About RAWQ

Nikki Buechler grew up in Oakville, Ontario, taking violin and piano lessons from around 6 years of age. At age 16, she dropped out of high school to farm tobacco in Aylmer Ontario. Despite trying to finish high school as an emancipated minor, she was two credits short when she was accepted at the University of Toronto. After completing her bachelor’s degree in music, she moved to London, England, where she enrolled at the Rotterdam Conservatory while studying and playing in symphony and chamber orchestras in the UK. Nikki was accepted to Oxford University, for a master’s degree, focusing on 1930’s German opera. She subsequently accepted a fellowship at Stanford University in California, where she spent 4 years working toward a PhD, and teaching in the music department. She was also employed at Stanford University’s Information Technology Support Services department as a UNIX consultant. She did not complete her thesis, as she became a single mother during her final year of coursework.

For the next 14 years, Nikki worked in the education field, teaching, consulting, and founding a software development company that created an educational application available on the app store. Her last position before leaving California was for Apple Inc. where she worked as a linguist specializing in English language variants.

Nikki moved to the Ottawa Valley and shortly thereafter to the Pontiac just in time for Covid. She took a job as a journalist for the Equity newspaper and Pontiac Journal. Currently, in addition to volunteering for RAWQ, Nikki is the president of the Western Quebec Literacy Council board of directors, plays organ for local churches, and plays violin & fiddle under the name Nikki B Fiddling.

Nikki was motivated to join RAWQ during her experience as a local news reporter. “Even in an area where the majority of residents are English-speakers, the police department only issues press releases in French. It made me realize how much provincial language laws hurt francophones as well as anglophones. If I am a French speaker, and someone in my family goes missing, I would like to know that my entire community has the information necessary to help me look – not just French speakers. When we exclude some of our residents from participating in society, it hurts all of us.”

“Now that I am president of RAWQ, I will be putting effort into making contact with our francophone neighbours, and asking for their assistance in defeating a policy that hurts our entire community – not just anglophones. When our tax dollars are being spent to exclude or ‘other’ people, I don’t think it’s healthy – and I would be very much against any policy that told French people they couldn’t speak the language they are most comfortable speaking. At a time when technology is able to connect us all more easily, it seems like Quebec is taking a big step backwards. Our government should be working for the population it has, not the population it wants.”

Dan White is a retired attorney from Nashville, Tennessee. Following his career as an immigration lawyer in the southern US, Dan moved to Gatineau. Although he currently lives in Ottawa, he has empathy for anglophones living in Quebec. “Even if I’m living on the other side of the river now, I didn’t want to leave Quebec. I still feel like I belong to the English speaking community.”

Dan sings ‘old country’ music with his Ottawa-based band ‘Deep Fried & Countryfied.’

Building and/or repairing any businesses requires a deep and broad knowledge of people, processes, IT, Infrastructure, Business Development, Marketing, Finance, HR, Board Governance, Risk and Compliance. Brad has a proven track record in all of these areas.

A Chartered Professional Accountant, Brad’s career includes: Providing Executive Training for CEO’s and CFO’s, CEO of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, Executive Director at the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, Auditor at Deloitte, Senior Director of Operations at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, and Director of Research Accounting at Queen’s University. For all of these businesses, Brad was asked to either build or grow the business and measurably improve company controls and financial performance. He has worked with junior and senior leaders in his role as an advisor to C-suite and Board members of not-for-profit organizations and offers effective coaching and mentoring to all of his clients.

As our valued Treasurer, Brad believes in the mandate of RAWQ having worked with the province at a national level with the CPA and as a former resident of Northern Quebec.

Russell Bostwick started life in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. He moved from Silicon Valley to the Ottawa Valley at the start of secondary school. He was only able to complete one year of high school before Covid reshaped the world – at which point he was able to finish his studies online, and strengthen his affinity for technology.

Russell was providing tech support services for a RAWQ event when he was first approached to join the board of directors by outgoing president David Gillespie, who wanted to foster greater diversity on the board, and create an opportunity to include the perspective of young anglophones living in Western Quebec. Russell joined the board in September 2025, and a year later joined the executive, accepting the position of secretary after the 2026 AGM.

Russell has created a company [PontiacTec] that started as an extension of his hobby: computers.

Cat Doyle lives in the foothills just north of Aylmer. Cat was asked to join the RAWQ board of directors after she was overheard discussing the Quebec language policy, and her concern about elderly people who were struggling to access medical care in English.

Angela was born and raised in the English-speaking community of Buckingham, Quebec, where she grew up during a time when English was widely spoken in the region. Educated in English and immersed in a strong Anglophone culture, she believes Quebec's English-speaking community should continue to have access to support and services in its mother tongue.

Angela joined RAWQ to advocate for and support the Anglophone community while fostering balance, understanding, and camaraderie among all Quebec residents, regardless of the language they speak. She believes that everyone deserves access to services in either of Canada's two official languages and that expanding multilingual support is far more beneficial than reducing existing services.

A resident of Aylmer for the past 26 years, Angela recently retired from the National Research Council after 35 years of dedicated service. She has also served as the primary caregiver for her 92-year-old mother, a lifelong Quebec Anglophone whose family has deep roots in the province.

Today, Angela is a Reiki Master Practitioner and Instructor, as well as a Master Hypnotherapist. Through her work, she is committed to helping others achieve greater balance, well-being, and joy in their lives.