Staff

Margaret A. Jackson (Ph.D.)

Director

Margaret is a Professor Emerita in the School of Criminology and past Director of the Institute for Studies in Criminal Justice Policy at SFU. She was principal investigator for a Federal Ministry of Justice study on child abuse. Other research areas of interest include criminal justice policy analysis, sociocultural factors impacting marginalized girls, problem-solving courts, and most recently, bullying and cyberbullying. As Director of FREDA, Margaret primarily focuses upon research issues related to domestic violence and its impacts on women and children.

Kate Rossiter (Ph.D.)

Associate Director

Kate (she/her) is a gender-based violence researcher, educator, and advocate. She is the Senior Manager of Provincial Services at the Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC), a provincial non-profit organization in the anti-violence sector, and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Kate completed her PhD in Criminology at SFU and returned years later to complete the Non-Profit Management Certificate Program.

Sarah Yercich (Ph.D.)

Associate Director

Sarah (she/her) is an Instructor in Sociology and Criminology and Women’s and Gender Studies at Capilano University (CapU), and has over a decade of teaching experience, both in-person and online. She holds a Ph.D. in Criminology from Simon Fraser University (SFU), and an M.Sc. in Applied Criminology and B.Sc. in Criminal Justice from Northern Arizona University (NAU). Her doctoral research examined contemporary fatherhood and fathers’ rights groups in Canada, and Master’s thesis focused on women’s experiences with fear of victimization. She has engaged in research on an on-going basis, beginning early in her academic career as an intern for the Northern Arizona Justice Project (2008) and Senior Information Specialist for the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative (2009-2010) and continuing through to her work at the FREDA Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children where she began as a Research Assistant in 2013 and became an Associate Director in 2018. Her research and teaching interests include critical criminology, sociology, social justice, domestic violence and domestic violence related homicide, immigrants and refugees’ experiences with domestic violence, violence against women and children, fathers’ rights activism, family law, and yoga in prisons.

Michelle S. Lawrence (Ph.D., LL.M.)

Honorary Associate Director

Michelle is an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria. She teaches and researches primarily in the areas of criminal law, sentencing, and the law of evidence. Michelle completed her doctoral work as a Trudeau Scholar, in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. She previously practiced law as a partner in the Litigation Department of McCarthy Tétrault LLP.

Melissa Gregg

Research Associate

Melissa is currently pursuing a PhD in criminology at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Her areas of research interest are international criminal justice, conflict-motivated sexual violence, and the life cycle of international norms. In 2017-18, she interned and worked at the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor in The Hague, Netherlands. She has taught summer courses on international justice and post-conflict transitions in the Netherlands and will teach a course on the same topic at SFU in Fall 2020.

Chelsea Pang

Research Associate

Chelsea is currently a JD candidate at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She has been involved in numerous community initiatives, including the UBC AMS Sexual Assault Support Centre and Rise Women’s Legal Centre. As a legal clinician at Rise, she assisted marginalized women with family law issues. Chelsea is the current Student Coordinator for the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. In this role, she conducts research for the the Centre’s Director and assists in organizing lectures, conferences and other events to strengthen ties within the feminist legal research community.

Xilonen Hanson Pastran

Research Associate

Xilonen is a current J.D. candidate at the University of Victoria. She assisted in an anti-violence worker research project as a student intern at the Ending the Violence Association of British Columbia. As a research associate at FREDA, Xilonen assists in research examining the link between family law and criminal law in the area of domestic violence. She is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Democracy, Inclusion and Reconciliation.

Chris Giles (Ph.D.)

Research Associate

Bruce Kachuk

Associate Member

Bruce Kachuk served the FREDA organization well, beginning in April 1998. He continued for years in the capacity of a valued volunteer and, additionally, became an Associate Member of the Centre. Bruce kept the downtown office in Harbour Centre going while he lived in Vancouver. What is amazing is that he kindly agreed to maintain his helpful presence via computer ether space since moving to Toronto with his partner in 2005. He was the webmaster of the FREDA website initially, which he created in 2001 and nurtured with care. As well, he has monitored the FREDA e-mail system. These tasks allowed FREDA to continue as a viable centre. While here, he also undertook a variety of other tasks as the FREDA staff person and communications director. Those included editing and production of reports; arranging meetings for FREDA purposes; ordering supplies; maintaining a pleasant and helpful presence with other Harbour Centre personnel; fielding queries; and otherwise being the FREDA face at Harbour Centre. We still receive enquiries about how he is doing from those whom he touched while here. We wish him all the best and give him our deep gratitude both for who he is as a person and for all that he has done for us and others. Thank you, Bruce!