About

Action Canada is an independent, non-partisan and non-profit organization and charity based in Ontario, Canada and led by Action Canada Alumni.

In 2017, Action Canada and the Public Policy Forum joined forces to expand Canada’s top accelerator of new leaders. Together we deliver the Action Canada Fellowship, a 10-month public policy leadership program with a 17-year track that aims to enhance emerging leaders’ understanding of the country and public policy choices for the future.

Since its creation in 2003, the Fellowship program has achieved this goal by bringing together outstanding young Canadians whose talents, experiences and perspectives represent the mosaic of our country and by connecting them through shared experiences in communities and places across Canada.

History

In 2003, philanthropist Sam Belzberg and Simon Fraser University President Jack Blaney created the Action Canada Fellowship to support the next generation of Canadian leaders. As Mr. Belzberg said: “We want Canada to be the finest country in the world, and to achieve that we need outstanding leadership.” Under the direction of the previous Program Director, Cathy Beehan, the Fellowship flourished and welcomed a cohort of exceptional leaders every year for over a decade.

PPF & Action Canada

After a brief hiatus, the Fellowship returned under the brand Your Energy Future in 2017 as part of its first partnership with the Public Policy Forum. Fellows studied the impacts of a transition to a low-carbon future. The following year, PPF and Action Canada signed a three-year agreement to deliver the Action Canada Fellowship. This agreement has since been renewed.

With 244 Fellows in its network, the Action Canada community continues to shine as each year new Fellows join and contribute to making Canada a better place.

Action Canada Board

Angèle
McCaie

2019/2020 Fellow

Angèle is the General Manager of Rogerville, a small municipality in New Brunswick. As a proud Acadian and Francophone, Angèle works in a minority language community. Born in a small community with a population of about 3,000, she left the region to go study at the University of Moncton and obtain a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Religious Studies in 2007. After her studies, Angèle moved to PEI to become the Superintendent of the Evangeline Community School Board, where she discovered her passion for community development.

In 2009, Angèle returned to her hometown so she could contribute to the region’s development. After several years as General Manager of her municipality, Angèle was able to develop innovative programs for its citizens while working to solve issues unique to rural New Brunswick. She spearheads skill-building programs for women in the community and wellness strategies for all citizens. In addition, she adopts municipal policies and bylaws that promote diversity and inclusion in her workplace and throughout the community. Angèle is passionate about finding creative solutions to public challenges and is a feminist and minority rights activist. She currently lives in Collette, near Rogersville, with her husband and two children.

Anne-Marie
Rouleau

2018/2019 Fellow

Born in Québec City, Anne-Marie (Ana) Rouleau recently joined the Government of Canada’s Advanced Policy Analyst Program, a rotating program for perfecting and training leadership. She currently works as an analyst for the Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat of the Privy Council where she works on issues regarding North America. Passionate about big democratic issues, she is particularly interested in citizens’ place in democratic life and the development of public policy. In this regard, she has participated in the implementation of consultations conducted by the Government of Canada on a potential free trade agreement with China. She has also taken part in election observation missions by the Organization of American States in both Peru and Haiti.

Ana Rouleau has a bachelor’s degree in international studies and modern languages, for which she studied in Mexico and China. She also has a master’s degree in international relations from the l’Institut québécois des Hautes Études Internationales. She was the recipient of a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council, which allowed her to take an intensive one-year Mandarin course at the Shanghai International University.

She places particular importance in her international experiences which gave her a more inclusive vision of the world. In her spare time, she is an apprentice ballerina who loves to learn new languages – she already speaks five! She is always ready to take on a new challenge.

Shoshanna
Saxe

2015/2016 Fellow

Dr. Shoshanna Saxe is an Associate Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering. She holds a masters from MIT and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She investigates the relationship between the infrastructure we build and the society we create to identify opportunities – and pathways – to better align infrastructure provision with sustainability. Saxe is a former Action Canada fellow, sits on Waterfront Toronto’s Capital Peer Review Panel, Metrolinx Project Evaluation Committee and the board of ActIon Canada.

She was awarded the 2019 OPEA Engineering Medal – Young Engineer. Her research and commentary have been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Toronto Star, The Financial Post, and Wired, including “What We Really Need Are Good ‘Dumb’ Cities” (New York Times, July 2019).

Ayesha
Malette (née Harji)

2015/2016 Fellow

Ayesha is a Senior Advisor within the Privy Council Office of the Government of Canada. Working in the Democratic Institutions Secretariat, she supports the Prime Minister and the Minister of Democratic Institutions in pressing whole-of-government efforts to prevent and mitigate foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 General Election. Eager to contribute more broadly to her workplace, Ayesha sits on PCO’s Employment Equity and Diversity Advisory Council and Wellness Committee. Outside of work, Ayesha actively pursues opportunities to further develop her leadership skills and be a contributing member of her community. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian International Council.

