OTTAWA, Ontario – May 31, 2022 – The Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) is pleased to announce five new inductees into its esteemed College of Fellows: Lesley Cabott, John Farrow, Dave Hardy, Mark Holland, and Gwyn Symmons.
 
Designation as a Fellow of CIP is the highest honour a planner in Canada can receive. This special status recognizes national excellence, identifies prominent role models, promotes advances in planning practice, and draws leaders to the forefront of planning in Canada. Only Fellows are permitted to use the title FCIP, which denotes Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners. 
 
“It is a privilege to induct these five renowned planners into the College of Fellows, each of whom have demonstrated exemplary contributions to our profession,” said Dan Huang RPP, MCIP, President of the Canadian Institute of Planners. “This honour recognizes their tremendous personal and professional commitment towards planning in communities throughout Canada and beyond, which has been evident throughout their respective careers.”
 
Co-Chair of the CIP College of Fellows, Bob Lehman FCIP, commented, “We are delighted to extend a warm welcome to our new Fellows. These individuals have made outstanding contributions to community building in Canada’s North, West Coast, Ontario, and in cities throughout the world.  Their stories provide great examples of the positive difference that planning and planners can make”.
 
“Lesley, John, Dave, Mark, and Gwyn exemplify planning’s best values and are truly deserving of this honour,” added Co-Chair, Pamela Shaw PhD, RPP, FCIP. “They have been extensively involved in community service and leadership in the planning profession – welcome to the College!”

 Full List of Fellows: cip-icu.ca/about-us/College-of-Fellows 
 
Fellow Nomination Process: to be eligible for nomination as a Fellow, an individual must be a CIP member in good standing, with their nominator providing evidence that all criteria for Fellowship have been met or exceeded (see criteria here). All nominations are brought before the Honours Jury, which presents their recommendations to the CIP Board of Directors for review and approval.

 
Lesley Cabott RPP, FCIP
 
As a planner in Northern Canada for over 30 years, Lesley Cabott has demonstrated exceptional professional achievement in Planning. Lesley leads Stantec’s planning practice in the North and has worked in communities in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northern Ontario, Northern Quebec, Northern British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. She has completed projects with the federal, provincial and territorial governments, First Nations, Inuit and Metis, municipalities, private industry, and countless community groups. She has an intimate understanding of the specific challenges faced by remote Northern communities and works to support decisions focused on long-term sustainability and resiliency.
 
Lesley’s work in Northern Canada and across the country has focused on communities, climate change, place-making, and energy planning. Lesley brings together multidisciplinary teams to plan for sustainable futures across Canada and has led award-winning public and stakeholder engagement and planning processes. Her range of planning experience includes strategic planning, land use plans, transportation work, neighbourhood design, official community plans, asset management, capital plans, energy, climate, and sustainability initiatives. She has received several professional awards and recognition including Governor General’s Leadership, Consulting Engineers of British Columbia, Canadian Electricity Association’s Award for Social Responsibility and Sustainability, Planning Excellence from PIBC for the new sustainable community of Whistle Bend, and from the City of Whitehorse for her leadership and vision for the planning and redevelopment of the downtown riverfront.
 
Lesley is an engagement specialist and an experienced facilitator. She has held public meetings in small and remote communities across the country and leads respectful conversations often tackling difficult subjects. She provides thoughtful guidance to help communities work through complex and controversial decisions. Hosting conferences in Northern Canada, Lesley understands how important it is for planners to work together, share successes, and highlight the challenging planning work undertaken in these communities. She was instrumental in bringing three different planning conferences to the Yukon, including the PIBC Annual Conference, which was hosted in Whitehorse in 1999. This conference was a first introduction to Northern Planning for many PIBC members.
 
Lesley has demonstrated consistent professional leadership, and in particular through her work with Indigenous people. She was a long-term Chair of the Yukon Land Use Planning Council and understands the importance of regional planning for the implementation of Yukon’s Final Land Claim Agreements. Through her planning work, she has built lifelong relationships with Indigenous leaders. Over the course of her career, Lesley has provided formal and informal mentorship to many of the Yukon’s planners. As manager at the City of Whitehorse, she hired and trained young planners who are still in the territory and are now mentors themselves. She has been involved for many years in the Yukon Chapter of the Planning Institute of BC (PIBC) and served as the organization’s President from 2019 to 2021. She is a thoughtful, supportive, and inspiring leader, who encourages people to grow.
 
