Speakers` Bios

Martin Hart-Landsberg is a Professor of Economics and Director of the Political Economy Program at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. His areas of teaching and research include political economy, economic development, international economics, and the political economy of East Asia. He is an editor of Critical Asian Studies and has served as a consultant for the Korea program of the American Friends Service Committee.

Ingo Schmidt is an economist, a writer, and a labour educator. He is the Coordinator of the Labour Studies Program at Athabasca University.

Gary Cristall works in the arts as a teacher and artists’ manager. In a previous life he lived in Chile and studied Latin American history.

Cathy Walker was a Health and Safety Director of the Canadian Auto Workers union. She has visited China on numerous occasions meeting with workers and union officials, and visiting workplaces.

Joey Hartman is the president of the Vancouver and District Labour Council. She is a member of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, and has both public and private sector union experience.

Susan Spratt is the BC/Alberta Area Director for the Canadian Auto Workers union. She has committed her life to working against war and oppression while living in Chile, El Salvador, South Africa and Canada.

John Calvert teaches about public policy, privatization, health services and international trade agreements in SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences.

Valdine Ciwko has taught in classrooms and as a resource teacher in ethnically and economically diverse neighbourhoods. She is actively involved in the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association.

Colleen Fuller is an independent health and drug policy analyst. She wrote “Caring for Profit: How Corporations Are Taking Over Canada’s Health Care System”.

Zach Crispin has just finished his term as BC Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. He studied History at Selkirk College.

Jeannie Kamins is an artist and art theorist whose dreams of fame and fortune disappeared along with her svelte figure and wrinkle free face.

Sarah Bjorknas is a library worker, an avid CUPE activist, and is active with stopwar.ca and War Resisters. She is co-founder of the Vancouver Catholic Worker community.

Murray Martin was a TWU member and Telus worker. He visited the Philippines to learn about worker’s struggles and the factors that drive thousands of Filipinos to work overseas.

Ben Levy is in the MA program in Sociology at SFU. He lived, marched, and protested with Occupy Vancouver and was one of the organizers of Occupy SFU.

Connor Donegan is an activist and grad student in Human Geography at UBC. He was involved in the historic mass action in Madison, Wisconsin in 2011.

Eric Doherty is a transportation planner and environmental consultant. He co-authored “Transportation Transformation”, a report on creating a zero-emission transportation system in BC.

Beth Dollaga is a founding member of Canada-Philippino Solidarity for Human Rights and Migrante-BC. She participated in the Occupy Vancouver movement.

Emily Ottewell is an activist with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and is on the Canadian Labour Congress Young Workers Working Group.

Jef Keighley is the chair of the Sunshine Coast COSCO, was the ED Outreach of the 2006 World Peace Forum, and was a National Union Rep with the Canadian Auto Workers union.

Reg Brennan works for the Public Service Alliance of Canada and is a labour activist and singer. She is a labour educator, and has a keen interest in women’s labour issues.

Karen Cooling is a National Rep for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. She has 2 decades of experience building relationships between labour and environmental activists.

 

Teach-In 2012 Videos