Aatif Baskanderi
Aatif grew up in rural Newfoundland and currently lives with his wife in Calgary where he is the Innovation Portfolio Manager for the ATCO Electricity Global Business Unit. He is also the storyteller behind the autobiographical film, Salaam B’y – A Story of a Muslim Newfoundlander, and currently spreading the connection between kindness and identity to inclusive innovative communities across Canada. His history includes researching Fair Trade farmers in Palestine, working on malaria prevention in Sierra Leone, informing science policy in Canada, the UK & Europe, leading Engineers Without Borders across Canada, and pursuing diverse initiatives centered on innovation for social good. He has a Bachelor of Engineering & Master of Technology Management from Memorial University, and a M.Sc. Social Policy & Development from the London School of Economics.
Sara Bergen
Sara is passionate about ensuring everyone in Canada has access to a continuum of healthcare services they need. Sara brings a unique perspective having trained as social worker on the front lines of healthcare and continuing her career in the non-profit organizations and government. She currently works as the Manager of Medical Assistance in Dying Oversight for the BC Ministry of Health, leading the team which monitors and reports on the provision of medical assistance in dying in the province. In previous roles, Sara has worked to expand and diversify services across the sector, including population health approaches, palliative care, emergency services and prescription drug coverage.
As part of her commitment to Reconciliation, Sara has worked in partnership to address inequitable access to healthcare for Indigenous Peoples, including the improvement of knowledge and supports connected to mental wellness. She also played an integral part in securing legislative support and funding for the University of Victoria’s Joint Degree Program in Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders. This program is the first of its kind in the world and creates a forum for engagement and education on the use of Indigenous law.
Sara holds a Masters in Social Work from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Mount Allison University. Born and raised in BC, Sara is dedicated to her community and has been involved with a number of local organizations over the years, most recently the United Way of Greater Victoria.
Larissa Crawford
Larissa is from Calgary, Alberta, and proudly passes on Métis and Jamaican ancestry to her daughter, Zyra. Larissa’s most recent work applies anti-racism and Indigenous knowledge to renewable energy policy and program development in Canada. As a government employee and independent business owner, she has worked internationally as a policy consultant, trainer and professional public speaker.
She recently returned to Calgary, where she now works intensively with Indigenous communities in Alberta as an Indigenous Education Liaison for Calgary Learns.
She had moved to Toronto to complete a Bachelor of Arts double honours major in International Development and Communication Studies at York University, and graduated in June 2018,
Summa Cum Laude, with Zyra on her hip. Experiences such as starting a library in Accra, Ghana and studying international law and volunteering in Istanbul, Turkey contributed to earning the Terry Fox Humanitarian Scholar Award.
Since graduation, Larissa has worked with the Government of Ontario as an Indigenous Policy Advisor with the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development, and Mines, and as an Advisor to the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate. Larissa also worked as an Indigenous Researcher for York University, and an Anti-Racism Trainer and Mediator with a Toronto-based non-profit, St. Stephen’s Community House.
In 2018, Larissa founded Larissa Crawford Speaks, extending her consulting, training, and speaking services to diverse clients working with renewable energy, youth upskilling, and policy. As a volunteer, Larissa served as the 2018 G7 Youth Head Delegate of Canada, where she lobbied successfully for Indigenous worldviews in the G7 Summit, and continues to do so through ministerial forums. She has leadership roles on several panels and committees with anti-racism missions, and volunteers with Nike Women to promote fitness, self-care, and equity.
Jonathan Davey
Jonathan Davey is the National Director of Aboriginal Financial Services at the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank). He works with Indigenous communities and corporations to find banking solutions and wealth management options to help Nations achieve their respective visions for future generations. Before joining Scotiabank Jonathan practiced law for several years as Crown Counsel with the Department of Justice Canada (DOJ) and served as the Special Advisor to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs within the DOJ.
Jonathan is also a Captain with The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) of the Canadian Armed Forces Primary Reserve. He has held multiple leadership positions with the unit since receiving his commission and currently serves as the Regimental Operations Officer. In his capacity as an armoured reconnaissance officer Jonathan has been appointed as an Aide de Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario by Her Honour.
Jonathan holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Cornell University, where he was a Cornell Institute for Public Affairs Fellow, a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and a First Class Honours degree in Business Communications from Brock University. He has been inducted into the Pi Alpha Alpha Global Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration and is an Osgoode Hall Alumni Gold Key recipient. He also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Equity Advisory Group within the Law Society of Ontario where he is a member in good standing. Jonathan is a proud member of the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation and now resides in Toronto.
Katie Davey
Feeling like the conversation around inclusive and diverse decision making was lacking on the East Coast, Katie created Femme Wonk – a policy and current affairs podcast that seeks to discuss both innovative and traditional public policy through a gender and inclusion lens.
Katie has served as Director of Policy and Stakeholder Relation at the Office of the Official Opposition in New Brunswick, Senior Advisor for Policy and Stakeholder Engagement in the New Brunswick Premier’s Office, and President of the University of New Brunswick Student Union.
