Feds announce appointments to Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada, Atlantic Pilotage Authority

OTTAWA, Ont.–The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport, has announced the appointments of Dr. John Sehmer of Vancouver, B.C., and Dr. Christopher Brooks of Ottawa, Ontario, to the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada (TATC), each for a three-year term.

Dr. Sehmer is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia Medical School in the Department of Family Practice, runs his own general practice, specializing in industrial medicine, and is a staff member at Vancouver General Hospital. He has extensive experience as a certified medical examiner for the marine and air sectors (pilots). In addition Dr. Sehmer is a medical advisor for Great West Life and Desjardins, an occupational medicine consultant for corporations such as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Petro-Can/Suncor and Chevron, and is co-chair of the British Columbia Medical Association’s WorksafeBC Liaison Committee. Dr. Sehmer has published numerous articles in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and other journals and is a fellow of the Canadian Board of Occupational Medicine.

Dr. Christopher Brooks is a physician, scientist and inventor. Dr. Brooks has 47 years of experience as a physician in the navy, in industry and in private practice. His background includes a wide range of positions such as medical officer onboard a nuclear submarine, flight surgeon, commanding officer for the Royal Canadian Navy at Stadacona Hospital in Halifax, and command surgeon for both the Canadian Air Command and the Canadian Maritime Command. For 11 years, he was the Director of R&D at Survival Systems Ltd., Dartmouth, N.S., where he introduced emergency breathing systems into helicopters for the Canadian offshore oil industry. Currently, he is a consultant in occupational medicine for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Transport Canada and the Department of National Defence. Among the awards Dr. Brooks has received are the Order of Military Merit, Queen’s Jubilee Medal and the Canadian General Standards Board’s highest achievement award for his work on survival suits and life jackets. In addition, he has published over 70 books, reports and papers on occupational health and safety issues

Raitt also announced the appointment of Captain Alexander L. MacIntyre to the board of directors of the Atlantic Pilotage Authority for a term of three years.

Captain MacIntyre has extensive experience at sea, on a wide range of vessels, and has performed approximately 10,000 assignments as a licensed marine pilot in Halifax, Sheet Harbour and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

He holds pilotage licenses from the Atlantic Pilotage Authority and the Laurentian Pilotage Authority, and a Master, Foreign-going certificate from Transport Canada. Captain MacIntyre has provided his expertise in ice navigation as a special adviser on tankers, adventure cruise ships and seismic survey vessels trading in the Eastern and Western Canadian Arctic, Alaska, Greenland and Norway.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration, and has trained in oil spill response and firefighting, ship handling, advanced petroleum tanker safety, and helicopter evacuation.

Captain MacIntyre was a Class “A” marine pilot for the Atlantic Pilotage Authority from 1984 until his retirement in 2008. From 2002 to 2013, he was president of the Canadian Merchant Service Guild eastern branch. Before that, he was the Atlantic region vice-president of the Canadian Marine Pilots’ Association from 1993 to 2002, and a member of the Halifax Mission to Seafarers board of directors from 2000 to 2004. He is currently a member of the Company of Master Mariners of Canada, the International Shipmasters’ Association, the Marine Club (Montreal and Toronto), and Canada’s Naval Memorial HMCS Sackville Trust.