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Backgrounders

WorkSafeBC’s board biographies

Baltej Dhillon is a member of the RCMP and has served as a police officer for the past 27 years. In 2016, he became responsible for the force's Operational Readiness and Response program related to emergency response. He created the Sikh Leadership and Police Committee on Gang Violence and led the project for two years to fight against youth criminalization. He has served as an investigator on Air India task forces and the Pickton investigation. He received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for community service in 2012 and a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award for community service in 2003.

Michelle Laurie is a Red Seal certified electrician and has spent the majority of her career as a worker representative and advocate. Most recently, she was a staff representative for United Steelworkers and prior to that she represented workers in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers as president of Local 258. She has served as a vice-president of the BC Federation of Labour and past chair of the boards of the Tumbler Ridge Health Care Centre, United Way of the Lower Mainland, BC Citizens for Public Power and the Electrical Industry Training Institute.

Lee Loftus has served as business manager of the BC Insulators Union from 2008 to present, as well as from 1992 to 1999. He has been president of the BC Building Trades since 2009, and previously served on the board of governors for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Council. He has served on various boards, associations, committees, and councils, including the Canadian Standards Association, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering, Insulation Industry Apprenticeship Board, Vancouver and District Metal Trades Council, as well as several WorkSafeBC committees.

Katherine Teschke is a professor emeritus in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Her research has included studies of occupation and Parkinson’s disease, back injuries in heavy industry, water quality and gastrointestinal illnesses, and transport infrastructure influences on cycling injury risk. She received her academic training in environmental health at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Washington in Seattle.

Rebecca Packer is a registered physical therapist with a special interest in long-term care, working for the Island Health Authority in the traditional territory of the K’ómoks First Nation on Vancouver Island. She has experience working with joint occupational health and safety committees and serves on the board of directors for the Health Sciences Association of British Columbia. She holds her master of science in physical therapy from the University of Alberta, a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Victoria and has completed a graduate certificate in Values-Based Leadership through Royal Roads University.

Donald Smith is a partner of Smith Pension and Actuarial Consultants Inc. Over the past 40 years, he has provided actuarial, pension, employee benefits, compensation and investment consulting services to organizations in the public and private sectors, including some of Canada's largest corporations and employee organizations, joint boards of trustees, and federal, provincial and municipal governments. Prior to his consulting career, he spent five years in the life insurance industry, in actuarial and information technology roles. He is a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. He also holds an MBA in finance and has completed the CFA and Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D programs.