Carol Belanger, City Architect, Architect, AAA, FRAIC, LEED® AP
Carol graduated from the Technical University of Nova Scotia with a Masters Degree in Architecture in 1992. After 15 years in private practice he worked as a senior urban designer in the City’s planning and development group where he chaired the Edmonton Urban Design Awards in 2005 and 2007. In 2007, Carol moved over to the City’s building group as a project architect and in 2009 took over as City Architect. As City Architect, he has worked to emphasize the importance of urban and architectural design excellence for the betterment of the city and communities that we live in. Leveraging the City’s current policies and bylaws, the City has revised its RFQ/RFP process to reflect the required higher design standard. In 2017, Carol was inducted into the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's College of Fellows for his continued advocacy of the architectural profession, and, in 2023, he received the RAIC Advocate for Architecture Award.
David A. Down, Architect, AAA, FRAIC, LEED AP
David Down is an architect and urbanist who is passionate about city building and design excellence. He was the Chief Urban Designer of The City of Calgary from 2005 to 2025, leading the Office of Urban Design. Prior to this, he led his own award-winning architectural practice Down + Livesey Architects. He holds a MArch degree (1988) from the University of Calgary and a BA (Geography) from the University of Victoria (1978). He is a Past President of the Alberta Association of Architects and a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. An Adjunct Professor at the U of C School of Architecture Planning & Landscape (SAPL) since 1995, he lectures on urban issues, professional practice, and the pre-modern history of Asian architecture and gardens.
Claire Weisz, FAIA, Hon. FRAIC, Hon. ASLA
Claire Weisz is a founding principal of WXY, an internationally recognized studio with offices in New York and Toronto, known for its community-centered approach to architecture and planning. The firm integrates design and policy to advance more equitable, resilient cities. WXY was named one of Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2019 and again in 2023 for innovation in Urban Development and Real Estate. Weisz’s honors include the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices award, AIA New York’s Medal of Honor, Architectural Record’s Women in Architecture Award, and ENR’s New York Legacy Award.
Renée Daoust, FRAIC, OAQ, OUQ, OAA, MAA
Renée Daoust is a distinguished architect and urban designer, and the co-founder of Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker. With over three decades of experience, she has played a leading role in reimagining and revitalizing urban environments across Canada. Her work is recognized for its integration of architecture, landscape, and public space—transforming underused areas into dynamic, inclusive, and meaningful places.
Renée’s practice is grounded in the creation of functional, sustainable spaces that support social interaction and elevate the urban experience. She brings strategic vision and design leadership from concept through to realization, with a particular sensitivity to historical and cultural context. Among her most notable projects are the Edifice Jacques Parizeau and Quartier des Spectacles in Montreal, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT in Toronto, where she is Design Excellence Lead for the corridor’s overarching design.
Renée is currently leading two projects of strong symbolic and civic value: the new Montreal Holocaust Museum, a place for remembrance, learning, and community gathering; and Market Lands in Winnipeg, a mixed-use development that brings together a public plaza, carbon-neutral affordable housing, and a centre for local arts groups.
Her contributions to the built environment have earned her widespread recognition, including the Médaille du mérite from the Ordre des architectes du Québec, and—alongside her partner Réal Lestage—the Prix Ernest Cormier in 2016, the highest honour awarded by the Government of Quebec in the fields of architecture and design.
Janet Rosenberg, FCSLA, FASLA
Janet Rosenberg is one of Canada’s foremost landscape architects and the founding principal of Toronto-based Janet Rosenberg & Studio (JRS). For more than forty years she has led the design of inclusive, culturally rich and ecologically resilient public and private realm landscapes across the country, while mentoring emerging professionals and serving on influential design juries and review panels.
In 2024, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) presented Rosenberg with its Lifetime Achievement Award, the profession’s highest individual honour, in recognition of her enduring national impact. Her commitment to excellence was underscored again in 2025 when JRS’s transformation of Kìwekì Point—a dramatic new promontory park overlooking the Ottawa River—earned the prestigious CSLA Jury’s Award of Excellence.
Through landmark projects such as Kìwekì Point, HTO Park and the Royal Botanical Gardens’ Rock Garden, Janet Rosenberg continues to demonstrate how visionary landscape architecture can reconnect people to place, advance reconciliation and strengthen ecological resilience nationwide.
Naomi Ratte, NuALA, CSLA
Naomi Ratte is an interdisciplinary designer whose work spans landscape architecture, public art, beadwork, and other creative explorations. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Naomi completed her Bachelor of Environmental Design and Master of Landscape Architecture at the University of Manitoba. The connection between people and place is what drew her to the profession. Naomi began her career with projects in Nunavut in 2017 with NVision Insight Group Inc. Her work focuses on interpretive planning & design, community engagement, and Territorial Park master & management planning. Today, she continues to collaborate on special projects in Nunavut, Ontario, and Manitoba, bridging innovative design with cultural and environmental stewardship. As a proud member of Peguis First Nation with Pakistani heritage, Naomi uses her art and practice to explore the intersections of her culture in her design approach.
