Brian Keating

Brian has been a regular weekly guest on local CBC Radio for about 15 years, and for the previous 6 years, has been featured on the Discovery Channel. He just completed his first award winning hour-long documentary called “Planet Zoo” which aired in January of 2002. Brian hosted the conservaton-based television program, travelling to Africa, Asia and South America to film the segments.

In addition to his full time job at the Zoo, Brian is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of anthropology at the U of C, a pilot of over 15 years, a keen naturalist, scuba diver, and mountaineer. He is always accompanied on his regional and international trips by this wife Dee, who is a local Calgary physician and keen naturalist.

Bill Phipps

Born in Toronto in 1942, Bill Phipps received his B.A. from the University of Toronto (Victoria College) in 1962, his L.L.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1965, and his B.D. from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago in 1968. He has two Honorary Doctorates. He was ordained by Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada in 1969, and one year later was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada, from which he resigned in 2000.

Phipps has worked as a poverty lawyer, pastor, community organizer, hospital chaplain, and adult educator. Between 1974-1983, Phipps was minister at Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church in downtown Toronto. He then served for ten years in an administrative position as Executive Secretary with the United Church’s Alberta and Northwest Conference. Phipps has been a minister at Scarboro United Church since 1983. He ran unsuccessfully against Steven Harper in a federal by-election in Calgary last year. He is a social activist and environmentalist.

During his time as Moderator, Bill Phipps was deeply involved in the residential school trials. He believes this difficult chapter in First Nations/non-native relations is a metaphor for the whole relationship, both historically and presently. The church is called to give leadership to Canadian society in learning our history, offering repentance, and embarking on the long road of honest healing and reconciliation.

Bill Phipps has represented The United Church of Canada at events throughout Canada, East Timor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Also as a representative, he attended the World Council of Churches Assembly in Zimbabwe, and the World Conference on Religion and Peace in Jordan (where he was elected an International President).

In March and April of 2001, Phipps was part of an ecumenical church leaders mission to Sudan, exploring the impact of oil development on the devastating civil war which has killed two million people while displacing four million more from their homes.

One of his current projects is a multi-faith effort entitled: “Faith and the Common Good.” Educational videos on consumerism, common ground for the common good, and health care have been produced for public forums and workshops. This effort is a multi-faith witness to our common life.

Bill Phipps is married to writer Carolyn Pogue and they have three adult children, Andrea, Sarah and Jeremy.

Arturo Ornelas

Arturo believes strongly in a transformative model of education, where teacher and students learn together in order to create something new and better in the service of all. Those who have met him and have heard him speak never forget the power of his words and the depth of his character. Just ask the many Alberta teachers who met him in Kananaskis at the 1991 and 1992 Summer Institutes in Global Education, or those who visited him at his home in Cuernavaca Mexica as part of the Mexico Study Tour in 1996 and 1997.

David Aidy