SPEAKERS 

Kizito Bijyinama Musabimana

Founder & Executive Director Rwandan Canadian Healing Centre (RCHC)

Kizito prides himself in being a storyteller with a dream of telling successful African stories to the world. After graduating from the Film & Television Production program at Toronto Film School, he attended the Independent Producers program at Centennial College. He learned the art of building bridges through cross-sector collaboration to create a world we wish to see – a more connected, self-sufficient, and just society.

Born in Rwanda, Kizito was 11 years old during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi and having grown up with memories of 94, he later faced an impossible battle to overcome PTSD; a struggle which many in the Rwanda Canadian community continue to face today – especially those who were young at the time of the Genocide.

By taking a holistic approach to life, Kizito was able to overcome the worst of PTSD (severe depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts). He has since worked tirelessly to understand issues in his (African Canadian) community, partnering with youth and leaders and leading organisations to develop programs designed to solve these challenges collaboratively for current and future generations.

Jacop Adams

MBA Cohort Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria

Mayor Marianne Alto

City of Victoria

Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto is a facilitator by trade with university degrees in law and science.  A businesswoman active in community causes for decades, Marianne was first elected to Victoria City Council in 2010, and elected as Mayor in 2022.

Mayor Alto is currently co-chair of the Victoria/Esquimalt Police Board, in addition to many other committees and organizational bodies in Victoria, the capital region, and beyond. Mayor Alto is matriarch of the City Family (a unique collaboration among the City, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations) having nurtured a long, rich relationship with those Nations. 

A zealous advocate for increased housing supply and affordability, Mayor Alto actively facilitates civil discourse toward the realization of an intentionally transformed city.  Mayor Alto convened the city’s first collaboration with Island Health and service providers working in the various fields of harm reduction, addictions and mental health, and initiated the city’s first open data portal, driving the city’s commitment to open government.  She continues to be committed to expanding the city’s efforts at smart city technology, in particular as it enables Victoria’s capacity for climate adaptation, disaster planning and response, optimizing citizen engagement and inclusion, public transportation and the lifecycles of infrastructure assets.  

Married and a mom of two boys, Marianne is a lifelong activist who vigorously advocates for equity, inclusion and fairness for everyone.  She owns and operates Azimuth Research & Consulting, a firm specializing in problem solving, change management and facilitation. 

 

Mayor Rebecca Alty

City of Yellowknife

Rebecca Alty is serving her second term as Mayor of Yellowknife. Prior to being elected as Mayor, she served as a Yellowknife City Councillor for two terms, from 2012 – 2018, and worked in communications and community relations for the Diavik Diamond Mine, NGO’s, and the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Outside of work, she enjoys walking, gardening and traveling.

Mayor Alty is bilingual in French and English, so feel free to share your concerns, comments or suggestions in either language.

Dr. Mike Ananny

Associate Professor Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, University of Southern California

 

Mike Ananny is an Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism and Affiliated Faculty of Science, Technology, and Society at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

He studies how people build the digital news infrastructures, algorithmic systems, and artificial intelligences that create public life — and tries to show how these cultures and systems can better serve public interests.

He co-directs the interdisciplinary USC collective MASTS (Media As SocioTechnical Systems), the Sloan Foundation project Knowing Machines (with Kate Crawford and Jason Schultz), and the USC Center on Generative AI and Society, and is on the Steering Committee of USC’s Center on Science, Technology and Public Life.

He was a 2022 Visiting Professor at the University of Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, a 2018-19 Berggruen Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and has held fellowships and scholarships with USC’s Society of Fellows in the Humanities, Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Harvard’s Berkman-Klein Center on Internet and Society, Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, LEGO, and Interval Research.  He was a founding member of Media Lab Europe, a postdoc with Microsoft Research’s Social Media Collective, and has consulted for LEGO, Mattel, and Nortel Networks.

He is the author of Networked Press Freedom (MIT Press, 2018), co-editor (with Laura Forlano and Molly Wright Steenson) of Bauhaus Futures (MIT Press, 2019), and is preparing a manuscript on the public power of silence (under contract with Yale University Press). He publishes in various interdisciplinary academic venues including Journalism & Media Studies, Science & Technology Studies, and Critical Internet Studies, and regularly gives expert commentary to national and international media on contemporary events and controversies.

He holds a PhD from Stanford University (Communication), a Masters from the MIT Media Laboratory, a Bachelors (Computer Science & Human Biology) from the University of Toronto, and writes for popular press publications including The Atlantic, WIRED, Harvard’s Nieman Lab, and the Columbia Journalism Review.

Dr. Vanessa Andreotti

Dean Faculty of Education, University of Victoria

Dr. Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti, Dean of the Faculty of Education. Dr. Andreotti is a former Canada Research Chair in Race, Inequalities and Global Change and a former David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education. Dr. Andreotti has held academic positions in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Finland.

She has worked extensively across disciplines, sectors and communities problematizing and offering alternatives to common approaches to social change that reproduce simplistic solutions to complex problems, paternalistic relationships with historically and systemically marginalized communities and ethnocentric ideals of sustainability, equity and justice. She is one of the co-founders of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF) Arts/Research Collective.

Dr. Andreotti is also a member of the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada. She joins the Faculty of Education at UVic with a mandate to advance decolonization, Indigenization, equity, justice and climate resilience efforts.

Anjali Appadurai

Director Climate Emergency Unit

Anjali Appadurai is a climate justice campaigner and political strategist. She got her start organizing youth movements from around the world to ensure that Global South social movements’ demands were heard in the halls of power. Today, Anjali is Campaigns Director at the Climate Emergency Unit and runs the Padma Centre for Climate Justice, a project that brings together diasporic communities to build power around issues of climate and economic justice. Anjali has also engaged with the electoral system, running as an NDP candidate in the 2021 federal election and as a candidate in the 2022 BCNDP leadership race.

Honourable Janet Austin

Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia

The Honourable Janet Austin was sworn-in as the 30th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia on April 24, 2018. Prior to this appointment, she spent 15 years as Chief Executive Officer of YWCA Metro Vancouver, one of the province’s largest and most diversified non-profits. There she oversaw operations delivering services to tens of thousands of people annually at more than 40 locations.

Raised in Alberta, Her Honour spent her early career in public sector roles in Calgary, working in regional planning and public consultation and communications for the provincial government. She eventually moved to British Columbia, where she began working with BC Housing and discovered her passion and aptitude for public office. Prior to joining the YWCA, Her Honour served as Executive Director of Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland, and actively volunteered for many organizations in commitment to helping improve the lives of others, as well as serving on various boards ranging from Translink to the Women’s Health Research Institute.

Her Honour is Chancellor of the Order of British Columbia and was invested as a Member of the Order in 2016. As Lieutenant Governor, she has identified three key themes for her mandate: the promotion of diversity and inclusion, democracy and civic engagement, and Reconciliation.

Honourable Lloyd Axworthy

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada

The Honourable Lloyd Axworthy is the chair of the World Refugee & Migration Council and one of Canada’s leading voices on global migration and refugee protection. After a 27-year political career, where he served as Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Employment and Immigration, among other postings, Mr. Axworthy has continued to work extensively on human security, refugee protection and human rights in Canada and abroad. He was presented with the Pearson Peace Medal by the Governor General of Canada in May 2017 and is a Companion of the Order of Canada. In his term as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg, Mr. Axworthy initiated innovative programs for migrant and aboriginal youth communities and has also done a great deal of work on refugee reform as a Richard von Weizsäcker fellow at Germany’s Robert Bosch Academy.

Sébastien Beaulieu

Director General Security & Emergency Preparedness,Global Affairs Canada

Sébastien Beaulieu is a senior executive at Global Affairs Canada, and a career diplomat since 1998. He is currently Director General, Security & Emergency Management, and Chief Security Officer.

He has been Chief of Staff to the Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (2010-12), Ambassador of Canada to Tunisia (2012-15), Middle East Relations Executive Director (2015-17) and Syria

Envoy (2017-19), as well as Ambassador of Canada to Senegal (2019-21).

He has also worked on Canada-U.S. relations, climate change, international security, trade policy and international trade litigation, in addition to assignments in Geneva & Paris. In support of Canada’s public diplomacy, he is engaged with the University of Victoria as Adjunct Professor with the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, and co-founder of the Victoria Forum.

Education:

• Bachelor in Social Sciences, Université de Moncton, NB, Canada (1995).
• Juris Doctor (J.D.), McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada (1998).
• Editor-in-Chief, McGill Law Journal (1997-98).
• Law Society of Ontario, ON, Canada (2000).

George Benson

Senior Manager Vancouver Economic Commission

An urban planner by training, and an economic developer by trade, George Benson is Senior Manager, Economic Transformation at the Vancouver Economic Commission, working to decarbonize, build resilience, and increase social equity in Vancouver’s massive architecture, engineering, and construction sectors. More broadly, George also supports much of VEC’s green economy and social impact work in different ways.

George brings unique experience from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, together with deep content knowledge in resilience, urban sustainability, global governance, and new economic systems. He works with individual businesses, industry associations, building code developers, global businesses and networks, and researchers on numerous capacity building, coordination, and market transformation initiatives.

Outside of VEC, George is the Global Climate Lead for North America in the World Economic Forum’s young leaders network, the Global Shapers Community, and has been involved in the leadership of the US and Canadian urban planning associations. In 2017, he was recognised by the City of Vancouver with its Award of Excellence for his work on building sustainability and resilience in the community.

Daniel Bernhard

CEO Institute for Canadian Citizenship

Daniel is a first-generation Canadian who has dedicated his career to public benefit following a short stint in corporate consulting. He has led and advised charities, foundations, and government agencies in North America, Europe, and the Middle East to build and deliver creative, transformational programs that advance the public good.

Daniel is also a qualified software developer. He speaks English, French and Spanish and holds degrees from the LSE and Cambridge.

Donneton Brown

Operation Black Vote Canada

Kim C. Baird

Chancellor Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Kim Baird is an accomplished leader advising Indigenous communities, governments, businesses and other organizations on Indigenous matters. She is the Chancellor for Kwantlen Polytechnic University and is the owner of Kim Baird Strategic Consulting. Her continued goal is to improve the quality of life for Indigenous people through her services in relation to First Nation policy, governance, and economic development; as well as First Nation consultation, communication, and engagement issues. Kim also helps with reconciliation planning for companies and organizations. Kim is recognized for her communication, negotiation, and facilitation skills, and has extensive public speaking experience. She is on several boards including Canada Infrastructure Bank and FPX Nickel Corp.  Kim is a member of both the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada, is an Indspire Laureate  and holds an Institute of Corporate Director’s designation.

Stephanie Cairns

Director Strategic Policy Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions

Stephanie is the Director of Strategic Policy at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. Over the last 30 years she has worked on circular economy, sustainable communities, climate and carbon pricing policies with leading climate change and environmental non-governmental organizations, research institutes, and expert panels, including the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative, the Smart Prosperity Institute, and the Pembina Institute. She was the first woman appointed as National President of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, is past Chair of the Galiano Conservancy Association, and is currently a Coordinating Lead Author for the North American Biodiversity and Climate Change Assessment.

Stephanie has advised political leaders at every order of Canadian jurisdiction, and held the 2022/23 Kinross Chair in Environmental Governance at the University of Guelph. She has a Clean50 Lifetime Achievement award and shares a Harkin Conservation Award.

Senator Andrew Cardozo

Senator for Ontario

Senator Andrew Cardozo is a recognized expert on public policy, a columnist, and an artist. His policy areas of expertise span Canadian government and politics, broadcasting and cultural policy, skills development especially the future of work, multiculturalism and diversity.

He was appointed to the Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November 2022, before which he was the President and co-founder of the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy.  Over the past decade he worked to elevate open public policy dialogue by bringing together thought leaders from all political backgrounds, from business, labour, NGOs and the broader public to address the major challenges facing Canadian society.  Prior to that he has been Executive Director of the Alliance of Sector Councils working on skills development across some 30 economic sectors, and Executive Director of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, where he worked on policies and legislation in employment equity, immigration, multiculturalism and the Canadian constitution.

Senator Cardozo has been a columnist for the Toronto Star and Broadcast Dialogue, and since 2014, a regular contributor to the Hill Times.  He was also an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University.

He has served as a Commissioner of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) where he championed Canadian content, diversity in broadcasting, and played a key role in the licensing of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).  Since then, he has volunteered as an adjudicator for the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

Senator Cardozo was a stay-at-home dad when his children were young. An immigrant from South Asia, with origins in Goa, India and Karachi, Pakistan, he has worked on the successful integration of diversity issues in the mainstream of Canadian public policy.  He was a board member of the Catholic Centre for Immigrants (Ottawa), the YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region, Media Awareness Network, the Institute of Media Arts, Policy and Civil Society (Vancouver) and has been active with Big Brothers Big Sisters (Ottawa).

He has been the recipient of several awards: the 2023 DreamKeepers Citation for Outstanding Leadership award commemorating the historic role of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal, the Reelworld Film Festival Guardian Angel Award (Toronto), le Prix annuel du Centre de recherche-action sur les relations sociales, CRARR (Montreal), and Big Brother of the Year (Ottawa).

Senator Cardozo holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science from York University and a Master of Arts in Public Administration from Carleton University.  He has also studied art at the Ottawa School of Art and is an accomplished artist, generally of abstract landscapes and has been featured in several art shows in the Ottawa area, while his art hangs in many countries. He has two adult children who live and work in Ottawa.

Dr. Liz Carlson-Manathara

Associate Professor School of Social Work at Laurentian University

 

Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Laurentian University and a non-Indigenous scholar whose work focuses on the roles of non-Indigenous peoples in decolonization and Treaty relationships, and on anti-colonial methodologies and decolonial change through public education and film. She is a co-author of the book Living in Indigenous Sovereignty and a filmmaker with the Stories of Decolonization Film Project.

Sean Casey

Member of Parliament for Charlottetown

Sean was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland but grew up in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Accounting from Saint Francis Xavier University. He worked for NBTel before attending Dalhousie Law School, graduating in 1988. While attending Dalhousie, he was on the Student Union Executive and served as President of the Law Students Association.

Upon graduating, Sean served as a summer student at what was then Scales Jenkins and McQuaid (now Stewart McKelvey) in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He continued to work with the firm and was named a partner at 29 years of age. In 2003, Sean left the firm to take a leadership role in the family business, commonly known as Paderno. That was also the year he ran his first of 4 marathons.

In 2008, Sean rejoined Stewart McKelvey where he served as Regional Managing Partner. In 2011, Sean was elected the Member of Parliament of Charlottetown. He was re-elected in 2015, 2019, and again most recently in 2021. In Parliament, Sean has served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, as well as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, and Chair of the Liberal Atlantic Caucus. Sean is currently the Chair of the Standing Committee on Health, and a member of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. Sean lives in Charlottetown with his wife, Deirdre and their dog, Yoda.

Michael Cholod

The Peace Coalition

Michael Cholod is a technology leader, decentralist and humanitarian. As Executive Director of the Peer Social Foundation, a Vancouver-based non-profit software development company, Michael is dedicated to developing decentralized internet architectures and technologies that promote privacy and self-attested digital identity for everyone.

The Peer Social Foundation is a founding member of The Peace Coalition, an international, non-profit association of NGOs, academic institutions and independent experts in HLP restitution developing a comprehensive package of policy technology and practical guidance aimed at preserving Peace by putting a price on War in the hopes of preventing future conflict.

Michael is currently coordinating with local and international experts and donors to pilot an HLP mass claims restitution process by conducting rebuilding projects in war affected towns and villages across Ukraine.

Andrew Chunilall

CEO Community Foundations of Canada

Andrew joined Community Foundations Canada in 2013 and became CEO in 2017, following a six-year tenure as Vice-President of Finance for the London Community Foundation and his long-standing service as a finance and regulatory expert for Canada’s philanthropic milieu. Now at the head of the community foundation movement, Andrew is working closely with the Community Foundations of Canada Leadership team, Board and foundations in Canada and abroad to help the philanthropic sector transform, innovate and meet the new challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. An increasingly active public speaker, Andrew is helping raise awareness for how the philanthropic sector’s convening power, leadership and action around targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals can help Canadian communities reach their full potential.

Outside of Community Foundations of Canada, Andrew has been highly active in the nonprofit community for 15 years, serving on numerous boards including Community Living London and Art for AIDS International. In 2014, he was appointed to the Board of the Southwest Local Health Integration Network by former Minister of Health, Deb Matthews. In 2015, he was among 250 selected emerging leaders to participate in the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference. He recently joined the Board of WINGS, the global network of grantmaker associations and philanthropic support organisations.

With a background in education in economics and commerce, Andrew obtained his chartered accountant designation in 2002 and began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as a manager in the Assurance and Advisory Group.

Mayor Charlie Clark

Mayor of Saskatoon

Charlie Clark was re-elected Mayor of Saskatoon in 2020 for a second term with a mandate to build a strong economic future where no one is left behind. Charlie will do this by continuing to foster innovative partnerships that build solutions to keep people safe, keep people working, and strive to make Saskatoon the most livable mid-sized city in Canada.

Charlie is passionate about Saskatoon. He believes our history of innovation, problem-solving, and collaboration can position us as a leading city across Canada. His approach is centered on the belief that partnerships among groups with different perspectives can offer the best solutions to the challenges being faced by cities across the world. He is committed to building a community where people see each other’s strengths instead of differences, where families can thrive, and children are able to see a future for themselves here.

He is married to Sarah Buhler, a law professor at the University of Saskatchewan, and they have three children: Simon, Ben, and Rachel.  

Previous to serving as mayor, Charlie was the Ward 6 City Councillor for ten years. Before elected life, he worked in the areas of mediation and community economic development. He has bachelor’s degrees in conflict resolution and education as well as a master’s degree in environmental studies.  

The Rt. Honourable Joe Clark

Former Prime Minister of Canada

Joe Clark (born June 5, 1939, High River, Alberta, Canada) is a Canadian politician who served as prime minister of Canada from June 1979 to March 1980, the youngest person ever to win the post.

Clark obtained a B.A. in history (1960) and an M.A. in political science (1973) from the University of Alberta and taught political science there from 1965 to 1967. He had been active in politics since 1957 in support of the Progressive Conservative Party; from 1962 to 1965 he was national president of the Progressive Conservative Student Federation. In 1967 he directed the campaign organization that brought Peter Lougheed to power as premier of Alberta, and from 1967 to 1970 he served as executive assistant to Robert Stanfield, then the Conservative leader in the House of Commons. Clark himself was first elected to Parliament in 1972, and he was elected leader of his party in 1976.

