New Council Members

Pierrette Nadeau
Veteran teacher Pierrette Nadeau has been appointed to serve on Council in the French-Language Roman Catholic Secondary category, replacing Guill Archambault who resigned his position last summer. Nadeau completed her teacher education at Sudbury Teachers' College in 1971 and earned a BA from Laurentian University in 1985. She has also earned specialist designations in guidance and co-operative education and has Additional Qualifications in program development and implementation, and supervision and assessment.

Nadeau taught Grades 4 to 8 in Sudbury elementary schools then taught mathematics and French to Grade 9 and 10 students at Collège Sacré-Cœur. In 1986, she moved to École secondaire catholique l'Héritage to teach French and guidance, assuming a position as head of guidance the following year. Since 2000, she has been responding to Ministry of Education reform initiatives and overseeing special projects for the Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario.

Nadeau answered a College advertisement that appeared in Professionally Speaking and on the web site for a replacement for Archambault, who had been acclaimed in the last election. Council adopted the Nomination Committee's recommendation that Nadeau serve on Council for the duration of the term ending in April 2003.

Sheila Gifford
Veteran teacher Sheila Gifford studied linguistics and psychology at the University of Ottawa, earning a BA in 1989 and a BEd in 1995. In addition to regular classroom teaching, she has worked extensively with behavioural and multiple exceptionality students, and has acquired specialist qualifications in reading and special education.

For years, Gifford was involved in teacher federation activities as a site and health and safety representative. She currently works as a resource teacher, computer site administrator and teacher designate at St. Daniel Catholic School in Ottawa.

"I'm a strong advocate for teachers and I respect new ideas, different points of view and checks and balances," Gifford says. Gifford finished second in the 2000 Council election in the English-Language Roman Catholic Elementary category and assumed the Council position in September following the resignation of Mark Lefebvre.

Pauline Demers
Government appointee Pauline Demers retired in 1996 after teaching for 36 years at the elementary and intermediate levels at schools in Sturgeon Falls, New Liskeard, Dowling and Chelmsford. Demers began her teaching career in 1960 after completing her teacher education at the University of Ottawa's Teacher College. In 1985, she earned her BA, education and religious sciences, from Sudbury's Laurentian University, and also acquired specialist qualifications in visual arts.

Demers has served as a member of her parish board, the board of directors at Network North, the board for the Association of Volunteers of the Hôpital régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital, as a representative for the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO), and as a volunteer with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Cancer Society, and the United Way.

She was appointed to Council in September by the provincial government as a replacement for Samy Appadurai. "I know first-hand that teaching today is a physically and emotionally demanding profession," Demers says. "There is no questioning the valuable, lifetime influence that a truly good and devoted teacher can have on a student-and the opposite is also true."

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