Naomi is the co-chair of the Reconciliation Advisory Committee (RAC) for the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA). She is the co-founder of the Indigenous Design and Planning Students Association (IDPSA) at the University of Manitoba and was a contributor to the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s Towards Home: FutureCasting program.
Deputy Jury Members
Catherine Berris, RLA, RPP, FCSLA, FASLA
Catherine is a Registered Landscape Architect and a Registered Professional Planner. In a career spanning more than four decades, she has been at the forefront of her disciplines, engaging interest holders and preparing plans and designs that have enhanced communities and the environment.
Her current work is with Urban Systems, an interdisciplinary firm of 700 with 15 offices in Western Canada. She previously spent 28 years as principal of Catherine Berris Associates Inc., an award-winning boutique firm in Vancouver. Her project experience spans community and site planning for Indigenous communities, municipalities, and land developments; community engagement; parks, recreation, and culture planning and design; nature-based design solutions; urban forest strategies; and cemetery planning and design. She often leads large, complex projects.
Catherine is also engaged in community service and mentoring. She was president of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects in 2024/25 and is now co-chair of the CSLA Committee on Climate and Biodiversity. She provides leadership and mentoring within Urban Systems’ 30-person landscape architecture practice. Catherine has been honoured by being appointed a Fellow of the Canadian and American Societies of Landscape Architects.
Nicolas Demers-Stoddart, OAQ, OAA, MRAIC
Gifted in the genesis of ideas and development of conceptual narratives, Nicolas Demers-Stoddart, director of practice at COEX, mainly assumes the role of lead designer particularly in the context of competition proposals. These have included the Block 2 competition, The Arbour – George Brown College in Toronto, Port of Montréal’s Grand Quai Cruise Terminal, and institutional projects such as the Reception Pavilion of the National Assembly of Québec and the Alexandra Bridge Remplacement in Ottawa. Concerned first and foremost with conceptual integrity, he advocates for a multidisciplinary approach as the way of the future in the architectural and environmental design professions. He has been on the Independant Design Review Panel of Center Block for the RAIC as well as being a sitting member of the Comité Viger for the city of Montreal.
Dr. Brian R. Sinclair, PhD, DrHC, FRAIC, AIA (Intl)
Dr. Brian R. Sinclair is an award-winning professor of architecture and environmental design, and former Dean, at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL). Brian is president of sinclairstudio inc., a multi-disciplinary design and research corporation engaged in an array of global projects. He holds postgraduate degrees in architecture and psychology. An educator and practitioner, Sinclair’s expertise and explorations span from science to art and embraces East and West. He is interested in overlaps of, and conflicts between, disparate perspectives, and in pursuing creative systems approaches to support, reconsider, and reset our ways of seeing, thinking, and being. Professional memberships include the American Institute of Architects, the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, and Fellowship in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. His doctoral degree (University of Missouri) focused on an innovative holistic design and planning framework to raise the quality of life for some of the world’s poorest people. Scholarship includes professional practice, design methods, open building, agile architecture, environmental psychology, international development, systems & sustainability, and the collision of science and spirit. He is author of numerous papers and books, including Culture, Context and the Pursuit of Sustainability, and is a principal investigator in the unprecedented five-year transdisciplinary, pan-Canadian SSHRC-funded research project “Quality in Canada’s Built Environment”.
Parks Canada Representative (jury member)
Christine Loth-Bown, Vice-President of External Relations and Visitor Experience with Parks Canada
Christine Loth-Bown joined Parks Canada in February 2020 as the Vice President of the Indigenous Affaires and Cultural Heritage Directorate. In February 2023, she accepted the role of Vice President, External Relations and Visitor Experience Directorate.
Christine has occupied executive roles at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Canadian Tourism Commission, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and Parks Canada. She has held senior leadership roles related to the development of strategic policy initiatives, corporate planning frameworks, legislation development, and communications and stakeholder engagement.
Christine's distinguished career includes policy development and program implementation at the federal level, with over 29 years of experience. She brings significant executive experience and expertise to areas such as strategic planning, communications, stakeholder engagement, environmental protection and conservation, impact assessment, and cultural heritage protection and promotion.
Christine holds a Master of Arts in Canadian Studies from Carleton University with a specialization in Indigenous studies and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Canadian Studies and Political Science from Glendon College, York University, Toronto. She enjoys getting out on the trails and the waterways with her husband and son.