Conference 2026: Speaker bios and session info
All time are Mountain (Alberta) Time. Please adjust for your time zone.
Session 1: Scarcity and Decision-Making 9:00 to 10:30 AM
Navigating limited resources, competing needs, and zero-sum thinking.
The Honourable Justice M.C. Christopher, Alberta Court of Justice; Vincent Xu, Director of Resolution Program Services, Alberta Justice, Professor Hadley Friedland
The Honourable Justice Michelle Christopher KC – Alberta Court of Justice
The Honourable Justice Christopher KC, a Harvard trained mediator and former law professor, holds degrees from the University of Calgary, Dalhousie University and York University. Since her 2018 appointment as the first female judge in Medicine Hat, in Alberta’s Southern Judicial District, she has returned to her hometown of Calgary where she sits in the Criminal Division of the Alberta Court of Justice. Justice Christopher has maintained her commitment to legal education, both as an educator and a speaker, on podcasts and most recently in person at national conferences for the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law and the Federation of Law Societies. The forthcoming conference on Restorative Justice, for the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, highlights her transformative work in Alberta as the co-chair of the Hon. Beverley Brown Wîyasôw Iskweêw – Restorative Justice Project. Justice Christopher is active in judicial education committees and on boards, in her court, nationally and internationally through her work in the field of judicial education with the Alberta Office of the Chief Justice, the Alberta Provincial Justices’ Association, the Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges, the American Judges’ Association and the Canadian Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges.
Hadley Friedland is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law. She teaches and writes in the areas of Indigenous law, Aboriginal law, Family law, Child Welfare law, Criminal Justice and Therapeutic jurisprudence. She holds a Child and Youth Care diploma from MacEwan University, an LLB from the University of Victoria, and an LLM and PhD from the University of Alberta. Prior to law school, she worked in the child and family services field for over a decade.
Professor Friedland’s scholarship focuses on community-led research and the development of innovative methods for revitalizing Indigenous laws. She helped establish the Indigenous Law Research Unit [ILRU] at the University of Victoria and was its first Research Director. She has had the honour of working with many Indigenous communities across Canada to identify and articulate their own laws. She has published numerous academic articles as well as collaboratively produced Indigenous legal resources. Since 2019, Professor Friedland has worked extensively on public and continuing legal education related to Bill C92, An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families.
Professor Friedland is Co-founder and Director of the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge, a dedicated research initiative developed to uphold Indigenous law through supporting community-led research. She is author of the book, The Wetiko (Windigo) Legal Principles: Cree and Anishinabek Responses to Violence and Victimization, University of Toronto Press, 2018.
Session 2: Escalation and Entrenchment 10:45 to 11:45 AM
Understanding high-conflict dynamics and responding to polarization, blame, and rigid positions.
Presenter: Robin M. Deutsch, Ph.D., ABPP (presenting virtually)
Dr. Robin Deutsch, former President of AFCC (2008), is a Board Certified psychologist (Couple and Family) who provides consultation, mediation, parenting coordination and expert witness services. She was a Professor of Clinical Psychology (ret.) at William James College and an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School. She has published extensively on issues related to co-parenting after divorce, high conflict divorce, parent-child contact problems, parenting plans, and parenting coordination and teaches on these topics internationally. Dr. Deutsch served on the AFCC task force for Guidelines for Examining Intimate Partner Violence and the AFCC task force for Court-Involved Therapists. She recently served as Chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) working group to Review Scientific Literature Regarding High Conflict Family Relationships with Child Involvement and as President of the American Board of Couple and Family Psychology (ABCFP).
Session 3: Grief and Loss 1:15 to 2:45 PM
Beyond Conflict, Part 1: A Grief-Informed Approach to Mediation
Presenter: Baljinder Sull, M.C., R.Psych.
Baljinder (Bal) Sull, a registered psychologist, has been practicing since 2017 and is currently based out of Calgary at Alberta Family Psychology and Chestermere. Her forensic areas of focus are mediation, co-parenting support, parent coordination, and PN7 assessments.
Her counselling areas of focus are trauma, anxiety, depression, burnout, couples, and she is trained in EMDR. I specialize in grief and loss and support clients as they process life’s most difficult experiences. Bal is fluent in Punjabi, and practices from a trauma informed, culturally responsive lens.
Beyond her clinical work, Bal regularly partners with organizations to support workplace wellbeing through practical, skills based workshops focused on grief and loss, stress management, burnout prevention, setting healthy boundaries, and communication.
Session 4: Power and Participation 3:00 to 4:00 PM
Promoting fairness and meaningful engagement when power imbalances affect the mediation process.
Panelists: The Honourable Justice Sherry L. Kachur, Court of King’s Bench of Alberta; Tina Huizinga, K.C.; Michelle Mackay, K.C.
Justice Kachur obtained a LL.B. from the University of Alberta in 1991. Sherry was trained as a family law practitioner during her articling time with a medium sized firm in British Columbia and subsequently called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1992. Shortly after her return to her home province, she was called to the Bar of Alberta and again practiced at a medium sized law firm. While calling herself a “general practitioner” at the time, she predominantly practiced family law until she joined the firm of Turnbull Boyes, at which point she started practicing family law exclusively. During practice, Justice Kachur was a certified mediator and arbitrator, was an executive member of the Calgary Bar Association and was appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 2012. Justice Kachur has been an instructor at the Alberta Bar Admission course and numerous Legal Education Society of Alberta events. She has presented at the Federation of Law Societies’ National Family Law Program, Canadian Bar Association events and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants Investigative and Forensic Accounting Conference. Access to justice, particularly as it relates to family matters, has been an important part of her career. She has been a volunteer at the Calgary Women’s Centre and has served as dispute resolution officer prior to her appointment to the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta in 2020.
Tina Huizinga, KC. Tina has her BA and LLB, and was called to the Alberta bar in 2001. She has argued at all levels of court in Canada including the SCC. She has appeared more than 100 times before the Court of Appeal of Alberta. She was appointed Queen’s counsel (now King’s counsel) in 2022. In 2015 she completed the national arbitrator training program and received her Q.Arb designation. In 2021 she received her C.Arb designation. She is a regular chair and panelist for LESA (Legal Education Society of Alberta), the Family Law Section of the CBA, as well as volunteering for over a decade with the Bar Admission program for oral advocacy, and being a sessional instructor for 6 years at the Faculty of Law, teaching Techniques in Negotiation.
Michelle Mackay, KC. Michelle obtained her law degree from the University of Alberta. She was called to the bar in 2001 and has only practiced family law. Michelle became a partner at Gordon Zwaenepoel in 2003 and has remained as partner in that firm which is currently known as Bruyer & Mackay LLP. Michelle began conducting mediations in 2020 and arbitrations in 2022. Michelle has presented for both LESA and the CBA over the years. She was a sessional instructor for Techniques in Negotiations at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law for 6 years, and a sessional instructor for Family Law for 15 years. She has been a volunteer instructor with CPLED, teaching oral advocacy. In addition, Michelle taught the PAS course and was a CSR officer for many years. Michelle believes that people are at the heart of all family matters. The role of a lawyer is to resolve issues and recognize the intricacies of human thought and emotion that drive perspective.
For registration and more information, head to: FMC and AFMS 2026 Joint Conference | Family Mediation Canada