Past Steering Committee Members

Tony Beck, Volunteer, Society for a GE Free BC. Tony works as a researcher and consultant on international development with a particular focus on poverty reduction, monitoring and evaluation. Over the last 10 years he has advised 15 United Nations agencies on monitoring and evaluation. Tony lives in Vancouver.

Terry Boehm, Past-President, National Farmers Union, Allan, Saskatchewan. Terry is a Saskatchewan canola farmer who serves former President of the National Farmers Union (NFU). Terry participates in government consultations on behalf of the NFU and was part of the legal advising team to Percy Schmeiser’s case against Monsanto.

Abra Brynne has worked since the mid 1990s on providing education and resources to both ends of the food production chain – farmers and consumers. She has extensive experience in environmental and social standards development and conformity assessment, on a regional, provincial, national and international level. Abra is based in Nelson in the West Kootenays and sits on many committees and boards at various geographical levels, all connected to food and agriculture.

Colleen Ross, Farmer, BC
Colleen is an BC organic grain and oilseed farmer. Colleen is former Vice-President, Policy for the National Farmers Union. Colleen has traveled extensively through the country speaking with urban consumers and farming communities about the farm crisis and genetically engineered crops as well as internationally to meet with farmers’ organizations in the South as part of Via Campesina.

Maureen Bostock, Board Member, Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario
Maureen is a certified organic producer of vegetables for local market and farms at Sweet Meadow Farm in Balderson, Ontario. Maureen and her partner previously farmed in Northwest B.C., growing certified organic vegetables and hay. Maureen also works part time as an organic inspector and is a member of the Independent Organic Inspectors Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO), as one of three people representing the Eastern Ontario region.

Moe Garahan has been working on food security issues in Ottawa since 1995. She was part of the founding teams for the Good Food Box, the Community Garden Network and the Ottawa Food Security Council. Moe acted as Coordinator of the Ontario Food Security Council (now Just Food) between 2004-2005 and is now the program director. Moe is passionate about connecting people to their food sources.

Cathy Holtslander is a Board member and Secretary of the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate and a member of their Organic Agriculture Protection Fund Committee, which is the committee overseeing the lawsuit filed by organic canola farmers against Monsanto and Bayer seeking damages for GE contamination of crops. Cathy was Coordinator of the Saskatchewan Eco Network for 6 years and is a founding member of the worker co-operative that staffs the national Beyond Factory Farming Coalition.

Catherine Kleinsteauber is a full time, organic farmer on a small-scale mixed farm in Powell River B.C. She also is a coordinator for the Coalition for Safe Food which successfully worked to have the Powell River Regional District declared a Genetically Engineered Free Crop Area. Catherine also works locally on other important food sovereignty and sustainability issues.

Brewster Kneen, Publisher, The Ram’s Horn, Ottawa.
Brewster is publisher of The Ram’s Horn newsletter and is the internationally renowned author of several books on food and agriculture, including Farmageddon, Food and the Culture of Biotechnology and Invisible Giant: Cargill and Its Transnational Strategies. Brewster is founder of The Forum on Privatization and the Patenting of Life and has worked on issues relating to biotechnology for more than 15 years. Brewster farmed with his family in Nova Scotia for 15 years and organized the Northumberland Lamb Marketing Co-op. He has traveled internationally to work with other networks and is a past member of the international board of directors of GRAIN.

Aimee Watson, North Kootenay Lake Food Security Coordinatorand Lawns to Gardens Program Coordinator, Kootenays BC.
Aimee has been working with food security initiatives since 2003, originating in the soil of one of BC first farming cooperatives, the Fraser Common Farm. She farmed for several years and moved to the Kootenays to pursue a self-sufficient lifestyle. Once there, she co founded the Kaslo Food Security project now in it’s third year, farming on a Village scale with four plots growing veggies to quinoa for home use, research and connections. Currently, she sits on the boards of The Community Garden Society of Kaslo, Kootenay Local Agriculture Society , and works with the GE Free Kootenay’s campaign.