Craig Darling works in the field of public policy dispute resolution and conflict management system design.  With degrees in economics and law, Craig has over the past twenty years worked with many federal, provincial, community and first nation agencies and organizations; designing, implementing and mediating dispute resolution processes to address a wide range of environmental, land use and other public policy issues.

Craig also advises government on the development of conflict management systems that integrate processes for preventing and resolving public disputes. He recently led the BC Tribunal Dispute Resolution Needs Assessment Project on behalf of the Administrative Justice and Dispute Resolution Offices of the Ministry of Attorney General, authoring four reports.

In 1995/96, Craig mediated the Banff Bow Valley Round Table - a high profile and successful multiparty land use and growth management dispute resolution process in Banff National Park. Other projects of note include

• facilitating negotiations among eleven west coast Vancouver Island first nations to reconcile overlapping fisheries boundaries.
• designing and facilitating a multi-stakeholder Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Conference to assist the Mackenzie Gas Project Joint Review Panel in determining the sufficiency of the EIS to proceed to public hearing.
• designing and facilitating a National Energy Board pre-hearing conference for scientists and technical experts on marine issues associated with the proposed Georgia Strait Pipeline project
• facilitating the design of a dispute resolution system for the Billing Integrity Program, B.C. Ministry of Health.
• mediating an integrated watershed management planning process in the District of Saanich, B.C.
• mediating negotiations between federal, provincial, first nations and community interests to establish a West Coast Vancouver Island Aquatic Management Board.
• editing the Dispute Resolution Series, four-volume set of training materials for B.C. Ministry of Attorney General and the Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C.

In his role with British Columbia's Commission on Resources & Environment, Craig designed the negotiation framework for the Commission's regional land use planning processes and had process management responsibility for the Vancouver Island plan. He also had lead responsibility for the dispute resolution component of the Commission's Provincial Land Use Strategy and its Public Interest Negotiation Training Program.

Craig was a faculty member in the Environmental Leadership program at the Banff Centre for Management from 1995 to 2001. During that period he developed and delivered the Centre's environmental conflict resolution training program. At the same time, he assisted the University of Victoria Institute for Dispute Resolution with the development of its interdisciplinary program in dispute resolution. He is currently on the faculty of the Diploma in Dialogue and Negotiation Program at Simon Fraser University.

A graduate of the University of Victoria in Economics and Law, Craig was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1979.

Michelle LeBaron was appointed in 2003 as Director of the Program on Dispute Resolution and Professor of Law at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She is deeply committed to improving the quality of teaching, training, and practice in conflict resolution through holistic, relational approaches that honour diverse worldviews and multiple ways of knowing. Michelle has consulted with organizations around the world to design conflict management systems and has practiced as a commercial and family law mediator. She served as professor of conflict analysis and resolution at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia from 1993-2003, and on the boards of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution and the British Columbia Mediation Development Association. Michelle has written many articles, and two recent books, Bridging Cultural Conflicts: New Approaches for a Changing World and Bridging Troubled Waters: Conflict Resolution from the Heart. Her current research is focused on the nexus of cross-cultural conflict resolution and creativity.

Michelle's international experience includes work in Switzerland, Ireland, Malaysia, China and the United States. Previous projects include the design and delivery of negotiation training and dispute resolution services for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Geneva; a year-long intervention to address diversity-related issues in a county agency in Virginia; and, the facilitation of a problem-solving workshop on the Israel-Palestine conflict held in Ireland.

Michelle has recently delivered conflict resolution training and keynote addresses at

• The Mediators Institute, Ireland
• Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication, Forest Grove, Oregon
• Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Ontario
• American University Program on Peace and Conflict Studies, Washington, DC
• American University Intercultural Management Institute, Washington, DC
• Family Mediation Canada, Banff, Alberta
• Intercultural Communication Professional Training Program, Winterthur, Switzerland
• The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, California
• The University of Victoria Institute for Dispute Resolution, Victoria, British Columbia

Michelle served as a board member of the Institute for Multitrack Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. from 1993-2002. She is currently on the National Advisory Council for the University of Victoria Institute for Dispute Resolution and is a past vice-president of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution.