HISTORY
In 2001, shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City, Alberta-based representatives from the justice sector, government, and community organizations concerned with hate and bias motivated violence formed the Alberta Hate Bias Crimes and Incidents Committee, which would later become the Alberta Hate Crimes Committee. The aim of the committee was to develop a province-wide framework to encourage a collaborative, integrated approach between police, the courts, and the community in preventing and responding to hate and bias motivated crime and incidents as well as enforcing hate crime laws. The vision of the Alberta Hate Crimes Committee is to ensure that Albertans are living in an inclusive safe, caring, and respectful community where crimes and incidents of hate are not acceptable values of a democratic and pluralistic society. Committee membership includes key policing, community, university, non-profit, and governmental partners knowledgeable in the delivery of hate/bias crimes and incidents prevention, education, and response.
MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
Committee membership shall include key community and government partners in the delivery of hate-bias crimes and incidents prevention, education and response. Membership shall be representative of a broad spectrum of interests and expertise but requires that members have solid knowledge about what a hate crime is, and hate crime legislation in Canada. Members are expected to provide and respond to requests for feedback and to promote the work of the committee to their organizations and stakeholders. They are also expected to be able to participate in sub-committees or the completion of assigned tasks. This committee is expected to be a working committee and not solely an advisory committee. Membership commitment and complement to be reviewed annually.
MANDATE/AUTHORITY
Committee members shall elect a chairperson or co-chairs from within their membership to be reviewed annually. Should occasions arise where the committee cannot reach a consensus, decisions shall be decided by majority vote of those present at the meeting. Ties will be broken by the chair/co-chair. Members will disclose the nature of any conflicts of interest and/or will be obliged to remove themselves from the table when issues of this nature are being discussed.
COMMITTEE PROCEDURE
Committee members understand that topics discussed may be of a sensitive nature. As such, they voluntarily agree: (1) to refrain from disclosing confidential information as defined by the Freedom of Information and Protection Act; (2) to use information for purposes consistent with the intent or goals of the AHCC and; (3) not to divulge confidential or sensitive information to the media unless authorized to do so by the committee as a whole.
PROVINCIAL CO-CHAIRS OF THE AHCC
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Stephen Camp; President
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Dan Walton; Vice-President
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Renee Vaugeois; Treasurer
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Elizabeth Cooke; Education Coordinator
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Valerie Pruegger; Secretary and
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Hai Nguyen; Member at Large
Stephen Camp: President
Stephen graduated from the University of Alberta, and then joined the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) in 1991. In 2003, while working as a Constable, he secured multi-year funding from Canadian Heritage and founded the EPS Hate Crimes Unit. This specialized unit focused on criminal investigations; building community, government and policing partnerships; education and training for law enforcement and community stakeholders; and community awareness building activities. Through this work, Stephen helped to create the EPS Chief’s Advisory Council (CAC) and served as its Co-Chair from 2003-2005. The CAC is composed of Community Liaison Committees (CLC) from Edmonton’s Aboriginal and minority communities. Stephen chaired three of these committees (GLBTQ, Jewish and Aboriginal) between 2003-2006. Stephen’s work within the Hate Crimes Unit resulted in the EPS receiving the Motorola Webber Seavy Award for quality of law enforcement; The International Association of Chief’s of Police (IACP) Civil Right Award; and two Edmonton Pride Awards. Stephen is a law enforcement instructor for Hate Crimes Investigations and Racial Profiling. In this capacity, he researched and developed national on-line training for hate crimes investigators for The Canadian Police Knowledge Network. Currently, Stephen serves as a Homicide Detective with the Edmonton Police Service.
Dan Walton: Vice-President
Dan Walton comes to the Alberta Hate Crime Committee with 28 years of police experience starting in the Military Police and Metro Toronto Police Force during the 1980s. Dan has spent the last 25 years with the Lethbridge Regional Police Service which he currently retired from. Dan has worked with the Alberta Hate Crimes Committee since April of 2008, he has worked with various community partners in Lethbridge and area regarding hate crimes and assisting with issues as they arose or helping in education lectures and information sessions in the position as the Diversity Resource Officer and later the Sergeant in-charge of the Community Resource Unit. Dan enjoys working with the community and belongs to several other committees with diverse backgrounds and volunteers his time including lectures on diversity, hate crimes and women personal safety in Lethbridge . Dan has a Blackfoot name which he received in June of 2010 of Ikinooyoiskotsipahpi (Kind Heart) for his work with the Blackfoot community in and around Lethbridge. He currently sits on the Lethbridge Elder Abuse Response Network as chair and previously sat on the provincial committee of the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta. He looks forward to continue to work with the Alberta Hate Crime Committee and help make a difference in the province.
