Legal counsel leaving EFC
OTTAWA, ON—Likening the move as taking her "out of the trenches and into the training ground," Janet Epp Buckingham, former legal counsel and director of law and public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), has been appointed to the position of director of Trinity Western University's Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa. She took up the reins of her new position in September.
Each semester, the Laurentian Leadership Centre (LLC) offers a select group of up to 23 upper-year university students the opportunity to participate in a live-in student extension program in the nation's capital.
Located only minutes from Parliament Hill, the LLC prepares Christian young people to assume leadership roles in the area of public policy. In addition to a small course load, the students also participate in internships with politicians, non-government organizations, media outlets and in business.
As director, Epp Buckingham, 45, teaches a course on ethics and public policy at the centre, is responsible for organizing and supervising all internships, and will mentor students as well.
It is this latter work she says she is most anticipating. "I have been finding that even in the work that I've been doing [with the EFC], I've been taking on more and more of a mentoring role," she explains. "It's something that happens with a certain age and experience level, I suppose, but it's also a way to multiply one's potential impact."
Possible expansion
Now approaching the five-year mark since the LLC's creation, Epp Buckingham says she also anticipates there will be a review evaluating potential expansion of the program and/or how it might be fine-tuned. "That is something I will be looking at over the next little while; reviewing and evaluating the program. If the program is to be expanded at all, now would be the time that that would happen."
In an October news release from the EFC, president Bruce Clemenger says, "Janet will bring to her new role her considerable experience in law and public policy and a desire to teach and prepare a new generation for public engagement." The release indicates Epp Buckingham will continue to serve on EFC's Religious Liberty Commission.
"I have been very involved with EFC's advocacy on behalf of the persecuted church," explains Epp Buckingham. With a legal background in international human rights, she says, "I will continue to advise them and may still engage on the legal aspects of religious liberty."
In transition between jobs, Epp Buckingham expects the move to be complete by December. Former EFC senior policy advisor Douglas Cryer replaces her as director for public policy.
A time of recognition
In a Trinity Western University news release, John Dyck, academic liaison for the LLC, says, "Janet's appointment comes at a time when the LLC had achieved strong recognition in the Ottawa political arena."
Epp Buckingham cites LLC's recognition as, one of the attractions to the job. She says the program has an "excellent reputation."
"One of the things that really struck me over the last couple of months is that it is amazing a Christian university like Trinity Western would have the vision to create this kind of a program. I think it shows real vision and foresight on the part of the university."
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