In 1979 the Progressive Conservatives won a plurality of seats in Parliament, and Clark became head of a minority government. Only six months after he took office, however, his government fell on a budget question; in the subsequent general elections in February-March 1980, his party was defeated by the Liberals headed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Clark served as the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party until 1983. That year he held a formal leadership-selection meeting and was defeated by Brian Mulroney. Clark served in Mulroney’s government as secretary of state for external affairs (1984–91) and president of the Queen’s Privy Council (1991–93).

He also served briefly (1993) as United Nations special representative to Cyprus. In 1998 Clark was again elected leader of the Progressive Conservatives, and in 2000 he won a seat in the House of Commons. He stepped down as party leader in 2003, and the following year he resigned from the legislature. In 2006 Clark became a professor at the Centre for Developing-Area Studies at McGill University. He later wrote How We Lead: Canada in a Century of Change (2013).

Christina Clarke

Executive Director Indigenous Prosperity Centre

Christina Clarke is Executive Director of the Indigenous Prosperity Centre, a not-for-profit committed to the self-directed economic vision of First Nations and Indigenous Peoples throughout Southern Vancouver Island. She looks forward to facilitating the economic goals of First Nations and Indigenous people as co-creators of an inclusive economy.

Before joining the IPC, Clarke spent 27 years with the Songhees Nation, serving as Senior Finance Manager, Executive Director and as inaugural CEO of the Songhees Development Corporation. Clarke is a board member of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and a former board member of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority and South Island Prosperity Partnership. In 2022, she was appointed to UVic’s Board of Governors.

A graduate of the UVic, Clarke honours her NunatuKavit ancestry through her mother and is proud of her first generation Irish Canadian Father.

Blaine Cook

Co-founder and CTO EarthNet

Wanda Costen

Dean Smith School of Business at Queen's University

Dr. Wanda Costen, Dean of Smith School of Business, joined the Queen’s University community in July 2021. Dr. Costen is known for being a champion of inclusiveness in business, and her collaborative approach to leadership brings a unique combination of experience in academic leadership, research and teaching, as well as senior management roles in the private and public sector.

Gregor Craigie

Author, Broadcaster

Gregor Craigie has been a journalist for more than 25 years at the BBC World Service, CBC Radio, CBS Radio and Public Radio International. He has hosted On The Island on CBC Radio One in Victoria, BC, since 2007. His first book, On Borrowed Time: North America’s Next Big Quake, was a finalist for both the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy and the City of Victoria Book Prize, and was a Globe and Mail Top 100 book in 2021.

His latest adult nonfiction book is Our Crumbling Foundation: How We Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis, which was published by Random House Canada and became an instant national bestseller. His first novel, Radio Jet Lag, was published in 2023 and was longlisted for this year’s Leacock Medal for Canadian humour writing.

Jeff Cyr

Managing Director Raven Indigenous Outcomes Funds

Jeff is mixed heritage, Métis and European and hails from the White Horse Plains area of Southern Manitoba, the traditional Buffalo Hunt staging grounds. For nearly 20 years, he has provided strategic leadership for Indigenous, not-for-profit, and government organizations. Jeff has helped create and implement the community-driven outcomes contract (a unique pay-for-success social finance model) and the Indigenous Solutions Lab process, which earned him an Ashoka Fellowship. Jeff is a proud husband to Nicole and father of five and currently lives and works on unceded Algonquin lands in what is now known as Ottawa, Ontario.

Senator Donna Dasko

Senator for Ontario

Donna Dasko was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on June 6, 2018.

She is a respected national pollster, media commentator, and private sector business leader with considerable public policy experience. She holds a Ph.D. and MA from the University of Toronto and a BA (Hons) from the University of Manitoba.

Dr. Dasko was formerly Senior Vice-President of Environics Research Group Ltd, and built the firm from a small consultancy into one of Canada’s leading research firms. During her career, she led major research studies for federal and provincial departments and agencies, private sector clients, and NGOs, in areas including the economy, budget priorities, tobacco control, health promotion, national unity, and many others. She was a leader in developing media-sponsored polling including the Globe-Environics Poll and election and special feature polling for the CBC.

As a community volunteer, she served in many roles including President of St. Stephen’s Community House, Director of the United Way of Greater Toronto, Governor of the Canadian Unity Council (devoted to Canadian unity and federalism), Chair of the National CEO Roundtable for the Alzheimer Society, and Advisor to GreenPac (which promotes environmental leadership).

Dr. Dasko’s passion for the promotion of women in politics has guided much of her advocacy. She is a Co-Founder and former National Chair of Equal Voice, a non-partisan organization aimed at electing more women in Canada. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), which promotes equality rights for women. In 2015, she co-founded the Campaign for an Equal Senate for Canada, an initiative to promote a gender-equal Senate. She works with National Democratic Institute on issues related to women in politics internationally.

She is a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and taught in its Master’s program before her Senate appointment. She is a member of Statistics Canada’s Advisory Committee on Social Conditions.

Dr. Dasko was born and raised in Winnipeg. She has two children, a daughter and son.

Suzanne C. de Janasz

George Mason University

Suzanne C. de Janasz, Ph.D., is currently a Visiting Professor of Management and Conflict Analysis and Resolution (a joint appointment) at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Previously, Suzanne served as the Thomas Gleed Distinguished Chair of Business Administration at Seattle University in Seattle, Washington, where she taught undergrad and MBA students, mentored junior faculty, and directed the Seattle branch of HERA (Her Equality Rights and Autonomy), a UK-based charity which empowers formerly trafficked or exploited women with career and entrepreneurship development and mentoring.

Prior to coming to Seattle, Suzanne was Professor of Leadership and Organization Development at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she designed and delivered programs for mid-level and senior executives in global companies, specializing in leadership, negotiations, mentoring and careers, organizational development and change, creativity/innovation, work–life balance, entrepreneurship, and interpersonal/ managerial skills. The recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the 2017 Mid-Career Distinguished Educator Award from the OBTS Teaching Society for Management Educators and a Fulbright Fellowship (Warsaw University in Poland), Suzanne continues to teach executives around the world (on five continents!) for ESMT (Berlin, Germany) and other schools (e.g., IEDC in Slovenia, QUT in Australia). Suzanne’s research on mentoring, careers, authenticity, work–family conflict, and leadership appears in journals such as Harvard Business Review, Academy of Management Executive, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior, British Journal of Management, Career Development International, and Journal of Management Education and features frequently in domestic and international newspapers, online publications (she’s a featured blogger for Huffington Post), and radio programs. The sixth edition of her text Interpersonal Skills in Organizations (coauthored with Karen Dowd and Beth Schneider) will be published in early 2018.

She regularly consults with a variety of global organizations, serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, and has held leadership roles in the Academy of Management (e.g., Careers Division Chair), the Southern Management Association, and the OBTS. After earning an undergraduate music degree from the University of Miami, Suzanne earned her MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (USC). Between the two degrees, she worked for five years as an organizational consultant in the aerospace industry.

Principal Patrick Deane

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Queen’s University

Patrick Deane became the 21st Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University on July 1, 2019.

Dr. Deane is the former President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster University, a position he held for nine years. Prior to that he served as Vice-Principal (Academic) at Queen’s and also held a number of academic administrative appointments at Western University and the University of Winnipeg.

Dr. Deane is a Professor of English Literature, with his principal research focus being the relationship between cultural production and British politics in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

He read English and Law at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, before undertaking graduate studies and receiving both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Western University. He also taught at Western from 1988 to 2001 following some years on faculty at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Deane was the first recipient of the John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature in 1988, and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. He was made an Honorary Life Member of the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University in 2010.

He is President of the Governing Council of the Magna Charta Observatory (Bologna), Vice-President and Treasurer of the International Association of Universities (Paris), served as Chair of the Universities Canada Standing Committee on Research, 2019-2023, and a member of the Campaign Cabinet for the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.

 

Marcie DeWitt

Coordinator Alberni Clayoquot Health Network

Marcie DeWitt is a consultant who has been engaged in systems and social change initiatives for over a decade. She has had the privilege to be involved with projects leading multidisciplinary networks, conducting community engagement, planning, and advocacy initiatives aimed at increasing health equity and addressing complex social issues.

Marcie has a passion for social justice and creativity. Her background in psychology, project management, public policy, and facilitation have combined into a rewarding career building and facilitating community driven process.

Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell

Former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario

The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell is the longest-serving Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (2014-2023). She carried out thousands of constitutional and ceremonial duties and encouraged Ontarians to think deeply about their role as residents of a province and as global citizens. She became known as Ontario’s “Storyteller-in-Chief”. Building a resilient and sustainable society was the focus of her mandate. Safeguarding democracy was her passion.

Ms. Dowdeswell’s eclectic public service career has spanned provincial, federal and international borders and transcended disciplinary lines, engaging the public in complex issues of social significance. She contributed globally as Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. She was the founding president and CEO of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and later the President and CEO of the Council of Canadian Academies. She has served on the boards of Canadian and international corporate and non-profit organizations.

Ms. Dowdeswell is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario and is the recipient of numerous distinctions and fellowships. She holds 11 honorary doctorates.

Tracey Drake

CEO Royal BC Museum

Tracey Drake was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Royal BC Museum in February 2024, following six effective months in the acting CEO role. Tracey oversees Museum operations, BC Archives, and IMAX, as well as the critical work underway with province-wide community engagement, repatriation, DRIPA implementation, and the archives, collections and research building capital project in Colwood.

Passionate about the importance of the organization’s mandate to truly represent diverse communities and become a progressive museum for all British Columbians, Drake is also charged with stewarding the reimagining of the museum. With a collaborative leadership approach to realizing transformative change and organizational stability, Tracey’s knowledge and experience is instrumental in advancing the museum’s strategic direction.

An experienced and multidisciplinary senior executive, Tracey joined the museum in 2021 as Head of Marketing, Communications and Business Development and was promoted to Vice President of Strategic Operations in 2022. Prior to joining the Royal BC Museum, Tracey’s career in executive leadership and strategic management consulting spanned more than two decades, working with organizations across the tourism, cultural, and non-profit sectors. Deeply committed to community, Tracey has served on numerous boards, and was recognized nationally for her significant fundraising efforts.

Tracey holds an MBA from the University of Leicester, Executive Strategic Leadership and Change Management education from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management from Algonquin College.

Janis Dubno

Managing Director Sorenson Impact Center, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah

Janis Is a Managing Director at the Sorenson Impact Institute, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, where she leads the Institute’s Impact Finance group. Janis is a pioneer in outcomes-based financing field and has extensive impact finance experience. Janis received an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics and Political Science from Yale College. In 2015, Janis took a leave of absence from the Institute to join the Obama Administration as a Pay for Success Fellow and lead the Department of Education’s Pay for Success initiative. She was a Senior Policy Advisor to the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) providing expertise on the Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Pay for Outcomes authority. Prior to joining the Institute, Janis was Director of Early Childhood and Education Policy for the nonprofit Voices for Utah Children where she led efforts to secure state funding for early childhood programs and was the architect of the Utah High Quality Preschool Program Social Impact Loan, the first early childhood Pay for Success project in the country.

 

Janis has 15 years of experience on Wall Street structuring innovative financial transactions.  She has experience in project finance, and corporate and utility debt and equity new issuance; however, her expertise is in structuring whole loan and agency collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs). She was the lead structurer for the securitization of the Resolution Trust Corporation’s (RTC) Savings and Loan assets and worked closely with Moody’s to develop the final structure that saved millions of dollars in credit enhancement for the RTC. Janis’s tenure on Wall Street included working at The First Boston Corporation, UBS Securities and Bear Stearns & Co, among others. Janis has been an adjunct professor in the finance department of the Gore School of Business at Westminster College and the economics department at the University of Utah.

 

Alicia Dubois

Chief Investment Officer Boann Social Impact

Alicia is an accomplished leader with pan-Canadian experience building markets and organizations with a focus on inclusive economic growth with shared outcomes, purpose-driven community engagement, and access to capital for marginalized peoples and sectors.
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Driven by her background and lived experience, Alicia’s focus has been on advancing Indigenous Peoples and communities, and engaging and co-creating solutions with diverse sectors of society and the economy as a means to driving understanding, equality and alignment. She served as CEO of the Royal BC Museum, Alberta’s Indigenous Opportunities Corporation, and Vice President, Indigenous Markets at CIBC.

She is also the co-creator and co-founder of the Indigenous Leadership Circle (ILC), a national application-based initiative that now boasts over 60 members and is welcoming its third cohort of young Indigenous professionals, with a focus on mentorship and advancing connection and social capital for young Indigenous leaders across Canada.

As the Chief Investment Officer, Alicia will oversee the investment and market development strategies for Boann Social Impact. She will also lead the development of Boann Impact Capital, a fund being developed for private and institutional investment in social impact.

Teresa Dukes

Executive Director Social Innovation Office at Government of Manitoba

Teresa Dukes has a Masters of Arts in Leadership and is the Executive Director of the Social Innovation Office, where her work involves aligning government, social purpose organizations’ and the private sector to solve some of Manitoba’s most pressing complex social issues.

Teresa is passionate about advancing systems and programs to meet the current and emerging needs of people. She joined the Klinic Board of Directors September 2020 and is excited to be a part of Klinic’s continuing work to strengthen the community health system in Manitoba.

Kristi Fairholm Mader

Managing Director Thrive Impact Fund; Scale Collaborative

Kristi Fairholm Mader (KFM) has always worked in the social impact sector. After 10 years as a youth worker, she returned to school to complete a business degree, with a focus on social enterprise. Kristi founded and supported several employment social enterprises, and was Director of Social Enterprise for Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network. In 2014, Kristi co-founded Scale Collaborative to support growing a thriving social change sector. Within Scale’s family of organizations, KFM is the Managing Director of Thrive Impact Fund and Scale Institute Society.

Dr. Stacey Fitzsimmons

Associate Professor International Business at University of Victoria's Peter B. Gustavson School of Business.

Stacey Fitzsimmons (Ph.D. SFU Beedie School of Business, Canada) is an Associate Professor of International Business at University of Victoria’s Peter B. Gustavson School of Business. Her research objective is to support globally mobile employees at work, by improving the way international organizations manage them. She does this by examining how multicultural, immigrant and refugee employees contribute to their global teams and organizations, how international organizations manage and leverage their globally mobile employees, and how domestic (non-immigrant) employees react to their immigrant colleagues. Stacey’s research has been published in Academy of Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, Human Resource Management Review, Organization Studies, and Organizational Dynamics. She received the AOM’s International Human Resources Scholarly Research award and WAIB’s (Women in the Academy of International Business) emerging scholar award. She currently serves on WAIB’s board, and was awarded competitive visiting Fellowship positions at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Studies (GIBS), South Africa, and the University of Sydney Business School. She is lead editor on two special issues in progress now; one on global mobility of people in the Journal of International Business Studies, and one on equality, diversity and inclusion in the Journal of World Business.

Vivian Forssman

ResilienceByDesign Lab at Royal Roads University

Vivian Forssman’s senior-level operational and project management experience is currently focused on applying learning strategies, learning networks and practitioner communities to foster climate change capacity-building and workforce development.

Her professional background includes leading post-secondary teaching-and-learning centres, implementing digital learning and communications strategies, and collaborating on innovative models for learning accreditation.

She currently works with Dr. Robin Cox, Resilience by Design Lab at RRU. Recent efforts have been focused on program management of Adaptation Learning Network involving several BC universities; climate adaptation micro-credential strategies; and co-developing a climate adaptation competency framework to support skills development for individuals and organizations in a climate-changed reality.

Teara Fraser

Founder and CEO Iskwew Air

Becoming a pilot was transformational, truly giving this young Métis woman wings. Teara is the first Indigenous woman to launch an airline in Canada – Iskwew Air.

Iskwew Air is the bridge between traditional air service and the sustainable technology of the future. She believes that together in this innovative space we will rematriate, reimagine, and rebuild our air transportation system – centering equity, resilience, and sustainability. Teara serves as a BC Executive Committee member of CAAM, the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility consortium, where Iskwew Air is a proud founding member.

A deep commitment to leadership and safety inspired her to establish the Aviation Leadership Foundation in 2008. Teara proudly serves as a Board Director for the British Columbia Aviation Council (BCAC). She continues to offer her aviation expertise to aviation companies as a strategic advisor, regulatory advisor, safety expert, executive coach, incident/accident trauma coach, and leadership development designer.

Teara founded the not-for-profit Indigenous LIFT Collective where she launched Give them Wings (Indigenous Youth Taking Flight). Teara has been actively engaged in the British Columbia Aviation Council for over a decade and is a Board Director for Unmanned Systems Canada. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

Teara Fraser holds a Master of Arts in Leadership degree from Royal Roads University, and she is a Certified Executive Coach. The journey of learning now takes her back to Royal Roads as Associate Faculty in the Master of Arts in Leadership program and to Fielding University where she is studying in the Human Development Ph.D. program.

Teara has been named WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100, Top 25 Women of Influence, YWCA Woman of Distinction, and one of 24 ‘real world heroes’ in the DC Comics Wonder Woman anthology – Wonderful Women of the World. In 2021, she ranked 44 on Maclean’s Power List.

Teara is a proud Métis bridge builder.

Arti Freeman

President and CEO Definity Insurance Foundation

Arti has nearly 20 years’ experience in the philanthropic sector leading granting programs and strategies, organizational change initiatives, and business process improvements. In 2003, Arti joined the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), one of Canada’s largest grantmaking foundations. Most recently, she was the Manager of Partnership Investments at OTF, where she led the successful rebuilding of the Partnership Investment program that connects the non-profit, public, and private sectors to build a stronger non-profit sector in Ontario. While at OTF, Arti served in a variety of roles. Her work resulted in the design and implementation of innovative philanthropic models and investments that build local communities across Ontario. Prior to joining OTF, Arti led the training and consulting offerings at the Centre for Community Leadership at Niagara College, where she concurrently served as a consultant for Niagara’s non-profit sector. Her community service experience includes Board of Trustees, Brock University, Board Member, Bethlehem Housing and Support Services, and Big Sister, Big Brothers and Sisters of North and West Niagara. Arti received a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Assumption College in the Philippines and a Master of Science in Poverty Reduction and Development Management from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Raymonde Gagné

Speaker of the Senate of Canada

Born in Manitoba, Speaker Raymonde Gagné has worked in the field of education for over 35 years. Notably, she was President of the Université de Saint-Boniface (USB) from 2003-2014. During this time, she directed the efforts to change the institution’s status from college to university. She also spearheaded a fundraising campaign – the largest in the institution’s history – for the construction of a new health sciences building, to expand research capacity and increase the scholarship and bursary program.

