Board of Directors
Cat Baron
President
Cat Baron is a graduate of Carleton University and of Algonquin College. Cat has worked with youth and women, in group homes and shelters, and has been a foster parent through the Children’s Aid Society. She has also worked as coordinator of Canada’s largest HIV/AIDS information service, and is now a full-time professor at Algonquin College. Cat maintains her connection to the community through volunteering (in past as a campaign coordinator for United Way, as an actor with the educational theatre troupe at the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, as the chair of an inter-provincial committee for World AIDS Day, as a board member of a provincial organization called Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network, by facilitating the 24 Hours of Homelessness initiative), and is currently the President of the Board of Directors for the Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa and the founding chair of the Community Adult Justice Network of Ottawa.
Diana Majury
Vice President
Diana Majury is a professor in the Law Department at Carleton University. Her areas of research, teaching and activism include human rights, equality theory and practice, criminal law, violence against women and women’s health. She has worked extensively with the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)and with the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) since they began. In addition to being on the Elizabeth Fry Society Board, she is currently a member of the Women’s Court of Canada and a member of the Content Advisory Committee for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Angela Peterson
Treasurer
Angela Peterson is a graduate of the Correctional Worker Program at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario. She has worked as a front-line worker in many capacities, including as a counselor in a youth open custody facility, as a street outreach worker, and is currently a program coordinator for the Salvation Army Community Service Order Program. Angela has taken part in many training opportunities such as gang behaviour, police and community partnership building, pre-charge diversion strategies, case management and risk/needs analysis.
Jennifer M. Kilty
Secretary
Jennifer Kilty is Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and the Social Science of Health at the University of Ottawa. Professor Kilty’s primary area of research interest is criminalized women – their experiences of incarceration and reintegration, their adoption of self-harming behaviours, and their construction as ‘violent’, ‘dangerous’ and/or ‘risky’. Using identity and citizenship theories, Professor Kilty examines how different health and mental health statuses come to affect the construction, maintenance, and negotiation of identity in prison and post incarceration. Much of this work is based on discussions of rights and ethics of care, and is framed by a prison abolitionist standpoint. She has been a member of the board of directors for the Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa since September 2005 and has been serving on the Executive Committee since September 2007.
Bryonie Baxter
Executive Director
Bryonie Baxter graduated from The University of Toronto in 1988 with a B.A. Specialist in English and Minor in Political Science. The following year she obtained her B.Ed. in Intermediate/Senior English and History. For twenty years she worked as an educator in five different schools with the Peel District School Board, including positions as Vice-Principal, Secondary for two schools and I.B. Coordinator in one high school. During this time she completed Honours Specialists in English and Contemporary Studies as well as Primary Division certification and Ontario Principals’ Council Principals’ Qualifications parts 1 and 2. She co-authored The Future We Want: Building Inclusive Schools and is also the author of a number of teaching articles, including Shakespearean Gender Bending for the OSSTF Curriculum pullout in The Forum magazine. Bryonie moved to the Ottawa area in March 2008 and began working for The Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa in July 2008.
Stephanie Brooks
This is Stephanie’s second year on the Board of Directors. She attended the University of Toronto and received an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Criminology. Stephanie then received her Master of Social Work degree from Carleton University, and currently works as a social worker in the Mood Disorders Program at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. She has also worked in various capacities within the corrections system. Stephanie is committed to supporting individuals who are experiencing mental health issues and their families, as well as reducing the stigma of mental illness in the larger community.
Tracy Engelking
Tracy graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Bar in 1992. She entered into private practice in Family Law, and predominately represented parents in Child and Family Services Act matters for a period of six years. In 1998, Tracy joined the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa as in-house counsel, and in October of 2000 became its Senior Legal Counsel. In addition to being active on several local committees, including the Family Law Bench and Bar Committee, the CFSA Subcommittee of the Bench and Bar, the Community Resource and Liaison Committee and the FLIC Committee, Tracy is a member of the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies’ Child Welfare Policy and Legislation Committee, the Federal Committee Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth, and the past Chair of the Provincial Senior Counsel Networking Group. She is one of the leads for the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa in the development of ADR options in child protection, and is the current Chair of the Society’s Inuit, Métis and First Nations Liaison Group.
Lynn McKenna-Flemming
Lynne McKenna-Fleming is presently Director Pensions and Social Programs at the Department of National Defence. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce, a Masters of Public Administration, and is a Certified Management Accountant. She has long been interested in women and justice issues, and welcomes the opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors with the Elizabeth Fry Society.
Julianne Cameron
Julianne has 10 years of experience as a front line worker in residential treatment settings, with women and children, including the Roberts/Smart Centre in Ottawa and the Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto. She obtained her education in criminology and counselling from Algonquin College and York University. Julianne is currently a stay-at-home mom and is working on upgrading her education. She is a long-time active member of prison abolishment and anti-death-penalty groups.
Julia Alarie
Julia Alarie is a Human Resources professional with ten years of generalist experience with both non-profit and private-sector organizations. She currently leads the Learning & Development function at NAV CANADA . In 2004, Julia co-founded of the Ten Oaks Project, an Ottawa-based not-for-profit whose mission is to engage and connect children and youth from LGBTQ communities through programs and activities rooted in play. As a result, she was a recipient of the United Way Community Builder Award, as well as a Capital Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award for her volunteerism work in the Ottawa community. Julia holds a degree in sociology from Carleton University.
Leslie Robertson
Leslie comes to the board with past experience as a front-line support worker with Efry Ottawa.After obtaining a combined degree in civil and common law and starting a masters of social work Leslie iscurrentlya lawyer by day and social worker by night. She worksboth with a national public sector union and as an outreach worker for Ottawa’s Needle Exchange Program. As a member of the downtown community she also enjoys participating in local queer, feminist, anti-poverty, pro-sex worker, and sex-positive organizing.
