Front row: Kay Beattie, Yasmin Asgarali, Madeleine Aubrey, Gabriela Gref-Innes, Jean Saint-Jacques
Rear row: John Hollins, Jean Jacques Desgranges, David Pollock, Gordon Kubanek, Art Hunter, Jon Legg
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John Hollins – Officer/Chair
John Hollins earned a B.Sc. in Physics at the University of Bristol and a Ph.D. in Biophysics at the Institute of Cancer Research, a postgraduate college of the University of London.
Immediately after graduating, John emigrated to Canada. He conducted research on the metabolism of radionuclides in mammals at the National Research Council of Canada and the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique in France; he worked on the first federal policy and programs in renewable energy at Energy, Mines and Resources; he served as Director of the Energy Branch at Environment Canada, representing Canada at the OECD Group on Energy and the Environment and the International Energy Agency’s Programme of Energy Technology Systems Analysis. He served as Executive Director of the Energy Council of Canada.
John has been active in community and municipal affairs for 40 years. He is currently Advisor and Web Master of the Ottawa Sustainability Fund, a philanthropic fund. He plays the organ regularly at la Paroisse St-Joseph d’Orléans.
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Jon Legg – Officer/Deputy Chair
After graduating from le Collège militaire royal de St-Jean, RMC in Kingston and McGill in civil engineering, Jon served his three years obligatory service in the Royal Canadian Navy (in Esquimalt and Halifax). He then joined the former Department of External Affairs, and served for 31 years at six Canadian posts abroad and in Ottawa. During his work abroad (in Vietnam, France, the Ivory Coast, the former Yugoslavia, Los Angeles, and Geneva, Switzerland), and in Ottawa he worked often in the political-military area (e.g. Canada-US defence relations), in international security (arms control and disarmament negotiations, and relations with eastern and central European countries), and in national security (foreign intelligence).
Since retirement in 1996, he has been involved in a number of voluntary activities. At the local level, he has served – as president and as a director – on the Board of the community association for his central community in Ottawa, and has concentrated on persuading the City to plan for environmentally wise transportation systems. At the national level, he was President of a national unity group called “Dialogue Canada”, and has joined efforts to make Canada’s immigration and refugee policies more rational, and less partisan and naïve. Internationally, he was chair of CACOR (limits to growth on the planet), and is now on the board of CACOR and of PIC (Population Institute Canada).
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Madeleine Aubrey – Officer/Past Chair
Madeleine Aubrey is president of MADARTE Inc., an art education consulting firm specializing in the area art education curriculum, policy and assessment, evaluation of arts resources, curriculum development and in-service training. During her long career in art education, she has been a visual arts specialist, an arts consultant, a professor at Ottawa University Faculty of Education, researcher and an education officer with the Ministry of Education of the province of Ontario.
Madeleine has worked as a rapporteur for arts education consultations in Canada, for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and as an art consultant for several television art series for TVO.
She is current co-chair of the National Roundtable for Teacher Education in the Arts. Madeleine has also had a long career in organizing events.
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Jean Saint-Jacques – Officer/Treasurer
Retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2010.
Last assignment was as Deputy Head of the Canadian Mission to the European Union. Prior to that served as head of the Trade and Economic Programme at the Canadian Embassy in France.
Other foreign assignments included at the Canadian Embassy in Washington and at the Canadian Mission to the World Trade Organization in Geneva. In the latter capacity also chaired the WTO Committee on Market Access and served on the Textiles Surveillance Body. Also served as Canadian negotiator for the Agreement on Information Technology products.
Assignments in Ottawa included as Director of Trade Remedies, charged with managing trade disputes with WTO members (Dairy product exports, Aircraft subsidies, Beef exports to the United States); Director of Trade Controls (import and export controls on Softwood Lumber, Textiles and Clothing and Agriculture products), responsible for import and export controls and the negotiation of bilateral textile restraint agreements.
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Jean Jacques Desgranges – Officer/Secretary
After a few years in construction, then a few years in teaching, Jean-Jacques made yet another career change and became a lawyer in Ontario in 1997. He also has an International MBA for Supérieur de Commerce in Reims, France.
Jean-Jacques has been a public servant since 1997 at the Canada Revenue Agency and often times went on assignments as counsel to Justice Canada and other federal agencies. As an independent part-time lawyer, he also runs a general law practice, in which he provides legal advice in many fields, representation in negotiations, and at times takes on litigation for clients.
Over the years, he has been active in many non-profit organisations including the Richelieu Club and the Sandy-Hill Community Health Center where, in both, he served as Chair. He became interested in the Club of Rome after learning of its objectives which aligned with his personal philosophy. He joined CACOR in 2012 and has enjoyed taking part in its activities since then, especially the luncheon presentations which are unbiased, multifaceted and intersectional as well as informative.
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Kay Beattie – Director
Kay Beattie received her education at the University of British Columbia. She became a pioneer educator at Centennial College and Grant MacEwan Community College, the first community colleges in Ontario and Alberta, where she was a lecturer, student counselor, program developer and senior administrator.
After managing a program for the aboriginal peoples and the Northwest Territories Government, Kay joined the training department of Transport Canada, developing and teaching courses at the Coast Guard College and the Transport Canada Training Institute. She was a liaison officer with foreign governments, military and police forces in the International Training and International Co-operation Branch, working on projects for seventeen countries in the Caribbean.
Kay also developed training for port organizations in Vietnam and Hong Kong and supervised international students in air traffic control and programs designed for attachment to various areas of Transport. Among her international activities she attended many important events, such as a Law of the Sea Conference in Thailand and International Peace Academy seminars in Vienna.
After retiring from Transport Canada, Kay returned to studies and was ordained an Interfaith Minister. She continues to work part-time in this area and has belonged to many interfaith organizations in Ottawa.