Ayesha was recruited into the federal government through the Management Trainee Program in 2008, following the completion of an Honours undergraduate degree in International Relations and a Master’s degree in Public Administration. Her experience in government has included time in the International Affairs Division of Public Safety Canada, where she led the management of the department’s multilateral engagement with the United Nations and the Organization of American States on policy issues related to human rights, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, border security and corrections. For two years, Ayesha managed the Virtual Risk Analysis Cell, where she contributed to the federal government’s response to national-scale emergencies like the 2016 wildfires in Fort McMurray and in British Columbia, as well as 2017 floods in Ontario and Quebec, and assessed the impacts of natural and man-made hazards to Canada’s critical infrastructure assets and systems.

Annie
Sabourin

2012/2013 Fellow

Born on Montreal’s South shore, Annie Sabourin is the Senior Advisor to the Vice-REctor of Community and International Partnerships at the Université de Montréal, Quebec’s largest university. Previously, she served as Institutional Relations Advisor in the office of the rector. She has also worked as a senior analyst at the Metropolitan Montreal Board of Trade, working on issues of economic development, international affairs, public finances and culture. In 1999, Annie completed a bachelor’s degree in political science and East-Asian studies at the Université de Montréal. She received a master’s degree with distinction in international relations and economics from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 2002, as a Canada-United States Fulbright fellow. During her studies, Annie focused on Canada-China relations, and worked for six months at the Canadian embassy in Beijing, China.

Annie is passionate about Canada’s plan to increase long-term prosperity through innovation and the continuous improvement of human capital. She believes in increasing support measures to keep youth in school and strengthening accessibility to post-secondary education. She contributes to the development of her community as a member of the executive committee of the board of directors of the Collège Édouard-Montpetit. Annie lives in Montreal with her husband and daughter.

Darren
Fung

2006/2007 Fellow

Darren Fung is an award winning Canadian film composer. He caught the composing bug at age fifteen when he wrote a piece for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s Young Composer Project. After finishing his degree at McGill and living and loving Montreal for twelve years, Darren is now based out of Los Angeles. Amongst his credits, Darren recreated Canada’s second national anthem, the beloved Hockey Theme, for CTV and TSN. Every weekday morning his music is heard on CTV’s flagship morning news program, Canada AM. His work was the focus of Bell Canada’s Orchestra spot, run during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and was voted as Canada’s top commercial by readers of The Globe and Mail. His critically acclaimed work on the mini-series Lost Years garnered him a 2012 Canadian Screen Award nomination.

His much-lauded score to The Great Human Odyssey, recorded with members of the Edmonton Symphony and Pro Coro Canada, was recently released on the prestigious Varèse Sarabande label. His feature and short film scores have been heard at prestigious film festivals around the world, including Toronto, Cannes, and Sundance. Darren currently serves as the Second Vice President of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, and acts as a Program Advisor for the Canadian Film Centre’s Slaight Music Residency. He also sits on the Creative Ecologies Advisory Board for the Banff Centre’s Peter Lougheed Leadership Institute.

Alia
Ali

2003/2004 Fellow

A major part of Alia Ali’s academic and work experience has been in Pakistan. She worked in legal awareness and health with Pakistan’s oldest women’s NGO for many years. Alia graduated with honours from a highly competitive medical school in Pakistan, specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She actively worked for patient welfare, with a particular focus in the area of blood services. Her experience in public-sector healthcare has included clinical, financial, training and management aspects.

She has worked on projects with local/international NGOs, including UNICEF. She has also led surgical camps in remote areas in the Himalayas. Alia’s ambition to make a difference in healthcare/development policy motivated her to complement her skill set with financial, economic and management tools. While completing her MBA from the University of Oxford (UK) on scholarship, she worked on a strategy project with a successful UK Biotech company, and helped coordinate ‘The Oxford Business Forum’—inviting business leaders to mentor students. Alia is currently completing post-graduate work in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and compiling a report on women and discriminatory laws in Pakistan. She has been active in initiating the Toronto chapter of the Oxford Business Alumni, where Alia and her family are making their new home in Canada.

Action Canada Team

Numerous distinguished Canadians have contributed to the development and evolution of the Action Canada Fellowship. The program’s excellent reputation and the outstanding calibre of the Action Canada Fellows’ network is, in large measure, thanks to them and their commitment to nurture the nation’s future leadership. Many of these individuals are noted in the Friends of Action Canada section (link). The current team includes:

Staff

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Suzanne
Nault

Throughout her career, as an executive coach, leader and psychologist, Suzanne has focused on helping leaders achieve positive sustainable change for themselves, their employees and their teams. For the past forty years, she has worked with leaders from various levels of government and Fortune 500 companies in Canada and around the world.