Renee Vaugeois: Treasurer
Ms. Vaugeois has been the Executive Director of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights for ten years where she focuses on educating about critical human rights issues and instruments locally and globally. She is also the Founding President of Ainembabazi Children’s Project, an NGO working in East Africa to advance the rights of children and families through education, economic development and health initiatives. She is also an executive member of the Women in International Security Canada where she is working with colleagues to advance the leadership and professional development of women in the field of peace and security.
Her commitment to the work of advancing and peace human rights in Western Canada and the world has lead her to be invited to be part of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and won her the inaugural Top 40 under 40 in Edmonton with Avenue Magazine. She was also recognized by the Aboriginal Commission for Human Rights and Justice and Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women with the Good Relations Award as well as was awarded Daughter of the Year in 2012. The University of Alberta has awarded her with their inaugural Community Advocacy award in 2013.
Elizabeth Cooke: Education Coordinator
To meet Elizabeth Cooke is to encounter energy in motion! This graduate of Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia has a major in Psychology, minor in Sociology and has spent the last 20 years working with youth in a variety of capacities.
At present her role as Education Coordinator and the Hate Hurts Program Coordinator with the Calgary Police Service keeps her on the move a lot – something which is well matched with her zest for life. For the past ten years Elizabeth has worked closely with the Calgary Police Service to work to eliminate and/or reduce the occurrence of hate/bias crimes and /or incidents in our community. Elizabeth loves working with youth and feels that through her own life experiences she has gained so much knowledge of different issues young people are faced with. She dedicates her time trying to improve the quality of life within our community and acts as a support for the young people she works with.
In her “spare” time Elizabeth enjoys most spending time with her family participating in a wide variety of activities. Elizabeth loves to work out and won 2nd place in the 2004 Muscle mania Competition!
Valerie J. Pruegger: Secretary
Valerie Pruegger earned a M.Sc. Degree in Psychology from the University of Calgary specializing in Organizational Psychology and a Ph.D. in Cross-Cultural Psychology from Queen’s University.
She has taken her specialty in cross-cultural and organizational psychology to the business world where she has developed and facilitated diversity organizational change processes and diversity training for a variety of for profit, government, and non-profit organizations. As Executive Director of the Calgary Multicultural Centre, she worked closely with and learned first-hand the challenges faced by many newcomers and members of non-dominant ethnocultural communities in Canada.
Currently, she teaches in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary in areas such as culture and the workplace, cross-cultural counselling, and psychology and the law. She was employed as a Research Social Planner at the City of Calgary for 15 years where she examined social issues and made recommendations for changes to social policy and programming, particularly in reference to Aboriginal peoples and other non-dominant ethnocultural groups in Calgary. She was instrumental in having The City sign on to the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination, spearheading an action plan and developing Calgary’s municipal immigration policy.
Dr. Pruegger served as an advisor on a number of initiatives and committees includingDiversity Calgary, the Alberta Association for Multicultural Education, the Survivors of Torture Host Programme, and the Provincial Hate Crimes Strategy, and she was a research affiliate with Metropolis, an international research consortium examining integration issues for immigrants and refugees. She regularly consults with police services to re-design and facilitate their diversity in-service training and policy development. She has also written numerous research reports and policy papers in the areas of immigration, racism and discrimination, and intercultural communication.
Her strong facilitation style, coupled with a willingness to develop training programmes and change processes that fit the client’s needs, have allowed her to work effectively in a variety of sectors including education, government, business, non-profit, and law enforcement.
In 2005 she received the Alberta Centennial Medallion award for her outstanding work, achievements and volunteering efforts for the people, communities and province of Alberta.
Hai Nguyen: Member at Large
A law and economics graduate and a founding member of the Alberta Hate Crime Committee, Hai Nguyen is a retired senior officer of the Government of Canada. During his nearly 3 decades with the public service as regional manager of the Federal Multiculturalism program, he has worked collaboratively with key public institutions, community groups and business sector to form effective partnerships and to build an inclusive, equitable and hate free Alberta. Hai was a strong supporter of the establishment of the first Hate Crime unit of the Edmonton Police Service. As an active community builder Hai continues his work with some prominent community organizations such as the John Humphreys Centre for Peace and Human Rights, Racism Free Edmonton and Changing Together- a Centre for Immigrant Women.