Katie currently operates KDC which supports organizations to achieve their social mission through inclusive decision making, advocacy, government relations, and public dialogue. She is also a member of the Youth Working Group on Gender Equality for the Government of Canada.
Katie holds a Degree in Political Science from the University of New Brunswick and will be attending Wilfrid Laurier University in the fall to begin a Masters in Applied Politics.
Isabelle Duchaine
Professionally, Isabelle serves as the Director of the Business/Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), a not-for-profit connecting Canadian post-secondary institutions and employers. Here, she oversees internal operations, external communications and elements of BHER’s policy agenda. Prior to this role, she worked in communications at the Business Council of Canada, as a research fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Isabelle likes hosting potlucks, reading non-fiction books, and eating ice cream.
Dustin Ross Fiddler
Dustin was born in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. His home has always been in the boreal forests of Northern Saskatchewan. Through his upbringing he was taught traditionally from his elders and his strong mentor and uncle, Sidney Fiddler, a former Chief of Waterhen Lake First Nation. Dustin holds these values passed down to him in highest regard and aims to honour them in his work and through his character. Dustin was the recipient of the Jodi Manderscheid Memorial Award for Leadership in his community. He later attended the University of British Columbia where he was elected to represent the Indigenous Student population on the Indigenous Students’ Council. Following that, he moved to Saskatoon and was appointed the Aboriginal Representative for the Saskatoon-Wanuskewan Federal Liberal Association of Canada.
Currently, Dustin is a Band Councillor in his home community of Waterhen Lake First Nation where continues to strive for more transparency, stronger education, better communication and to further economic development. He remains a strong Indigenous male role model for the youth in his community through his drug and alcohol-free lifestyle. His biggest motivation is building and setting up success for the community’s youth. He hopes that he can spark an interest in leadership and business within that next generation.
A few of the main priorities over his term in council have been building the First Nation’s capacity through working on various acts and policies that will govern the nation. Dustin also works on various portfolios including communications, justice & policing, education, and economic development. This previous year he was invited to be on CANDO’s 2017 Annual National Youth Panel, Meadow Lake Tribal Council’s Youth Leadership Panel in Saskatoon, and The Federated Sovereign Indigenous Nations Youth Legislative Assembly Young Community Leaders Panel.
Jo Flatt
Jo is a Program Director at Evergreen. She has spent the past several years delivering programs in communities across Canada. Currently, Jo is co-leading the program development of a national initiative, the Community Solutions Network, to support the digital and technological literacy of municipal and Indigenous leaders across Canada. Prior to that, Jo built Evergreen’s Mid-Sized Cities Program, to enhance the social, economic, and environmental prosperity of Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Jo believes that people must be the center of decision-making in cities and has led numerous policy development and consultation efforts including the City of London’s Urban Agriculture Strategy and the City of Toronto’s laneway housing policy. Jo is also an instructor at the Munk School of Public Policy School at the University of Toronto, where she teaches how to influence and policy from outside of government.
Vivian Giang
Vivian Giang is a communications professional with experience working with nonprofit organizations, academic institutions and local communities. Vivian currently works as the Communications & Grant Strategist at the University of Alberta Geotechnical Centre. She is also pursuing interdisciplinary doctoral studies through the University of Alberta’s Future Energy Systems research initiative as a SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS-D Scholar. Previously, Vivian was the Communications Editor at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
Vivian is passionate about communication and engaging with people. Her doctoral research aims to inform and develop equitable community engagement processes and communication frameworks for approaching renewable energy development responsibly and sustainably, while respecting Indigenous rights. Vivian currently serves as the United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada) Prairies Regional Director and President of the UNA-Canada Edmonton Branch. She is also a Graduate Student Member of the City of Edmonton’s Energy Transition Advisory Committee. Vivian previously studied at MacEwan University (Alberta), Royal Roads University (British Columbia), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Germany) and Kyushu Women’s University (Japan).
Josh Grehan
Josh Grehan works at Finch Therapeutics, a biotech startup focused on harnessing the microbiome to treat human illnesses. Josh has helped grow Finch from 15 to over 150 people and put in place the supports and structures needed to take cutting edge science and translate it into life changing medicine. Before Finch he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Special Assistant to Minister Dion and Parliamentary Secretary Goldsmith-Jones. His efforts focused around feminist foreign policy, Canada’s arctic engagement, and daily briefings of current affairs and government responses.
Josh is originally from Lily Plain, Saskatchewan. He attended Pearson United World College for high school on a provincial scholarship. He was awarded a Davis Scholarship to attend Princeton University where he earned a BA in Public Policy, with a focus on youth development. Josh was then awarded the Sachs Scholarship to pursue a master’s in economic history at the University of Oxford where his dissertation focused on Canada’s Residential Schools. In his spare time he is a Big Brother and serves on Somerville, Massachusetts’ Job Creation and Retention Trust Fund, which works to ensure that all residents of Somerville have access to high quality employment opportunities.