Prior to her tenure as President, she served as Director of New Programs, Director of the Community College and of the Continuing Education Division of USB, as well as Professor in Business Administration.

Prior to her arrival at USB, she worked as a high school teacher, a principal in Manitoba, and as a consultant in regional and industrial expansion in New Brunswick.

Throughout her career, she contributed to numerous organizations and boards within Manitoba and across the country. She served as President of the Association des universités de la francophonie canadienne from 2005-2009, was a member of the Advisory Committee on Official Languages for the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada from 2007-2009, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium national de formation en santé, which she co-chaired from 2009-2014.

As President of USB, Senator Gagné was a member of the Council of Presidents of Universities of Manitoba and was elected Chair in 2012. She was also a member of the Senate of the University of Manitoba.

Appointed Senator for Manitoba on April 1, 2016, she became Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate (Deputy Leader) in January 2020, a position she held until her appointment as the 46th Speaker of the Senate in the spring of 2023.

She is a member of the Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, and a recipient of the Prix Riel.

Senator Rosa Galvez

Senator for Québec

Rosa Galvez, originally from Peru, is one of Canada’s leading experts in pollution control and its effect on human health. She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from McGill University and was a professor at Université Laval à Québec for over 25 years, heading the Civil and Water Engineering Department from 2010 to 2016. She specializes in water and soil decontamination, waste management and residues, sustainable development, environmental impact assessments, and climate risk to infrastructure.

Throughout her career, she has been requested by private, governmental and community organisations to offer expert advice. She has advised a number of international organisations including on Canada-US and Quebec-Vermont agreements regarding the protection of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. She also conducted an important study on the catastrophic oil spill at Lac-Mégantic.

Senator Galvez is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec and the Pan American Union of Engineering Societies. She is also a Fellow of Engineers Canada, the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Her research has led her around the world to countries such as France, Italy, Belgium, Japan and China.

Senator Galvez was appointed to the Senate on December 6, 2016, representing Québec (Bedford). She is currently a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, and a member of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance. Since her appointment, she has also served on the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications and the Special Committee on the Arctic.

She has published several policy papers including a discussion paper on Canada’s building codes and a white paper on a clean and just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2022, she published a white paper on Aligning Canadian Finance with Climate Commitments, which led to the introduction of Bill S-243, the Climate-Aligned Finance Act, legislation to help guide Canada’s financial sector in its transition to a net-zero economy.

Her parliamentary work on climate and the environment has earned her several awards, including the Clean50 Award 2021, the 2022 Ecological Society of America Regional Policy Award, and the 2023 Top 25 Women of Influence Award.

She lives in Quebec with her husband, Luke, and has three children, Virginie, Lydia and Francisco.

Jessica Garcia

MBA Cohort Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria

Rowan Gentleman-Sylvester

Executive Director CityHive

Rowan is the Executive Director of CityHive, a Metro Vancouver-based non-profit on a mission to transform the way that young people are engaged in shaping their cities. She is an experienced convenor, educator, and engagement practitioner, and has a deep passion for democracy in action.

Since joining the CityHive team in early 2020, she has led countless programs and projects that bring together youth and decision makers on important urban issues – from climate change to public space to affordability and everything in between. She has worked with dozens of clients, including Translink, BC Hydro, the Province of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver to support them to do a better job of engaging youth in decision-making and planning processes. She is the former co-chair of IAP2 Canada’s Young Professionals’ Community of Practice and her deep expertise in youth and democratic engagement have led her to sit on a number of regional and national advisories – shaping the future of youth engagement in this country.

As a settler raised on Coast Salish territories, Rowan strives to bring a critical lens to the roles of power, privilege and place in shaping our communities. With a profound interest in experiential education, civic engagement, and place-based climate action, Rowan finds inspiration in witnessing the innovative ways young people contribute to their communities and tackle complex challenges head-on.

Emma Gilchrist

Editor-in-Chief The Narwhal

Emma Gilchrist is a reporter, editor, public speaker and spreadsheet-keeper. She started her journalism career more than 15 years ago and co-founded The Narwhal with Carol Linnitt in 2018. Emma grew up in a small town in northwestern Alberta where she saw firsthand the important role resource development plays in Canadian communities. She went on to earn a journalism degree from Mount Royal University in Calgary and to work as a reporter and editor in Canada and the U.K., including stints at the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald. While at the Calgary Herald, Emma created a weekly environmental column and website called The Green Guide, which won an Alberta Emerald Award and Canadian Newspaper Association Great Ideas Award. In 2015, Mount Royal University honoured Emma with an alumni award for her work reimagining Canada’s media landscape. And in 2017 and 2022, Emma was recognized by Canada’s Clean50 for building a “powerhouse environmental investigative journalism outlet.” Also in 2022, Emma won gold at the National Magazine Awards for a personal essay about her decades-long quest to track down her biological parents. And in 2023, she won a National Newspaper Award for a feature about terminating a pregnancy for medical reasons. When she’s not tethered to her computer, Emma is happiest reading a book or surfing the waves of Vancouver Island (not simultaneously).

Dallas Gislason

Interim CEO South Island Prosperity Partnership

Dallas Gislason has played instrumental roles in many industry-leading economic development projects in Canada, the USA, and overseas over the past 15 years. He has served on several boards, including Business Retention and Expansion International, the International Council on National Youth Policy, Junior Achievement of Saskatchewan and the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network. He currently sits on the advisory board of the Camosun Technology Access Centre.

Dallas is the youngest-ever recipient of the Premier of Saskatchewan’s Award of Excellence in Leadership. Before joining SIPP, Dallas was the Economic Development Officer for the Greater Victoria Development Agency, the precursor of the SIPP model here in B.C.’s Capital Region.

Jason Goldsworthy

Executive Director Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies (COAST)

Jason Goldsworthy, P.Eng. joined the COAST team as Executive Director in April, 2023.

With over 20 years of international experience in managing engineering businesses and projects, Jason brings leadership, technical and commercial aptitude to the team. His experience spans multiple industries including renewable energy, urban development, environmental consulting, mining, and commercial and infrastructure construction.

He has worked with large multinational corporations as well as being involved in several startups. He has acted on several corporate boards in both Canada and Australia.

Jason holds a PHD in Engineering from the University of Adelaide, Australia, and is a member of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.

Francesca Guetchev

Executive Committee Canadian International Council

Francesca Guetchev is a conflict analyst focusing on international security and geopolitics. Currently, Francesca is an Analyst with the Intel Analysis division and works on special projects under the Operations division. While studying for a Master’s degree in Conflict Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, she specialized in the privatization of security and international law. Guetchev has experience in the public sector with National Defense Canada, Executive Operations for various Deputy Ministers, and Legislative Assembly for a Cabinet Minister, in addition to the private sector, such as in oil and gas and aviation.

Adel Guitouni

Professor, Gustavson School of Business Director of Programs

Adel Guitouni is an award-winning associate professor of management sciences, operations research and decision support systems at the Gustavson School of Business. His PhD and master-level students benefit from his multi-disciplinary approach to teaching and professional activities, which includes his work with the Canadian government where he directed large scientific teams involved with major events and strategic initiatives such as the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and G8/G20 summits, and a variety of projects with the Canadian Forces.

Since 2011, Adel has actively engaged in several educational activities that support the democratic transition and socio-economic development in the MENA region (i.e., Tunisia and Libya) from providing coaching sessions to senior government officials to obtaining grant funding to develop the country’s leadership capacity. In 2014 in partnership with Tunisian higher education institutions, he established a not-for-profit non-governmental organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship development and innovation.

Adel has published numerous refereed papers and book chapters, and is the recipient of several multi-million dollar research grants. On the research side, he has made several contributions to multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA), supply chain management, information systems, resource management and cloud computing. His research interests include the automation of planning and scheduling, net-enabled dynamic resource management and supply chain management, classification and machine learning, multiple criteria decision analysis, multi-objective optimization, collaborative decision making and decision support systems.

Through his research Adel’s goal is to help improve the decision-making process at the individual and corporate level. Through his entrepreneurship and leadership project work, he hopes to empower youth and leaders by giving them the tools to change their world.

Prof. Penny Gurstein

Co-lead CMHC Housing Supply Challenge’s Housing Research Collaborative

Dr. Penny Gurstein is a Professor Emeritus and former Director of the School of Community and Regional Planning. She is currently the Co-Director of the Housing Research Collaborative. She specializes in the socio-cultural aspects of community planning with particular emphasis on those who are the most marginalized in planning processes. Her current research is investigating strategies for affordable housing both in Canada and internationally.

Eva Haas

Youth Poet Laureate City of Victoria

Eva Haas is Victoria’s Youth Poet Laureate for 2023 to 2025. This honorary position celebrates the contributions of literature and poetry in the capital city.

Eva grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador on traditional Beothuk and Mi’kmaq territories. Eva received the Arts and Letters Award from the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador three times and is now going into third year Writing and History at the University of Victoria, specializing in the genres of fiction and poetry.

In 2021, Eva was the poetry winner of This Side of West’s Prose & Poetry competition and in 2023 placed second in the On the Verge competition for prose.

Dr. Kevin Hall

President University of Victoria

President Kevin Hall is an innovative academic leader and civil engineer known for his strong commitment to sustainability, innovation, community engagement, and unwavering belief in equitable access to education, and equity, diversity and inclusion.

Throughout his career at three world-class institutions, Hall has served at many levels and functions—from faculty member, research centre director and department chair, to vice-president and senior deputy vice-chancellor of global engagement and partnerships.

A civil engineer who has made global impact, Hall has put research into practice by delivering knowledge to industry and community. His academic interests are focused on water quality modelling, environmental monitoring and pathogen detection systems, and water and health in marginalized communities. He is known for identifying opportunities for collaboration and for creating value in the regions in which he works. Hall played an integral role in establishing many new academic, research and enterprise ventures that have benefited students, staff, and the community at large.

Hall has served on over 30 corporate boards in Australia and Canada, is an avid arts enthusiast, and has a lifelong commitment to fitness.

Dr. Trevor Hancock

Professor School of Public Health and Social Policy, University of Victoria

Dr. Trevor Hancock is a public health physician and health promotion consultant. He ‘retired’ in 2018 from his role as Professor and Senior Scholar at the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. He is one of the founders of the (now global) Healthy Cities and Communities movement and co-founded both the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment & the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, and was the first leader of the Green Party of Canada in the 1980s.

His recent focus has been the combination of his two main areas: The relationship between human health and the natural environment and linking the healthy and sustainable community approaches through the concept of a ‘One Planet’ region. In retirement he has started a new NGO, Conversations for a One Planet Region, to explore and popularise these ideas locally.

Lisa Helps

Executive Lead BC Builds’ Project Origination and Process Innovation Initiative

As a community leader, Lisa Helps leaves a legacy that goes beyond the confines of city hall. Prior to entering politics, Helps worked with community members to create a not-for-profit micro-lending organization assisting small businesses to get on their feet.

As a civic leader, she recognized that running a growing city meant looking toward the future. While serving as mayor of Victoria between 2014 and 2022, Helps championed sustainable and accessible transit options, expansion of the city’s cycling infrastructure, improvement of climate readiness, support for community development and a commitment to Reconciliation. Her council also laid the groundwork for the creation of an Arts and Innovation District in Victoria.

Working closely with other municipal leaders and community stakeholders, including UVic, her collaborative approach advanced work on the region’s pressing housing challenges including climate change, housing and inclusivity.

Helps was recently appointed as a Housing Solutions Advisor to Premier David Eby to help develop BC Builds, a program to increase affordable housing supply for middle-income earners in BC.

Chief Ava Hill

Board Director Commonwealth Sport Canada

Ava Hill, whose traditional name is Iohahatie, was born on the Six Nations Reserve and is a Mohawk, Wolf Clan.  Ava was the Elected Chief of the 56th and 57th Six Nations Elected Council. Prior to holding the Office of the Elected Chief, Ava was a Councillor for District Two for three terms, a total of nine years.   After serving for fifteen years as a member of the Six Nations Elected Council, Ava did not seek re-election in 2019.

During her tenure as Chief, Ava represented the Chiefs in Ontario on the Ontario Provincial Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion up until June 2018.

In the 80s and 90s, Ava spent time working with the Chiefs in Ontario as the Executive Director of the Chiefs in Ontario Office and also at the Assembly of First Nations as the Executive Assistant to the National Chief.  Subsequent to her work at the AFN, Ava was the Executive Assistant to the Co-Chair of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

Ava is a former member of the Board of Governors at the University of Waterloo.  She is currently a member of the National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development at the University of Victoria and a member of the Advisory Council for Victoria Forum 2020.  She is also the Co-Chair, along with the President of the International Commonwealth Games Federation, for a Working Group that is working on a Declaration on Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples Through Sports.

Ava is a Board Director for Commonwealth Sport Canada.  As well, she is a member of the Canadian Advisory Board for Right to Play.

Ava is currently one of the Co-Chairs for the Capital Campaign Committee which is raising funds for a New Museum and Art Gallery at the Woodland Cultural Centre.

She is also a member of the Amethyst Selection Committee for the Ontario Public Service and was invited to be a Witness Ambassador for the Four Host First Nations/Canadian Olympic Committee Bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler.

She was awarded with the YMCA Peacemaker Medal for 2020, which was presented by the YMCA of Hamilton, Burlington and Brantford, and also received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Brock University in October 2021.

Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon

Executive Director Cascade Institute

 

Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon is one of Canada’s foremost public intellectuals and a bestselling author. He is considered among the world’s leading experts on the intricate links between nature, technology, and society, with his current research focusing on threats to global security in the 21st century. Tackling subjects such as economic instability and climate change as well as how people, organizations, and societies can better solve complex problems, Homer-Dixon shows audience how to adapt and prosper in a world of ever-increasing complexity.

Homer-Dixon is currently the founder and executive director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. Previously, he directed the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto for nearly two decades. In 2008, Homer-Dixon joined the faculty at the University of Waterloo where he founded the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation. He retired from his faculty position as a University Research Chair in 2021.

A bestselling author, Homer-Dixon has written multiple award-winning books, including The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization; The Ingenuity Gap: Can We Solve the Problems of the Future?; and Environment, Scarcity, and Violence. His latest book, Commanding Hope: The Power We Have to Renew a World in Peril, was published in 2020. Homer-Dixon also writes regularly for the Globe and Mail and has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Scientific American, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times. He’s been called “one of the best-informed and most brilliant writers on global affairs today,” by The Guardian.

A sought-after speaker, Homer-Dixon has spoken at leading universities, to government agencies, and to major industry associations throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. He has also provided briefings to the Privy Council Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of Defence in Canada; the Foreign Office in the United Kingdom; and to the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, and the State Department in the United States.

Homer-Dixon received a Bachelor or Arts in political science from Carleton University and a PhD from MIT in international relations, defense policy, and conflict theory.

 

Dr. Courtney Howard

Emergency physician and Vice-Chair Global Climate and Health Alliance

Dr Courtney Howard is an Emergency Physician in Yellowknives Dene Territory in Canada’s subarctic, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Calgary, and a Community Research Fellow in Planetary Health at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research.

The Vice-Chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Dr Howard has researched menstrual cups and wildfires, and led policy work and advocacy regarding social tipping points and the health sector, ecoanxiety, vaccine equity, active transport, plant-rich diets, fossil fuel divestment, carbon pricing, coal phase-out, hydraulic fracturing and with regards to Canada’s Oil Sands. She led the 2017-2019 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change Briefings for Canadian Policymakers and was the 2018 International Policy Director for the Lancet Countdown.

Dr Howard was the first woman president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and is the President-Elect of the Northwest Territories Medical Association. She recently completed a Master of Public Policy Degree at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University where she focused on using a planetary health lens to facilitate the transition to economies centered around wellbeing. She is part of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Lancet Planetary Health and the Journal of Climate Change and Health. She has two young daughters and loves to dance.

TEDX: Healthy Planet, Healthy People
Drcourtneyhoward.ca

Dr. Emily Huddart

Professor of Environmental Sociology The University of British Columbia

Emily Huddart (PhD, University of Alberta) is an Associate Head and Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research explores the motivations behind civic engagement aiming to protect the environment, and how pro-environmental practices reflect and reproduce social differences.

Stephen Huddart

Adjunct Professor Director of Regenerative Economy

Stephen’s early career included work as a documentary filmmaker in Latin America; co-owner of a jazz cafe in Vancouver, executive positions with the BC SPCA, and work with a children’s troubadour and advocate.

In 2003 he joined the McConnell Foundation, serving as CEO from 2011 to 2020. Under his stewardship the foundation applied social innovation and solutions finance to regenerative partnerships with Indigenous organizations, governments, financial and academic institutions, and civil society. He was involved in creating Canada’s $755 million Social Finance Fund, and co-founded the Transition Accelerator.

In 2022, McGill University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. He lives in Victoria and is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business.

Dr. Victoria Hurth

Institute for Sustainable Leadership, Cambridge University

Dr Victoria Hurth works at the intersect of academia and hands-on decision-making to help drive long-term well-being for all (sustainability). She enables decision-makers to cut through the chaos via strategic and operational clarity on purpose, sustainability, ESG, governance, marketing and culture. 

Among other achievements, Victoria co-led the 5-year development of the first global ISO standard in Governance of Organizations (ISO 37000:2021), was the Technical Author for the world’s first national standard in Purpose-Driven Organisations (PAS 808:2022) and advised the UN on the methodology for SDG 12.6.1 (sustainability reporting). 

As a Fellow of the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) Victoria is engaged in a range of executive and academic leadership programmes. She is an advisor for UnaTerra Venture Capital, SACE (Italy’s national export underwriter) and Creatives for Climate and has been a reviewer for ISAR Honors (UNCTAD) and was a member of WBCSD’s working group on Governance. 

Victoria is currently a Non-Executive Director of the organic standards company Soil Association Certification Ltd and on the Governance Advisory Committee of Planet Mark. She has over 20 years of experience in business transformation, having previously worked for 3M and Accenture and by developing cutting-edge theory as a full-time Associate Professor of Sustainable Business and Marketing. 

