Governance: Board of Governors (2022-2023)

The Board of Governors (BoG) is comprised of members who were elected by the members of the Order of Saint Lazarus, Grand Priory in Canada. The BoG has the authority to manage the business, property and affairs of the Grand Priory. Such authority includes, but is not limited to, making regulations, expenditures for promoting the purposes and objects of the Grand Priory, receiving income, employing agents and employees and entering into such trusts or other arrangements as may be beneficial to the Grand Priory. The current Grand Priory in Canada bylaws can be perused for interest by clicking here. The organizational structure is the result of significant effort performed by the Governance Committee tasked to work with the former bylaws and organizational structure in 2019 to take the Order in Canada from what it was to becoming compliant with the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act. No individual can serve in their capacity for more than 2 consecutive terms.

The following are members of the Order of Saint Lazarus, Grand Priory in Canada, currently serving on the BoG for term of 2022-2023:

Grand Prior: Dame Jane K. Anema, GCLJ, GOMLJ
Manitoba Commandery
Executive Committee

Jane is currently the Executive Director of the Sarnia Community Foundation and the Coordinator of Volunteer Services for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services at the Sarnia Jail. She has been involved with a number of volunteer organizations at the local, regional, and national levels for more than 35 years in both a volunteer and a professional capacity. In addition to her employment and work with the Order of Saint Lazarus, she is the treasurer for two volunteer organizations based in Sarnia, a member of the Ontario Independent Police Review Directors resource committee, and past President of the local chapter of Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW). Other volunteer activities have included writing and editing a national magazine, a stint as a member of the Public issues team for the Canadian Federation of Junior Leagues, managing a thrift store, working with the community grants committee for the United Way of Winnipeg along with being part of many community activities, fund raisers and capital campaigns. When not volunteering, she spent nearly 30 years learning with children as a special education consultant and classroom teacher.
 
Chancellor/Corporate Secretary: Chev. Lt. (Ret'd) William F.K. Tufnell, KCLJ, CMLJ
Western Ontario Commandery
Executive Committee

Fred is a graduate of Brock University, St. Catharines, ON in political science following a five year tour in the Canadian Armed Forces. His academic education was followed by attending the Ontario Police College which led to a position on the York Regional Police Force for 14 years where he retired from the Force with the rank of Sergeant. He later formed TUF Security Services LTD., along with two additional security-oriented companies in Ontario. He was a Vice Chairperson and Member of the Parole Board of Canada. He has been very much involved in community activities including Lead Chair of the District Health Councils of Ontario, Chair of the Council of the Simcoe York District Health Council, and Board Member of both the Salvation Army Toronto Grace Health Centre and York Central Hospital. He was Chair of the Trillium Committee and later Chair of the Community Hospice Association of Ontario after serving as Chair of the Fundraising Committee for Hospice Thornhill. He was admitted to the Order in 2003 with the rank of Officer, appointed Marshal of the Order in 2013, and elected as Commander, Western Ontario Commandery in June 2016. He served as Vice Chancellor Finance from May 2019 and elected Vice Chancellor Finance June 2020.
 
Vice-Chancellor Finance: Chev. Rick J. Firth, KLJ, OMLJ
Toronto Commandery
Executive Committee

Rick is President and Chief Executive Officer of Hospice Palliative Care Ontario (HPCO), a member-based association representing hospices, heath care professionals and volunteers working in palliative care. Rick has served in hospice care since 1991 and provided executive leadership at two Toronto hospices before joining the provincial organization in 2009. Rick serves as one of four executives providing oversight for the Ontario Palliative Care Network, the government’s principal advisor for palliative care planning in Ontario. He serves on the executive of the Quality Hospice Palliative Care Coalition of Ontario and is a current board member and past president of the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association. Rick received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 in recognition of his contribution to palliative care in Canada, and in 2017, received the Ontario Medical Association’s Centennial Award in recognition of outstanding achievements in serving the health and welfare of the people of Ontario. Rick is a past-president of the Rotary Club of Markham Sunrise and a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International.
 
Vice-Chancellor Commanderies: Dame Glynis Grigg, DCLJ, OMLJ
Calgary Commandery
Executive Committee

After joining the Order in 2006 Glynis served the Calgary Commandery as Vice-Commander from 2008-2013 before taking on the role of Commander from 2013 until 2018. Glynis now serves as Commandery Hospitaller and Social Convenor. Glynis was elected Vice-Chancellor of Commanderies in 2018. Active in the Calgary community she has served as a Director for Valour Canada, The Calgary Military Museum Society, Calgary Exotic Car Group, Southern Alberta Children’s Hospice Society (owners and operators of Ronald McDonald House) and has co-chaired FundFest for the Calgary Health Trust, The Grand Highland Ball for the Calgary Highlanders and Art Lotto for the Glenbow Museum. Glynis has been a long time member of the Samaritans, a 110 year old Calgary organization that raises funds to aid Calgarians in need. She has recently taken on the position of President of the Mess Committee for the Calgary Garrison of the 78th Fraser Highlanders.
 
