Canadian Awards for Planning Excellence Jury 

Dr. Ann McAfee (FCIP) has been a planner for over 50 years.  In 1974, she became Vancouver’s first Housing Planner. From 1994-2006, as Vancouver’s Co-Director of Planning, she guided city policies and neighbourhood plans.  Since ‘retiring’ she has planned internationally. Ann is an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s SCARP and a member of Canada’s National Housing Council.

Audrey is an experienced Project Manager at the City of Markham with a strong background in urban design, landscape architecture, planning and project management. She is dedicated to fostering sustainable, well-designed communities and contributes expertise as a jury member for national design awards and through professional committee roles. Her commitment to design excellence and diverse experience shape high-quality urban environments.

Bassel Sleem Bassel is a planner (RPP candidate) at the City of Yellowknife. He studied and practiced architecture in Lebanon before moving to Canada to complete a Master’s in City Planning at the University of Manitoba. His current work involves policy, permitting, and development review. Beyond this role, his passion is urban design and placemaking, exploring how design shapes everyday life and strengthens community identity.

Chris Hardwicke is a registered professional planner, a member of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada and an urban designer with over 25 years of experience. He has achieved international recognition as a Fellow of the Forum for Urban Design in New York; a Recognized Practitioner in Urban Design in the UK; and, as a member of the Project for Public Spaces Leadership Committee and the Council for Canadian Urbanism. Chris is guided by the principle that urbanism is a vehicle of social change and renewal. This philosophy extends from the design of public places to embracing the broader principles of healthy cities.

Colton is a Registered Professional Planner with a reputation for successfully completing challenging planning projects. He is based in McElhanney’s Surrey BC office and works on planning projects across BC and Alberta. He has 20 years of experience providing public and private sector clients with strategic planning and development advice, and he has completed IAP2 public engagement training. Colton has significant public and private sector experience in municipal planning, with a focus on zoning bylaw overhauls, enabling infill and missing middle housing, regulating cannabis sales, official community plans (OCPs), municipal development plans (MDPs), secondary plans, affordable and supportive housing development, public engagement, project scoping, project management, and rezoning approvals and he frequently presents at city council and in the community.

Joshua Adams, RPP, MCIP is the Manager of Development Planning for the City of Moncton, NB, the traditional unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq
peoples. Joshua has worked in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and has experience with development planning and long-range policy planning, with a particular focus on urban design and sustainability. Joshua holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from York University and a Master of Urban Planning from McGill University.

Kathleen Gallagher is a Registered Professional Planner who has worked as an Executive Advisor in planning as well as in transportation planning, transit planning, development planning, and heritage planning at the District of Saanich, City of Calgary and Town of Banff. She holds a Master of Environmental Studies (Planning) from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from Dalhousie University.

Neal LaMontagne is a faculty lecturer at the University of Alberta School of Urban and Regional Planning. A planner with over 25 years of experience, he is a planning generalist with particular interests in the intersection of planning and design, sustainable and compassionate cities, and plan quality. A former member of the PIBC Awards Committee, this is his first year on a national awards jury.

Perry is Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Manager at the City of Lethbridge. He has a MA in Latin American Studies from SFU and a BA in Urban and Regional Studies from the University of Lethbridge. Perry’s work centers on strategic planning, partnering, reconciliation, and community relations within planning and policymaking. Perry is the out-going Vice-chair of the Lethbridge Polytechnic Board of Governors, a Research Affiliate at the Prentice Institute (University of Lethbridge) and regularly shares his work through networks in Canada, the UK and elsewhere.