Photo Credit:
Photo credit
Dr. Erich Schellhammer
Dr. Brian Eric Burtch
BIO
Biography

Brian completed a B.A. (Sociology) at Queen's University, an M.A. (Criminology) at the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D (Sociology) at the University of British Columbia. He had a full-time appointment for 30 years in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University and was an associate member in  SFU’s Women's Studies department, now Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies. The Dr. Brian Burtch Graduate Award in Criminology is awarded annually to a student in their third semester of the MA program. Brian was BC/Yukon Regional Representative for TWUC from 1999-2001 and a Float on National Council from 2001-2002.

A North Vancouver resident, he was with Carol Hird, the love of his life, for over 34 years. Following her passing in 2020, the Carol Hird memorial award in midwifery was created to support incoming students in the midwifery program at the University of British Columbia.  Brian has a daughter, Leora Gibson, son-in-law Trent Gibson,and three grandchildren (Maeve, Torsten, Ella). Brian's interests include post-secondary program evaluation, photography, slo-pitch softball, writing (of course!) and philanthropy. Brian served as TWUC’s representative on the BC/Yukon Book Prizes Board for seven years, retiring from the Board in 2017. Recent academic and community work involved serving on an expert panel for the Degree Quality Assessment Board (DQAB) in BC in 2017, participating in an external review of Saint Thomas University's Criminology & Criminal Justice Department in 2016, and peer reviews for the Journal of Homosexuality.

He served as a BC/Yukon Book Prizes judge in the 2004 Hubert Evans nonfiction prize category and in the 2019 Roderick Haig-Brown regional prize category.  Brian volunteered at the 20th anniversary North Shore Writers Festival in 2019, presented in a Zoom session on LGBTQ2S+ bullying for North Shore Eldercollege in September 2021, and was interviewed by Ben Hendrikse in 2023 for the "graded podcast" about adversity, challenges and success. That year, he also contributed comments about bullying for hot 102.7 FM, an award-winning radio station in South Africa. Brian currently volunteers as a Commissioner for MONOVA, Museum and Archives of North Vancouver.

Brian completed “So glad I’m your Dad”, a private memoir via the StoryWorth platform. Brian is currently writing about widowhood and other forms of loss and carrying grief. His most recent publication - “While the light holds” - is a personal account of late life love.  It appears in the spring 2024 issue of the SFU Retirees’ Association newsletter.



Brian's SFU webpage
http://www.sfu.ca/personal/burtch/

ADDRESS
City: North Vancouver, Province/Territory: British Columbia
EMAIL
LANGUAGES
English
PUBLICATIONS
Publications
Title
“While the light holds”
Publisher
Simon Says (Newsletter of the Simon Fraser University Retirees’ association)
Year
2024 Fall, page 23
Title
"A Chapter of Widows: Grief and Widowhood"
Publisher
Simon Says (Newsletter of the Simon Fraser University Retirees' Association)
Year
2024 Spring, pages 24-27
Title
Brian Burtch, Aynsley Pescitelli and Rebecca Haskell , “LGBT movements in British Columbia”, in Manon Tremblay (Ed.), Queer Mobilizations: Pan-Canadian Perspectives", pages 142-162.
Publisher
University of British Columbia Press
Year
2015
Title
Brian Burtch and Rebecca Haskell, “Learning , Sexuality, and the Gay Agenda’ in Schools,” in Gerald Walton (ed.), The Gay Agenda: Claiming Space, Identity, and Justice, pages 239-255.
Publisher
Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Year
2014
Title
Rebecca Haskell and Brian Burtch, Get That Freak: Homophobia and Transphobia in High Schools
Publisher
Fernwood Publishing
Year
2010
Title
Law in Society: Canadian Readings (Nick Larsen and B. Burtch, editors)
Publisher
Nelson Education (3rd edition)
Year
2010
Title
Brian Burtch, "Education, law, and social justice," In Akpovire Oduaran and Harbans S. Bhola (eds.), Widening Access to Education as Social Justice, pages 83-94.
Publisher
Springer
Year
2006
Title
The Sociology of Law: critical approaches to social control
Publisher
Nelson / Thomson (2nd edition)
Year
2003
Title
Carol Hird and Brian Burtch, "Midwives and Safe Motherhood: International Perspectives", in F. Shroff (Ed.), The New Midwifery: Reflections on Renaissance and Regulation, pages 115-145.
Publisher
The Women's Press
Year
1997
Title
Brian Burtch and Richard Ericson, The Silent System: An Inquiry into Prisoners who Suicide and Annotated Bibliography
Publisher
Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto
Year
1979
Title
Brian Burtch and Carol Hird, “A struggle for recognition.”
Publisher
World Health: The magazine of the World Health Organization
Year
1997, Vol. 50, No. 2
Title
Brian Burtch, Trials of Labour: The Re-emergence of Midwifery.
Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press.
Year
1994
Title
"The Wolves" (poem)
Publisher
The Canadian Forum, Vol. 58, No. 684, page 12
Year
1978 (September)
AWARDS
Awards
Name
SSHRC doctoral scholarship
Publication
Midwifery Practice and State Regulation: A Sociological Perspective (1987)
Year
1980-1984
Name
AMTEC award for Midwifery and the Law video
Publication
Midwifery and the Law (1991) SFU and The Knowledge Network
Year
1991
Name
John J.Ll.J. Edwards Award, Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto
Year
1978
LINKS
Links
Simon Fraser University personal website
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
Presentation details
Presentation Genre
Social Science
Presentation Length
Negotiable
Presentation Fee(s)
Negotiable
Workshop details
Audience Size
Variable
Intended Audience
Adult, general public, postsecondary
Workshop Length
1-2 hours
Workshop Fee(s)
Negotiable
School presentation details
Audience Size
Variable
Intended Audience
Grades 9-12
Presentation Length
Negotiable
Presentation Fee(s)
Negotiable
Programs & Interests
Interested in participating Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program:
All members are eligible for the Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program. Are you interested in participating in this pro
No
Interested in participating in the Northern Ontario WITS program:
The Union’s Northern Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program funds in-person visits to northern Ontario schools when possible. Ar
No