The Family Advisory Council (FAC) provides

direct feedback & input into Canuck Place

The Family Advisory Council's purpose is to:

1.  Advise Canuck Place management on families’ views about Hospice programs, policies, & activities;

2.  Provide management with a forum for the exchange of information regarding issues of mutual concern;

3.  Provide assistance to management from time to time, in communicating with families, children and the community, in accordance with Hospice guidelines;

4.  Recommend a slate of family names for Board membership and other committees as required; &

5.  Organize Family Advisory Council events and participate in organizing other family related activities.

Family Advisory Council Membership

John Gojevic
Family Advisory Council Chair

John’s daughter, Rachel, was one of the first kids through the doors of Canuck Place Children’s Hospice when they opened in 1995. She had struggled with Cystic Fibrosis for 11 years without the help she was able to get at Canuck Place. She and her family enjoyed the respite and symptom management but mostly she enjoyed the friends she made here. She passed away in 2005 and her brother, Luka, step-mom Deb and John and benefitted from the bereavement program.

John is a nurse working with the mentally ill in the downtown eastside. He lives with his family in Vancouver.

Michelle Cybuliak
Family Representative on Board of Directors

Michelle lives in Abbotsford with her husband, Jason, and two daughters, Madelyn and Brooklyn. She currently works part-time as an administrative assistant for a company that provides transportation for people with special needs.

Their family first came to Canuck Place in December of 2007 when their oldest daughter Jordyn's medical conditions became too much for their family to handle on their own. The knowledge of the doctors and nurses helped their family to better manage Jordyn's medical needs and the support from the volunteers and other staff allowed them to enjoy quality time together as a family while using the Canuck Place respite services. 

During Jordyn’s time with Canuck Place their family also benefited from the monthly Family Support Group, palliative and end of life care, as well as the Bereavement Group services. They have also enjoyed participating in the Precious Pages scrapbooking group as a way of remembering Jordyn who passed away at Canuck Place in September of 2010.

Michelle joined the FAC in December of 2009 and has enjoyed being able to give something back to Canuck Place in return for all the wonderful things they did for Jordyn and the rest of her family. She is also part of the sub-committee that is helping with the new Abbotsford Hospice.

Monty Armstrong
Family Advisory Council Secretary

Monty is the father of Casey and Brent, twins born prematurely in August 1996 at BC Children’s Hospital. Monty and Brent came to Canuck Place’s Parents and Siblings Bereavement program after Casey died in 2006, just after his 10th birthday. Originally from Vancouver Island, they live, work, and go to school in North Vancouver. Monty has been a FAC member since March 2008.

Pat Black
Council member

Pat is the father of Megan.  Megan was first admitted to Canuck Place in late April 2007, at 6 months of age, for end of life care.  During the first 5 weeks she was at Canuck Place she went from being admitted for end of life care to staying for symptom management to being able to go home for the first time since birth.  Since then she was admitted for symptom management, respite and emergency symptom management and in June 2010 she was admitted for end of life care and passed away at the end of June 2010 at Canuck Place with her family around her. 

Her siblings, Matthew and Stephanie, used the counselling services and the school during Megans' stays, and always enjoyed their time with the family volunteers. Megan's mom, Charlene, was her main caregiver at home and she learned a lot about how to care for a palliative child from the Nurses and Doctors at Canuck Place.  We plan on using the bereavement services in the future and are glad we can remain contacted with Canuck place in the future.   

The Blacks live in Port Coquitlam. Pat works in Sales & Marketing at a woodpulp Sales/Logistics company in Vancouver and have been involved with the FAC since June 2008.

Sarah Ho
Council member

Sarah came to Canuck Place in April 2008 when her 11 year old son, Mitchell, was referred to their End of Life Program after suffering a sudden, live changing event. Together with her family, they benefitted greatly from the six weeks they spent together in the house with Mitchell, transitioning into a world that he would no longer be a part of. After Mitchell's passing, Sarah, her husband, Stephen, and her 2 children Spencer and Marysa, spent 2 years attending the Bereavement Program offered at Canuck Place. 

Since Mitchell’s passing, she has returned to work nursing part time for the first time in 15 years with the BC Hepatitis Program.  She joined the Family Advisory Council in 2011 and her son became a peer volunteer at Canuck Place during his final year of high school.  

Together with her family, Sarah is very grateful for the ongoing support from Canuck Place and is very pleased and proud to be a member of the Family Advisory Council.

Jean Linden
Council member

Jean, her husband Nels and their son Nathan live in Prince George, BC. Nathan was born with a rare genetic syndrome called Sanfilippo Type A.  This was something he has born with, and the systems did not start to show until he was three.  The family started coming to Canuck Place in the spring of 2003.  They used the respite care, and the symptom management to help them deal with the rarity of the syndrome.  Nathan passed away at home in the spring of 2007.

During Nathan’s life Jean was a very big supporter in the school and public to get the word out about Nathan’s syndrome.  After he passed she wanted to do more, so she joined the council in 2008.  Canuck Place Family Advisory Council is one of the many groups Jean belongs to.  

Sally McDonald

Council Member

Membership is comprised of up to thirteen (13) family members, one of whom is a Board member, whose children may benefit or have benefited from the services of Canuck Place and who are representative of the province & the programs offered.

For more information or to contact the Family Advisory Council (FAC), please email: family@canuckplace.org