Lori Idlout

Member of Parliament for Nunavut

Lori Idlout is a practicing lawyer, small business owner, community leader, and strong advocate for Inuktitut language and education. The proud mother of nine children, she understands the challenges that Inuit and Nunavummiut face every day. Lori is ready to make sure Ottawa is delivering the support we need with strong investments in affordable housing, better health services in our communities, and internet and phone service you can rely on. Lori has always stood up and made sure Nunavummiut had a seat at the table.
Lori has seen successive Liberal and Conservative governments fail to deliver for our communities. They’ve told us the change just wasn’t possible, while families could not find a safe place to live and the suicide crisis got worse. Lori knows that real change is possible.

Originally from Igloolik, Lori has always looked for ways to help people. After earning her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Lakehead University, Lori became a Senior Management Public Trainer, helping to prepare for the creation of Nunavut. Since then, her work focused on promoting Inuit health & wellness within the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Public Service, Inuit Organizations, and Non-Profit Organizations.

Lori has been an active volunteer serving as a Board Member of the Iqaluit District Education Authority, the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, the Coalition of Nunavut District Education Authorities, and the Annaumaikkaijiit Community Foundation. She has also represented Nunavut as the territory’s representative to the Canadian Bar Association.

Alongside her volunteer work, Lori founded three businesses in Nunavut that focused on building stronger infrastructure, creating opportunities for Inuit artisans, and providing support to Hunters and Trappers Organizations, the Government of Nunavut, and Inuit Organizations.

In 2019, Lori was called to the Nunavut Bar as a lawyer after earning her Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Program. She has been operating her law practice, the Qusagaq Law Office, in Iqaluit ever since. She’s fought to make sure that investments in our territory are working for everyday people, not big businesses.

Lori believes we can create a better future for our territory. She’s ready to be a strong voice in Ottawa and fight for you as your Member of Parliament for Nunavut.

Cordell Jacks

CEO Regenerative Capital Group

Cordell is a serial social entrepreneur with expertise in the fields of finance, design, international markets development, and cleantech industries. He is an innovation strategist using market-based approaches for wide scale social impact and systems change efforts. He has launched and raised +$100M for projects that have been globally recognized and supported by institutions including The World Bank, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and has received multiple international awards for his leadership and social impact initiatives.

President Joy Johnson

President and Vice Chancellor Simon Fraser University

Joy Johnson is president and vice-chancellor of Simon Fraser University, and professor in its Faculty of Health Sciences.

As president, Joy is committed to carrying out SFU’s vision to be a leading research university, advancing an inclusive and sustainable future.

Prior to her appointment as president, Joy served as SFU’s vice-president, research and international, and oversaw the evolution of cutting-edge research, innovation, and international engagement across eight faculties.

Under her leadership, SFU’s achieved the fastest growth of any Canadian university research income of any university in Canada, with a focus on mobilizing knowledge to enhance the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of its communities.

Prior to SFU, Joy had a distinguished career in academics and research. She is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has co-authored more than 180 peer-reviewed articles.

Professor Johnson is a director and current vice-chair on the Universities Canada board.

 

 

Adam Kahane

Co-founder and Director Reos Partners

Adam Kahane is a Director of Reos Partners, an international social impact company that helps people move forward together on their most important and intractable issues.

Adam is a leading organiser, designer and facilitator of processes through which business, government, and civil society leaders can work together to address such challenges. He has worked in more than fifty countries, in every part of the world, with executives and politicians, generals and guerrillas, civil servants and trade unionists, community activists and United Nations officials, clergy and artists.

Adam is the author of Solving Tough Problems, about which Nelson Mandela said:

“This breakthrough book addresses the central challenge of our time: finding a way to work together to solve the problems we have created.”

He is also the author of Power and Love, Transformative Scenario Planning, Collaborating with the Enemy, and Facilitating Breakthrough.

Adam is a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2022 he was named a Social Innovator of the Year by Schwab Foundation.

Raj Kalia

Co-lead Dark Matter Labs Capital

Raj is co-lead of Capital and Investments at Dark Matter Labs, and works across different sectors and cities to develop the financial instruments and mechanisms that are needed to build the novel infrastructures required for our cities in the 21st century. His work includes the valuation of analysis of natural capital. With 25+ years of international experience in senior capital markets and asset management roles at global banks, Raj managed over $8.0bn in structured finance securitisations and derivatives. He developed new markets and structured financing and indexed instruments for hedge fund strategies. At Deutsche Bank in New York and London, he helped build the bank’s hedge fund financing / origination as European head of Structured Funds & Derivatives Group, in Frankfurt as head of FI Risk Advisory Group. At WestLB, he led the bank’s balance sheet hedge fund investment group and CLO securitisations.

Paul Kershaw

Associate Professor School of Population and Public health, University of British Columbia

Dr. Paul Kershaw is a farmer morning and night. By day, he is an academic, public speaker, media contributor and volunteer.  At the University of BC, he founded the Generation Squeeze Research and Knowledge Mobilization lab to be a centre of scholarly activity about generational equity, the conditions into which Canadians are born, grow, play work and age, and the public policies that shape those conditions like housing, child care, parental leave, work-life balance, taxation, retirement, etc.

Dr. Kershaw was recognized as “Academic of the Year” in 2016 by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC in honour of the outstanding scholarship and knowledge mobilization that he leads from his Generation Squeeze lab.

Kershaw studies and mobilizes knowledge about these themes in the Faculty of Medicine’s School of Population & Public Health because research shows that health doesn’t begin with health care.  Health begins with the social, economic, environmental and policy factors that shape the conditions into which we are born, grow, play, work and age.  These are often called the social determinants of health.

Before joining the Faculty of Medicine, Paul earned tenure at UBC in 2010 in the College for Interdisciplinary Studies, publishing routinely in political science, sociology and health related journals, and earning two national prizes from the Canadian Political Science Association for his scholarship regarding gender and public policy.

Guided by scholarship about how to mobilize academic knowledge into action, Paul launched the Generation Squeeze lab in response to frustration that peer reviewed literature was having too limited influence on how Canadian governments budget for the social determinants of health, particularly for younger generations.  In response, Kershaw now devotes considerable time to the community engagement commitment in UBC’s Strategic Plan, Place and Promise, to “Be a leader in fostering public understanding of societal issues and in stimulating action for positive change.”  He therefore currently targets a lot of his publications and other scholarly activity for the broader public and decision makers so that existing academic evidence has greater potential to influence Canadian government budgets, along with political platforms from across the ideological spectrum which shape those budgets.

To support this aim, Kershaw founded Generation Squeeze, co-hosted at his Lab at the University of BC, the Vancity Community Foundation and the non-profit Association for Generational Equity (AGE).  Generation Squeeze is building a powerful organization to speak up for younger Canada in the market place and the world of politics, and is intended to become the largest community engagement initiative ever launched from a Canadian university.  With numerous partners, Kershaw has designed the campaign to be a rigorously evaluated pan-Canadian population health initiative that responds to the recommendation of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health to tackle the inequitable distribution of power.

There is presently an unintended power imbalance between older and younger generations in Canada as it relates to government budgeting.  For example, whereas the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) exists to advocate for the aging population, there had been no pan-Canadian organization to speak up for younger generations until Generation Squeeze started.  Younger generations are also a third less likely to cast a ballot during elections compared to older generations, even though political parties shape their platforms around who shows up.  As a result, there is a generational spending gap in Canadian budgets which largely accounts for why international comparisons position Canada near the bottom of OECD countries when it comes to investing in the social determinants of health for the generation raising young children.  Kershaw is researching and evaluating the degree to which supporting younger Canadians to mobilize equal generational power alongside their parents and grandparents can mitigate the political-cultural factors which currently result in Canada’s poor international ranking, and slow pace of implementing the existing research about the social determinants of health for younger generations.

Dr. Kershaw is recruiting graduate students who are keen to work and study as part of the Gen Squeeze Research and Knowledge Translation Lab.  Students interested in working with Dr. Kershaw should first review the Gen Squeeze website, and explore whether their interests overlap with policy areas identified at http://gensqueeze.ca/policies.  Alternately, students interested in the scholarship of Knowledge Mobilization are also invited to contact Dr. Kershaw’s lab to explore the possibilities for collaboration.

Todd Khozein

CEO SecondMuse

Todd Khozein is the Founder and CEO of SecondMuse, an impact and innovation company working with communities focused on climate, equity, and tech to build resilient economies that benefit people and protect the planet. Under his leadership, the company has designed and implemented programs on all seven continents with over 600 organizations such as NASA, The World Bank, Nike, USAID, The World Health Organization, and The Rockefeller Foundation. Since its founding, SecondMuse has reached over 160 countries and territories, prototyped 11,000 ideas for innovative solutions, and funded more than 18 million to directly support over 1,200 portfolio companies. These supported ventures have in turn, raised over 850 million in additional funding during their involvement with SecondMuse programs.

The company is a manifestation of Todd’s passionate belief that economic and social systems can be built inclusively and not at the expense of human dignity or the planet’s health. To test his theories and gain a deeper understanding of how to build and execute better systems, Todd earned a medical degree from the University of New Mexico, spent years developing a range of businesses, and co-founded SecondMuse in 2008. He is proud to serve on the Board of Directors of TechSoup Global.

Todd regularly advises corporate executives, senior governmental leaders, and heads of foundations worldwide. He has delivered keynote presentations to leading organizations and government bodies about building resilient economies and the roles of communities and entrepreneurship in that process. Some of Todd’s most notable presentations were delivered to the United Nations General Assembly, Bolivia’s Ministry of Economy and Public Finance, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the World Bank, and the US Bank.

Sarah Kim

Senior Manager, Advocacy & Engagement Vancouver Foundation

Sarah Kim has a diverse background in community engagement and development. Currently serving as the Senior Manager of Advocacy & Engagement at Vancouver Foundation, Sarah previously held roles at organizations like Collingwood Neighbourhood House Society, Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks, and ArtStarts in Schools. Sarah holds a Certificate in Intercultural Studies from The University of British Columbia, a Certificate in Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management from Capilano University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Human & Cultural Geography from Queen’s University.

Dr. Saul Klein

Former Dean & Professor Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria

Saul Klein was a Professor of International Business in the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria (Canada), where he served as Dean from 2012 to 2023.

Born in Zimbabwe, Saul has had a broad-ranging career spanning developing, developed and transition countries. He holds a BA in Economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) and MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Toronto (Canada). From 1996 to 2001, before joining the Gustavson School, he was the SA Breweries Professor of Marketing and International Business at the Wits Business School (South Africa).  Previously, he was a Senior Fellow in Marketing at the National University of Singapore.  He has also held full-time appointments at Wake Forest University and Northeastern University in the United States, and has been a visiting professor at Melbourne Business School (Australia).

Before taking on the role of Dean, he was Head of International Business, and Director of Executive Programs at the Gustavson School. He is also an Extraordinary Professor of Marketing and International Business at the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria (South Africa).

Saul specializes in the areas of Marketing Strategy, Global Business and International Marketing.  He has provided consulting assistance to over 60 different organizations, in these areas, in Canada, the USA, Singapore and South Africa.  He has also led strategic planning workshops for a wide variety of organizations in different sectors.

As Dean, Saul launched the Gustavson School’s Brand Trust Index, to measure the extent to which Canadians trust over 400 different brands, and he drove the business school’s commitment to responsible management education.

He currently serves on the Board of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). He was previously a member of the Boards of Mediterranean Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation (Tunisia), and Primeserv Group Ltd (South Africa). the National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development (Canada), the Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives (Canada), and on the international business school advisory committees of UIBE (China), Beijing Jiaotong University (China), NSYSU (Taiwan) and the University of Pecs (Hungary).

Tiara Letourneau

CEO Rewrite Capital Advisors

Tiara Letourneau is the CEO and Co-founder of Rewrite Capital Advisors, an M&A advisory firm dedicated to creating employee ownership for mid-market companies. She is a Director of the Canadian Employee Ownership Coalition and was instrumental in fighting for the design and creation of Canada’s new Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) legislation.

Tiara’s background is in international development and the financial industry. She holds a Masters of Finance from Cambridge University. In 2010, she was awarded an Action Canada Fellowship and in 2014 was given the Financial Leader’s Award from the People’s Bank of China School of Finance at Tsinghua University. She helped design the United Nations Green Climate Fund’s Private Sector Facility for co-investing in climate change. She now designs employee ownership transformation strategies, to help Canadians protect their businesses and to reduce wealth inequality.

Dr. Wilton Littlechild

Former Chief Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations

Wilton Littlechild, Ph.D., is a Cree chief, residential school survivor, and lawyer who has worked both nationally and internationally including with the United Nations to advance Indigenous rights and Treaties. He has also – through leadership with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – raised awareness of former Canadian policies that decimated the livelihood and culture of Indigenous Canadians.

Born in Alberta, Wilton Littlechild was raised largely at residential schools from 1951 to 1964, where he spent 14 years surviving through study and sport. After leaving residential school, he studied physical education at the University of Alberta and law at the University of New Mexico, where he continued his balance of academics and hockey.

Chief Littlechild was a member of the 1977 Indigenous delegation to the United Nations (UN), and worked on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He organized within the UN to increase Indigenous input in the economic and social issues the UN tackles. In the 1980s, he worked on the lawsuit to prevent patriation of the Canadian Constitution until the Aboriginal and Treaty Rights were protected and, in more recent years, has been a regional and International Chief on Treaties No. 6, 7, 8.

Chief Littlechild has been a member of parliament, Vice-President of the Indigenous Parliament of the Americas, North American representative to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and a chairperson for the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Commission on First Nations and Métis Peoples and Justice Reform.

In addition to his ongoing work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he’s continued to run his own law firm in Erminiskin Reserve, Alberta, and maintains his commitment to sport. He has been inducted into seven Sports Halls of Fame.

He has been awarded the Order of Canada and in 1993, the Canadian government awarded Chief Littlechild the Canada 125 Medal. He is a 2015 Laureate of the Indspire Awards and was recently honoured with the Alberta Award of Excellence.

Senator Tony Loffreda

Honourable Senator Senate of Canada

Mr. Tony Loffreda was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2019 by the Governor General of Canada on the advice of the Prime Minister. He is the first Canadian born Senator of Italian descent.

He currently sits on the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance and the Standing Senate Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration. He also serves as Deputy Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade, and the Economy. Senator Loffreda also serves on several Senate Working Groups. He is a member of various parliamentary associations and interparliamentary groups, including serving as Vice-Chair of the Canada-Italy Interparliamentary Group and Chair of the Canadian Chapter of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He is a member of the Independent Senators Group.

Prior to his appointment, Senator Loffreda was a Vice Chairman and Executive at RBC. He brings to the Senate over 35 years of experience in the financial industry.

Senator Loffreda has served on various boards and committees including, but not limited to, the Concordia University Board of Governors; the Integrated Health and Social Services University Network for West-Central Montréal; Montréal International; the Italian-Canadian Community Foundation; the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada; and the executive committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montréal.

Once nominated to the Canadian Senate, Senator Loffreda retired from RBC and resigned from the twenty-one boards he was serving on.

He is a leading philanthropist, active in service to many communities, having chaired fundraising activities across the province for various causes such as the Giant Steps School; the Montréal Jewish General Hospital; McGill University Goodman Research Centre; the Montréal Cancer Institute and many more. He is also a frequent and sought-after speaker on economic and community issues.

Among his many awards and distinctions, he is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of Québec’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Merit; the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal; the Governor General of Canada Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers; the Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association’s Person of the Year Award; the Philhellene of the Year Award by the Hellenic Community of Greater Montréal; and the Senate of Canada 150th Anniversary Medal which he received prior to his appointment. He was also inducted as an administrator into the Montréal-Concordia Soccer Hall of Fame.

Senator Loffreda passed the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Final Exam and earned a USA – Certified Public Accountant designation through the University of Illinois.

Senator Loffreda also holds a Chartered Global Management Accountant international designation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

He earned his Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in accounting from the University of Concordia. He lives in Montreal with his wife, and they have two children.

Rik Logtenberg

Co-Founder Earthnet, Climate Caucus

Marc Lortie

Former Canadian Ambassador to France

Marc Lortie is Canada’s Ambassador to France. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1971. He served abroad in Tunisia and Washington, and was seconded to the Prime Minister’s Office in 1985 where he was in charge of relations with the international media until 1987 when he was name Press Secretary. He was name Canadian Ambassador to Chile in 1993; in 1997 he was nominated Fellow at the Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University. He was Ambassador of Canada to Spain from 2004 to 2007.

David M. Malone

Former UN Under-Secretary-General

David Malone is former UN Under-Secretary General, Rector of the United Nations University, and Senior Fellow of the Institute for International Law and Justice. A Canadian national, Dr. Malone holds a BAA from l’École des Hautes Études Commerciales (Montreal); an Arabic Language Diploma from the American University (Cairo); an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; and a DPhil in International Relations from Oxford University.

Prior to joining the United Nations University, Dr. Malone served (2008–2013) as President of Canada’s International Development Research Centre, a funding agency that supports policy-relevant research in the developing world. Dr. Malone previously served as Canada’s Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council and as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations (1990–1994); as Director General of the Policy, International Organizations and Global Issues Bureaus within Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT, 1994–1998); as President of the International Peace Academy (now International Peace Institute), a New York-based independent research and policy development institution (1998–2004); as DFAIT Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues (2004–2006); and as Canada’s High Commissioner to India, and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan and Nepal (2006–2008).

Dr. Malone also has held research posts at the Economic Studies Program, Brookings Institution; Massey College, University of Toronto; and Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University. He has been a Guest Scholar and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, an Adjunct Professor at the New York University School of Law, and a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University.

Dr. Malone has published extensively. His recent books include Does the Elephant Dance?: Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy (2011, Oxford University Press); Nepal in Transition: From People’s War to Fragile Peace (co-editor, 2012, Cambridge University Press); International Development: Ideas, Experience, and Prospects (co-editor, 2014, Oxford University Press); The UN Security Council in the 21st Century (co-editor, 2015, Lynne Rienner Publishers); The Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy (co-editor, 2015, Oxford University Press); and Law and Practice of the United Nations (co-authored graduate textbook, 2nd edition 2016, Oxford University Press).

Dr. Christopher MacLennan

Deputy Minister Global Affairs Canada

Christopher MacLennan is currently the Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues and Development at Global Affairs Canada. In this role, he leads on Canada’s development assistance efforts through multilateral and global partners, humanitarian assistance and priority thematic policy issues such as the empowerment of women and girls, health and education and green economic growth. Mr. MacLennan also serves as Canada’s G7 foreign affairs sous-sherpa, working closely with Peter M. Boehm, Deputy Minister for the G7 Summit and Personal Representative of the Prime Minister. Mr. MacLennan has served as acting Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for Priorities and Planning and ADM of Policy Innovation at the Privy Council Office. Prior to PCO, Mr. MacLennan was Director General for Health and Nutrition at Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD). Mr. MacLennan led the team that organized the Prime Minister’s Saving Every Woman, Every Child Summit on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in 2014. This work followed on his previous work for the G8 Muskoka Initiative on MNCH in 2010.

