Park Advisory Board
The Park Establishment Agreement required that a seven member Park Advisory Board (PAB) be established. A PAB has been in place since 2004. The membership of this board includes representatives of local and regional governments, the public and Parks Canada. Member terms generally run for 3 years to a maximum of 6 years. The PAB acts impartially and in the public interest. It provides advice and guidance to Parks Canada on park planning, business planning and issues of interest to the surrounding communities and the public. Click here to obtain a copy of the PAB Terms of Reference or Minutes of the PAB meetings.
Park Advisory Board Members
Ken Balmer (Public Member)
Ken lives in Ladysmith, BC and is a regular boat visitor to GINPR. He has a Ph.D. in parks planning and has served as an academic, YMCA Executive Director and senior administrator with Calgary Parks and Recreation. Through his consulting firm RETHINK (West) Inc., he has authored numerous municipal parks/recreation master plans, provincial tourism development plans, a parks plan for the Lower Mainland, and several sport development plans. He has a passion for trendscanning—understanding the forces that change and shape parks, recreation and tourism in Canada—which will be of added benefit to Parks Canada as it moves towards developing the park’s first management plan.
Wayne Bourque (Parks Canada member)
Wayne Bourque, Superintendent of Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, has a long career history in park operations, planning and management. He has been with the Parks Canada Agency for 15 years. During that time, he has developed management plans for many national parks and national historic sites, managed the Vancouver Resource Conservation unit for the Agency's Western and Northern Service Centre, and played a lead role in the establishment process for a national marine conservation area in the waters surrounding Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve/Haida Heritage Site. Prior to joining Parks Canada, Wayne worked in the Ontario Provincial Parks system, beginning his career as a back-country visitors services ranger, moving up to a park warden and then to eventually fill Park Superintendent positions at several northern Ontario parks. He has degrees in Outdoor Recreation, Sustainable Resource Management, and is currently working on his PhD in marine conservation. Wayne enjoys sailing in his spare time, and shares his enthusiasm for the sport as a certified sailing instructor.
Joy Davis (Public Member)
Joy brings both a lifelong love of the Gulf Islands and expertise in cultural resource management to her role on the Advisory Board. She grew up on one of the Flat Top Islands on the south end of Gabriola Island, and continues to sail among and explore the islands on a regular basis. As the director of the Cultural Resource Management Program at the University of Victoria, she has developed a strong commitment to the inclusive and values-based management of cultural heritage resources, and is knowledgeable about the capacity of parks to create meaningful visitor experiences. Joy holds degrees in Canadian history and in museum studies and is completing a PhD in Social Foundations in Education. She is the author of many distance education courses in museum and heritage studies as well as a range of articles on learning for professional practice.
David Howe (Capital Regional District Member)
David grew up in rural Saanichton, BC. He and his wife now live on Pender Island, a community he considered similar to the one where he grew up. David embraces the island lifestyle and realizes how precious and precarious it is. Over the last three years he has pursued issues such as the balance between economy & lifestyle on the islands and the balance between economic and environmental sustainability, while participating on the Chamber of Commerce Board, the Islands Trust Advisory Planning Commission, and currently as a Capital Regional District Director. His objective is to “Pay It Forward”, for our kids & grandkids, by exploring a Triple Bottom Line approach to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. David graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce and from American College, Bryn Mar, Pennsylvania with a Masters in Science of Financial Services. His career has spanned financial planning, investment banking and hospitality resort development.
Pam Janzsen (Islands Trust Member)
Pam moved to Canada in 1972 and has been living on Saturna Island since1988. She has been active in the community, including roles in the Community Club, the Lions Club, and the Recreation and Cultural Society. Over the years on Saturna Island, Pam has had many jobs—from assistant Post Mistress, owner/operator of a small gardening and landscape business, cashier, to plumbing assistant. For the past seven years she has worked as a Community Health Worker. Pam and her husband are known as island naturalists. She specializes in all things fungal and for several years did a long-term study and inventory of the fungi of Winter Cove (now part of Gulf Islands National Park Reserve) and the Saturna Island Ecological Reserve. Her husband is a regionally-renowned botanist. Together, they also study birds and conduct public walks and talks about the fungi and birds of the island
Bob Peart (Public member)
Bob has spent his life in the world of conservation. He is a Registered Professional Biologist with a Masters Degree in Education and formal training in Dispute Resolution. In 2008, Bob received the prestigious J.B. Harkin Medal recognizing his efforts in conservation and education. Among other things, Bob’s experience includes positions as the Executive Director of the BC chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Executive Director of the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC, and Special Project Negotiator with the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. Over the past thirty-five years, Bob has volunteered for numerous conservation groups at the regional, provincial, national and international levels. He currently serves on a variety of organizations that focus on children, nature and protected areas. Bob is an avid outdoors person who enjoys hiking, backpacking, kayaking and bird watching.
Dr. Tomas Tomascik (Parks Canada representative)
Tom Tomascik obtained his BSc from University of Toronto and his PhD in Oceanography from McGill University. He spent 10 years in Indonesia working with academic and government agencies and is the senior author of The Ecology of the Indonesian Seas. He worked on IUCN marine conservation projects in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Botany at the University of British Columbia. Tomas has been working for Parks Canada since 1999 as a senior adviser on marine conservation. His current focus is assisting in the establishment of national marine conservation areas (NMCAs), and he is a member of the Southern Strait of Georgia NMCA Feasibility Study project team. His research is tied to the ecologically sustainable use of marine resources within the NMCA concept. Tomas has knowledge of the marine system of the Strait of Georgia gained through local NGOs, academic and recreational activities, and recognizes the economic importance of the area. He is an avid SCUBA diver and enjoys underwater photography and cinematography.