 
John Farrow RPP, FCIP
 
John Farrow came to Canada from the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. Today, John is recognized as one of Canada’s leading planning professionals.
 
From 1976 to 1995, John developed his reputation as a strategic thinker at Coopers & Lybrand where he rose from Principal to the position of Managing Partner, a rare example of an urban planner taking the helm of a major management consulting firm. Within this period, John served as President of CIP’s Central Ontario Chapter.
 
From 1995 to 2000, John was the President and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, where he re-established the CUI as Canada’s premier urban policy think tank. During his time with CUI, John set innovative domestic and international priorities. Under his leadership, CUI undertook multi-year assignments in numerous foreign countries and under John’s guidance brought Canadian planning practice to the international stage. Importantly, John’s vision provided diverse opportunities for Canadian practitioners to gain valuable international experience.
 
Today, he is the Chairman Emeritus of the LEA Group, a multi-disciplinary planning, engineering and infrastructure consultancy. Throughout his distinguished career, he has prepared numerous master plans for large cities and city regions, and worked extensively in India, Central Europe, the Middle East, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Domestically, his influence as a planner and management consultant is evident in municipalities across the country.
 
Not only has he demonstrated exceptional achievement in his planning practice, but John has also been a dedicated teacher and mentor for many aspiring planners. In addition to establishing the Canadian Urban Institute’s highly regarded internship program, John served as Planner-in-Residence at the University of Waterloo, as a Distinguished Visitor at the University of Toronto’s School of Planning, and for almost 20 years, has taught courses in public policy in the planning program at the University of Toronto. As a prolific writer and speaker, John also shares his knowledge and experience on a regular basis, and has always been generous with his time helping young planners in their careers.
 
With his infectious enthusiasm, John is truly a visionary who has made exceptional contributions to the planning profession in Canada and around the world.
 
 
Dave Hardy RPP, FCIP
 
David (Dave) Hardy co-founded Hardy Stevenson Associates Limited in 1990, which has grown to become a leading planning, public consultation and social impact assessment firm. Dave has advanced the practice of planning and public engagement through complex assignments in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and internationally in China, South America and the Caribbean.
 
Dave is a recognized expert in effective public participation and engagement. The techniques used by Dave to facilitate the development of community consensus are detailed in his book Who are These People and Why are They Yelling At Me – the art and science of managing large angry public meetings. As a resource used by today’s planning students, Dave’s facilitation skills are being passed onto the next generation of planners.
 
Dave lives his passion for impact assessment and public participation. He is a founding member and former Director of the International Association for Impact Assessment, the leading global network for the sharing of best practices in this field. In the early 1990s, Dave led the Ontario Professional Planners Institute’s Policy Development Committee and is regarded as one of the first in Ontario to be actively engaged with First Nations communities. Dave has long been committed to improving communications between indigenous stakeholders and non-indigenous planners.
 
In addition to his exceptional achievements in professional practice, Dave has made several notable accomplishments in volunteer service to his own community. In 2016, he established the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization that brought together a broad range of service providers to improve the health and socio-economic conditions in an area that had long been underserved. With his tireless commitment to the planning profession, Dave founded the Institute for New Suburbanism in 2016. As its Executive Director, Dave has advanced the topic of suburban renewal to the forefront of the urban agenda across Canada.
 
Dave’s extensive list of articles, publications, and podcasts reflects his commitment to the planning profession in Canada. Throughout the course of his career, Dave has distinguished himself as a social scientist, planning professional, and an advocate for those less fortunate in our society.
 
 
Mark Holland RPP, FCIP

Mark Holland’s planning career spans more than 30 years. His years of practice cross many domains – as a municipal planner (Vancouver), as a planning consultant (Holland Barrs Planning Group / HB Lanarc), with non-profit organizations (Ecodesign Resource Society, Community Energy Association, Healing Cities Society, Urban Development Institute), in real estate development (VP of Development for New Monaco LP and Storm Mountain Developments), and in academia (Professor at Vancouver Island University).

