Jamie Goodman • President/Chair
Jamie has served on the Cowichan Hospice Board of Directors since 2007, serving as both Treasurer and President. Jamie has demonstrated his commitment to growing the work of hospice to meet community needs while ensuring that Cowichan Hospice remains an employer of excellence. A Financial Manager in local government Jamie is also father and coach to four award-winning athletic daughters.
David Pope • Vice President
David and his family have lived in the Cowichan Valley since 1986. He has practiced law in Duncan and South Cowichan, currently with Infinity Law in Mill Bay. It is his belief that what you get out of living in a community is a reflection of what you are willing to put into the community, and he has been involved with several volunteer boards over the years.
With a degree in Canadian History and Political Science, a law degree and a Master of Arts degree in Conflict Analysis and Management, David has experience in a wide variety of legal issues including having worked with a First Nations Treaty Group supporting treaty negotiations.
David’s sister-in-law Penny was a volunteer in the early days of Cowichan Hospice, his wife Diane (“Dee”) was a hospice employee for many years as well as a volunteer since 2009. In 2011, David trained as a Cowichan Hospice volunteer and used those valuable skills in his family around the death of his parents. He has volunteered in different roles for many fundraising events over the years. Since 2015 he has ridden in the annual Cycle of Life Tour to raise money for hospices on Vancouver and Saltspring Islands.
David brings strong communication skills to this role, including techniques for identifying and articulating challenges and differences, skill in problem solving and conflict resolution, attention to detail and appreciation for cultural differences in needs.
Deborah McLaren • Secretary/Director
Deborah credits her love of community to her rural upbringing and her early life 4-H Club involvement. As a student, teacher, program specialist, administrator and as a parent and grandmother, education has continued to be a cornerstone in her life. A love of learning and community, coupled with compassion and mindful listening to deepen her understanding of others, has guided Deborah throughout her personal life and educator career. She describes her 40+ years of involvement with students, staff and parents as a daily gift. In her time as a school principal, she describes her biggest accomplishment as working alongside the school community to reach out to the nearby hamlet and greater community in order to rebuild relationships and to highlight the school’s successes – towards its ultimate reclamation of its rightful place as the community school. While working full time, Deborah credits her completion of a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership to the support of her husband and adult sons who cheered her on when the workload seemed overwhelming. As a volunteer in Cowichan, a four-year highlight for Deborah was the opportunity to co-chair Reel Alternatives, a fundraising film series for which the stated goal is to offer the Cowichan community “great films for a great cause” (supporting Cowichan Hospice). To Deborah, providing compassionate end-of-life care means being totally present while listening with one’s heart and being mindful of the uniqueness of the journey at the end of life for each individual and their loved ones. With gratitude for her participation, Deborah believes this respectful end-of-life care is a gift the Cowichan Hospice Board of Directors works to ensure is available in Cowichan.
David Lane • Treasurer
David Lane brings to the Board several decades of experience in non-profit society management including such skills as running effective Board meetings and implementing strategic plans. He has worked all his life for non-profit organizations, starting with the Tenants Rights Action Centre in Vancouver in the 1980s. In the early 1990s he was the publisher and executive editor for a non-profit coastwide newspaper focused on social and environmental issues facing fishing communities on the B.C. coast. Over the next twenty years David worked for the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, working on environmental campaigns related to fish habitat protection. He also served on the Board of Directors of B.C. Hydro and was a member of the Board of the Georgia Strait Alliance. He has lengthy experience in charitable and non-profit management, writing, research and communications.
Helen Dunlop • Director
Helen is humbled and honoured to serve on the Board of Directors. She lives in the beautiful Cowichan Valley and shares a home with my husband, Perry. They have three wonderful adult daughters who also live on the Island. She has worked in health care her entire career as a registered nurse. She is presently employed by Cowichan Tribes. She is proud of the community coming together to build its own unique Hospice House. Cowichan Hospice serves a diverse cultural population and has created a safe and excellent alternative home for people at the end of their life’s journey.
Paul Terlien • Director
Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Dr. Paul Terlien trained and worked in his home country for close to 20 years before emigrating to Canada 25 years ago, after which worked in the Cowichan Valley as a family physician for 22 years. He has been an active member of the local medical community in the valley, and has taught and mentored a number of medical students for much of that time. He also was the site lead for two of the UBC Medical School third year teaching programs towards the end of his career, which he found extremely rewarding. As a full-service family physician providing care from “cradle to grave,” Paul’s work has repeatedly emphasized the need for excellent compassionate end-of-life care, as well as having the team to provide that care. He is proud and humbled to have been invited to join the Cowichan Hospice team as a Board member, and brings his years of experience to the table. He looks forward to providing meaningful contributions to the board and the society altogether.
Zoe Lauckner • Director
Zoe is a Cowichan Valley local with a passion for bringing heart, enthusiasm, innovation, and creativity to her work in the non-profit sector. Zoe completed her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism & Digital Media in 2012 and returned to school the following year to complete a Certificate in Community Mental Health Work. For five years, she worked as a frontline mental health worker in various island communities before finding her way into the non-profit sector through Cowichan Hospice. Since that time, Zoe has developed significant expertise in fund development through further education at Toronto Metropolitan University, and in her eight years working in the areas of annual giving, capital campaigns, non-profit communications and marketing, major gifts, and planned giving. She has been a board member with the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Vancouver Island Chapter since 2021 and in 2023 started a new position as Manager of Philanthropy with Take a Hike Youth Mental Health Foundation, Vancouver Island.
Connie Lacy • Director
Connie Lacy is a Seniors’ Services and Care Consultant with over 30 years of experience as a leader in health and community services including long term and palliative care. She served as a Director of Seniors’ Services and long term care in Ontario for many years, chaired the not for profit long term care association board and sat on a wide number of healthcare and government advisory committees. Connie spent much time on Vancouver Island over the years visiting family and she and her husband chose to retire here, settling happily in the beautiful Cowichan Valley.
Connie is delighted and honoured to join the Cowichan Hospice Board and support the high quality end of life care and grief support that hospice provides to the community. Connie truly believes that everyone has a right to be heard and supported in their personal health care journey and is a passionate advocate of person centred care which supports and respects diversity and equity for everyone.
In her spare time, Connie is an avid nature photographer, hiker, yoga enthusiast and dancer. She is also the proud mother of 5 young men and 3 beautiful grandchildren.
MaryAnn Deacon • Past President/Lifetime Director
A hospice volunteer for more than 20 years, MaryAnn has offered one-to-one palliative and grief support and wellness care, chaired the Reel Alternatives Committee and, except for a stint teaching in China, has served on the board since 2000. “I’ve enjoyed it all,” she says. Forever an advocate for the development of a hospice house, it was fitting to see MaryAnn sign off as Board President on our first Memorandum of Understanding with Island Health, and is very pleased that Cowichan Hospice House is now in full operation.
