Our Team

Board Members

Mr Alex King

Chair of the Board

Alex King has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and a graduate diploma in French from the Chartered Institute of Linguists. He has had a 30+ year career in fundraising in the non-profit sector in the UK and in Canada. Over the past few years, he has been involved in philanthropy for McGill University, the Montreal General Hospital Foundation, and Le Verbe médias. 

Dr. Catherine Ferrier

Dr. Catherine Ferrier is a family physician and holds a Certificate of Special Competence in Care of the Elderly from the College of Family Physicians of Canada. She has worked for over 40 years in the Division of Geriatric Medicine of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), where she sees patients suffering from ailments related to aging, especially neurocognitive disorders, as well as specializing in assessment of decision-making capacity. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University.

Ms Michèle Boulva

Passionate about all issues and debates regarding life, education and the family, Michèle Boulva has spent her career working as a journalist, public relations officer and manager. With a bachelor’s degree in family education, she is the mother of three children and grandmother of 10 grandchildren. She is committed to building a society that respects human life until natural death. She has been closely associated with Living with Dignity since the network was founded, and for the past eight years has had the privilege of acting as caregiver to her mother.

Mrs Marie Bourque

Marie Bourque is a teacher by training. Passionate about youth and formation of people, she has been heavily involved in educational circles for many years. She has always had at heart the promotion and defense of the rights of parents, first and foremost educators of their children. Wife of Dr. André Bourque (who died in December 2012), who was co-founder of the citizen network Living with Dignity and of the Physician’s Alliance against euthanasia. She is also a mother and grandmother of several grandchildren.

Mr Cory Andrew Labrecque

Cory Andrew Labrecque, PhD, is Associate Professor of Bioethics and Theological Ethics in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Université Laval (Quebec City), where he is Vice-Dean and the inaugural Chair of Educational Leadership in the Ethics of Life. Previously, Dr Labrecque was the Raymond Schinazi Scholar in Bioethics and Religious Thought as well as the Director of Graduate Studies in Bioethics at the Emory University Center for Ethics in Atlanta. Educated at McGill University, his training is multidisciplinary: he holds a BSc in Anatomy and Cell
Biology, a MA in Bioethics and Religious Studies, and a PhD in Religious Ethics. Dr Labrecque is Vice-President of the National Committee on Ethics and Ageing (Quebec) and is a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Mrs Carmie Forlini

Carmie Forlini has a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University. She has 35+ years of corporate experience working in human resources and accounting and has owned her own bookkeeping business for the last 15 years. She has also been a certified life coach since 2014, helping her clients maximize their potential while navigating personal interpersonal conflicts. She has joined Living with Dignity because she is a firm believer that every life is precious – from conception to natural death. Every life deserves to be lived with dignity till the very end and Living with Dignity is determined to fight for this.

Mrs Madeleine Varkay

Madeleine Varkay holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from McGill University and an M.A. in Economic Policy Management from Columbia University. She built an international career with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, where she developed financing projects to mitigate climate risks in Asia, helping communities recover from the economic losses caused by natural disasters. Upon returning to Canada to care for her mother, she served as a caregiver for eight years. She consulted with social service organizations and worked closely with social workers and CLSC nurses. Throughout her mother’s illness, she coordinated medical care and managed emergency support with various hospitals in Montreal, as well as with cardiologists and palliative care specialists. She is now interested in sharing her experience and insights with the caregiver network that strives to ensure a dignified end of life for their loved ones.