Board of directors: It takes a village to raise a child
A special thanks to all our valued board members
Marni Flaherty
Interim CEO
Marni is a graduate of the ECE program at Mohawk College and a Registered Early Childhood Educator. She served as the CEO of Today’s Family for 33 years, serving thousands of children and families in Hamilton, Halton, and Haldimand Norfolk.
Marni is a recipient of the Ontario Premier’s Award for her work in the social services and received the Hamilton Woman of Distinction Award for Education. She is known provincially and nationally for her deep knowledge of, and passion for, early learning and child care. She is currently serving as the Interim CEO of the Canadian Child Care Federation, igniting her mission toward building a pan-Canadian early learning and child care system across Canada.
- ext 220
- mflaherty@cccf-fcsge.ca
Taya Whitehead
Chair
Taya Whitehead has been an Early Childhood Educator for the past 20 years. She completed her initial ECE training in 1998 at Selkirk College in Castlegar, British Columbia. Following her ECE training, she completed a Diploma in Human Services, a BA in Child and Youth Care from the University of Victoria and a Master in Adult Education & Community Development from Athabasca University.
Her experience is broad, ranging from Group and Infant/Toddler Care to the Supported Child Development Program. Currently a Dean for the School of Health and Human Services at Selkirk College, Taya has been working in post-secondary for the past 12 years. She is the past-president of the Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia and volunteers her time in a variety of other capacities locally and provincially.
Taya is a wife and mother of three children, she lives in the rural Kootenay region of British Columbia. She feels that we are at a pivotal point in history where there is opportunity to make great strides in advancing our sector. Taya is a passionate, “big picture” thinker that commits herself wholly to projects that she is involved in.
Diane Daley
Director
Diane Daley, CEO of Family Day Care Services, has always been a committed champion of quality, inclusive services for children and families. Having performed a variety of roles in different environments. Diane brings a full complement of skills, abilities, and knowledge to the CCCF table.
A strong communicator, Diane currently represents Family Day at several province-wide Sector tables to advocate for inclusive, accessible high-quality services for children and families. She is passionate about access, equity, and inclusion. As a driven, dedicated, and focused collaborator, Diane is eager to share her wealth of knowledge and experience with Canada’s child care sector, government, and others to support quality early learning and child care.
She understands the critical relationship between access to high-quality child care and the wellbeing of children, families and communities. Diane’s knowledge and experience of Ontario will offer significant insights related to the complexities, strengths, and challenges at the forefront of child care. She envisions making a meaningful impact as a contributing CCCF Board Member. Diane is a Registered Early Childhood Educator with a BA in Sociology, Gender and Family and an undergraduate Certificate in Women’s Studies.
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Currently On LEAVE AS CEO
Don Giesbrecht
I started my career in Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) by chance, not design. I graduated from the University of Manitoba with full intentions of becoming a police officer. Thanks to my wife and her friend who worked in ELCC, I landed a job as a substitute child care staff in an inner-city child care program at The Salvation Army Weston Child Care in Winnipeg. This was my first time ever setting foot in a child care program anywhere. I needed a job while I waited to be selected to what I hoped would be a career in the police force. That fall I was disheartened to learn that though I had made it to final selection interviews, did not make the final cut for the police force. As a 20-something, I reluctantly decided to take an interim job in child care since I now had the experience and it was one of the few sectors hiring in the early 1990’s. Yes, my career in ELCC started out of necessity, not passion.
I applied to what was then Lord Roberts Preschool, in Winnipeg, and was hired on a three-month term as an ECE II, which turned into a full-time job, and lead to a promotion to Staff Supervisor, and finally landed me as the Executive Director there. Along the way, I upgraded my ECE classification though the Province of Manitoba’s Competency Based Assessment (CBA) program and through the University of Manitoba, earned a diploma in non-profit management. Throughout these early years in career advancement I grew to understand the power and value of early childhood education and care for children and families. My appreciation for the profession grew exponentially. More importantly, I evolved to see that we—society—needed to do so much better for children and how much quality is so intrinsically tied into a quality ELCC workforce.
- ext 220
- dgiesbrecht@cccf-fcsge.ca
April Kalyniuk
Director
April Kalyniuk is the Executive Director at Lord Roberts Children’s Programs a multi-site program located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Graduating in 1980 from Red River College April has been active in the ECE field since that time.
April has served as the Chair of the CCCF and recently completed a second term as President of the Manitoba Child Care Association.