Mr. MacLennan holds a Ph.D. from Western University specializing in constitutional development and international human rights and has numerous publications including Toward the Charter: Canadians and the Demand for a National Bill of Rights, 1929-1960.

Dr. Basma Majerbi

Associate Professor Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria

Dr. Majerbi is an associate professor of finance at Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria. Her research interests include international finance, ESG and impact investing, and climate-related financial risks and opportunities. Her teaching integrates sustainable finance topics into core finance courses in various programs including the MBA in Sustainable Innovation. She is a recipient of multiple awards including Research Excellence, Best MBA Professor, Innovation Award, Service Excellence, IAB Community Engagement Award and the BC Cleantech Educator Award.

Basma is founder and director of the Impact Investing, a research and education center whose mission is to accelerate investments in climate solutions and help companies and investors align with the sustainable development goals (SDGs), through education and capacity building, collaborative research, and stakeholder engagement. She is co-founder and co-chair of the International Workshop on Financial System Architecture and Stability (IWFSAS), an annual conference focused on sustainable finance and climate-related finance research topics.

Basma is also a technical advisor with the International Monetary Fund’s Institute for Capacity Development where she contributes to training of government officials in developing countries on topics related to financial development, financial inclusion, and other financial sector issues. She is a member of the ESG Advisory Council to the BC Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation which leads the BC ESG Centre of Excellence, a founding member of the Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN) and serves on its Steering Committee, and a member of the Research Advisory Council of the Institute for Sustainable Finance. Basma also serves on the boards of multiple organizations, including the board of directors of the South Island Prosperity Partnership, the Advisory Board of the Center for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies (COAST), the Impact Investment Committee of the Victoria Foundation and the Research Advisory Group of New Power Labs.

Basma holds a PhD in Finance from McGill University and a MSc in International Finance from HEC Montreal.

Honourable John Manley

Former Minister of Finance of Canada

John Manley is a corporate director, Senior Business Advisor at the law firm Bennett Jones LLP, and the Chair of Jefferies Securities Inc. From 2010 to 2018, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Business Council of Canada, and from 2004 to 2009, he served as counsel to the law firm McCarthy Tétrault LLP. Before his career in the private sector, John had a notable 16-year career in politics, serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Minister in the portfolios of Industry, Foreign Affairs and Finance.

John has served as a director and chair of the board of directors of CAE Inc. and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He has also been a director of CARE Canada and a member of the World Economic Forum.In recognition of his contributions to the country, John is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

He obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Ottawa. John is certified as a Chartered Director by McMaster University and holds Honorary Doctorates from the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, the University of Toronto, Western University, the University of Windsor and York University.

Professor Thomas Marois

Canada Research Chair in Public Banking McMaster University

Thomas Marois is a Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Political Science and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Public Banking at McMaster University, Canada and formerly a Reader in Development Studies, SOAS University of London. Thomas is a leading scholar of public banks worldwide, focusing on pro-public alternatives and collaborations for the financing of green and just transitions. He is author of the 2021 book Public Banks: Decarbonisation, Definancialisation, and Democratisation (Cambridge University Press), which was awarded the 2023 Joan Robinson Prize by the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy. Thomas is co-editor of the 2023 book Public Banks, Public Water Exploring the Links in Europe (Routledge) and he has written articles for such top-ranked journals as Water International, Review of Political Economy, The China Quarterly, The Journal of Peasant Studies, Environment and Planning, and Review of International Political Economy.

Thomas is Director of the Public Banking Project at McMaster University and an Associate Director with the Municipal Services Project, a global network of researchers investigating public alternatives at Queen’s University, Canada. He works closely with and advises the Public Banking Institute, the Public Bank New York and Public Bank San Francisco groups, and UNCTAD. Thomas sits on the Council of Europe Development Bank Award for Social Cohesion Jury and is a member of the Knowledge Advisory Committee for the Finance in Common Summit Secretariat.

Robert Maylath

Director, Partnerships and Engagement Accelerating Community Energy Transition (ACET), University of Victoria

Njoki Mbũrũ

Manager, Communities Building Belonging Tamarack Institute

Among multiple intersections of identity, Njoki Mbũrũ is a storyteller, poet, and imagination alchemist from Kenya. Having completed the LEVEL Youth Public Policy Program through the Vancouver Foundation in 2020, she continues to advocate for policies, projects, and partnerships that uplift the leadership of Indigenous and Black people and communities.

Between November 2022 to August 2023, Njoki completed a storytelling fellowship with the Community Foundations of Canada; an experience which propelled her to explore the relationships between public policy, emerging technologies, storytelling and power. She currently works at the Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement where she is focused on building belonging and also co-creating a Pan-Canadian Strategy of Belonging. As a foundational framework for her practice and thought, she is guided by the question: “What else is possible?”

Jason McBride

Head Pearson College

Jason McBride assumed his position on August 1, 2023.

Jason brings more than 20 years of global educational leadership and intercultural understanding, including several years as Head of College at UWC Thailand, a sister school to Pearson. He previously served as the Head of School for IGB International School (IGBIS) in Malaysia.

He was born and raised in Toronto and received undergraduate degrees from McMaster University (B. Kin) and Queen’s University (B. Ed), before pursuing his master’s degree with Michigan State University and completing his Doctoral coursework at the University of Calgary.

Senator Marilou McPhedran

Senator for Manitoba

Born and raised in rural Manitoba, Canada, called to the Bar of Ontario (1978-2007), named a Member of the Order of Canada (1985) in recognition of her co-leadership in the successful campaign for stronger gender equality protections in the Canadian constitution and appointed to the Senate of Canada by Governor General David Johnston on the recommendation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016, Marilou McPhedran is a legally trained advocate and educator who specialized in teaching and developing systemic and sustainable change mechanisms to promote equality and diversity, having co-founded several internationally recognized non-profit Canadian organizations, such as LEAF – the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, which has conducted constitutional equality test cases and interventions for 30-plus years, METRAC – the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children, and the Gerstein Crisis Centre for homeless discharged psychiatric patients.

She founded the International Women’s Rights Project in 1998 and the Institute for International Women’s Rights at Global College in 2009 – based on her intergenerational models “evidence-based advocacy” and “lived rights”. When Chief Executive Officer of a Federal Centre of Excellence based at York University, Canada, she directed staff and programs that included a cyber research network on women’s health and rights.

She has developed human rights courses online and in the classroom and has chaired three independent inquiries into the sexual abuse of patients (1991-2015), co-investigated and co-authored applied research, including: the first international study to assess impact of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women in ten countries (1998-2000); What about accountability to the patient? (2001), the National Study on Rural, Remote and Northern Women’s Health in Canada (2001-2003); the textbook, Preventing Sexual Abuse: a Legal Guide for Health Care Professionals (2004); a strategy paper for Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Engendering the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ Doctrine (2005); Women’s Constitutional Activism in South Africa and Canada (2009 International Review of Constitutionalism); 28-Helluva Lot to Lose in 27 Days: The Ad Hoc Committee and Women’s Constitutional Activism in the Era of Patriation (2015).

Her authorship includes: the 2006 National Journal of Constitutional Law article, Impact of S.15 equality rights on Canadian society: beacon or laser?; the 2007 Supreme Court Law Review article A Truer Story: Constitutional Trialogue; and the 2014 Michigan State Law Review article, Complements of CEDAW – U.S. foreign policy coherence on women’s human rights and human security.

A pioneer in research and advocacy to promote human rights through systemic reform in law, medicine, education, governance, she chaired the 2006 international Forum on Women’s Activism in Constitutional Reform, held the Ariel F. Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law, was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission in 2007, and was Principal (Dean) of The University of Winnipeg Global College in Manitoba from June 2008 to July 2012, then served as the Human Rights Fellow in the UNFPA Geneva Liaison Office and taught as a Visiting Professor at the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica in 2012-13.

From 2008 to 2019, she was a tenured full professor at the University of Winnipeg. She was the founding director of the Institute for International Women’s Rights at Global College from 2009 to 2016 and the creator / director of the annual ‘Human Rights UniverCity’ summer institute based at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights from 2011 to 2018.

Senator Marie-Françoise Mégie

Senator for Québec

Senator Marie-Françoise Mégie was appointed to the Senate on November 25, 2016, by the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau. Senator Mégie represents the province of Québec and the Senatorial Division of Rougemont.

Senator Mégie’s professional career encompasses over 35 years as a family physician and nearly 30 years as a university professor. Born in Haiti, she arrived in Quebec in 1976, and rose through the ranks of the medical profession while also pursuing university teaching, becoming a clinical associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Montréal.

She helped establish the Maison de soins palliatifs de Laval in 2009, where she served as medical director until December 31, 2016.

Her medical practice focused on providing health care services for seniors, persons with severe disabilities and end-of-life patients.

Senator Mégie served as President of the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad (AMHE) for five years, and chaired the organization Médecins francophones du Canada from 2014 to 2016.

She was also the editor-in-chief of the Médecins francophones du Canada’s newsletter.

Dr. Mégie has received numerous awards for her professional, volunteer and personal contributions.

Anur Mehdic

Social Planner City of New Westminster

Anur has been a planner with the City of New Westminster Community Planning team since August 2019. His responsibilities are to support both current and long-range planning initiatives related to the City’s diverse social planning portfolio. Fountain pen in hand, advancing anti-poverty work through equitable civic engagement and policy development for those most disadvantaged or excluded in his community, is the topic most close to his heart.

Matthew Mendelsohn

CEO Social Capital Partners

Matthew is a Canadian public policy leader. For over 25 years, he has designed and implemented public policy solutions that work in practice and has advised governments, organizations and elected leaders on ways to improve economic, social and democratic outcomes. Matthew is a former deputy minister with the governments of Canada and Ontario, and was the founding Director of the Mowat Centre, a public policy think tank at the University of Toronto. Most recently he was a Visiting Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group. Matthew received a B.A. from McGill University, a Ph.D. from the l’Université de Montréal and an ICD.D from the Rotman School of Management.

Dr. Cheryl Mitchell

Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria

As a faculty member at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria, Cheryl Mitchell teaches MBA courses on collaboration, design thinking & innovation, organizational development and consulting. As well she oversees all MBA capstone projects. She is also a principal investigator at the Cardiac Network of Canada (CANet), a National Centre of Excellence (NCE), where she researches multi-stakeholder collaboration in national research networks.

Cheryl Mitchell has worked extensively as a freelance consultant and facilitator in the healthcare industry and public service. Her most recent company, Red Ball Solutions, was founded in 2008 in response to the increasingly complex workplace challenges faced by today’s organizations. Cheryl’s initial focus was on experiential team-building and leadership development. Over the past 15 years, this focus has evolved from engagement and strategic planning, through to identity formation, change management and culture development. Her current concentration is on collaborative design and facilitating solutions in complex systems. She has designed and delivered hundreds of group programs to over thirty five thousand participants.

Cheryl has a PhD in Human and Organizational Systems, where her dissertation research focused on blame in the healthcare system. She has a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology with an emphasis on Jungian Depth Psychology. She is also a team coach, and is qualified to deliver a wide range of assessments. Her academic interest in blame, group dynamics that impact collaboration and group processes that enhance solution-building, ensures that her professional projects are evidence-based and aligned with current research and literature.

Senator Julie Miville-Dechene

Senator for Québec

Since her appointment to the Senate in 2018, Julie Miville-Dechêne has presented two senatorial initiative bills: the new law Bill S-211, against forced labour and child labour in supply chains, effective January 1, 2024; and Bill S-210 which would make it mandatory to implement age verification mechanisms to protect minors from exposure to online pornography. This latest bill was adopted in April 2023 by the Senate and is currently under study in the House of Commons.

She is vice-chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications.

Julie Miville-Dechêne has had a long career in the public service where she stood out for her talent as a communicator.

Very early on, she devoted herself to journalism, a career that would take her across Quebec, Canada, and the United States for more than 25 years, and through which she would meet people from every culture and background. Julie Miville-Dechêne was a correspondent for CBC-Radio-Canada television in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Washington. She covered the constitutional talks, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the US intervention in Haiti to name a few.

In 2007, she became the first woman ombudsman of Radio-Canada, an experience that helped her gain solid expertise in ethics. These public decisions took a good hard look at the mechanics of journalism and exposed mistakes or bias.

In 2011, Julie Miville-Dechêne was named Chair of the Quebec government’s Conseil du statut de la femme. For five years, she modernized the institution by making it relevant for young women. She also used her independence to raise the profile of the institution and to speak publicly on the major issues affecting women, including sexual violence, and by taking part in field research. Under her leadership, the Conseil published noteworthy papers on prostitution, honour-based violence, and surrogate mothers. She expressed serious concerns about the government’s secularism charter in 2013.

In 2016, she made the jump to diplomacy, successively serving as the Quebec representative as part of the Permanent Delegation of Canada to UNESCO, then as the Quebec government envoy for human rights and freedoms.

In 2008, she was the recipient of the Reconnaissance UQAM Award for her exceptional contribution to the development of her profession. In 2005, she received the Raymond-Charette Award for exceptional quality of French in broadcast journalism. In 2002, she won the New York Festivals International Advertising Award for her report on children and terrorism, Les enfants et le terrorisme.

Ms. Miville-Dechêne holds a graduate degree in conflict prevention and resolution from the Université de Sherbrooke, a Master’s Degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York, and a Bachelor’s Degree in political science from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Senator Miville-Dechêne is Co-Chair of the All-Party Group to Combat Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

In addition to her senatorial activities, Julie Miville-Dechêne is a volunteer administrator of a non-profit organization (NPO): Share the Warmth

Andrea Moffat

Senior Director, Investment Stewardship Addenda Capital

Andrea leads Addenda’s Stewardship efforts. Stewardship includes active engagement with companies and issuers on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters to enhance the long-term value of investments for clients. This also includes actively promoting sustainable financial markets by collaborating with experts and engaging with standard-setters and policymakers to create a more sustainable and net-zero aligned economy and market.

Sherry L. Monastyrski

CEO Oneida Nation of the Thames

Sherry L. Monastyrski is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Oneida Nation of the Thames, where she is dedicated to fostering a vibrant community rooted in Oneida culture and language and creating spaces where people feel valued. 

With over 15 years of experience in senior roles at the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians, Chiefs of Ontario, and the Assembly of First Nations. Her extensive background in governance and advocacy reflects her deep commitment to helping underrepresented groups find their voice and fuels her work in advancing the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples. 

Sherry’s academic career started at Western University and was a student at Kings College, with a degree in Political Science. Sherry holds a Master’s in Indigenous Governance from the University of Victoria and a law degree from the University of Ottawa. 

Her leadership is marked by a strong dedication to inclusive governance and community well-being. Sherry serves on the Board of Directors for Equal Voice, which is an all-partisan registered charity that promotes the inclusion of women, 2LGBTQQIA+, and BIPOC communities in places of political power and influence. 

Senator Lucie Moncion

Senator for Ontario

After a distinguished career of more than 38 years in the co-operative financial institutions sector, the last 16 as President and CEO, Lucie Moncion was appointed to the Senate in November 2016. As a representative of Ontario’s francophone community and as part of her parliamentary duties, she works in official languages and the cooperative sector. She is the Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration.

A native of Ottawa, Senator Moncion holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a specialization in Cooperative Administration from Laurentian University, a Master of Business Administration from the Université de Moncton, and a Corporate Director designation from Laval and McMaster Universities.

She has extensive knowledge of Ontario’s Francophone minority communities, as well as an in-depth understanding of the economy, business climate and Francophone communities in Ontario. She has recognized expertise in the areas of cooperatives and social entrepreneurship.

In addition, she has served on numerous boards of directors. She has served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Cooperatives and Mutuals Canada, Chair of the Audit and Governance Committees of TFO Media Group, Chair of the Circuit Champlain Working Group and Chair of the Coalition of Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires. She has also served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors of Nipissing University, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Collège Boréal.

She is the mother of three children and grandmother of four grandchildren and lives with her husband Yvon in North Bay, Northern Ontario.

Dr. Kate Moran

President Ocean Networks Canada

Kate Moran is the President & CEO of Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a position she has held since 2012. She first joined the University of Victoria in September 2011 as a professor in the Faculty of Science and as Director of NEPTUNE Canada. Her previous appointment was Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Rhode Island. From 2009 to 2011, Moran was seconded to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where she served as an Assistant Director and focused on Arctic, polar, ocean, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and climate policy issues. She is active in public outreach on topics related to the Arctic, ocean observing, and climate change. Professor Moran co-led the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s Arctic Coring Expedition which successfully recovered the first paleoclimate record from the Arctic Ocean. She also led one of the first offshore expeditions to investigate the seafloor following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Professor Moran is a registered professional engineer, an Officer of the Order of Canada, a fellow of the Canadian Society of Senior Engineers, and was selected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow for the class of 2022.

Ry Moran

Associate University Librarian University of Victoria

Ry Moran is Canada’s inaugural Associate University Librarian – Reconciliation at the University of Victoria. His role within UVic Libraries’ focuses on building and sustaining relationships to introduce Indigenous approaches and knowledge into the daily work of the Libraries and more broadly across the campus community.

Ry came to this position from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation hosted by the University of Manitoba. Prior to the NCTR, he served with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. On the TRC’s behalf, he facilitated the gathering of nearly 7,000 video/audio-recorded statements of former residential school students and millions of pages archival records.

Ry’s life-long passion for the arts and music continues to be an important part of his life as he continues to write and produce original music. Ry is a distinguished alumnus of the University of Victoria and was awarded a Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General. On May 29, 2024, Ry received and Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of British Columbia. Ry is a proud member of the Red River Métis.

Richard Muller

Senior Advisor and Peer Leader, Impact United Social Venture Connexion (SVX)

Richard leads our Impact United initiative to build and curate a community of foundations, family offices and HNIs in Canada who are committed to deploying their capital for both social and environmental impact, alongside financial return. Previously, Richard held a number of executive positions at Toniic, a global network of active impact investors from more than 25 countries.

