Board Member Election Slate

The following people are up for election or re-election to Nature Canada's Board of Directors. Voting members of Nature Canada will cast their ballots at the annual general meeting to be held August 1-5, 2007 in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Mark L. Dorfman

As Chair of the Nature Canada Board since 2005, Mark actively works to give life to the “Canadian Nature Network”. He participated in the Future Search Conference in June 2002.

Mark is an Ontario Registered Professional Planner and is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners. He served as National President of the Canadian Institute of Planners from 1974 to 1976. He is a member of the American Planning Association.  He was the President of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists from 2000 to 2002 and served as President of the Ontario Society For Environmental Management.

Mark served as Chair of the Region of Waterloo Environmental and Ecological Advisory Committee for 4 years from 1988 to 1991. Currently, he is a member of Waterloo Region’s Water Efficiency Advisory Committee.

He is the author of several papers including “Environmental Changes for Ontario: What do they mean for Ontario?” (1990) and “Public Participation in Municipal Planning Policy Development" (1991) published by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs. A publication, "A Survey of the Role of Environmental Advisory Groups in Local Eco Decision-Making", written with John Sinclair, was published in 1994 by the Institute of Urban Studies in Winnipeg. He prepared the “Grand River Watershed Profile” for the Grand River Conservation Authority (1997) and the “Population Projection 1996-2046"(2001).

His professional practice includes acting as Planner for several private land developers and builders and acting as advisor to several community-based organizations in both urban and rural settings. He advises Ontario municipalities on planning, aggregate resource and environmental assessment issues.

Ken Thorpe

Ken Thorpe is a long time birder and currently Treasurer of the Province of Quebec Society for the Protection of Birds (PQSPB). A Montreal based investment advisor and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) by profession, he is also past-president of the board of the Social Investment Organization, Canada’s national trade and education group that promotes socially responsible investing. As well, he is one of the board members for Earth Values Inc., a registered charity that promotes environmental education. He is married to fellow nature enthusiast Janice Linder with two sons Jonathan, 12, and Jamie, 9. They appreciate nature together from backyard birds to exotic species when vacationing. Jamie and Jonathan recently added Painted Bunting to their list of cool birds they have seen.

Cliff Wallis

Born in London, England, Cliff moved to Calgary in 1957 and has lived in Alberta ever since. He graduated from the University of Calgary in 1972 in Botany and Zoology.

Professionally, Cliff undertook park system planning with Alberta Parks in the 1970s. Since then he has operated his own Calgary-based environmental consulting firm, Cottonwood Consultants Ltd. Cliff is a Professional Biologist with a diverse background in protected areas, ecotourism, environmental assessment, species at risk protection, significant features identification, interpretive planning, and media production related to environmental topics.

As a volunteer, Cliff has worked on environmental projects or served on the boards of NGOs since the early 1970s. His volunteer interests include strengthening NGOs and NGO networks, protected areas, species at risk, effects of trade on environment, and environmental law. He has worked proactively with federal, provincial and regional government agencies, non-profit organizations, indigenous communities, local landowners, and business. Cliff has participated in or organized numerous workshops, conferences and seminars on environmental protection.

Cliff's international experience includes working with an international partner to develop a sustainable community in the Southwest Province, Cameroon in central Africa. He has participated in international meetings on forests and biodiversity, including the UN Intergovernmental Fora on Forests and Intergovernmenal Forum on Forests and the Global Biodiversity Strategy. Cliff has actively participated at Commission for Environmental Cooperation (North American Free Trade Agreement) meetings held in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. since the mid 1990s. He is currently leading a twinning of two Ramsar Wetlands: Dalai Lake Nature Reserve in Inner Mongolia and Hay Zama Wildland Park in Alberta and a workshop on sustainable forest management with UN Major Groups and the Dominican Republic.

David Love

David Love is the Executive Director of the Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto. The foundation raises money to support the projects of Toronto and Region Conservation. In 2006, the foundation raised $3.6 million.

David has been raising money for nearly 40 years. He is renowned as a pioneer in applying donor-based principles to fundraising for the environment. For 20 years he worked at World Wildlife Fund Canada where he coordinated all fundraising and communication activities. Before joining the Conservation Foundation, David worked for 5 years at Stephen Thomas, Canada’s premier fundraising company.

At Stephen Thomas, David’s clients included UNICEF, The Arthritis Society, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and The Nature Conservancy of Canada.

He serves on the board of Bird Studies Canada, the Catherine Donnelly Foundation, the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation, and the Forest Advisory Board of the Ivey Foundation. He is also on the Planned Giving Subcommittee of the West Park Healthcare Centre Foundation.

Peter Lee

Peter Lee is national coordinator of Global Forest Watch Canada, an organization affiliated with the World Resources Institute and operational in more than a dozen forested countries worldwide. With an education in biology, geography and ecology (MSc), Peter has worked on conservation issues in industry, government and academia throughout Canada and internationally. Peter has been involved in numerous local and global conservation organizations. He currently serves on the executive of the Federation of Alberta Naturalists and the Alberta Environmental Law Centre, and is a board member of the Castle Crown Wilderness Coalition.

Read about Nature Canada's entire Board of Directors.