Since 2018, Suzanne has been supporting the leadership development of Fellows enrolled
in the Action Canada Fellowship program through teaching and peer coaching.
In 2007, the University of Ottawa launched a program in Public Sector Management and
Governance to prepare public sector leaders to assume senior positions.
From the onset of this program, Suzanne has been contributing to their development
through lectures, individual customized coaching program, and, peer coaching.
She is a well-sought speaker on topics of resilience, and, transition, particularly retirement
and military to civilian life.

Prior to founding her own firm in 1998, she worked for Health Canada and the
Communications Security Establishment Canada as Head of the Counselling and Advisory
Program and as Senior Consultant in Innovative and Quality Services.
Suzanne is certified as a professional integral coach by New Ventures West, California, and,
the International Coaching Federation, in Conversational Intelligence™ and Story
Coaching™. She is a licensed psychologist with Ordre des psychologues du Québec. Her
academic background includes a Master’s degree in clinical psychology (University of
Ottawa), a B.A. in psychology (University of Ottawa). Suzanne is co-author of the #1
international best seller “The Expert Success Solution: Get Solid Results in 22 Areas of
Business and Life”. She is fluently bilingual (English, French).

Sara-Christine
Gemson

Sara-Christine Gemson is the Executive Director of the Action Canada Fellowship and PPF Academy. She is a 2015/16 Action Canada Fellow and a long-serving member of the Action Canada Board. She was Director of Communications at Teach For Canada, a non-profit that recruits, prepares, and supports teachers to work in First Nations communities in northern Ontario. Before joining Teach For Canada, Sara-Christine worked for 7 years as a TV, radio, and web journalist, primarily for Radio-Canada in Toronto and Regina. While in Saskatchewan, she covered provincial and federal elections, the attempted hostile takeover of Potash Corp, and two Grey Cups. She also produced special series on First Nations employment and on the challenges facing the fransaskois education system after 20 years of autonomy. In the Toronto newsroom, Sara-Christine also replaced as a radio host and produced the 6 o’clock news. Times.

Jonathan
Perron-Clow

Jonathan Perron-Clow is the Project Lead for the PPF Academy and Action Canada Fellowship at the Public Policy Forum after having joined PPF in the communications team. Previously, Jonathan consulted with a number of organizations including the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres and the Foundation for the Study of Processes of Government in Canada on projects ranging from a guide for Francophone communities seeking to improve access to primary health care to increasing the number of participants in the Forum for Young Canadians program.

In Calgary for three years, he led the development and opening of the Clinique francophone de Calgary, a community health centre managed and governed by the Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta régionale de Calgary.

He has also been a reporter for a variety of community newspapers in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. A graduate of the MA in Political Science program at Carleton University and the Honours Bachelor Degree in Political Science and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa, Jonathan also volunteers in a wide range of areas including Junior A hockey, Canada’s hot air balloon community and in civic engagement projects.

Jonathan joined PPF in August 2017.

Komlanvi
Dodjro

Komlanvi Dodjro comes from humble beginnings in Togo, West Africa. He brings over 15 years experience in client relations, event planning, coordination and event marketing/promotion to PPF. Komlanvi is passionate about entrepreneurship, relationship development and customer satisfaction. He is an avid supporter of cultural heritage who believes in the richness of sharing such gifts. Outside PPF, Komlanvi is a Latin dance teacher, salsa dancer and choreographer.

Komlanvi studied Culinary Art in addition to Hotel and Restaurant Management at La Cité, Ottawa. In 2011, Komlanvi founded, produced, organized and promoted Salsafair, an international dance festival that attracted over 9000 attendees in its first three years. The festival went on to receive an award from the Tourism Outaouais Association and an official recognition from the Mayor of the City of Gatineau, Marc Bureau.

Prior to joining the Public Policy Forum, Komlanvi worked at Rideau Hall Foundation as a Learning Initiative Coordinator for a Learning Partnership for Indigenous Youth. He has also worked at Alliance Française, where he was an event planner, producer, promoter, IT project leader, marketing coordinator, library/multimedia manager, and graphic designer while overseeing social media/email marketing campaigns and communication projects, website content management and updates.

Mentors

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Matt
DeCourcey

Matt DeCourcey is a senior leader, community builder, and former Parliamentarian with extensive experience advising decision makers at the local, national, and international level. He currently serves as Senior Advisor for Strategic Engagement to the President of the University of New Brunswick.