Mark’s work has taken him across Canada, the United States, and further abroad, where he has grappled with issues at the regional, city, neighbourhood, site, and building scales. He has also worked with First Nations on community plans and resource management governance systems. He is probably best known for driving innovations and confronting the status quo in planning, including being one of Canada’s leading planners in sustainable development in the 1990s and early 2000s. Mark has continued to be a leading voice on the topics of sustainability, healthy communities, agricultural urbanism, climate change, and smart cities and ecodistricts. His work in these areas has led to the co-authorship of two texts: Agricultural Urbanism (2010) and Urban Magnets (2020).

Mark has also made significant contributions as a planning educator. He began as an instructor in the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in the early 2000s. Since then, Mark has been a frequent speaker on topics related to planning and sustainability at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. Perhaps his greatest influence on planning education is the role he played in launching the Master of Community Planning degree at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in 2014. Ever since, he has played an instrumental role in the school, driven by a commitment to ensure that the next generation of planners is prepared to help communities create their future.

Mark’s contributions have been recognized over the years, having been awarded a number of prestigious awards including Top 40 Under 40 Award (Vancouver Magazine), PIBC “Planner of the Year”, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and recently VIU’s Graduate Student Mentor Award.

 
Gwyn Symmons RPP, FCIP
 
During Gwyn Symmons fifty-year planning career, he has managed planning processes ranging from long-term visioning and plan making to large- and small-scale site-specific developments. Many projects have aided the most vulnerable members of society.
 
Gwyn began his career in the UK in 1971 as a planner with the City of Manchester. In 1976, moving to Canada, Gwyn was successful in applying to become the City of Ottawa’s first housing planner. Subsequently he assisted in setting up the City of Ottawa’s non-profit housing corporation as the Director of Project Implementation and Third Sector Liaison. In 1983 he moved to Victoria and as the first General Manager, set up the Capital Region Housing Corporation in Victoria.
 
In 1986, Gwyn co-founded CitySpaces with Linda Allen as a consulting firm providing planning skills and services primarily across BC but including Alberta and Saskatchewan. The firm has two offices in Victoria and Vancouver. Gwyn has undertaken the coordination of a number of master planning projects in Victoria including the Glendale Lands, Royal Bay, the former Victoria General Hospital site, and in Saskatoon (2004), the South Downtown Concept Plan (River Landing).  Gwyn has used his expertise to guide the development consulting side of CitySpaces assisted in planning and developing multiple non-profit housing units, emergency shelter beds, but also facilities for post-secondary education institutions and other mixed use or complex projects.
 
Gwyn and Linda transitioned the ownership of CitySpaces to Jada Basi and Noha Sedky in 2020, but Gwyn continues to work in the company and assist in its management.
 
Gwyn is often asked to provide advice to non-profit housing providers, provincial agencies, and municipalities. He has been extensively involved in the planning and project management of housing projects for families, seniors, youth, persons with special needs, and others. Gwyn has been a strong advocate of the value of social housing and providing high quality, appropriate affordable housing. He has defended new non-profit housing developments at many public hearings and continually advocated for the importance of excellent design in shelters and non-market housing.
 
Gwyn has been the recipient of excellence in planning awards including, in 2020, the Silver Winner PIBC Award in the category of Inclusionary Planning for the Affordable Housing Redevelopment Criteria Tool. Prepared with Metro Vancouver, the tool provides a method for reviewing existing affordable housing in larger portfolios or across municipal jurisdictions for opportunities to redevelop and increase the number of affordable units. The 2015 Canadian Institute of Planners’ Award for Planning Excellence in Planning Publications recognized the Expiring Operating Agreements Planning Guide. 
 
While Gwyn’s projects were focused in BC, his publications have been used across Canada by local governments, non-profits, and developers involved in the provision of housing and shelter. His work and advocacy for planning and design of services to diverse vulnerable populations experiencing homelessness and other housing challenges has informed many projects.