Senator Jim Munson

Former Canadian Senator

Former Senator Jim Munson is best known to Canadians as a trusted journalist and communications advisor. He reported on current affairs for more than thirty years, most notably as a bureau chief and foreign correspondent for CTV News. His reporting touched upon events around the globe – from Belfast to Beijing – including the First Gulf War, the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the Tiananmen Square Massacre. At home, he covered the FLQ crisis in Quebec and later, in Ottawa, every Canadian government and federal election from 1974 onwards. Senator Munson was twice nominated for a Gemini Award in recognition of excellence in journalism.

In 2001, following his career as a reporter, Senator Munson joined the Prime Minister’s Office as a communications advisor and was made Director of Communications the following year. He was called to the Senate on December 10, 2003, to represent the province of Ontario and served as Whip of the Senate Liberal Caucus from 2008 to 2016.

Senator Munson is Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights and a vocal advocate for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. His leadership in Parliament led to the adoption of An Act respecting World Autism Awareness Day and the landmark Senate report Pay Now or Pay Later: Autism Families in Crisis.

Andrea Nemtin

Chief Executive Officer Social Innovation Canada

Andrea Nemtin is Chief Executive Officer of Social Innovation Canada, to which she brings 25 years of experience leading organizations and initiatives focused on advancing social and environmental progress through strategic philanthropy, media and arts, social innovation and impact investing. That has included serving as Executive Director of Rally Assets and as CEO and founding president of Inspirit Foundation, where she led the foundation’s journey towards a 100% impact investing portfolio. Andrea was recognized in 2017 with a Governor General’s Meritorious Service Award for her contribution to inclusion in Canada and currently serves as a board member for the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, The Social Innovation Institute, Story Money Impact and Challenge for Change.

Peter Nicholas

Director Social Finance UK

Peter has over 30 years of management and project experience at the World Bank and Social Finance, including serving as Director of the World Bank’s Southern Africa Department.
He has focused on delivering projects with measurable and sustained impact, and on results-based country strategies and projects. His experience ranges from results measurement to public expenditure management, and from community-based social projects to large-scale PPPs.

He has worked with Governments, the private sector and NGOs in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union, with a focus on low-income and fragile states. He has also been a Trustee of BRAC UK.

Allan Northcott

President Max Bell Foundation

Prior to joining Max Bell Foundation in 1998, Allan was a member of the academic staff at the University of Illinois and the University of Calgary, and was a member of the research staff at Canada West Foundation. He has served as an advisor and on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations. He has served as a member of the boards of directors of Imagine Canada, Philanthropic Foundations Canada, and The Pemsel Case Foundation. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for The Philanthropist.

Dr. Isaac Odame

Professor Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

Dr. Odame is the Hematology Section Head and Director of the Hemoglobinopathy Program, Division of Hematology/Oncology, the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto. He is the Medical Director of the Global Sickle Cell Disease Network based at the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health that is building enduring collaborations between clinicians/scientists worldwide to further research and advance care of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that shoulder the heaviest disease burden.

Odame is Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. He was the Division Director and Alexandra Yeo Chair of Hematology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto from 2013- 2024.

Odame is playing a lead role in the World Coalition on Sickle Cell Disease (WCSCD), a unique multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral, international public-private partnership that aspires to be the global focal point for efforts to address SCD in LMICs. Odame is the Principal Investigator on implementation studies to integrate early SCD diagnosis and care in primary health care facilities in sub-Saharan Africa. As a member of Steering Committees, Data Safety Monitoring Boards, and site Principal Investigator, he is actively involved in several clinical studies aimed at developing novel disease-modifying and curative therapies for sickle cell disease. Odame is currently Associate Editor of Pediatric Blood & Cancer journal and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

Senator Ratna Omidvar

Senator for Ontario

Ratna Omidvar is an internationally recognized voice on migration, diversity and inclusion. She came to Canada from Iran in 1981 and her own experiences of displacement, integration and citizen engagement have been the foundation of her work. In April 2016, Ms. Omidvar was appointed to the Senate of Canada as an independent senator representing Ontario. Senator Omidvar is the Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology and served as Deputy Chair of the Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector. She is a Vice-President of the Canada-Germany Parliamentary Group.

Senator Omidvar is a Director at the Century Initiative, a Councillor on the World Refugee and Migration Council, a Founding Committee Member of Lifeline Afghanistan and and Chair Emerita for the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.

Previously at Ryerson University, Senator Omidvar was a Distinguished Visiting Professor and founded the Global Diversity Exchange, a think-and-do tank on diversity, migration and inclusion. Prior to her appointments at Ryerson, Senator Omidvar was the President of Maytree, where she played a lead role in local, national and international efforts to promote the integration of immigrants.

Senator Omidvar is co-author of Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada (2015), an Open Book Toronto best book of 2015 and one of the Toronto Star‘s top five good reads from Word on the Street. She is also a contributor to The Harper Factor (2016) and co-editor of Five Good Ideas: Practical Strategies for Non-Profit Success (2011). Senator Omidvar received a Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, from Ryerson University in 2018 and from York University in 2012.

Senator Omidvar was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2005 and became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2011, with both honours recognizing her advocacy work on behalf of immigrants and devotion to reducing inequality in Canada. In 2014, she received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of German-Canadian relations.

Senator Omidvar has also been recognized by Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, by being named as its Nation Builder of the Decade for Citizenship in 2010. She was named to the inaugural Global Diversity List sponsored by The Economist magazine in 2015, as one of the Top 10 Diversity Champions worldwide. In 2016, she also received Lifetime Achievement Awards from CivicAction and the Canadian Urban Institute, honouring her strong commitment to civic leadership and city building. In 2018, Senator Omidvar was named as one of the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners and in 2019 she received the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University.

Senator Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler

Senator for Manitoba

Dr. Ato Sekyi Otu

Orthopaedic Surgeon William Osler Health System

Professor Taylor Owen

Beaverbrook Chair in Media Ethics and Communications, Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University

Taylor Owen is the Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications, the founding director of The Center for Media, Technology and Democracy, and an Associate Professor in the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. He is the host of the Big Tech podcast, a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation, a Fellow at the Public Policy Forum, and sits on the Governing Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). He was previously an Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia and the Research Director of Tow Center for Digital Journalism at the Columbia School of Journalism. His Doctorate is from the University of Oxford and he has been a Trudeau and Banting scholar, an Action Canada Fellow and received the 2016 Public Policy Forum Emerging Leader award. He is the author of Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age (Oxford University Press, 2015) and the co-editor of The World Won’t Wait: Why Canada Needs to Rethink its Foreign Policies (University of Toronto Press, 2015) and Journalism After Snowden: The Future of the Free Press in the Surveillance State (Columbia University Press, 2016). His forthcoming book with Emily Bell will be published by Yale University Press in 2021. His work focuses on the intersection of media, technology and public policy and can be found at www.taylorowen.com and @taylor_owen.

Dara Parker

Vice-President, Grants and Community Initiatives Vancouver Foundation

Dara is a social impact executive with over 20 years’ experience working in purpose-driven organizations. She currently runs a leadership consultancy, helping change-makers navigate complexity to get things done.

She recently served as the Vice-President, Grants and Community Initiatives at the Vancouver Foundation, where she led a team of 26 and was responsible for deploying $50M annually in grants. Previously Dara has served as Executive Director of SVP Vancouver and the Executive Director of QMUNITY, BC’s Queer, Trans and Two-Spirit Resource Centre. Dara sits on the Board of Forward Global, and is the co-founder of Lezervations, a nonprofit facilitating networking events for queer and trans women.

Dara lives with her partner in Syilx Okanagan territory, and spends her down time chasing her French bulldogs, Mr. Bumper and Sir Waffles.

Dr. Andrew Parkin

Executive Director Environics Institute

 

Andrew Parkin is the Executive Director of the Environics Institute for Survey Research, a not-for-profit agency created in 2006 to conduct in-depth public opinion and social research on the issues shaping Canada’s future. 

Prior to joining the Institute, Andrew served as the Director of the Mowat Centre and Associate Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (2017-19), Director General of the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC) (2010-14), Associate Executive Director and Director of Research and Program Development at the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation (2004-10), and Co-Director of the Centre for Research and Information on Canada (2000-04).  He has also worked as an independent public policy analyst and consultant, providing strategic advice, issue analysis, and policy research to a variety of national and international clients in the areas of education and skills development, social and economic policy, and public opinion research. 

Andrew has convened, informed, and led national and international discussions on a wide range of public policy issues and acted as an authoritative public spokesperson on education, federalism, and the Canadian political community in both official languages.

A political sociologist by background, he completed his post-doctorate at Dalhousie University, his Ph.D. at the University of Bradford (U.K.), and his B.A. (Honours) at Queen’s University. He has received several academic honours, including a Commonwealth Scholarship and a Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship, and has authored or co-authored numerous publications on Canadian public policy.

Danya Pastuszek

Co-CEO Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement

Danya (she/her) grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She worked first at the International Rescue Committee, where she worked with resettling refugees, and then at The HOPE Program, working with individuals impacted by systems of criminal justice.

In 2012, she began a decade with United Way of Salt Lake (UWSL), as it transitioned to focusing solely on facilitating multi-sector, multigenerational partnerships designed to support economic mobility. She supported community schools, neighborhood roundtables, and regional partnerships and co-created data and storytelling strategies that center people’s experiences and reflect the transformations that systems must make. She left UWSL in February 2022 to join Tamarack. Tamarack supports tens of thousands of people to build the skills to change systems; catalyzes nearly 200 local place-based and deploys the wisdom of changemakers and communities to impact public policy. Tamarack’s work is to contribute to social connection and economic, climate, and education equity.

Her volunteer work is mostly in her local community, where she’s sat on the boards of Wise Owl Daycare and Renfrew County Family and Children’s Services and on the Corporate Services Committee of United Way East Ontario. She is currently the volunteer co-chair of a local school board’s parent involvement committee. She loves to read, bike, run, and watch young people discover both the beauty and the unrealized potential of the world around them.

Senator Kim Pate

Senator for Ontario

Kim Pate was appointed to the Senate of Canada on November 10, 2016. First and foremost, the mother of Michael and Madison, she is also a nationally renowned advocate who has spent the last 45+ years working in and around the legal and penal systems of Canada, with and on behalf of some of the most marginalized, victimized, criminalized and institutionalized — particularly imprisoned youth, men and women.

Senator Pate graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1984 with honours in the Clinical Law Programme and has completed post graduate work in the area of forensic mental health. She was the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) from January 1992 until her appointment to the Senate in November 2016. CAEFS is a federation of local societies who provide services and work in coalition with Aboriginal women, women with mental health issues and other disabling conditions, young women, visible minority and immigrant women, poor women and those isolated and otherwise deprived of potential sources of support. Prior to her work with CAEFS, she worked with youth and men in a number of capacities with the local John Howard Society in Calgary, as well as the national office. She has developed and taught Prison Law, Human Rights and Social Justice and Defending Battered Women on Trial courses at the Faculties of Law at the University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University and the University of Saskatchewan. She also occupied the Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law in 2014 and 2015.

Kim Pate is widely credited as the driving force behind the Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston, headed by Justice Louise Arbour. During the Inquiry, she supported women as they aired their experiences and was a critical resource and witness in the Inquiry itself. She also persuaded the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to initiate the Self-Defence Review and appoint the Honourable Madam Justice Lynn Ratushny to review the convictions and sentences of women jailed for using lethal force to defend themselves and/or their children against abusive men. She then worked tirelessly in pursuit of the implementation of the many positive recommendations from both. Senator Pate has been instrumental in building coalitions across the country with other equality-seeking women’s, anti-racism, anti-poverty and human rights groups and organizations; and, in this capacity, has worked with feminist legal scholars, lawyers, other professionals and front-line advocates and activists — from Indigenous communities to transition house and rape crisis centre workers.

Kim Pate is a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, the Canadian Bar Association’s Bertha Wilson Touchstone Award, and six honourary doctorates (Law Society of Upper Canada, University of Ottawa, Carleton University, St. Thomas University, Nipissing University and Wilfrid Laurier University) and numerous other awards. Her extensive list of publications, national and international speaking engagements and her strategic intervention and advocacy for substantive equality testify to her commitment to broader social, economic and cultural change. She continues to make significant contributions to public education around the issues of women’s inequality and discriminatory treatment within social, economic and criminal justice spheres.

Senator Pate strongly believes that the contributions of women who have experienced marginalization, discrimination and oppression should be recognized and respected and she seeks to credit and empower women. She maintains contact with women in prison through her numerous visits to Canada’s federal prisons and strongly encourages other advocates, scholars, service providers, judges and parliamentarians to ground their efforts in a similar way.

Senator Pate lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Professor Maury Peiperl

Former Dean George Mason University

Maury Peiperl is co-author of the leading textbook on change management, Managing Change (McGraw Hill), as well as two books on careers and work, Career Frontiers and Career Creativity (Oxford) and the central reference in the careers field, The Handbook of Career Studies (Sage). He has also published in Harvard Business Review, Academy of Management Review, Human Resource Management, Group & Organization Management and the Journal of International Business Studies, among others.

Now a Management professor and Senior Fellow in the Office of the Provost, Peiperl served as the Dean of the School of Business from August 2017 through June 2022. During his tenure, the school grew in both reputation and size to become more well-recognized and highly respected in the region, across the Commonwealth, nationally and internationally, through initiatives such as the Center for Government Contracting; the Business for a Better World Center; and interdisciplinary research across areas including IT, real estate, and retail.

Prior to joining George Mason University, he was Director (Dean) of Cranfield School of Management, one of the UK’s leading MBA and Executive Development institutions, as well as a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University. Before Cranfield, Peiperl spent 10 years as Professor of Leadership and Strategic Change at IMD in Switzerland, where he developed and directed numerous executive development courses and held a variety of administrative roles.

From 1992 to 2004, Peiperl was a professor at London Business School, where he co-founded the pioneering EMBA – Global program (joint with Columbia Business School) as well as creating the Managing Change course, the Global Business Leader elective, and the Leadership for Change executive program.

Peiperl has also held visiting or affiliate appointments at MIT Sloan School of Management, The R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, Georgetown McDonough School of Business, HEC Paris, and Templeton College, Oxford. Before becoming a professor he worked for IBM, Merrill Lynch and LEK Consulting and as a research fellow at Harvard Business School.

Peiperl holds a BS in Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA, AM and PhD from Harvard University.

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Andrew Petter

President Emeritus of Simon Fraser University

Andrew Petter is President Emeritus of Simon Fraser University and Professor Emeritus in its School of Public Policy. He was Board Chair of Innovate BC from 2021 to 2024 and currently practices law with Arvay Finlay LLP.

Prior to joining SFU, Andrew was a professor in the University of Victoria Faculty of Law where he served as dean from 2001 to 2008. From 1991 to 2001, he was an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia and held numerous cabinet portfolios, including Aboriginal Affairs, Intergovernmental Relations, Advanced Education and Attorney General.

As SFU President from 2010 to 2020, Andrew oversaw the development and implementation of a strategic vision that distinguished SFU as Canada’s “engaged university defined by its dynamic integration of innovative education, cutting edge research and far-reaching community engagement.” Under his leadership, SFU was named Canada’s top comprehensive university for nine of ten years in Maclean’s Rankings, and was rated first in the world for its impact on sustainable cities and communities in the 2020 Times Higher Education’s Impact Rankings.

Andrew was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2019 and Order of B.C. in 2021 in recognition of his contributions to public policy and his leadership in advancing university-community engagement and higher education in Canada. In 2018 he was named recipient of Public Policy Forum’s Peter Lougheed Award for leadership in public policy.

Claude Pinard

President and Executive Director Centraide of Greater Montréal

Claude Pinard has been President and Executive Director of Centraide of Greater Montreal since July 2021. Centraide is a strategic social investor that provides regular annual support to a network of 375 agencies and collective projects that fight poverty and social exclusion. Before joining Centraide, Claude oversaw the activities of the Mirella and Lino Saputo Foundation, a private family foundation devoted to improving the well‐being of individuals living with disabilities, seniors, and people from immigrant backgrounds, as its executive director from 2013 to 2021. Prior to this position, Claude developed his career in both the public and private sectors, as he held management and leadership positions at Saputo Inc. and acted as a special advisor to the president of Hydro‐Québec.

Claude is a strategic manager whose vision is oriented toward innovation and collaboration as drivers of solutions to current social issues. For example, he conceptualized, helped set up and chaired the board of directors of the Maison de l’innovation sociale. He was involved in creating the Academy for Collaboration with Ashoka Canada and Philanthropic Foundations Canada, of which he was also a board member. With HEC Montréal, he participated in creating the very first incubator for newcomers, an initiative that has been recognized by the OECD and the European Commission as a model for newcomer inclusion. He was a member of the Impact Canada Initiative Advisory Committee, which advises the Impact and Innovation Unit of the Government of Canada’s Privy Council Office on trends and best practices for improving the impact of public programs.

Claude has a degree in Political Science and also studied Communications. His skills include public relations, philanthropy, marketing and sports management.

Dr. Chris R. Kilford

President Canadian International Council

Chris is a member of the national board of the Canadian International Council, the editor (articles) of CIC’s online foreign policy magazine Open Canada, president of the CIC Victoria branch and a sessional professor with the Canadian Forces College and the Royal Military College of Canada.  He also holds a PhD in history from Queen’s University with a focus on civil-military relations in the developing world. Chris also enjoyed a 36-year career in the Canadian Army. He is a graduate of Canada’s Advanced Military Studies Course and was granted an equivalency for the year-long National Security Program in 2009. He also commanded 4^th Air Defence Regiment, followed by various senior positions in the Department of National Defence including Director Future Security Analysis and Military Liaison Officer to the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence. From July 2009 until July 2010, Chris deployed to Canada’s Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan as the Deputy Military Attaché. On his return to Canada, he commenced Turkish language training after which he was sent to Canada’s Embassy in Ankara as the Canadian Defence Attaché with cross accreditation to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkmenistan from July 2011 until July 2014. Chris retired from the military in September 2014.

Honourable Murray Rankin

MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head and Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation

Murray Rankin was elected as the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head in 2020. He has served as Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation since 2020 and has also served as Attorney General.

Murray is a lawyer with expertise in environmental, Indigenous, and public law. He holds law degrees from the University of Toronto and Harvard Law School.

He served as the member of parliament for Victoria from 2012-19. During this period, he was appointed justice and attorney general critic, health critic, and served as NDP House Leader. In 2018, he was nominated by his colleagues from all parties as a finalist for Maclean’s Magazine’s “Hardest Working Parliamentarian”.