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Art Hunter – Director
Dr. Art Hunter is a graduate from the Royal Military College (Mechanical 1963), Imperial College (U of London – Aeronautical), and the National Defence College (XXXVIII). He was a member of the Telesat Canada’s spacecraft design team for Anik A, Deputy Manager mechanical systems for the Communications Technology Satellite (Hermes) and Project Manager for the Canadarm project at the National Research Council of Canada. Later, as a Project manager for the Industrial Development office, he did the design, development, test and evaluation of the electronics network CA*Net (now part of the Internet). He has worked with about 100 Canadian companies as an Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) Senior Project Manager and as President of Drex Engineering Consultants for over 30 years. He has a broad knowledge of many technical disciplines including Information Technology (PCs to networks), Mechanical, Electrical, Aeronautical and Civil engineering, mining machines (like Tunnel Boring Machines), cosmology, physics, healthcare non-biological technologies, electrical grid, microgrids, indoor climate control, and non-fossil fuels energy generation (emphasis on “Condensed Matter Nuclear Science” and its associated technologies).
He first joined CACOR in 1985 but took some time to do some extensive global travel, then to become active again in 2013. Hobbies are global geopolitics (via Stratfor), Personal Computers and the Internet, tracking game changing science and technologies, climate change, Low Energy Nuclear Reactors, indoor and outdoor furniture design and build, wrote a book on the “Taxation Investment Engine”, energy efficient home construction techniques, development of the Fossil Energy Freedom Project (demonstration that an Ottawa home can generate electrical power in a microgrid, heating, cooling and urban transportation without direct use of ANY fossil fuels during all seasons) and a member of the Probus Club of Ottawa-Rideau.
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Gabriela Gref-Innes – Director
Originally from Romania, Gabriella immigrated to Canada in 1974. Following studies in international commerce at Carleton University, she opened her own company in this field. The experience gained and the network developed fostered her understanding and appreciation of applying the “win-win” concept in the world of international commerce as well as the importance of strong partnerships of diverse cultures.
Gabriella subsequently worked in several departments of the Government of Canada, providing expertise in project management and export contracting, strategic marketing analysis, and development, risk analysis, and development of trade policy. She worked closely with foreign governments and their departments, such as NASA, and with international institutions, such as WHO, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNDP, FAO, and the World Bank.
As a member of the Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management (CPTM), and a Canada node, she supports the dissemination of its vision and philosophy. She is currently providing advice and support to several space-related organizations in Canada.
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David Pollock – Director
David Pollock currently serves as the Co-ordinator of Finance and Administration for the charity, Citizens for Public Justice and is a published author of environmental novels. He still runs his own consulting firm.
He has served as Executive Director at BIOCAP Canada Foundation and as Executive Director of the Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development, leading the advancement of holistic and sustainable solutions.
He has extensive experience working in the fields of international development, social justice and … the environment and a rich background in directing not-for-profit organizations and multi-stakeholder relations. He served as National Consultant to the Anglican Church of Canada on Peacemaking and Economic Justice. He has also published the non-fiction work (The Iceberg and the Fire of Love: A Call to Ecological and Social Compassion) and is a producer of numerous educational videos. He has taught courses in the philosophy of social sciences at Roger Williams College in Rhode Island.
The breadth of his experience ranges from Director of Development Education at CUSO to a position in senior management at the Bank of Montreal. He served on the Board of Climate Change Central in Alberta and served as Director and Vice Chair of the Sustainable Development Technology Foundation (SDTC). Mr. Pollock served on a number of non-profit boards including the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, Project Ploughshares, The Churches Task Force on Corporate Social Responsibility and The International Anglican Council on Justice and Peace.
He holds degrees from Queen’s University in Political Science (Hon B.A.) and from the University of Toronto (M.A.). Mr. Pollock is the recipient of the Alberta Centennial Medal.
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Yasmin Asgarali – Director
Yasmin Asgarali migrated to Canada from Trinidad in her early teens, experiencing ‘Climate Change’ rather suddenly, on December 21, 1969, when she landed in Winnipeg Manitoba. She studied Geography, Psychology and French at the University of Manitoba. After earning her Bachelor Degree, she studied Business Administration and Accounting, and The Art of Film which nurtured the seed of creativity that arrived with her from Trinidad, and later bloomed into one of her current part time careers, Photography.
After moving to Ottawa in 1981, she continued studies in ‘Quebecois’ French, Human Resource Management, Conflict Studies, and Microsoft Office in French. She earned a Certificate in Effective Facilitation for Business Analysts, and other leadership courses while working for the federal government. She briefly studied Reiki, later earning a Diploma in Psychosomatic Therapy, building on her sustained interest in Natural Health.
In 2009, she joined the Body and Brain Healing Centre (BBHC) where she earned her Red Belt in Healing Martial Arts (DahnHakDo), and in 2011, became a certified instructor of Korean yoga at the BBHC.. She continues to teach Korean yoga there on a part time basis, and serves as a consultant, currently working on a Training Manual with text and photographs for the 2018 Instructor Training Course.
Yasmin joined CACOR in 2016 and became part of the Communications Committee working with a web designer and the design team to create the current, new web presence. She accepted an appointment to the CACOR Board of Directors in 2017.
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Gordon Kubanek, P.Eng. – Director
Born in Montreal. Studied Chemical Engineering Queens U. then McGill (Masters).
Worked for MacMillan Bloedel in B.C. then retrained as a H.S. teacher, working in Pennsylvania, Quebec, Australia and Ottawa. Trained in System Dynamics (simulation method used for Limits to Growth) software from MIT, using these skills to present at subject world conferences and to work as a consultant. Have become a environmental advocate, having been a Green Party candidate three times and a Third Order Franciscan. Retired to become a beekeeper and writer.