A longtime city lawyer and community leader is moving into a new position at Thompson Rivers University and has also been named to the provincial Health Services Authority.
John O’Fee left the Tk’emlups Indian Band last year, where he was CEO, and returned to private law practice.
While O’Fee made the news as one of a number of high-profile appointments at KGHM-Ajax,he said that position was often misunderstood.
O’Fee said he was never an employee of the company behind the mining proposal south of Aberdeen, but noted he did work as an outside legal contractor.
He said he will have little time for private practice in his new position as lecturer at TRU’s school of business.
“It’s an exciting opportunity,” said O’Fee, who will teach four courses this semester focusing on commercial law.
“I’ve been practising for 25 years and you have good experience to relate to students that’s practical and real-world oriented.”
O’Fee had done some teaching as a sessional instructor, but will now teach full-time and is a member of the faculty association.
The former city councillor is a longtime community leader, whose stints include serving as chairman of the Kamloops-Thompson school board, as a volunteer in student award fund-raising at TRU and as chairman of the Thompson Hospital District.
He said that latter experience will assist him with the appointment to the provincial board.
The Health Services Authority oversees organizations including B.C. Children’s Hospital, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and the B.C. Cancer Agency.
His appointment comes via Health Minister Terry Lake, with whom O’Fee served on Kamloops city council.
“He’s looking for a broad base of experience,” O’Fee said. “They want people from the North, Interior and Island.”
One of the board’s earliest decisions will be on a proposed $200-million expansion to B.C. Women’s Hospital in Vancouver.