Chaplain General: The Reverend Eric Dyck, M.Div., M.A., EGCLJ, GOMLJ, CWA
Montreal Commandery

The Revd Eric Edward Dyck, EGCLJ, GOMLJ is presently pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in downtown Montreal and on the clergy roster of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), Eastern Synod. He is Chaplain-General and Ecumenical Commissioner of the Grand Priory of Canada and Deputy Ecclesiastical Grand Prior for the Order internationally. He serves the Ecclesiastical Grand Prior as Chairman of the international Spiritual Advisory Council (an advisory council that informs and recommends to the Grand Master on spiritual matters in the Order). His theological studies were first at Lutheran Theological Seminary (University of Saskatchewan) and then graduate work in liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame in the U.S.A. He is adjunct faculty at Montreal Anglican Diocesan College (McGill) and a member of Societas Liturgica, an international, academic society for liturgists. In 2018 he was recognised by the ELCIC and made a Companion for the Worship Arts (CWA) in the church’s companionate recognising contributions in the Lutheran Church in worship arts. Pastor Dyck was the ELCIC’s participant in the Lutheran World Federation’s international consultation on worship and culture. This international team engaged the Lutheran world communion in the ecumenical discussion of inculturation. In his work as a parish pastor, Eric Dyck frequently encounters issues of dying and death; the palliative care departments of the Montreal hospitals are familiar places to him. These experiences have cultivated a sensitivity to the pastoral rites for the dying (e.g. “last rites”) and death (e.g. funeral and burial rites) and their therapeutic qualities. He is also active in a number of ecumenical projects, especially with Anglicans and Roman Catholics. Despite numerous projects nationally and internationally, Pastor Eric Dyck has remained rooted in parish ministry and enjoys being able to serve his church and the Order of Saint Lazarus.
 
Hospitaller: Kenneth P. Buchholz, MD, FCFP, CLJ
Acadia Commandery

Dr. Buchholz is a rural Family and Emergency Physician from the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. He is a graduate of Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine (1980) and holds both his CCFP (1990) and FCFP (2004) in Family Medicine. As Medical Director for Medavie EMS Group, he supported paramedics in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Alberta. During this time, Medavie EMS saw rapid expansion into Ontario and Alberta, and integrated its two paramedic schools into Medavie HealthEd. He also assisted in the development of Medavie’s Air Repatriation program and the provincial physician locum program. Dr. Buchholz is an advisor with Nova Scotia 811 Clinical Advisory Committee. Dr. Buchholz is a faculty member and rural preceptor with Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. He is a senior instructor/instructor trainer with the Heart and Stroke Foundation and is an instructor/instructor trainer with the Nova Scotia Trauma Program Advanced Trauma Life Support Program.
 
Director: Chev. David M. Cvet, KLJ(J), SCrLJ, FRHSC(Hon)
Acadia Commandery

David, originally from ON, is a graduate of the University of Toronto with majors in biology and computer science. He began his work career conducting six years of diabetes research at the Banting and Best Institute, which spurred further interest in computing. He then pursued a career in technology spanning 25 years developing expertise in IBM mainframes, supercomputers to architecting advanced network computing environments. David's interest in history was a catalyst in the founding of the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts in Toronto in 1998, which now has schools in Guelph, Stratford, Ottawa and Digby. This interest expanded to include heraldry and after becoming a member of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, he later became its 23rd President. He is an Honorary Fellow of that Society, awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and is a recipient of a grant of arms in 2004 from the Canadian Heraldic Authority, Ottawa.
 
Director: Mr. Michael Kalnay, KLJ, OMLJ
Arctic Commandery

Michael has recently retired after 25 years as a senior manager with the Government of the Northwest Territories. He most recently served as the Director of the Program Review Office where he worked on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government program and services. He previously served as Director of Pipeline Readiness, Community Governance, Strategic Change, Land Claims and Self Government Negotiations, and as Advisor to Cabinet. Michael received the Premier’s Award for Excellence in Public Service in 2009 for his role in the negotiation of the Tlicho Land Claim and Self-Government Agreement. He is presently working on a number of alternative energy projects, and is engaged in the development of a new enterprise, Arctic Sustainable Harvesting, with a view to establishing local food sources that will provide employment, import substitution, tourism and export opportunities. Michael is a member of the Northern Lights Council of Scouts Canada, the True North Rotary Club,, and actively involved in several other community groups. He has received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the Scouts Centennial Medal, and the NWT Volunteer of the Year Award in recognition of his voluntary activities. Michael served as Vice Commander northwest Territories for the previous three years. He also serves as Scrivener of the Grand Priory in Canada, and has attended every Chapter General since joining the Order.
 
Director: Chev. Craig McQuitty, CD, OStJ, KLJ, MMLJ
Ottawa Commandery

No biography available.
 
Director: Chev. Robbie D. Sprules, KLJ(J)
Acadia Commandery

Robbie Sprules is a founding partner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Taylor|Sprules Corporation. He has over 28 years experience in: regional, national and international product brand development; product brand architecture; intellectual property creation and management; total corporate brand development, integration and application; product, service and corporate name creation, registration and asset development; complete strategic linked-brand program development; industrial design and applied research; strategic marketing counsel. Mr. Sprules has led creative and business teams as 'partnering groups' within and outside of traditional and non-traditional corporate structures, and is a proponent of linked-team services. He holds a BAA in Design, an MA in Administration & Management, is a member of the IDSA (US), ACIDO, GDC, ARIDO, IIDA (NYC) and a Director of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada. He has been responsible for developing complete integrated brand programs for over 50 national and international corporations. As a keynote speaker and guest lecturer on International Brand Development and MasterLook strategies, he has worked with many of the nation's most influential business and government leaders. Mr. Sprules holds the British titles Lord of Wrentnall and Lord of Great Lyth, hereditary Lordships in the western shires of England.
 
Director: Chev. Keith Wilkins, KCLJ, OMLJ, LLB
Ottawa Commandery

No biography available.