From 2019-20, he was the chair of Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, overseeing all national security and intelligence activities carried out by the Government of Canada.

Previously he was a University of Victoria professor of law and taught environmental and administrative law. During this period, he developed groups such as the West Coast Environmental Law Association, and the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

Throughout his career, he has been a dedicated advocate for climate action, accessible health care and child care, and has worked extensively to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

Murray Rankin lives in Oak Bay with his spouse, Linda Hannah. They have two adult sons, Ben and Mark, and two grandchildren.

Dr. Diane Redsky

CEO Kekekoziibii Development Corporation

Diane is a proud mother of three children and a Kookum (grandmother).  She is a First Nation member of Shoal Lake First Nation #40 in Treaty #3 territory with German ancestry and has long worked to address the myriad of issues facing Winnipeg’s urban Indigenous community in all areas all areas of health, justice, education and social services. She has served in both a professional and volunteer capacity with local, national and international agencies and has become a strong advocate for urban Indigenous children’s and women’s issues.  Through her leadership in several Indigenous led community-based organizations, she has helped to create numerous grassroots innovative programs rooted in Indigenous values that have helped build healthy communities through promoting the growth and development of the urban Indigenous community particularly the safety, protection and well-being of women and girls.

She spent most of her career leading the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre – the largest non-mandated, non-profit, urban Indigenous-led organization in Manitoba and is a community-based, community-led, Indigenous-driven family resource centre that is a leader in community-based care for Indigenous children, youth and families in Winnipeg. She was instrumental in increasing investments from 1997: $1.8-million and 1-location to 2022: $22-million and 18-locations and rooting these services through honouring Indigenous knowledge and values. Diane answered the call to come home following the completion of Freedom Road which connects Shoal Lake 40 First Nation to Highway #1 and is the CEO of Kekekoziibii Development Corporation which is the economic arm of the Shoal Lake 40.

2011-2015, Diane was Project Director for the National Task Force on Human Trafficking of Women and Girls in Canada.  This role led her to work with experts in Canada and abroad to address the sexual exploitation/trafficking of Canadian women and girls.  Together, we can give a voice to survivors, end this extreme form of violence against women and girls and stop this violation of human rights.  This meaningful work resulted in National Task Force Report with 34 recommendations to end sex trafficking in Canada.

In 2018, Diane testified at the MMIWG2S+ National Inquiry on the epidemic of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking in Canada and brought with her Winnipeg Police Chief to present on promising practices when police and community work in partnership to protect vulnerable women and girls.  Currently she is Chairperson of the MMIWG2S+ Urban Working Group that launched their National Action Plan entitled: Urban Path to Reclaiming Power and Place, Regardless of Residency on June 3, 2021 and is currently working on an implementation plan.  Dr. Diane Redsky is also part of the Manitoba MMIWG2S+ Coalition made up of MMIWG2S+ family members, survivors and various community-based organizations throughout Manitoba and is the Chair of the Indigenous Women’s Circle that gives advice and direction to WAGE-Women and Gender Equality Department of the Government of Canada.

Dr. Diane Redsky has been acknowledged: Honourary Doctorate Degree in Law from the University of Winnipeg, Order of Manitoba, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal, Leadership and Innovator/Visionary Award by Joy Smith Foundation, Governor General’s Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case, Senate of Canada Medal, YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Award, Rotary Paul Harris Award and 150 Manitoba Trailblazer Award from the Nellie McClung Foundation.

Diane’s belief in the inherent strength of the community continues to guide her along her life’s journey.

Dr. Joss Reimer

President Canadian Medical Association

Dr. Joss Reimer served as chief medical officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Before this, she worked as medical lead and official spokesperson for Manitoba’s COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Taskforce and as the medical director of public health for Winnipeg. She has expertise in health equity, immunizations, sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections and harm reduction. Dr. Reimer spent nine years as director of population health for undergraduate medical education at the University of Manitoba, where she developed and directed the four-year population health course still used today. She also maintains a clinical practice in maternity care, labour and delivery at Women’s Hospital. Voted Humanitarian of the Year by Doctors Manitoba, Dr. Reimer is passionate about physician wellness and public health. Dr. Reimer grew up in rural Manitoba. She completed medical training at the University of Manitoba and McMaster University, training several years in obstetrics and gynecology before finishing a public health specialty. She completed a master’s in public health degree with a project focused on health communication in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Reimer speaks three languages and has received several additional awards including the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal, the Government of Manitoba’s Pandemic Medical Hero Award and the St. John Ambulance Pandemic Medallion.

John Richardson

Founder and CEO Ethelo Desicions

John is a social entrepreneur, mathematician, lawyer, technologist and change agent.

John is dedicated to using digital technology to advance participatory democracy. He is the founder and CEO of Ethelo, which provides group decision technology to governments and organizations around the world. Ethelo is one of the world’s top digital democracy platforms, named “Best for the World” in governance by B-Corp. Ethelo is the technology being used for the new eDemocracy DAO, launched in the fall of 2022.

In 2021, John invented SeaBrick, a construction modality for carbon sequestration and marine infrastructure. Seabrick are floating, interlocking blocks made of compressed kelp fiber covered by an impermeable, bioplastic shell. The University of British Columbia and the Heiltsuk First Nation have partnered to develop and manufacture SeaBrick. SeaBrick will be used to build large offshore kelp farming operations – among many other things. SeaBrick is massively scalable and will open the deep ocean as humanity’s next frontier.

John was named an Ashoka Fellow for establishing Pivot Legal Society in 2001, one of Canada’s leading human rights organizations. Pivot does strategic litigation to advance the interests of marginalized persons on issues of police accountability, sex worker and drug user rights, homelessness, and mental health. While working at Pivot John led the establishment of Hope in Shadows, an annual photography contest and street calendar whose model has spread around the world.

Miles Richardson

Executive Director, National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development, University of Victoria

Miles G. Richardson O.C. is a citizen of the Haida Nation and Canada. He grew up among his people on Haida Gwaii, attended high school in Prince Rupert, BC, and in 1979 received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Victoria. From 1984 to 1996, he served as President of the Council of Haida Nation. Mr. Richardson was a member of the British Columbia Claims Task Force, which made recommendations to the Government of Canada, Government of British Columbia and First Nations in British Columbia on how the three parties could begin negotiations to build a new relationship and what negotiations should include. From 1991 to 1993, Mr. Richardson was a member of the First Nations Summit Task Group, an executive body representing First Nations in British Columbia. In October 1995, Mr. Richardson was appointed as a Commissioner to the BC Treaty Commission and was elected to a second term in April 1997. In November 1998, he was chosen as Chief Commissioner by agreement of Canada, BC and the First Nations Summit for a three-year term and was re-appointed in November 2001. In 2007, Mr. Richardson was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. Currently, he operates his own business advisory service and is the UVic Director of National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development.

Dr. Gladys Rowe

Host Indigenous Insights

Dr. Gladys Rowe (MSW) is Swampy Cree from Fox Lake Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba and also holds relations with ancestors from Ireland, England, Norway, and Ukraine. She currently resides on the occupied lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples in Washington State with her family. Gladys’ research focuses on fostering decolonization and Indigenous resurgence at individual, organizational, community, and systems levels. This has included her work in social work, maternal child health, Indigenous full spectrum birth work, interdisciplinary arts practices, systems transformation, Indigenous innovation, and Indigenous evaluation.

Gladys is a Scholar, Filmmaker, Poet, Author, Facilitator, Researcher, and Evaluator. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work and loves to think inside the circle when it comes to transforming the futures we are living into. She is the host of Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast – where she sits in conversation with Indigenous leaders across Turtle Island and beyond. She has collaborated on many projects including the Stories of Decolonization Film Project and the book, Living in Indigenous Sovereignty. 

Mike Rowlands

Partner & CEO Junxion

Mike is an accomplished entrepreneur, consultant and advisor who has spent more than 20 years working to catalyze social responsibility and sustainability with organizations on four continents.

Working from the Junxion Vancouver office, Mike is engaged on international projects, primarily in strategy, values-based branding, organizational design, and communications. His experience spans multiple sectors, including social services, responsible finance, business-to-business models and early-stage social enterprise.

As an emcee, keynote speaker, entrepreneur-in-residence, and frequent workshop presenter, Mike regularly hosts events, convenes conferences, and teaches strategy, branding, and entrepreneurial leadership. He’s happiest when hosting juicy, generative conversations with people and groups, in service to life.

Professor Bukola Salami

Full Professor University of Calgary

Professor Bukola Salami currently holds the rank of Full Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Black and Racialized Peoples’ Health in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. Professor Salami’s research program focuses on policies and practices shaping migrant, Black and racialized people’s health. She has been involved in over 90 funded studies totalling over $230 million. She founded and leads the African Child and Youth Migration Network, a network of 42 scholars from four continents. She led the establishment of the Institute for Intersectional Studies at the University of Alberta. In 

2020, she founded the Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program. Her work on Black youth mental health informed the creation of the first mental health clinic for Black Canadians in Western Canada. She has presented her work to policy makers (including to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health). Her work has contributed to policy change, including that related to Black people’s well-being. She is an Editor for the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research and Associate Editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). She is an advisory board member of the CIHR Institute for Human Development, Child and Youth Health and Scientific Advisory Committee on Global Health to the Government of Canada.

 

Louise Savell

Director Social Finance

Louise is a co-founder of Social Finance and jointly leads the International team. She advises governments, philanthropies and service providers on the design and delivery of social development programmes.

Louise is passionate about driving social impact through rigorous analysis, efficient structures and effective cross-sector partnerships. She has particular expertise in outcomes-based approaches and social investment structures. She co-developed the impact bond approach in 2008.

Louise specialises in the development and delivery of new initiatives and has led work in health, education, nutrition, homelessness, financial inclusion and infrastructure in the UK and internationally. Before starting Social Finance, Louise led the Eastern European programmes of the UK-based philanthropic foundation, Ark, where she worked with government and service providers to accelerate the reform of child welfare systems towards family-based care in Bulgaria and Romania.

Louise was a Government Outcomes (GO) Lab Fellow of Practice in 2018. She was appointed a Visiting Fellow of Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government in 2020.

Ms. Jill Schnarr

Chief Social Innovation & Communications Officer TELUS

Jill leads corporate communications, media relations, government relations, brand marketing, sponsorships, community investment, TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, and corporate events. With over 30 years of telecom and tech industry experience, Jill has significantly influenced TELUS’ reputation as a global leader in social capitalism, enabling TELUS to be the most respected, admired and trusted telco brand in Canada and one of the most valuable Brands in Canada, with a 2023 brand value of $10.3 billion.

Throughout her career, Jill has ensured TELUS’ social purpose approach focuses on business benefit, enabling every dollar invested in the community to return over 4 times back to TELUS in business impact and 150% to the community in societal impact. Jill leads TELUS Days of Giving, facilitating over 80,000 volunteers globally in 2023 alone, and our Team TELUS Cares programs, enabling over $1.6 billion giving and 2 million days of volunteerism since 2000. She has launched major TELUS marketing campaigns including We Give Where We Live, Go Pink, Share Love, All Connected and the Let’s Make the Future Friendly campaign.

Jill was recognized as one of Canada’s Distinctive Women, Canada’s Most Powerful Women, one of the Most Influential Women in Vancouver, one of Ad Age’s 2022 Leading Women and as Most Innovative Leader by the Canadian Women in Communications. Under Jill’s leadership, TELUS was acknowledged as the Most Philanthropic Corporation in the World by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, one of Strategy Magazines 2021 Brands of the Year and was awarded the Prime Minister’s Inaugural Corporate Volunteer Award.

Divya Sharma

Student Union President University of Manitoba

Divya is a leader and advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Her professional and volunteer work for a wide range of causes has spread across Canada and beyond.

At the age of 19, Divya Sharma is experienced with community engagement, the public and non-profit sector, government, and student politics and has been recognized locally, nationally and internationally. Sharma is the youngest board member of several organizations; Provincial Women’s Advisory Council, Manitoba Council for International Cooperation, CBC Community Advisory Board, Association of Fundraising Professionals MB, Asian Women of Winnipeg, Inclusion Winnipeg, paving the way for young people.

As the President of the University of Manitoba Students’ Union, Divya advocates for policies and campaigns that promote DEI and support 30 000 students. Director of Communication for the Community of Big Hearts, a social enterprise dedicated to Indigenous reconciliation. Due to her dedication to DEI, she was selected to serve as a youth delegate for the United Nations 68th Commission on the Status of Women and as a UNICEF, U-Report Ambassador. Divya carries the spirit of seva after moving to Canada at the age of 9 and takes pride in continuing to volunteer.

Dean Sanjay Sharma

Dean Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont

Sanjay Sharma is the Dean of the Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont since 2011. Prior to that he was the Dean of the John Molson School of Business in Montreal and the Canada Research Chair in Organizational Sustainability. He is a pioneer in corporate sustainability research with nine books and several articles published in top tier business journals including the Academy of Management Discoveries, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Marketing, and Academy of Management Perspectives. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award in Organizations and the Natural Environment from the Academy of Management in 2016. His book Competing for a Sustainable World: Building Capacity for Sustainable Innovation was a runner up for the Best Book Award at the Academy of Management in 2015 and his recent research monograph Patient Capital: The Role of Family Firms in Sustainable Business is published by the Cambridge University Press in 2019. Before pursuing an academic career, he was a senior manager and CEO with multinational corporations for 16 years.

Senator Paula Simons

Senator for Alberta

Paula Simons was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2018, after a long and distinguished career as one of western Canada’s most acclaimed journalists.

She has been a radio documentary-maker, a playwright, and an author of popular history, but she is best known for her work as a political columnist and reporter with the Edmonton Journal.

Over the course of her 23 years at the paper, Senator Simons earned two National Newspaper Awards, one for investigative journalism and one for column writing. She earned a further six National Newspaper Award citations of merit for her columns and editorials on Alberta politics.

Her work has also been recognized with awards from the UNESCO Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom, Journalists for Human Rights, the Society for Features Journalism, the Alberta Centre for Civil Liberties Research, the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Edmonton Historical Board.

In 2021, she was nominated for her first National Magazine Award, for her regular column, On Second Thought, which appears in Alberta Views Magazine. She is also the host of her own political podcast, Alberta Unbound.

Senator Simons is the deputy chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, and a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications. She has also served as a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources.

Born and raised in Edmonton, Senator Simons holds a B.A. Honours degree from the University of Alberta, and a Master’s degree from Stanford University.

Dr. Peter Singer

Former Special Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization

Dr. Singer is the former Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada. He is also Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto, Director at the Sandra Rotman Centre at University Health Network, and Foreign Secretary of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

In 2007, Dr. Singer received the Michael Smith Prize as Canada’s Health Researcher of the Year in Population Health and Health Services. In 2011, Dr. Singer was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions to health research and bioethics, and for his dedication to improving health in developing countries. In 2014, he was named by the UN Secretary General’s Office as Co-Chair of the Every Woman Every Child Innovation Working Group.

Dr. Singer is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, and The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS). Dr. Singer has published over 300 articles and mentored hundreds of students and staff. He studied internal medicine at University of Toronto, medical ethics at University of Chicago, public health at Yale University, and management at Harvard Business School.

Natalie Slawinski

Director, Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation University of Victoria

Natalie Slawinski is Professor of Sustainability and Director of the Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation at the Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria.  She earned her PhD from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario. Her research focuses on understanding sustainability, temporality and paradoxes in organizations, and has been published in such journals as Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal and Organization Studies.  Her most recent research examines these themes in the context of social enterprise. Natalie serves as an Advisor to Memorial University’s Centre for Social Enterprise and is a Research Fellow at the Cambridge University Judge Business School’s Centre for Social Innovation. She is also a member of the editorial review board at Organization & Environment.

Shauna Sylvester

Definity Foundation

Shauna Sylvester, believes that the best anecdote to increased polarization is authentic engagement, informed dialogue, and deep listening. With 35 years of experience as a dialogue practitioner and facilitator, Shauna seeks to build relationships among diverse groups to solve complex problems.  Shauna is Senior Fellow of the Definity Foundation, Founder and Lead Convenor for Urban Climate Leadership, a project of MakeWay, and the Lead Facilitator for Resilient Point Roberts: Going Solar a community-led initiative to bring solar to this small US exclave community. Shauna is the former Executive Director of the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network – US and Canada, and Co-Founder of five local and international dialogue initiatives: the SFU Public Square, Renewable Cities, Carbon Talks, Moving in a Livable Region. and the IMPACS – the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society.

Professor Rebecca Taylor

Pro Vice-Chancellor (ASEAN) and CEO (Malaysia) University of Southampton

 

Professor Rebecca Taylor is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (ASEAN) and CEO (Malaysia) at the University of Southampton. Her research interests lie in the field of International Economics and Developments in Economics Education. 

She has designed and directed a number of Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded projects focussed on innovative approaches to the teaching and learning of mathematics and statistics in Economics. She has also worked with the Economic and Social Research Council and the Higher Education Academy on addressing the identified skills deficit in quantitative methods across the social sciences. 

Rebecca is the Vice President of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and the Chair of the LUISS Business School International Advisory Board. She also chairs the European Online Course Certification Board and regularly contributes to conferences and workshops related to developments and innovation in higher education.

Reeta Tremblay

Professor Emerita Political Science, University of Victoria

Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay is Professor Emerita of comparative politics in the department of Political Science at the University of Victoria.

Her major areas of research are secessionist movements (Kashmir) in South Asia, the politics of subaltern resistance and accommodation in post-colonial societies, democracy and governance and comparative federalism.

During her career, she has held several administrative positions including Vice President Academic and Provost at the University of Victoria; Vice President (Academic) and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Pro Tem) at Memorial University in Newfoundland; dean of the Faculty of Arts at Memorial; and chair, Department of Political Science at Concordia University, Montreal.

Reeta Tremblay is past president of the Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA), Canadian Asian Studies (CASA), and the Canadian Council of Area Studies of Learned Societies (including Canadian Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, African Studies and the Middle Eastern Studies). She has also served or is serving on editorial boards of several disciplinary journals including PS Political Science (APSA), Pacific Affairs, Canadian Journal of Law and Society, Politics and Governance.

Reeta Tremblay holds an MA and PhD in political science from the University of Chicago. She also has an MPhil degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, India and an MA and BA from the University of Kashmir.

She has authored or co-authored several books, articles, and reviews. Her work is widely reviewed and cited—in particular, her writings on Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations, a subject on which she is widely considered the leading North American expert. She has been recognized for her exceptional teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and has received the Concordia University Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2002.