April was a founding member of the MCCA’s Ethics committee and was a active participant in the CCCF roll out of the National Code of Ethics for ECE’s that many of the CCCF members use in daily practice now. Currently, April sits on the MCCA Board of Directors as the chair of the Public Policy and Professionalism Committee and is excited to return to the Board of the CCCF.
Cathy Ramos
Director
Cathy has been working with children and families for more than 20 years. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree and both a undergraduate and master’s degree in Child and Youth Study from Mount Saint Vincent University. In her current employment role, she works to support regulated child care programs in Nova Scotia.
Her work experience in this amazing field of early learning has included working with all ages of children including children with diverse needs. She has worked as a front line early childhood educator and in administration as an Assistant Director; Program Coordinator and Centre Director with a lab school for the Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education. This organization has also supported Cathy as she worked previously as part-time faculty in the classroom and as a practicum supervisor working with students in their field placements. Currently, Cathy is an Early Childhood Development Consultant for the NS Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Her role includes supporting regulated child care programs in and around Halifax. This consultant support allows opportunities to work with Centre Directors, Early Childhood Educators and Families, with a variety of aspects of programming at their centres. There are also many opportunities to be a community collaborator with others sectors working with young children and this may include professional development for ECEs such as inclusion supports and child abuse training as well as PD for programs learning about The Pyramid model for Social Emotional Development as she is a trained Mastre Cadre.
Recently, Cathy has returned to teaching early learning at NSCECE using an online platform and allowing for different opportunities for supporting students of whom many are also practicing Early Childhood Educators.
Being very committed to supporting our sector, Cathy has served on volunteer boards in the past (Association of Early Childhood Educators of NS and The Non-Profit Directors Association of NS). In November of 2015, Cathy was elected to the board of the Canadian Child Care Federation where she currently continues to serve in her second term. This has been an amazing opportunity to learn about child care across our beautiful country and to meet and work with Early Childhood Educators and Friends who share a passion and commitment to supporting our youngest citizens.
Cathy and her husband, Reg, live in Halifax with their two sons Daniel and Diego.
Cathy is a true advocate for children and families and is committed to working towards ensuring that children and families have access to quality, affordable and accessible childcare. She is also very passionate about professional development and believes that lifelong learning and exploring interests and passions is the key to staying current and excited about working in the child care sector.
Angie Stevenson
Director
Angie is proud to be a member of the CCCF board, working towards ELCC policy change with the federal government, knowing that it will impact policy and programs at the provincial level in Saskatchewan and across Canada.–building strength, capacity and quality for all children.
She has been a member of the Saskatchewan Early Childhood Association board since 2008 and the Chairperson since 2014. She is also the Chairperson of the North East Daycare Director’s Co-operative and a member of the CCCF’s Saskatchewan Early Learning Leader’s Caucus.
Hilary Bartlett
Director
Hilary Bartlett’s interest in a PD session she attended about play therapy led her to begin her education to become an ECE.
Hilary’s time working as a frontline ECE developed her understanding of the obstacles that children, families, and the ELCC workforce encounters. In 2022 Hilary became the Project Manager for the Early Childhood Educators Human Resources Council (ECEHRC), a not for profit organisation based in Newfoundland and Labrador. Hilary believes a united front among ELCC workforce professionals is essential for affecting lasting change and strengthening the collective voice of ECEs across the country. Hilary has always been an advocate for treating children with respect and believes that by ensuring every child has access to quality early learning environments, created by educated ECEs, the holistic foundation is laid for them to grow into happy, benevolent, and self-sufficient adults.
Lea Blust
Treasurer
Lea Blust stumbled into the field of Early Childhood Education more than 12 years ago and found her passion!
After working in a variety of roles supporting young children’s play, development and resilience, she now focuses her efforts on advocacy for children and the field of ELCC, as well as teaching new ECE’s in post-secondary programs. She is passionate about ensuring that the rights of children are at the forefront of all decisions we make about them, and brings this voice to her work with the Alberta Early Childhood Leader’s Caucus and AECEA. Lea also loves colours, crafting, nature and her family.
Jayne Crane
Director
Jayne Crane is a passionate front-line educator that has been employed within the Sector in Prince Edward Island since 2014. Throughout her years of service, Jayne has worked with infants, preschoolers, and school-age children and consistently demonstrates a desire to provide high-quality care and education to Island children and provide support to their families.
Last year Jayne was employed by the Early Childhood Development Association of PEI. She will bring her expertise to the CCCF Board and the National level, passionate about advocating for high-quality care, and policies that impact children, families, and educators across the country. Prior to working in the Early Learning sector, she was employed for over ten years with a local charitable/non-profit Indigenous organization in finance.
