In 1994 during the Bosnian war, as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces on duty with UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force), Steve witnessed human conflict at its worst. His experience included negotiating with armed belligerents and establishing small local areas of trust and co-operation. Even under these daunting circumstances, Steve found that people can work together to achieve realistic and positive results.

Enriched by these experiences, Steve continues to search for creative and effective ways to overcome the conflicts in our daily lives. And, they motivated him to volunteer for the Harassment Investigators course in 1997 taught by the Treasury Board (which establishes guidelines for all Canadian federal departments).

In 1998 Steve entered the Certificate Program in Conflict Management offered at the University of Calgary by the Alberta Arbitration and Mediation Society, and completed Harassment Advisor training in 1998.

In 1999 Steve was included in a select group from western Canada to undergo mediation training as part of a pilot program coordinated by the Executive Director for Conflict Management responsible to the Federal Government. He achieved the third phase of the Mediator Qualification Program in June 2000.

During this time, Steve has served as a Harassment Investigator, a Harassment Advisor, as well as an Assisting Officer during harassment complaints and investigations. He also volunteers with Community Mediation Calgary Society and is on the Mediator Roster for the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Steve's most recent (2006) international mediation training assignments have been with delegations from Nigeria in London, UK, and Johannesburg, South Africa. He also conducted MTI's five-day mediator certification training for a Nigerian delegation at MTI's headquarters in Kansas City USA. Steve was a speaker at the 2006 national conference of the Association of Conflict Resolution in Philadelphia.