Treaty One settler.

He/him.

B.Ed., B.Mus.Mus.Ed., M.Ed., Certificate in School Leadership.

Joel has taught twenty-one years in elementary music, middle years band and French, Grades 4-8, and worked as a substitute teacher and acting principal. In Saskatoon, striking and job action supported provincial bargaining in 2011 when he was also the bargaining chair for interest-based negotiations for the local collective agreement with Saskatoon Public Schools through Saskatoon Teachers’ Association. Thirteen years ago, his family moved to southern Manitoba where he’s taught, run school safety patrols, and directed Rainbow Stage award-winning school musicals (2016, 2018) at Parkland Elementary School for Garden Valley School Division.

A former union member of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, he has performed, directed, and worked as a stage manager for opera (Saskatoon Opera), plays (assistant stage manager, Bluewater Summer Playhouse), and musical theatre (Saskatoon Summer Players: The Cat in the Hat, Seussical; director, The Last Five Years).

He was a Big Brother with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Saskatoon, directed the Saskatoon Boys’ Choir, is a Scouts Canada volunteer leader with 1st Carman Beavers Colony, and served on the volunteer community theatre boards of flatlands theatre and Saskatoon Summer Players.

He lives in Morden with his spouse Sherie, their three children Huxley (10), Finian (7), and Ivy (4), two dogs (Spencer & Luna) and two cats (Margot Kitter & Pawpy).  

Manitoba Teachers’ Society

• Provincial Bargaining Committee chair (2021-present)
• Provincial Bargaining Table Team (2022-present)
• Human Resources Committee (2021-present)
• CTF/FCE Trust Fund Trustee (2020-2023)
• Disability Benefits Plan Investment Committee chair (2020-2021)
• Collective Bargaining Standing Committee (2014-2019)
• Alternative Resolution Debate Ad Hoc Standing Committee (2019-2020)
• Term Lengths Committee of PX (2020-2021)

Garden Valley Teachers’ Association

• President (2016-2020, Jan. 2023-present; re-elected for 2024-25)
• Vice-President (2014-2016)
• Past-President (2020-2022)
• Collective Bargaining Chair (2013-2017)
• Education Finance Chair (2012-2013)
• Equity & Social Justice Chair (2017)
• GVTA-GVSD Joint Professional Development Committee (2016-2020, 2023-present)
• Workplace Safety & Health Committee (2016-2020, 2023-present)

Professional Development

• Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Certificate (Cornell University, 2023)
• Psychologically Safe Leadership Certificate (UNB, 2023)
• Advanced Trust Management Standards (IFEBP, 2023)
• Foundations of Trust Management Standards (IFEBP, 2021)
• CTF/FCE Collective Bargaining Conference 2023
• Canadian Association for the Practical Study of Law in Education Conference (2021, 2022, 2023)
• Costing Out a Contract (Industrial Labour & Relations School, Cornell University, 2021)
• Preparation for Collective Bargaining (Industrial Labour & Relations School, Cornell University, 2021)