Board Members

Shannon Beckett is an adjudicator with the BC Human Rights Tribunal. Prior to this role, she was the Executive Director of a cluster of four tribunals based in Victoria. Shannon has extensive experience advising administrative tribunals on matters of law and policy, and has practised law in the areas of labour and employment law, human rights law, and professional regulatory law. In 2011, she served as a Judicial Law Clerk with the BC Supreme Court. Shannon has also worked for an Independent Officer of the Legislature where she investigated the critical injuries and deaths of children and youth receiving government services. In addition to her role as co-president of BCCAT, Shannon teaches BCCAT courses on Decision Writing, Administrative Procedure and Hearing Skills.

As counsel at the Ministry of Attorney General, Meera Bennett primarily represents and advises tribunals. Meera is a contributing author to CanLii’s BC Manual to Civil Litigation, and the Continuing Legal Education Society’s Annual Review of Law & Practice and Administrative Law Manual, the chair of the BC Council of Administrative Tribunals (BCCAT) education committee and co-chair of BCCAT’s annual administrative law conference.

Erin Frew is acting chair to the Property Assessment Appeal Board.  She was appointed vice chair to the PAAB in 2016. She holds her Juris Doctor and her Bachelor of Science (Ecology) from the University of British Columbia. Previously she held positions as an arbitrator for the Residential Tenancy Branch, an associate lawyer in a national tax law firm, an intern assisting judges and legal officers at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and a review officer for WorkSafeBC. Erin thrilled to return to serve as a director with the BC Council of Administrative Tribunals.  She also serves as the acting chair of BCCAT’s Education Committee.

Pam Hansen is currently engaged in the practice of public accounting with an office in North Vancouver and serves as a contract investigator with CPABC.  She served on the Board of Governors of CGA-BC for eleven years during which time she chaired various committees including the Ethics (Discipline), Bylaws and Public Practice Committees.  She also served as a Trustee of CGA-BC’s Educational Foundation and Treasurer for the Strata in which her office is located.  Pam has been a member of BCCAT since 2009.

Catherine McCreary attended law school and practiced law in Calgary until she moved to Vancouver in 1997. She worked as in-house counsel for a union and then served as a Vice-Chair at the BC Labour Relations Board. She worked independently for several years and then was appointed as a Member of the BC Human Rights Tribunal. Catherine has been active in the credit union industry, serving on the board of VanCity and Central 1 credit unions.

John has been involved in administrative decision making in various professional regulatory bodies for over 20 years. He has also been on the BCCAT education committee for that same length of time.

Initially with Administrative Justice for Decision Makers within Professional Regulatory Tribunals, he has also participated in the revision and development of many of the courses, train the trainer sessions, and the marketing and promotion of BCCAT courses. He currently delivers the Administrative Justice for Staff and Auxiliaries course.

John holds a MBA from Royal Roads University and a LL.M from Osgoode Hall from the Administrative Law Specialization.

Luningning (Ning) Alcuitas-Imperial is chair of WCAT. Since 2003, Ms. Alcuitas-Imperial has served in a variety of WCAT roles including vice chair, team leader and registrar. Ms. Alcuitas-Imperial’s other work experience includes the Medical Review Panel Department of WorkSafeBC (assistant to the registrar), the Civil Resolution Tribunal (member) and the Mental Health Review Board (chair). Ms. Alcuitas-Imperial obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Manitoba and is grateful to live, work, and play on the traditional territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking Musqueam people.

Jacqueline Beltgens is a lawyer, mediator, adjudicator and workplace investigator. Jacqueline was a member of the BC Human Rights Tribunal, was the Acting Chair of the BC Mental Health Review Board, and is presently the Chair of the BC Surface Rights Board. She is a member of the Law Society of BC, the Canadian Bar Association, Mediate BC (Civil Roster), and ADRBC (Chartered Mediator). Ms. Beltgens has a broad background in civil and administrative law, both as an in-house legal counsel and as a lawyer in private practice in Vancouver and Victoria. She attended the University of British Columbia for undergraduate studies, and obtained a Juris Doctor. Ms. Beltgens also has a Diploma of Technology (Engineering) from the BC Institute of Technology. Jacqueline completed her mediation training at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation.

