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I was born on July 31, 1970 in the small town of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in British Columbia to two wonderful parents, Peter and Betty. After attending my basic elementary education at Alberni Elementary, I moved on to Mt. Klitsa Junior Secondary School. It was during my Junior Highschool education that I met one of the teachers that would influence my life in a profound way. Mr. Bill Mosdell taught Grade 9 Social Studies. His classes was an exercise in motivating his students to perform to the absolute best of their abilities. His marking schemes therefore reflected that and was partially based on answering the questions that were asked but also on whether you answered to the best of your ability to do so. He would always make constructive comments on assignments. He greatly influenced my life in giving me a profound interest in teaching, learning and educating. After Junior highschool was over, I went to the local senior highschool, Alberni District Secondary School. During the course of my three years at this school I became very active in many things including culminating a life long involvement in the Scouting movement by earning my Chief Scout's Award, Queen's Venturer Award and the Gold Award of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Program. I was also very active in choir outside of school, and the Senior Stage/Jazz band of our school. Graduating second in the class of my highsschool, I eventually accepted an scholarship and admission to Simon Fraser University. During the later years of my University training, I became involved with student politics at the University level and served for two years a Senator on the University's Senate. I was also the Chairperson of the Senate Appeals Board.

After completing the majority of the requirements for my B.Sc. degree, I took a year off from my direct studies and completed a one year work term at a Japanese Pharmaceutical company. This took place in the Metabolism Chemistry lab at Taiho Pharmaceuticals. I had worked for their "daughter" company, SynPhar Pharm in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The experience of living and working in a completely different culture and language was amazing. I fell in love with a number of things in Japan including most of the food specialities and much of the culture. Some of the culture was difficult to take though in the strange mix of deference and sexism that exists towards women. At one point women are revered as mothers and wives, but at the same time are "less than" when it comes to the working world and in making decisions of major importance. This attitude is slowly changing, but very slowly.

After my return to Canada, I completed the last of my Undergraduate degree requirements at Simon Fraser University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) with a Minor in Kinesiology, Co-Operative Education Option.

The summer after I graduated proved to be a very monumental one for me as it was the summer that I came out to my parents as a gay man. The process of coming to terms with my sexuality were ones frought with a lot of fertive exploration and much mental termoil. Part of my bad relationship with food came as a result of binging during this period to try and hide the pain and lack of understanding of what was going on, and the fear I had a a result of wondering what would happen when/if I did come out to my family.

Coming out as a gay man, for me, was liberating. The day had started out with a visit to the dentist. For me going to the dentist was and still is a necessary evil. I love the dentist that I currently have, but I hate going. So, after a wonderful time spent that morning in the dentist chair, with my mouth filled with dental stuff and my mind filled with my plans of how I was going to come out to my parents. I had planned to come out the next day as my Mom was going to be off work the next day and I thought that this would give her time to think and process it without having the pressure of working. On the way home from the dentist I got into a traffic accident with my parent's car. While it was not huge, it certainly represented the state that my mind was in at that point in time. After getting home, telling my parents about it and going and sorting out with the other driver a way to settle it out of the insurance program, I was in a fairly foul mood. Unfortunately, like most Mother's my Mom has very highly tuned "Kid's-Upset-o-Meter". I was downstairs in my bedroom and was just about to go upstairs when I heard my Mom and Dad talking about me at the kitchen table (at the top of the stairs). The were asking each other whether each knew why I was upset, and that it obviously went beyond the car accident. I decided at this point to modify my coming out plan and to do it then and there, as they were "prepared" for something.