Board & Committee Members

The duties for the positions of Board Members and Directors are included in the York Sunbury Historical Society by-laws. Included are the positions of: The President, The Vice President, The 2nd Vice President, The Secretary, The Treasurer and The Past President, and Ex-officio Positions. Board members must be in a member of the York Sunbury Historical Society in good standing.

Board Directors accrue approximately 4 hours each month, with the exceptions of: the president (7-10 hours per month), the secretary (7-10 hours per month), and the treasurer (7-10 hours per month).

Board members and other volunteers will put in more hours depending on programs and projects being run and other tasks they take on.

Board Committees

The duties of Board Committees are included in the York Sunbury Historical Society by-laws and include these Standing Committees: Executive, Programs, Exhibits, Collections, Finance, Nominating, and Publications. The Publications committee will be replaced by the Editorial Committee, established in May 2025 by motion from Board to renew the society’s annual periodical. 

Interested in joining the York Sunbury Historical Society Board? Contact the Fredericton Region Museum office and find out if there is an opening!

Executive Committee

Board Of Directors

• Gary Waite (PhD, Waterloo, 1987) is Professor Emeritus at the University of New Brunswick and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He took on the presidency of the YSHS in 2024. A popular instructor, Waite was also History Department chair for nine years, and on the UNB Senate and Board of Governors for six. His research has focused on the religion and culture of the early-modern Netherlands. His first book on the Dutch Anabaptist David Joris (c.1501-1556) is now in a second edition (2026). He has also published on demonology and the witch-hunts; on Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the seventeenth century; and on Dutch drama in the sixteenth century. He is currently working on the radical religious roots of the early Enlightenment (https://amsterdamnified.com/project/). With Lisa M. Todd, he is co-editor of European Racism: A History in Documents (2024). He lives in Fredericton with his spouse Kate Hayward.
  

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• Richard Yeomans is a historian of Atlantic Canada, particularly New Brunswick, Loyalist culture, science and statecraft. He holds a PhD in History from Dalhousie University (2025). Richard’s most recent scholarly works include a critical history of the University of New Brunswick (Acadiensis, 2024) and forthcoming articles on the politics of quarantine in the Maritimes before 1850 (Scientia Canadensis) and the regulation of the Grand Manan herring fishery in the early nineteenth century (PiCHE, 2026). Richard is the creator of Atlantic Digital Scholarship, a digital history initiative that promotes research and public scholarship related to Atlantic Canada and currently serves as lead editor of The Oar, an annual publication supported by the Fredericton Region Museum. He is now with Library and Archives Canada, where he works to improve access to Canada’s documentary heritage online.
  

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• Harold Aage Skaarup, Major (Ret’d), CD, BFA (NSCAD 1974), MA (RMC 1997), served as a Canadian Forces Army Intelligence Officer for more than 40 years, retiring in Aug 2011. On 1 Feb 2015 he was appointed HLCol for 3 Intelligence Company in Halifax for a three year term and was back in uniform until 1 Feb 2018. He serves as a Board member of the Friends of the New Brunswick Military History Museum (FNBMHM), and also with the York Sunbury Historical Society (YSHS). On behalf of the Stanton Friedman family he curates the UFO exhibit in the museum and has participated in numerous presentations as well as radio and television interviews on the subject. He is an Associate RCAF Historian as well as a member of the Canadian Aerospace Artists Association (CAAA). He is the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association (CPVA) historian, and in Nov 2024 laid a wreath on their behalf in Cyprus. He currently serves as the webmaster for the Balkans35 commemoration project. He has five grandchildren, and if he is not on the water in his canoe, he may be found in the garden with his wife Faye.
  

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• Evelyn Fidler is an historian specializing in Material History and the Planter Era in Nova Scotia. She received her Master of Arts in History from UNB in 1992 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Material History. Her specialization led her to pursue a 40 year plus career in museums (35 of them with Kings Landing) with experience in curatorial, interpretation and collections management. Evelyn loves spending her free time volunteering with local historical societies, the New Brunswick Historical Society, youth sports and the various community outreaches sponsored by her church, the Salvation Army. Evelyn’s goal is to pursue her PhD specializing on the period of history 1769 to 1784, between the Planter and Loyalist era in Nova Scotia.
  

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• Karen Daigle (Representative from the City of Fredericton)
  

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• Cynthia Wallace-Casey, PhD, is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. She is President of the Fredericton Society of St Andrew and is also an avid volunteer at the Fredericton Region Museum (where she serves as chair of both the Exhibits and Finance Committees). Cynthia’s academic research interests include Historical Thinking, national narratives, difficult histories, and Reconciliation in museums. She is also a passionate material historian, and enjoys spending much of her spare time tracking down hidden stories behind the museum’s artefact collections. Cynthia has more than 30 years of experience in the field of public history and community museums – a sector in which she continues to volunteer in several capacities. Her teaching expertise is in teaching Historical Thinking at both Intermediate and Senior levels.
  

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• Patrick Proctor
  

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• Drew Steeves is an experienced IT professional with over 30 years in the government and transportation sectors. Specialized in desktop support, technical troubleshooting, and team supervision within secure and high-demand environments. Demonstrated leadership through extensive union representation at regional and national levels. Strong interest in emerging technologies, including military history.
  

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• Ramona Nicholas
  

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• Nicole O’Byrne, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law where she teaches Canadian Legal History and constitutional law. She has published articles on various aspects of New Brunswick history including healthcare and Indigenous-state relations. She currently serves on the UNB Board of Governors and the board of the New Brunswick Military History Museum. She is the Past President of the Canadian Law and Society Association
  

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• Aggie Sliwka
  

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• Leah Grandy holds a PhD in History and has and has been working in libraries and archives for more than 15 years and regularly assists historical researchers of all types. She has previously been a member of the Board of Kings Landing and the Journal of New Brunswick Studies. Her specialties include Atlantic Provinces History, Sport History, Loyalist Biography, History of Animals, Palaeography, Working with Primary Sources, and Newspapers. She has been involved in a number of digital history projects such as the “New Brunswick Loyalist Journeys” story maps, “Atlantic Loyalist Connections” blog, and the New Brunswick Historical Newspapers Project.
  

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• Vacant – please contact the Fredericton Region Museum about joining the YSHS Board
  
  

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• Alena Krasnikova (Ex-Officio)

Committee Chairs