Our Mandate

The Centre for Faith and the Media is an independent, non-profit organization to inform, advise and help media and the general public achieve a stronger understanding of spiritual history, practices and values in Canadian society.

The Centre provides non-partisan resources to journalists and the public to enable a more accurate and fair portrayal of faith in our midst. It conducts research, creates guides and other reference works, and operates an online site to enable broad access to information.

The Centre is based in Calgary but has a national board of directors from academia, media and business. Its initial financing has been provided by Canadian Heritage, Department of Multiculturalism.

Our Team
2007-2008 Board of Directors for the Centre for Faith and the Media

Jocelyn Burgener – Boad Chair

Jocelyn Burgener is founder and president of Segue Consulting International, assisting clients in transitioning ideas, projects and objectives. Her career has involved both private enterprise and political office at the municipal and provincial level. From 1993 to 2001, Burgener served as an Alberta MLA representing the riding of Calgary Currie. Before that, she served as a trustee with the Calgary Separate School Board.

Al Duerr – Member, Board of Directors

Al Duerr has been Chief Executive Officer, Emergo Projects International of Calgary, a part of the Emergo Group based in Geneva, Switzerland since November, 2001. Before that, Duerr was the 34th Mayor of Calgary for 12 years. Duerr holds an MBA (Honours) from the University of Calgary and a BA (Honours) in urban geography and regional urban development from the University of Saskatchewan. He is a former district manager of an Alberta-based land development company and the former president of an environmental technology company specializing in wastewater treatment in the Pacific Rim and Southeast Asia.

John Stokoe – Treasurer and Member, Board of Directors

John Stokoe is Business and Finance Officer with Rocky Mountain College in Calgary, a position he has held since 1992. A Certified General Accountant, he has served on a variety of volunteer boards of directors. He is especially interested in start-ups. He has agreed to serve as treasurer and finance officer on the Centre's founding board. Prior to joining Rocky Mountain College, he was Business Administrator with Mountain View Bible College; Administrator with Vancouver Youth for Christ; Executive Director of Calgary Youth for Christ and Executive Director for South West Manitoba Youth for Christ.

Dr. Jamal Badawi – Member, Board of Directors

Dr. Jamal Badawi was born in Egypt where he completed his undergraduate education. He completed his Ph.D. from the Indiana University and subsequently joined the faculty of Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Canada.

In addition to teaching in his formal field of education (Management), he has been teaching a course on Islamic Religious Tradition, which is part of the offerings of the Religious Studies department at the same university.

Dr. Badawi is the author of several works on Islam, the last of which is Gender Equity in Islam. He also researched, designed and presented 352 half hour TV programs on Islam broadcasted from several local cable stations and radio stations in the US and Canada, in addition to their use in several countries overseas. Audio and video copies of these programs were made available to users in nearly 35 countries around the world. Sets of these programs are included in the library collections of several universities.

Dr. Badawi is a member of the Consultative Council of North America, a member of the Juristic Council of North America and the founder/chairman of the Islamic Information Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation registered in Canada and the US.

Ron Csillag – Member, Board of Directors

Ron is the Toronto-based Canadian correspondent for Religion News Service (RNS) in Washington, D.C., which supplies stories about religion to over 200 secular news outlets in North America. His work has appeared in The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. Other, regular clients include the Toronto Star, the National Post, the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) and several religious publications, including the Anglican Journal, the Canadian Jewish News, Faith Today and the Catholic Register. He has written for CBC Newsworld, as well as CFCF Television in Montreal. Ron Csillag was born in Montreal and graduated from Concordia University. 

 
Peter Stockland

Dan Gaynor

Dan Gaynor is president of Gaynor Consulting Inc., a consulting practice devoted to the development of workplace leadership and high performance teams. Prior to starting his own business Dan spent 20 years in a variety of newspaper leadership roles including President and Publisher at the Calgary Herald and the St. Catharines Standard. He is also a Past Chairman at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and has served on a variety of community boards, including the YMCA, Theatre Calgary and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Dan is an avid skier and certified CSCF ski racing coach. 

Joe Woodard

Joe Woodard has taught philosophy and politics at Cal State San Bernardino, Brock University, Ambrose University College and a half-dozen other schools in the U.S. and Canada. He has been religion editor at the Calgary Herald, and the Alberta Report, and he was a contributing writer for the Millennial Christian History Project. Joe was also the founding vice president of the Canada Family Action Coalition.

Licia Corbella

Licia Corbella has worked for daily newspapers for more than 20 years and is currently the Calgary Herald's Editorial Page Editor. She started her journalism career in 1986 at The Province newspaper in Vancouver. She moved east and worked at The Scarborough Mirror, The Toronto Star and the Toronto Sun, where she won numerous awards for her feature writing and news reporting, including two Edward Dunlop Awards. In October 1993, she moved to Alberta with her husband Stephen and began working at the Calgary Sun in a variety of roles, including assistant city editor, lifestyle and travel editor and news columnist. In 1998, she was appointed editor, a role she held until she came to the Herald in December 2007. For the past year, Licia has served as a volunteer board member of the Calgary-based not-for-profit organization, Lifeline Malawi, which provides life-saving medical care to the people of that impoverished South African country.