Zainub
Verjee

A thought leader, persuasive champion of arts and advocate for artists rights, Zainub Verjee has over four decades built a formidable reputation as an artist, writer, critic, cultural administrator and public intellectual in Canada and internationally.

A firm believer in Art as public good, she has contributed to international instruments of culture such as Status of the Artist and Cultural Diversity and building institutions such as British Columbia Arts Council. An internationalist, she co-founded and co-directed In Visible Colours –– an international women of colour and Third world women film/video festival and symposium in Vancouver (1989).

As an annotator, she is engaged with different stakeholders to observe, critique and analyze the quotidian practices of the art and culture sector to actively work towards engaged public debate and conversations. Her work as a cultural bureaucrat, cultural diplomat, artist, activist and writer is consistent and contiguous with what might be termed a critical transversal aesthetic. Her recent policy commentaries on Museum at a Crossroads in Galleries West Magazine; on Art Labour in Georgia Straight and on Art in International Relations in Sublime Horizons generated a lot of traction.

A sought after speaker, in the next few weeks, she will be delivering a keynote at the London, Asia, Art, Worlds Conference hosted by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, a scholarly centre in London, U.K. This will be followed by her presentation at the 19th North American Basic Income Congress. Later in the month, her solo show –Speech Acts: Zainub Verjee–will be opening at the Centre A, Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Currently her artwork is part of the exhibition hosted by Royal Society of Canada and University of Alberta on Engaging Creativities: Art in the Pandemic.

Among many awards and honours, in 2020 she received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts for Outstanding Contribution and this year OCAD University conferred honorary doctorate on Zainub and she was appointed as a McLaughlin College Fellow at York University.

She was the executive director of the Western Front in Vancouver and has held positions at the Canada Council for the Arts, Department of Canadian Heritage and City of Mississauga. Zainub is currently Executive Director of the Galeries Ontario/Ontario Galleries– voice of Art Galleries and Museums in Canada. She tweets @zainubverjee

Janice
McDonald

Janice McDonald BA, MA, ICD.D, MFA is an award-winning entrepreneur, best-selling author, independent director and sought after speaker.

She is the Founder of The Beacon Agency Inc.

She knows that small hinges swing big doors. As a global champion for women, she’s been pushing for equity since 1992, when she completed her first graduate degree and wrote her thesis on women on board in Canada.

Janice has leadership training from Harvard and INSEAD and is in the first global cohort of The Power MBA. Inspired by creating change from the ground up, she was appointed to the Women’s Leadership Board at the Harvard Kennedy School. She was chosen as a Mentor in 2020 with the prestigious Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

McDonald is an award-winning entrepreneur, a four-time WXN Top 100 winner and in 2016 was inducted into the WXN Hall of Fame. She has a BA in communications, MA in Canadian Studies, certification in conflict resolution from CICR, her ICD.D designation and an MFA. She has co-authored three important national studies on women entrepreneurs in Canada – on risk – released in 2016, on innovation in 2018 and on Export in 2020.

Women in Trade – Los Angeles awarded her Global Trade Ambassador for Canada in 2017 and in 2018, she received an Inspiring Fifty Women in Tech award. She was Chair of International Women’s Forum Canada – Ottawa Chapter, and on the IWF global Leadership Foundation board. Was a director with Futurpreneur, Ashbury College, and the Ottawa Senators Foundation as well as is currently an independent director with Vista Radio.

Her 2020 book, Fearless – Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision is a Canadian bestseller. Her popular and influential Fearless Women Podcast is currently in its third season.

Advisors

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Jake
McEwan

Jake McEwan is the former founding President of the Aquilini America Group – a real estate development and construction company based in Los Angeles. He is currently the Vice President of Development for Aquilini Development and Construction Inc, based in Vancouver.

At Aquilini, Jake leads several major projects being done in partnership with three First Nations. Jake is also the founder of Arete Ventures Inc, an investment company and the founder of Jarvis Services Inc, a technology company that will change the way personal services are delivered in Vancouver.

A 2006 Action Canada Fellow, Jake was once very active in politics having served as a Chief of Staff to several Ministers in the Premier Campbell Government and as a campaign manager for the B.C. Liberals.

Julie
Favreau-Lavoie

A real estate, infrastructure and urbanism specialist, Julie Favreau is known for her mastery of ESG issues, strategic vision and ability to bring stakeholders together. She works on complex projects such as transport networks, revitalizing heritage buildings and great urban revitilization projects. She has notably worked on the establishment of the first impact investment fund in commercial real estate in Quebec and the valueing of air rights in transportation.

