Our Facilitators

Meghan’s practice is focused predominantly on civil litigation, with an emphasis on construction litigation.  Meghan acts and assists on a wide variety of construction disputes, including representation of owners, contractors and subcontractors in claims arising during construction, as well as those involving product liability, delay, cost overruns, faulty workmanship and builders’ liens.

Meghan’s administrative law practice is centred on providing advice to administrative tribunals and professionally regulated self-governing professions.  Within this area, Meghan has experience with human rights, both under human rights legislation and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

Meghan also has experience assisting clients with a variety of legal issues in a broad range of areas, including contractual disputes, negligence, personal injury, debtor/creditor litigation, terminations and wrongful dismissals.

Meghan articled with Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP in 2012 and joined the firm as an associate in 2013.

Michael Atkinson was President of the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) from March of 1993 to October of 2017.  He joined CCA in 1981.  In November 1982, he was appointed Secretary to the Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC), a position he held until 1993. 

Michael has emerged as a leading expert in the area of standard construction contracts and practices in Canada.  In 2013, he was awarded one of 38 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medals designated for Canadians demonstrating outstanding service in the construction industry in Canada.

Michael served as the Private Sector Vice-Chair of the Municipal Infrastructure Forum established by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. He was a member of the Federal-Industry Real Property Advisory Council, the Industrial Security Advisory Board, the CORCAN Advisory Board, and a long-time member of the Construction Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association.

MF Hickey Consulting

Mike Hickey last worked as the Director; Facilities Management and Support Services for Northern Health Authority based in Prince George, BC. He retired in April 2013 after working for 35 years in the facilities management side of healthcare. Twenty one years have been in St. John’s NL, his city of birth, while his last 14 years have been in Prince George. Prior to moving to northern BC, Mike served as an Assistant Director of Facilities Management with the Healthcare Corporation of St. John’s and has worked in both acute and long term care.

Mike’s background is in Power Engineering. He has also completed the management programs of Modern Management, Quality Management for Healthcare Professionals, Health Services Management, and Long Term Care Senior management (academic excellence award winner) through the Canadian Healthcare Association. He has represented BC on the National Energy Efficiency Advisory committee with the Canadian College of Health Service Executives and held membership on the CHA National Advisory Committee for Management programs across Canada. He currently sits on their National Energy and Environmental Stewardship Awards team. He has also served as an Education Consultant with CHA for the Modern Management program.

He is a past Chair of the BC Chapter of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (CHES), as well as past National President of CHES. Mike is also a Faculty member for the Canadian Healthcare Construction Certificate program, a joint effort of CHES (Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society) and ASHE (American Society for Healthcare Engineering). He is also a faculty member, as well as a technical subcommittee member of the Canadian Standards Association for CSA Standard Z317.13-17, Infection Control during Construction, Renovation and Maintenance of Healthcare Facilities. Mike is still very active as a consultant in the field of Healthcare Engineering, operating under the name of MF Hickey Consulting. In his spare time, he is past President of the Board of Directors for the Prince George Hospice Society, as well as a lifetime member of that organization. He also volunteers as a Board Member with the Canadian Centre for Healthcare Facilities. Each winter he enjoys being an active volunteer with the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal. His most recent achievement is being named the recipient of the Hans Burgers Award (CHES 2016), a national award for Outstanding Contribution to Healthcare Engineering in Canada, making him a lifetime member of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society.

Morgan Garry is a Bluebeam Certified Instructor with more than a decade of hands-on experience in the construction industry, including owning his own construction company and working for Ledcor, one of the largest general contractors in North America. With a bachelor's degree in Construction Management from BYU-Idaho, Morgan is a trusted expert in using Bluebeam technology on the construction site. Morgan's classes and training in Bluebeam Revu have helped some of the top construction companies in North America improve processes, workflow and project management. 

Associate, Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP 

Neil is an associate lawyer at TDS with a practice that focuses on civil litigation.

Neil has extensive courtroom experience, having appeared and argued in all levels of Court in Manitoba, including the Court of Appeal as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. During his time as a Crown Attorney with the Department of Justice, he prosecuted all manner of offences ranging from impaired driving to murder. Over the years, Neil’s practice focused primarily on appellate advocacy and prosecutions in the context of criminal organizations.

Neil spent the summers of 2007 & 2008 as a summer student with TDS. He returned in the spring of 2009 as an Articling Student-at-Law. Following his Call to the Bar in 2010, Neil practised with the Manitoba Department of Justice as a Crown Attorney until 2023. He is thrilled to return to private practice with TDS.

Partner, Apex Surety & Insurance Ltd.

Patrick Smoke, B. Comm. (Hons.), CAIB, CRIS, has advanced knowledge of not only the contractual requirements contractors will encounter within Canada but also risk mitigation practices contractors should be familiar with to best position themselves for success. 

Patrick has worked alongside both large and small contractors, and specialty sub trades addressing both simple and complex project specific insurance placements. He also regularly provides consultative services for his clients to identify specific risks within a project and what contractors can do to help protect themselves while also keeping in mind their bottom line.

Perry Educational Services

Phil Perry, P.Eng. is an experienced senior project manager with more than 30 years in the construction industry. He has worked in a variety of roles with owners, designers and constructors, most of which included project managing industrial projects for general contractors. Phil has worked with many different delivery systems including stipulated price, cost plus, unit price, construction management and design-build. He has been teaching post-secondary construction management courses for the last eight years and works with various contractors on their professional development programs.

Sustainable² Construction Services Ltd.

Randy has more than 35 years of experience in construction, working as a labourer, estimator, chief estimator, project manager and risk manager. He’s worked under many contractual arrangements such as lump sum, design/build, unit price, and P3 for building, civil and industrial projects. Notable projects that Randy has worked on include BellMTS Place, Manitoba Hydro’s downtown office building, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Disraeli Bridge project. In the early stages of his career, Randy estimated and managed lump sum bid and negotiated projects which included all areas of construction. Randy then moved into risk management where the focus was on request for proposal responses, preconstruction planning and construction document development, while working in a project team environment.

Over the past few years of “retirement,” Randy has been giving back to the industry by mentoring up-and-coming estimators and sharing his knowledge and experiences in the classroom.

President & CEO, Transcona Roofing Ltd.

President, Unitech Construction Management

Rick Boates, AScT., GSC, LEED AP, Lean Green Belt, started his career in the construction industry nearly five decades ago with experience in design consulting and as a Building Inspector. He is founder and currently President of Unitech, one of BC’s leading Construction Management firms. Rick served on the Board of Independent Contractors and Businesses Association and on the Board of Merit Canada; he is now dedicating his board efforts to the Delta Hospital and Community Health Foundation.

Rick has guided Unitech through the successful completion of nearly $1.5 billion worth of projects of all types throughout B.C. All of these projects have been implemented via Construction Manager as Agent using the old CCA 5 or CCDC 5A contracts on behalf of many repeat public and private clients. He is continuing his passion for collaborative construction with the promotion of IPD and Lean Construction on current and upcoming projects.