Meet Our Team
Our Founder
Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, C.M., is an LGBTI activist and Senior Pastor Emeritus of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto. Brent has been at the forefront of ministry to the LGBTI community for over 40 years. On January 14, 2001, he officiated at the first legal same sex marriage in the world. He received the Order of Canada, the Order of New Brunswick and three honorary degrees for his stand on social justice and human rights for LGBTI communities. In February 2019, Brent was appointed to the governing Board of Regents of Mount Allison University. He is the Founder of Rainbow Faith and Freedom, which is working to confront and decrease religious-based LGBTI discrimination around the world.
Our Board of Directors
Joe Jamieson, B.A, Dip.Ed, M.Ed – President
Joe Jamieson is former Deputy Registrar of the Ontario College of Teachers retiring in 2020 after 20 years of service.
Certified to teach in Quebec in 1992, Joe began his career in education with the Halton Catholic District School Board. He has served as a teacher, writer, curriculum consultant and as a director of the Ontario College of Teachers’ Standards of Practice and Accreditation department and Investigations and Hearings department. He holds a MEd from the University of Toronto, a BA from the University of Waterloo and a Diploma in Secondary Education from McGill University.
He belongs to the Council for Licensure Enforcement and Regulation’s international relations committee and served as a publicly appointed member on the Council of the College of Nurses of Ontario.
In 2015, Joe was recognized by the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) as the recipient of its national Doug Bates Award for ethical leadership in education.
Joe speaks frequently at conferences on topics such as professional conduct, use of social media, leadership requirements, education law, and LGBTQ issues in education.
Amy Hanen – Vice President
Amy is the AVP, Citizenship and Community Advisory with TD Canada Trust. Previously, she worked with TD’s Diversity Leadership Council to develop and execute diversity and inclusion strategies impacting both employees and customers of TD. She is the leader of the Corporate Diversity and Inclusion team, a Centre of Excellence within the company.
Brian Brenie – Treasurer & Finance team lead
Brian is a recently retired business person who has over 45 years of experience in the fields of transportation, publishing, religious organizations and recently, as a teacher of English as a Second Language in Taiwan and in Toronto. He has served on numerous boards of directors in the LGBTI community for over 20 years. He brings his business experience to the task of Treasurer accompanied with an MBA degree from McGill University in Montreal. He is dedicated to eradicating religious-based homophobia from our landscape as his early church upbringing drove him away from his home religious institution.
The Finance team works with staff to review budgets and manage all financial matters related to Rainbow Faith and Freedom. The team reviews donations, grants, gifts and any other revenues and expenses on a regular basis in order to provide scheduled updates and reports to the Board of Directors and other interested parties.
Bill Byrd – Director
Bill Byrd is the President and CEO of the Canadian Safe School Network (CSSN). CSSN is a national, non-for-profit, registered charitable organization with a mandate to reduce youth violence in schools and communities, and increase youth safety, empowerment, and well-being. Prior to becoming the CEO of CSSN, Bill was the lead trainer and trained thousands of school administrators across Canada in all facets of safe schools, discipline, equity and crisis management.
Bill has worked in the fields of psychology, education and child and youth development since 1976. He has been a teacher, psychology consultant and counsellor. He was the Head of Day Treatment at what is now the Child Development Institute. From 1999 to 2017 he was the Coordinator of Safe Schools at the Toronto District School Board. He is a graduate of Memorial University in St. John’s, the University of Guelph, McGill University in Montreal, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the University of Toronto. Prior to his graduate work, Bill was a member of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. He has also been a member of the faculty at Osgoode Law School/York University and at the Ontario Tech University.
In addition to his work life, Bill has been a social activist and volunteer for many years. In addition to his long-time work on equity and rights causes for LGBTI people, he has also been a board member of the Macaulay Child Development Centre, Chair of the Board of Trustees for Camp Ekon, a Jesuit-run children’s camp in the Muskoka region of Ontario, and the Chair of the Board of Directors at Central Toronto Youth Services. Bill is also a highly sought-after public speaker and keynote presenter at conferences and workshops.
Delia Sinclair Frigault
Delia Sinclair Frigault is a macro Social Worker with a background in health and social policy development, analysis, and research.
She is a member of the Standards of Practice Committee at the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, and serves her community as a volunteer board member at Central Toronto Youth Services. She currently works as a policy advisor at the Ontario College of Pharmacists and leads a portfolio that includes virtual care, quality indicators in community pharmacy, and improving the community pharmacy practice environment.
Volunteering brings joy to Delia's life, and she has enjoyed being an Academic Support Volunteer for Pathways to Education – Regent Park and Vice President of the Board for All Saints – Homes for Tomorrow Society. Feeling safe, loved and included is something we all want, and the desire to support causes that aim to keep people safe and feel loved and included is what motivates Delia's volunteer pursuits. Joining the RFF Board is an extension of this desire. Delia is proud and pleased to be able to contribute to a cause that aims to tackle a problem right at its source in a humanitarian way.
Finally, Delia has an Honours Bachelor of Social Work from Ryerson University and a Master's of Science in Health Services Research (Policy) from the University of Toronto's Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation.
Our Leadership
Dave Fraser – Communications Team Lead
Dave Fraser has over twenty years of marketing, PR, communications and program management experience in the post-secondary education and not-for-profit sectors. Passionate and cause-driven, Dave has worked to promote and ensure safety and inclusion in Ontario’s schools, create meaningful career opportunities for marginalized youth, and develop safe spaces in a variety of industries and educational settings. A graduate of McMaster University in Art History and Classics, Dave reads and writes as much as he can, with a particular focus on continuous learning about perspectives other than his own.
Stephen Low – Faith-Based Resources Team Lead
Stephen Low received his PhD from Cornell University in April 2016, where he also received his Masters in Theater Studies in 2014. He received his first Masters from the University of Texas at Austin in the Performance as Public Practice Program in 2011. His research focuses on queer theory, sex and sexuality, gender, race, cultural studies, and gay culture. In addition to his scholarship, Stephen has taught in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at Trent University. His current book project, Hail Mary: Gay Culture After Homonormativity, identifies an aesthetic of theatricality as the constitutive feature of contemporary gay culture. His essays have been published in Modern Drama, Theatre Research in Canada, Canadian Theatre Review, Queer Theatre in Canada. Critical Perspectives in Canadian Theatre in English Series, Opera Canada, and Intermission.
Robert Milkovich – Technology Team Lead
Robert is a writer, editor, trainer, public speaker and entrepreneur with clients in the software, information security, telecommunication, banking, healthcare, education, government and politics fields. He is past president of the Society for Technical Communication, Toronto Chapter and past member of the Advisory Boards for the Technical Communication and Editing Certificate Programs at George Brown College in Toronto. An ardent supporter of human rights, equality and press freedom causes, he speaks at conferences and events in Europe and North America on themes of media portrayals of minorities, societal transformation, information security and human rights, bullying and empowerment, and technology training for human rights practitioners.
Our Team
Sarah McClark – Administrative Coordinator
Sarah McClark has extensive professional experience in office administration including at the executive level and in support of higher education, research, technology, institutional effectiveness and a small fair-trade social enterprise in Uganda. Sarah also has a personal passion for LGBTQI2+ freedom and equality. Her own experiences living as a queer person in the midwestern United States and briefly in both Uganda and Brazil have underscored to her the importance of actively taking steps to promote human rights and inclusion through community engagement.