Key Players

Population Forum is pleased to present speakers who are experts in the field of demographics, rural issues and labour force dynamics. Here are the key players of the forum.

James D. McNiven

James D. McNiven is Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University and Senior Policy Research Advisor with Canmac Economics Ltd. Until his retirement in 2006 from Dalhousie, he held the R. A. Jodrey Chair in Commerce in the School of Business Administration and was a Professor of Public Administration. From 1988 to 1994, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Minister of Development for the Province of Nova Scotia (1981-88) and the President of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (1977-81).

He has been the CEO of a small technology company and has been a member of a number of corporate and government boards, including the Blue Cross of Atlantic Canada and the federal government's International Trade Advisory Committee. He was a member of the federal government's Royal Commission on National Passenger Transportation, which reported in 1992.

Dr. McNiven has a PhD from the University of Michigan. He has written widely on public policy and economic development issues and is the co-author of three books. His most recent research work has been in natural resource policy, the impact of broadband on rural businesses and the relationship of demographic changes to regional economic development. He still continues to teach on a part-time basis.

His email address is j.mcniven@dal.ca

David Bruce

David Bruce is the Director of the Rural and Small Town Programme and also the Director of the Office of Research Services at Mount Allison University. He has been employed with the university since 1990, and has a BA in Geography from MTA and a Masters in Geography from the University of British Columbia.

He has served as a policy advisor on national and regional bodies, and in 2009 was named to the New Brunswick government’s Premiers Roundtable of Self-Sufficiency.

In the past five years David has led a number of research and community projects focusing on the interconnected issues of population change, mobility, migration, and economic development. These have included a discussion paper for the Rural Secretariat, a strategy for repopulation in Cumberland County, an analysis of population migration and mobility in New Brunswick, and an examination of the state of readiness of small New Brunswick communities to accept and support immigrants.

David has been invited to speak about these issues at a number of regional and national forums, including at the national rural futures forum in Edmonton in July 2008, at an international workshop in northern Iceland in 2007, and at the NSARDA annual conference in 2005.

Debra Bellefontaine

Debra Bellefontaine is the owner of "Awakening Individual and Organizational Potential" and is an experienced consultant, facilitator and change agent. She has expertise in adult education, process design, multi-stakeholder collaborative planning, strategic planning, public consultations, evaluation, facilitative leadership, change management and conflict resolution.

Her previous experience includes 15 years as a public servant with the Dept. of Community Services where she served as a corporate facilitator and instructor of clinical and management training. She also served as Education Coordinator with the N.S. Association of Health Organizations. Prior to this, she held senior positions in community-based agencies.

She has a Masters of Arts in Education from Mount St. Vincent University and has earned the designation of Certified Professional Facilitator (C.P.F.) with the International Association of Facilitators.

As a member of the International Association of Facilitators, she has access to global contacts and knowledge base. She is able to draw on resource support, if required, from a qualified roster of certified professional facilitators.

Brian Rose

For the last six years Brian Rose has been Vice President of Membership and Marketing at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. In typical small business fashion his role is very large encompassing, sales, member services, events, communications, publishing and business development.

Since graduating from Dalhousie with a Bachelor of Commerce Brian has worked for, managed and/or owned a variety of small and medium sized enterprises in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine and British Columbia. After 10 years as a financial and operations manager in the seafood industry he dropped out of the labour market to obtain an MBA from Saint Mary’s and although he also obtained a CMA designation went into the advertising business, specializing in event marketing, sponsorship and strategic planning.

His work at the Chamber utilizes all his skills and experience in an effort to make Halifax and Nova Scotia a better place to live, work and do business. He tells us that his work not only gets him out of bed in the morning but keeps him engaged late into the evening.

The Halifax Chamber of Commerce is the largest amongst mid-sized Canadian cities and considered a leading chamber in North America. As the voice of business in Halifax, the Chamber advocates, supports and services on behalf of almost 2,000 member companies, 10,000 member representatives and associate representatives and the 90,000 men and women they employ.