Board and Executive Team
Meet our board of directors and executive team!
Board Members
Kate Lines, B.A., (retired) Former Chief Superintendent, Ontario Provincial Police
Chair, Victim Justice Network
Kate Lines, (Retired 2010) Chief Superintendent, Investigation Support Bureau, Ontario Provincial Police was appointed the Chair of the Victim Justice Network in October 2014. Kate had a distinguished 33-year policing career with the OPP and became the first female Director of the Intelligence Bureau.
Kate received the Officer of the Order of Merit Medal, Queen’s Commission, International Association of Women Police Excellence in Performance Award, Ontario Women in Law Enforcement Excellence in Performance and Team Endeavours Award and Canadian Police Leadership Forum’s Police Leader of the Year award.
She recently released a bestselling book, Crime Seen, which recounts her remarkable career and stories about the courage of victims and their families.
Ron Manes, LLM, LLB, Senior Litigation Counsel, Torkin/Manes, LLP, Barristers & Solicitors, Toronto, Ontario
Vice-Chair, Victim Justice Network
As senior litigation counsel, Ron practices in areas of complex commercial and tort litigation at all levels of trial and appeal courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Ron is a founding partner and Chair of Torkin Manes LLP.
Ron has been a national leader in access to justice. He is the founder of Pro Bono Law Ontario, the internationally recognized and award-winning organization providing access to free legal services for those in need without resources to pay for legal assistance. He also founded the Volunteer Lawyers Service which provides free access to legal services to a vast variety of charities and non-profit organizations throughout Ontario.
Ron is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Victim Justice Network and serves as the Vice-Chair.
Donald B. Johnston, D.Jur., LLB, Co-leader of the Technology Team, Senior Counsel and Partner, Aird and Berlis, LLP, Toronto, Ontario
Treasurer, Victim Justice Network
Donald B. Johnston is a Partner with the Toronto law firm, Aird and Berlis and is co-leader of the Technology Team, as well as a member of the Corporate/Commercial, Communications and Mining Groups.
Don is a well-known technology lawyer with broad experience as a corporate and commercial lawyer. He also has a wealth of experience in health law, health informatics, information technology, health care privacy law, biotech and pharmaceuticals law, technology financing, telecommunications, procurement and outsourcing.
Don is a founding board member of the Victim Justice Network and serves as the Secretary.
Heather S. Johnston, Office Managing Partner, BDO Collingwood, Owen Sound and Wiarton,
Board Member, Victim Justice Network
Heather Johnston is Office Managing Partner of BDO Collingwood, Owen Sound and Wiarton. Heather has experience in audit and accounting services, as well as consulting and tax planning for a wide variety of industry sectors. Her strong community ties assist her in helping owner-managed businesses and non-profit organizations to achieve their goals.
She is a member of both the Chartered Professional Accountants Ontario and Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. Professional Designations & Education
Heather joined the Board of Directors of the Victim Justice Network in 2015.
David Butt, Barrister, Toronto, Ontario
David Butt is a trial and appellate lawyer with a wide ranging practice. He graduated from Queen’s Law School at the top of his class and earned his LL.M. at Harvard Law School, which he attended as Canada’s 1988 Viscount Bennett Scholar. He has clerked for both the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada, the first Canadian to have completed such a double clerkship. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1989. He has been lead counsel more than two dozen times in the Supreme Court of Canada, and hundreds of times in the Court of Appeal for Ontario, dealing with a broad range of issues involving criminal law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He has both prosecuted and defended many lengthy and complex trials. He has served as counsel to three independent judicial inquiries or reviews. He has extensive experience representing police officers in a wide variety of criminal and disciplinary investigations and hearings. He also acts regularly for victims of crime or misconduct, and through this work engages deeply in privacy law.
A former Harvard teaching fellow, Mr Butt has designed and delivered many different professional education programs for lawyers and other professionals from Vancouver to St John’s. He is a frequent speaker on a variety of legal topics and a regular commentator on national and local media. He has consulted world-wide on internet child exploitation. He is a past Board member of ECPAT, the world’s largest NGO devoted exclusively to fighting the commercial exploitation of children.
David joined the Board of the Victim Justice Network in 2019.
Executive Team
Priscilla de Villiers, co-founder and Executive Director of the Victim Justice Network.
Priscilla de Villiers is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Victim Justice Network.
For over twenty years Priscilla has been a leading Canadian advocate on crime victim issues. In 1992 she founded CAVEAT (Canadians Against Violence Everywhere Advocating its Termination) after the abduction and murder of her daughter by a sexual predator out on bail at the time.
Ms de Villiers is also a long-standing member of the Ontario Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). She was recently appointed as the Vice-Chair of the OVC. In her private capacity she continues to address victimization and to support and advise victims of crime.
She is collaborating in a research project with Dr. Susan Tasker, University of Victoria; Siblings of Young Homicide Victims: What Lives Do They Go On To Lead?
Priscilla has received numerous awards, most notably the Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor- General of Canada, and a Doctorate of Laws (Hon.) from McMaster University.
Peter Sampaio, co-founder and Executive Lead of the Victim Justice Network.
Peter Sampaio is the co-founder and Executive Lead of the Victim Justice Network. Peter has made significant contributions to the justice sector in various roles with the Ontario Public Service since 1996. From 2001 to 2004, Peter was a Senior Advisor with the Office for Victims of Crime in Ontario and worked on high profile victim-centred projects.
From 2004 to 2010, Peter served as a Corporate Manager at the Ontario Victim Services Secretariat, Ministry of Attorney General and co-led a number of innovative initiatives in the victim services sector, including the development of a Provincial Strategy to address Child Exploitation and Abuse on the Internet.
From 2010-17 Peter has served as the Community Liaison at the Roy McMurtry Youth Centre (RMYC), Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) Ontario. In 2017-18, Peter acted as the Manager of the Mental Health and Specialized Client Services Unit in the Youth Justice Services Division, MCYS in Toronto, Ontario.
Peter is currently the Manager of the Program Implementation and Evaluation Unit in the Direct Operated Facilities Branch in Youth Justice Division, Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, Ontario.
Peter holds a Master’s Degree in Judicial Administration from Brock University, a Master’s Degree and Honours B.A. Degree in Political Science from York University.