David Bird joined the Environmental Appeal Board, Forest Appeal Commission and the Oil and Gas Appeal Tribunal as a Vice Chair—Service Delivery in June 2020. His career began with the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board in 1994, working the last several years as a case manager. In 2003, David moved to British Columbia to join the Workers’ Advisers Branch (Ministry of Labour) as a Workers’ Adviser representing injured workers with their workers compensation claims. In 2006, he became an Arbitrator / Dispute Resolution Officer with the Residential Tenancy Branch, resolving disputes between landlords and tenants. In 2011, David joined the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation as an Implementation Manager where he developed and negotiated solutions to implement tripartite treaties with First Nations communities. In 2014, David was appointed as a Vice Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT) and in 2016, he took over the role as Vice Chair and Deputy Registrar of WCAT.

Anna received her Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of British Columbia and was called to the BC Bar in 1985. Prior to joining the British Columbia Utilities Commission as a Commissioner, she spent more than 20 years practising law as corporate counsel, including 15 years as Senior Counsel at Terasen Inc. (now Fortis Inc.). She was an elected Bencher of the BC Law Society for 10 years and served as President in 2007. She is the recipient of several awards including the R.V.A Jones Corporate Counsel Award, the BC Community Achievement Award, the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award and the UBC Law Alumni Achievement Award. She also served as President of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, Association of Chinese Canadian Professionals, the People’s Law School and the BC Autism Association. She authored several legal publications on corporate counsel practice and Indigenous law.

She has served as Director of the Vancouver Airport Authority, the Vancouver Foundation, the Law Foundation, the Continuing Legal Education Society and the Arts Club Theatre Society. She is also the current Chair of the BC Unclaimed Property Society and a director of the UBC Alumni Association.

As legal counsel at the Ministry of the Attorney General, Julie Gibson’s legal practice includes advising tribunals and other administrative law work. 

Julie was formerly a tribunal member with the Civil Resolution Tribunal, Canada’s first online tribunal. Prior to that, Julie practised professional regulatory, health and administrative law in Vancouver for 15 years, appearing before many administrative tribunals and professional regulatory bodies, as well as the provincial court, British Columbia Supreme Court and British Columbia Court of Appeal. Julie was a long-time volunteer lawyer coordinator for Law Students’ Legal Advice Program (UBC)’s Britannia Clinic, and a past member of the UBC Student Legal Fund Society’s Litigation Committee. Julie contributed to the 2016 textbook Administrative Justice: A Practitioner’s Guide (author Michael G. Thomas) and is a chapter co-author (with William S. Clark) in the Continuing Legal Education BC’s Administrative Law Practice Manual. Julie holds a Masters of Law from Osgoode Hall in the Administrative Law specialization, a J.D. from the University of British Columbia and an Honours Bachelor of Science (Human Biology and English Literature) from the University of Toronto.  

Johanna Goosen obtained her law degree at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University and was called to the bar in 2014. She has practiced civil litigation at a leading Vancouver firm and now practices litigation and administrative law as Senior Manager of Litigation in the Law and Policy Division at the Workers’ Compensation Board (“WorkSafeBC”). She has represented WorkSafeBC at all levels of court including the Supreme Court of Canada. She is the 2022-2023 Chair of the CLEBC Administrative Law Section.

Darrell Le Houillier completed an environmental engineering degree from Queen’s University before attending law school at UBC. He was called to the bar in 2006 and worked in private practice where he managed a diverse assortment of cases. Darrell has worked for the Workers’ Compensation Board, the Workers’ Advisers Office, and in 2010, he became a full-time Vice Chair at the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal. Darrell lives in Vancouver with his family and in his spare time enjoys travel, camping and sports.

Brett completed an LLB from the University of British Columbia in 2006 and thought he knew all there was to know about labour law. He articled at Banister and Company and realized he did not. Brett was called to the BC Bar in 2007 and practiced labour law with Hastings Labour Law Office between 2008 and 2018. He served on the executive of the BCABC Labour Law subsection between 2013 and 2016, and as co-chair in 2016. Again, Brett thought he knew what there was to know about labour law. He joined the Labour Relations Board as Vice-Chair in 2018 and, again, realized he did not. Brett has been the Associate Chair since February 2022. He knows “a bit” about labour law.

Amber Prince (she/her), BA., (SFU), JD., (UBC), LLM (UVic) was appointed as a member of the BC Human Rights Tribunal on January 4, 2021 for a four-year term. She is also a member of the Sucker Creek (Cree) Nation (Treaty 8) but grew up on the territory of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation (Prince George), and now lives on the territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skxwú7mesh (Squamish), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) and səlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. From 2006-2020, Amber provided a range of legal advocacy services for women at Atira Women’s Resource Society. She has also sat on the boards of West Coast LEAF and the Amici Curiae Friendship Society. her Bachelor of Arts from Malaspina University-College (now Vancouver Island University) in 2000 and her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Victoria in 2004.