Sandra Isimbi
Sandra holds a master’s degree in Health Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Currently, she is Senior Advisor, Quality Management at the Canadian Red Cross, where she coordinates the assessment of the quality of Red Cross assistance to Canadians affected by natural or other disasters. Motivated by her interest to improve the quality of services offered to all Canadians—especially vulnerable people—Sandra worked in Quebec’s health and social services sector for 10 years, in both the hospital and as community health settings and urban (Montréal) and remote (Nunavik) regions. During that time, as Senior Advisor, Quality and Risk Management, she coordinated the accreditation process, which aims to evaluate the quality of services offered and to promote a culture of providing safe care and services to patients. While working in Nunavik, she also held the position of Program Manager, Psychosocial Services. She oversaw the provision of psychosocial services by supervising a team of health professionals spread throughout the seven Inuit communities surrounding Ungava Bay.
Sandra, who was born in Rwanda and survived the genocide of the Tutsi, has spent most of her life in Montréal and is currently living in Ottawa. Her personal journey led to her involvement in a research project by Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History entitled “Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide, and Other Human Rights Violations.” This project brought together university researchers and a group of community representatives, of which she was a volunteer member. Sandra has also served as a volunteer vice-president of PAGE-Rwanda (Association des parents et amis des victimes du génocide au Rwanda—the association of parents and friends of Rwandan genocide victims), an organization that welcomes and guides newcomers who survived the genocide of the Tutsi, and organizes educational activities on genocide for the Canadian public.
Angèle McCaie
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.
Jason McVicar
Jason McVicar, MD, FRCPC is an anesthesiologist at The Ottawa Hospital and an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa. He holds a fellowship in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. He has worked for Médecins Sans Frontières, is a trustee of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society International Education Foundation and is member of the Pain Committee with the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists. Current active areas of work include medical education in low and middle-income countries, access to health resources in rural and remote communities and surgical health outcomes in Indigenous Canadians.
Christian Sénéchal
Christian Sénéchal specializes in the voluntary sector, social art, and strategic and collaborative development. He founded the National Centre for Dance Therapy, a division of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal dedicated to promoting dance therapy and dance as a tool for well-being through services, training and research. Christian directed it from 2012 to 2019, during which time he established as many as 70 partnerships with health institutions, schools, prisons, universities, and cultural and community organizations, enabling the implementation of over 60 adapted dance therapy projects.
Christian was first trained in theatre at the University of Ottawa. This first contact with the cultural sector gave him a taste of acting, producing, staging, directing and training. As the main coordinator for his projects, he had the opportunity to develop his management skills in the field, and improved them further by obtaining a Graduate Diploma in Management of Cultural Organizations from HEC Montréal, an MBA for executives specializing in collectively owned businesses from ESG UQAM, and an EMBA from the Université Paris-Dauphine. In addition to his field experience, he always made a point of staying connected with university research. He was a research assistant for the Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) and for the HEC Montréal Research Group on Community and Cultural NPOs. He has been involved with various community organizations including the Association to Defend Victims of Nosocomial Infections (ADVIN), where he was General Director. He later acted as a consultant for the development of the National Dance Therapy Centre before being appointed its Director in October 2012.
Mohamed Shuriye
Mohamed is a community advocate and city builder. He has worked to build grassroots awareness and capacity on issues such as climate change, community development, and fostering inclusive cities. In 2007, as a student concerned about climate change he co-founded the Sustainability Action Fund a non-profit at Concordia University that has supported over the past 12 years student-led projects with over $1.5m in funding for sustainable infrastructure, urban agriculture, and community-building. He has organized a cross-Canada climate change awareness campaign visiting 21 universities and colleges in one month and collected over 10,000 signatures submitted to Parliament calling on the government to take action.
Looking for innovative ways to balance his community advocacy experience and policy skills, Mohamed returned to Toronto and began working for the City of Toronto after being selected in the highly regarded Urban Fellows Program. Over the past seven years, Mohamed has led various policy files in municipal government that include the development of the City of Toronto’s 311 Twitter engagement strategy, a review of the City’s rooming houses regulations, and the use of prohibited animals for special events. In addition, he led the City’s employee fundraising campaign for United Way, raising over $4.4 million over three years. Currently, Mohamed is helping to drive systemic change in municipal government as the Policy Development Officer in the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit at the City of Toronto. He believes the future of Canada relies on building more equitable and inclusive cities.
Mohamed currently serves as an advisory volunteer on the United Way’s Bhayana Family Foundation Award. And is a mentor as part of the Muslim Youth Fellowship. He graduated with an Honours in Political Science and Minor in Western Society and Culture from Concordia University and completed a Masters in Corporate Social Responsibility at Nottingham University.
Jonathan Williams
Jonathan Williams is a policy researcher and advocate, specialising in higher education and inclusive economic development. From 2012 to 2015, Jonathan was the Executive Director of Students Nova Scotia and spearheaded initiatives to improve student financial assistance and strengthen economic opportunity for young adults. He has since worked for the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills and Higher Education Strategy Associates addressing topics ranging from the development of the culture sector, to early childhood education and care, to collaboration and consolidation among post-secondary institutions. As a research assistant to Professor Robert Putnam, Jonathan has also studied in depth various historical economic trends in the US, including union membership, old-age insurance, regional development gaps and productivity. Jonathan completed his Bachelor’s in International Development and Globalisation at the University of Ottawa and his Master in Public Policy as a Knox Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