Julie is a lawyer, member of the bar in Quebec, and has a training in strategic management from Harvard University. She is the director of the Strategy Division at Brodeur Frenette and sits on the board of directors of the YWCA and the Olympic Park.

Lance
Jakubec

Lance Jakubec is a creative urban planner drawing on two decades of experience in the housing sector to pragmatically combine sustainability and affordability.

He is an Advisor – Client Services – Partnership and Promotion at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, where he’s worked since receiving his Masters in urban planning from Queen’s University in 1999.

He’s also been active volunteer in organizations supporting sustainable development and newcomer integration.

Zakaria
Abdulle

2018/2019 Fellow. Zakaria is a community advocate who works towards building vibrant communities informed by inclusive public policy.

Zakaria enjoys work that involves empowering youth and marginalized groups so they can influence and shape public policy decisions that have a social impact. Zak has a Bachelors degree in Political Science and Sociology and a Certificate in Social Work and will be graduating in the fall with a Masters in Public Administration from Western University with a focus on local governance in Canada’s growing cities.

Zakaria works as a Program Coordinator at Toronto Community Housing Corporation’s Community Economic Development Division. Prior to this position, he was an intern in the Mayor’s Office of John Tory in Toronto building connections with marginalized communities to improve community development initiatives. In the past, Zakaria served as the chair to the Premier’s Youth Council on Opportunities where he led a group of 25 young leaders across Ontario as they gave policy advice to over 18 ministries in the Ontario Government on policy development which could improve outcomes for youth across Ontario.

At Western, Zakaria advised the municipality of Sarnia on the development of their policy response to the legalization of cannabis, and he is currently completing a major research project on the city of London’s ongoing efforts to inform residents of the upcoming use of ranked ballots in their 2018 election. Zakaria hopes to build upon his local and provincial experience with policy development by gaining senior leadership skills needed to launch impactful public policy projects in Toronto.

Shoshanna
Saxe

Dr. Shoshanna Saxe is an Associate Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering. She holds a masters from MIT and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She investigates the relationship between the infrastructure we build and the society we create to identify opportunities – and pathways – to better align infrastructure provision with sustainability.

Don
Iveson

Don served as Edmonton’s 35th Mayor from 2013 to 2021 with a guiding leadership principle to make things better for the next generation.

This longterm view is now embedded in: Edmonton’s smart-growth City Plan; City Council’s Energy Transition Strategy and first-in-Canada carbon budget; Edmonton’s nation-leading Flood Mitigation Strategy; along with the continuing work of End Poverty Edmonton, founded while he was Mayor.

Since retiring from City Hall, Don continues to live in Edmonton. He works part-time with Co-Operators as Executive Advisor for Climate Investment and Community Resiliency, advising their CEO and senior leadership. Don is also ramping up a public policy advisory practice working on climate, housing, governance and civic innovation projects with like-minded clients. He has accepted an appointment as a School of Cities Canadian Urban Leader at the University of Toronto. He also serves as Board Co-Chair of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.

Cliff
Grant

The Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA) is the first Indigenous Housing Authority in Canada and was created for the Indigenous community by the Indigenous community.

AHMA works in direct partnership with the Province of BC and is the leading voice in advocating for Indigenous people and manages the operating contracts for the new projects developed under the Indigenous Housing Fund. Cliff joined AHMA in early 2019 as Director, Strategic Relations. In this role, Cliff builds and sustains relationships with various stakeholders, AFN, CMHC, Mayors, MPs MLAs, FNs Leadership and many others, to help provide healthy, safe and affordable housing for Indigenous people, housing providers and the Indigenous communities they serve. Cliff holds an EMBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership from Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. Throughout his career, Cliff has worked at various levels of government, including Provincial and Federal, in policy analysis, capacity development and Indigenous relations and has been working in housing-related roles for over 18 years. Cliff is passionate about developing best practices for Non-profit Organizations and Indigenous housing providers. Originally from Kitimat, BC, Cliff is a proud citizen of the Haisla Nation and currently resides in Vancouver with his wife, Patricia.

Mike
Moffatt

Mike Moffatt is the Senior Director of policy and innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Business, Economics and Public Policy group at Ivey Business School, Western University.

In 2017, Mike was the Chief Innovation Fellow for the Government of Canada, advising Deputy Ministers on innovation policy and emerging trends. His has also previously held the titles of Director (Interim) of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management and Chief Economist for the Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto. Mike has worked with politicians and policy markers of all political stripes in several countries to craft more effective public policy. From 2013-2015 Mike served as an economic advisor to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. Mike holds a Ph.D. in Management Science from Ivey Business School and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Rochester.