Reeta Tremblay’s selected recent publications include: “The Political Economy of Natural Resource Funds” (2021 with Eyene Okpanachi); “Religion and Politics in Jammu and Kashmir” (2020) “India: Federalism, Nationalism, and the Marginalized – Covid India” (2020); Kashmir Elections: A Precursor to ‘No More Two Flags, Two Constitutions” (2019); “Modi’s Foreign Policy” (2017 with Ashok Kapur); “Contested Governance, Competing Nationalisms, and Disenchanted Publics: Kashmir beyond Intractability?” (2017) “Kashmir’s Contentious Politics: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same” (2015); “Beyond Parochialism and Domestic Preoccupation: The Current State of Comparative Politics in Canada” (2013) and “Labor Migration, Citizenship, and Social Welfare in China and India” (2013 with Josephine Smart).

She also contributes commentaries on South Asia, in particular on Kashmir and on South Asian regional politics to South Asia Monitor (projects of the New Delhi-based think tank, Society for Policy Studies) and to KashmirConnected. In 2015, she was recognized as one of the top 40 prominent Indo-Canadians and was profiled in The Indian Diaspora’ A-List.

Ilse Treurnicht

Managing Partner TwinRiver Capital

Ilse Treurnicht’s career spans scientific research and commercialization, building health and cleantech firms, venture and impact investing, as well as public policy.

She is managing partner of TwinRiver Capital (an impact investment firm), a general partner at North South Ventures (a seed stage med fund), chair of the Public Policy Forum and a director of the Equality Fund and Zentek.

Ilse was CEO of MaRS Discovery District in Toronto from 2005-2017 as it developed from a nascent organization into a leading urban innovation hub. She joined MaRS from her role as CEO of Primaxis Technology Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm (1999-2005).

She was chair of the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance (2010), served on the Government of Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council (2014-2016), Canada’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth (2016-2019), and the Advisory Committee on Open Banking (2018-2021). She has been a board member and advisor to technology firms, non-profits and international organizations.

Ilse holds a doctorate in chemistry from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar.

Dr. Modupe Tunde-Byass

President Black Physicians of Canada (BPC)

Dr. Modupe Tunde-Byass is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of the UK and The Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. She is an active staff at North York General Hospital and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Toronto.

Dr. Tunde-Byass is the President of the Black Physicians of Canada (BPC) and her work focuses on advocacy, mentorship of Black learners, community building, leadership, and collaboration with key national organizations. 

She is passionate about maternal mortality, morbidity, and birthing experiences in the Black population. She has made many media appearances and recently she was featured in an episode of the CBC documentary series For the Culture with Amanda Parris exploring Black maternal deaths. She is the co-author of Achieving equity in reproductive care and birth outcomes for Black people. CMAJ 2024.

Dr. Tunde-Byass is involved in key quality initiatives in the province like Vagina Birth After Cesarean Section, Early Pregnancy Loss and low risk pregnancy QBP. She is co-founder of Women’s Health Education Made Simple (WHEMS) an on-line evidenced based educational tool for women. 

Ryan Turnbull

Member of Parliament for Whitby

Ryan Turnbull was elected as the Member of Parliament for Whitby in 2019, and re-elected in 2021. He has been a member of various parliamentary committees, groups, and associations, including the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, and the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

Passionate about serving others, Mr. Turnbull is committed to making a difference for people in his community and all Canadians. He entered politics to support the development of innovative policies and solutions to address today’s toughest challenges and improve people’s lives. Since then, he has been a strong voice for building a sustainable economy and supporting resilient communities. He has strongly advocated for increased food security, better public transit and infrastructure, climate action, and improved access to affordable housing, among other issues.

Previously, Mr. Turnbull taught, developed curriculum, and oversaw research at a number of post-secondary institutions, including Carleton University, St. George’s University of London (United Kingdom), Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University), and Durham College. He also taught corporate social responsibility at the Ted Rogers School of Management for several years.

In 2008, Mr. Turnbull founded a management consulting company, where he has worked with non-profits, charities, and entrepreneurs that advanced a social or environmental cause. He is recognized as a leader in social innovation, sustainable finance, systems change, and collective impact, all of which are new approaches to address complex issues ranging from poverty to homelessness, racism to gender equality, and food security to climate change.

Mr. Turnbull holds both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Carleton University.

Adam van Koeverden

Member of Parliament for Milton

Adam van Koeverden was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Milton in 2019.

Mr. van Koeverden previously served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Sport and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth and to the Minister of Canadian Heritage (Sport).

Mr. van Koeverden is a dedicated community leader and one of Canada’s most accomplished athletes. He has represented Canada at four Summer Olympic Games, winning a gold, two silvers, and a bronze medal. He served as Canada’s flag bearer in Athens and Beijing, and won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete in 2004.

A first-generation Canadian, Mr. van Koeverden grew up at Chautauqua Co-op in Oakville with his younger brother and mother. He joined the Burloak Canoe Club as a teenager and rapidly became one of Canada’s premier athletes. In addition to being a world, Olympic, and Canadian champion, he has volunteered extensively for organizations like Right to Play, WaterAid, Special Olympics Canada, and the David Suzuki Foundation. Along with his father, Mr. van Koeverden is also a strong advocate for Parkinson Canada.

Before entering politics, Mr. van Koeverden worked as a managing consultant with Deloitte, and as a broadcaster, writer, and producer with CBC Sports. He also served as Chair of the Canadian Olympic Athletes’ Commission and was a member of the Government of Canada Working Group on Gender Equity in Sport, promoting safe sport and addressing gender-based violence. He is a leading public speaker who has spoken to tens of thousands of students at schools in the Halton region and across Canada.

Mr. van Koeverden graduated as valedictorian with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from McMaster University. He lives in Milton with his dog, Cairo.

Leslie Varley

Executive Director BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres

Leslie, a member of the Killer Whale clan of the Nisga’a Nation, is a committed social justice advocate working for Indigenous peoples.

She is the Executive Director of British Columbia Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, an umbrella agency supporting 25 Friendship Centres. Previously Leslie held the Indigenous health portfolio for 9 years at Provincial Health Services Authority where she led the development of San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety, a cutting edge decolonizing anti-racism training program offered to the health, social and justice sectors in Canada.

Leslie’s community work focuses on ending racism and violence against Indigenous people, particularly towards women and girls. She is a proud board member of Central City Foundation, which invests in social impact real estate in Vancouver. Leslie holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University. She resides as a guest at Musqueam nation in Vancouver.

Steve Waddell

Founder and Co-Lead Steward Bounce Beyond

Responding to the 21st century’s enormous global challenges and realizing its unsurpassed opportunities require fundamental change – transformation – in our mental models, structures and institutions, cultures and values, and relationship with the natural environment. For over 40 years Steve has been supporting this through community organizing, consultations, education, research, and personal leadership.

Local to global work with others as clients, funders, and project partners has included the Global Knowledge Partnership, the UN Global Compact, World Bank, Global Reporting Initiative, Ford Foundation, Humanity United, Civicus, International Youth Foundation, USAID, International Development and Research Centre, Forest Stewardship Council, and Future Earth.

Developing innovative organizing structures and approaches for change are a common theme in Steve’s work. In the ‘80s he co-led transformation of the world’s largest community credit union, VanCity Savings; in the ‘90s he was on the forefront of intersectoral (business-government-civil society) collaboration as a new organizing form; in the ‘00s he was a leader in developing global multi-stakeholder change networks like the UN Global Compact, Transparency International and the Forest Stewardship Council. For the last decade he has focused on development of “transformation systems” as massive collective action innovations. Steve is currently Lead Steward of Bounce Beyond, supporting initiatives developing paradigmatic change. He also leads FEST, a global community of leading practitioners and thought leaders developing the field of financing systemic transformation.

Three key concepts are associated with Steve’s work on transformations: “societal learning and change,” which is a deep collaborative change strategy to address chronic and complex issues; “global action networks”, which are an emerging form of global governance for deep change; and “transformation systems” that form around issues and places.

Dozens of publications include the books Societal Learning and Change: Innovation with Multi-Stakeholder Strategies (2005); Global Action Networks: Creating our future together (2011); and Change for the Audacious: a doers’ guide to large systems change for a flourishing future (2016). Steve has a Ph.D. in sociology and an MBA. He a Canadian-American living with his husband alternatively in Boston and the woods of western Massachusetts.

Dr. Shannon Waters

Medical Health Officer for the Cowichan Valley Region Vancouver Island Health Authority

Dr. Shannon Waters is Coast Salish and a member of Stz’uminus First Nation on Vancouver Island. She completed the First Nations Family Practice program at the University of British Columbia and worked as a family doctor in Duncan, BC.

While honored to work close to home, Shannon became frustrated with seeing people when they were unwell, and wanted to focus on maintaining health and well-being. She returned to school and completed her specialty training in Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Shannon worked as the Director of Health Surveillance at First Nations and Inuit Health Branch and, at First Nations Health Authority as the Acting Senior Medical Officer for Vancouver Island Region. She has worked with Vancouver Island Health Authority as a Medical Director and with the Ministry of Health as the Aboriginal Physician Advisor.

She is currently honored to have come full circle and to be working in her home territory as the local Medical Health Officer with Island Health.

Dr. Andrew Weaver

Professor University of Victoria

Dr. Andrew J. Weaver is a Professor in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria. He was also the Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis until he was elected as a BC Green Party MLA in the 2013 BC Provincial Election representing the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head. In 2015 Dr. Weaver assumed leadership of the BC Green Party, leading them to an historic election result in the 2017 provincial election with three elected MLAs holding the balance of power in an NDP minority government. He returned to UVic after completing two terms as an MLA.

Dr. Weaver received his B.Sc (Mathematics and Physics) from the University of Victoria in 1983, a Master of Advanced Studies in Mathematics from Cambridge University in 1984, and a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of British Columbia in 1987. He has authored or coauthored over 200 peer-reviewed papers in climate, meteorology, oceanography, earth science, policy, education and anthropology journals. He was a Lead Author in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^thand 5^th scientific assessments. He was the Chief Editor of the Journal of Climate from 2005-2009.

Dr. Weaver is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Over the years he has received a number of awards including the NSERC-Steacie, Killam and Guggenheim Fellowships and the CMOS President’s Prize, the Royal Society of Canada Miroslaw Romanowski Medal and the A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine Science. In 2008 he was appointed to the Order of British Columbia and in 2014 he received an honourary D.Sc. degree from McMaster University.

For his work developing British Columbia’s CleanBC economic plan collaboratively with the BC NDP, he and the Minister of Environment, George Heyman, received 2020 Clean 16 and Clean 50 awards for outstanding contributions to sustainable development and clean capitalism in Canada.

His book, Keeping our Cool: Canada in a Warming World was published by Viking Canada in September 2008. His second book, Generation Us: The Challenge of Global Warming was published by Raven books in 2011.

 

Senator Judy White

Senate of Canada

Judy White is a Mi’kmaq, a member of the Flat Bay Band, and a King’s Counsel lawyer with significant experience in human rights issues, Indigenous governance, and legislative matters.

Ms. White was previously the Assistant Deputy Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation in the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and, through an interchange arrangement, served as Director of Engagement for Distinctions-based Legislation with the Government of Canada.

She has worked on numerous boards and in governance, serving many agencies in various capacities, including as the former Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador, Chair of the Inuvialuit Arbitration Board, and Co-Chair (Indigenous) of Equal Voice’s Newfoundland and Labrador chapter.

In 2022, Ms. White received the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the advancement of gender equality. She is also the 2023 recipient of the prestigious Gordon M. Stirling Distinguished Service Award from the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ms. White holds a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University with a particular emphasis on Indigenous law. She also completed the Intensive Program in Indigenous Lands, Resources, and Governments at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, the Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities Program – an Indigenous certificate program – at Harvard Business School, and the Chartered Director Program at McMaster University.

Dan Wicklum

CEO The Transition Accelerator

Dr. Dan Wicklum has spent more than 25 years performing and managing research, driving innovation, and fostering collaboration between industry, government, academia, and civil society. He is the CEO of the Transition Accelerator, a pan-Canadian charity that works with groups across the country to solve business and social challenges while building in net zero emission solutions. Dan was also the inaugural co-chair of Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body (NZAB), the statutory independent body that advises the federal government on setting interim emission reduction targets on the way to a net-zero emission Canada by 2050 and on the most likely pathways to net zero.

Prior to joining the Transition Accelerator, Dan was the CEO of Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, Executive Director of the Canadian Forest Innovation Council, and a senior manager at Environment and Climate Change Canada and at Natural Resources Canada. He was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Montana, and holds a PhD in Aquatic Ecology from the University of Montana. His initial career was in professional football, as a linebacker for the Calgary Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Dr. Nel Wieman

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) First Nations Health Authority (FNHA)

Dr. Nel Wieman is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) in British Columbia, where she has worked since 2018.  She is Anishinaabe (Mishi-Baawitigong First Nation, Treaty 5 Territory) and lives, works and plays on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples – the səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. 

Dr. Wieman completed her medical degree and psychiatry specialty training at McMaster University. Canada’s first female Indigenous psychiatrist, Dr. Wieman has more than 20 years’ clinical experience, working with Indigenous people in both rural/reserve and urban settings. Her previous activities include co-directing an Indigenous health research program in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and the National Network for Indigenous Mental Health Research, being Deputy Chair of Health Canada’s Research Ethics Board, and serving on CIHR’s Governing Council. She has also worked and taught in many academic settings, has chaired national advisory groups within First Nations Inuit Health Branch – Health Canada, and has served as a Director on many boards, including the Indspire Foundation and Pacific Blue Cross.  Dr. Wieman served as the President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC) from 2016-2022. She was one of the 6 Indigenous physician founders of the National Consortium on Indigenous Medical Education (NCIME).  She was appointed to the BC Provincial Task Team charged with beginning implementation of the recommendations arising from the “In Plain Sight” report. 

 

Jason Wolfe

Director, Energy Solutions FortisBC

Jason has been with FortisBC for 19 years and is presently the Director of Energy Solutions responsible for the customer attraction and retention efforts of FortisBC through the residential sales team, and the commercial and industrial account management group. Jason is also responsible for the development of new energy products and services including the recently filed Renewable Gas applications that if approved will provide 100% Renewable Gast to all new residential customers. Jason also previously served on the HAVAN Board from 2015 to 2021.

Leslie Woo

CEO Civic Action

A passionate urban strategist with a track record of influencing and delivering change. A tri-sector athlete for the public, private and not-for-profit sectors challenging the goal of inclusion in the city building arena. Currently at the helm of the premier civil society organization, CivicAction, dedicated to the transformation of Canada’s largest and fastest-growing metropolitan centre, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Prior to this for over 12 years Leslie led the planning and development of multi-billion dollar transit infrastructure investments at Metrolinx.

Leslie is one of the 2023 Canadian Immigrant Top 25 Award Recipients, Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in 2017, Spacing Toronto’s Transit Changemaker in 2016 and Canada’s Women’s Infrastructure Network’s 2015 Inaugural Outstanding Leader. Leslie is the creator of the blog shebuildcities.org celebrating women city-builders around the world and an active Board Director on numerous public and not-for-profit organizations.

Senator Yuen Pau Woo

Senate of Canada

Appointed to the Senate of Canada in November 2016, the Honourable Yuen Pau Woo sits as an independent representing British Columbia. He served as Facilitator of the Independent Senators Group from 2017 to 2021.

Senator Woo has worked on public policy issues related to Canada’s relations with Asian countries for more than 30 years. From 2005-2014, he was President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, during which he also served on the Standing Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and as Chair of PECC’s State of the Region Report. He is a Senior Fellow at Simon Fraser University’s Graduate School of Business, and a member of the Trilateral Commission. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the Mosaic Institute and the Canadian Ditchley Foundation.

Senator Woo is a joint chair of the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations and a member of the following Senate Standing Committees: Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Banking, Trade and Commerce; and Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament.

Kirsten Wright

Managing Director Waterloo Institute for Complexity (WICI)

Kirsten Wright moved to Waterloo to go to school for engineering. Her background is in robotics and embedded systems and more recently she has worked in social innovation. She is an author of the leading manual for Social Innovation Labs and is currently finishing a PhD in Engineering, studying methods for measuring resilience in agent-based models of social innovation.

Maureen Young

Vice President Coast Capital Savings

As Coast Capital’s Vice President, Social Purpose, Maureen plays a key role in defining the credit union’s social purpose vision: Building Better Futures Together by Unlocking Financial Opportunities that Positively Impact People and Communities. Maureen leads the development and implementation of Coast Capital’s long-term social purpose impact plan and the integration of social purpose across company operations.  Maureen also oversees Coast Capital’s sustainability initiatives, including its net zero commitments, B Corp certification and annual disclosures, and leads Coast Capital’s philanthropic and purpose investments, which see 10% of Coast Capital’s budgeted bottom line reinvested into the community.

Maureen is a member and co-founder of the Canadian Purpose Economy Project which seeks to accelerate the transition to the purpose economy. Maureen is also Past Chair of the Youth Futures Education Fund, an initiative she helped found, focused on ensuring youth from the foster care system have the opportunity to achieve their post-secondary education, and she also serves on the Board of the BC Co-op Association. Prior to joining the credit union, Maureen held senior positions with the Fraser Basin Council, Nelson & District Economic Development Commission, and Tourism Action Society in the Kootenays.

Mark Zacharias

Fellow, Simon Fraser University President Clean Energy Canada

Mark is currently the president of Clean Energy Canada, an initiative based at the Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. Prior to this he completed a 25-year career with the British Columbia public service where he most recently served as deputy minister of environment and climate change strategy. Mark holds a PhD in zoology from the University of Guelph and has published extensively, including Marine Policy: An Introduction to Governance and International Law of the Oceans and Marine Conservation Ecology. In addition to holding a Fellowship at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Mark also holds an adjunct professor appointment at the Simon Fraser University School of Public Policy.

Dr. Jiaying Zhao

Associate Professor Department of Psychology and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia

Dr. Jiaying Zhao is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Zhao is also a faculty affiliate with the Center for Effective Global Action at University of California, Berkeley, and an invited researcher at J-PAL at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Zhao a Killam Research Prize recipient and the UBC Sauder Distinguished Scholar. She uses psychological principles to design behavioural solutions to address financial and environmental sustainability challenges. Specifically, she examines the cognitive consequences of poverty and designs interventions to alleviate the psychological burdens in low-income individuals. In addition, Dr. Zhao develops behavioural interventions to encourage climate actions, recycling, composting, and biodiversity conservation.