long vocation in health care where she worked as a registered nurse. Linda is passionate about the interplay between health and spirituality and feels health outcomes are improved when the concept of wholeness is incorporated into our healing domains. Linda was appointed in May of 2018 as the United Church of Canada’s elected member to the Canadian Health Coalition. Linda strongly supports the CHC and its value of equitable health care for all.

Board members

 

BC Health Coalition
Terrie Hendrickson

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Leanne MacMillan

Congress of Union Retirees (CURC)
Keith Newman
Julie White

Council of Canadians
Molly Kane

Friends of Medicare (Alberta)
Sandra Azocar

Medical
Michèle Brill-Edwards, MD

National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)
Anil Naidoo

Nova Scotia Health Coalition
Dianne Frittenburg

Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
Morna Ballantyne

Researchers
Joel Lexchin, MD
Pat Armstrong, Ph. D.

Unifor
Andy Savela

United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW)
Jane Mulkewich

United Steelworkers (USW)
Pat Van Horne

Staff

Vacant
National Director, Operations and Projects
Steven Staples
National Director, Policy and Advocacy

 

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Canadian Health Coalition