Born and raised in Montreal, Sophie completed a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology/Immunology and a Master of Science in Experimental Medicine at McGill University. She holds a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine from the University of Ottawa and attended a postgraduate externship in pharmacovigilance at Harvard University.

Globe-trotter passionate about community involvement, Sophie was the Canadian representative for the health science sector during a Rotary Exchange Program. She visited many hospitals and research centers in Rwanda and Gabon to discuss best public policy practices with the senior leaders of these two countries. Sophie sat on the Board of Director of various non-profit organisations in the sectors of education and community outreach and has been involved in numerous initiatives promoting women in STEM. As a second dan black belt martial art instructor, she founded a self-defence course for women in vulnerable situations. But most importantly, she is the devoted mother of two who hopes to leave a positive legacy for the next generation.

Dr. Prete earned her bachelors of elementary education specializing in math and science and completed her Master of Education and Doctor of Philosophy in education at the University of Alberta. She held both a Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship and was an inaugural recipient of the University of Calgary’s Provost’s postdoctoral award for Indigenous and Black scholars at the University of Calgary.

The University of Alberta recently awarded Dr. Prete the Alumni Horizon Award (2022) which recognized her research initiatives arising from her Truth and Reconciliation research, and its community implications as an outstanding professional achievement.

Dr. Prete’s background is in educational policy studies, specializing in Indigenous Peoples education. Her area of expertise includes: Indigenous secondary retention rates within the public school system, Blackfoot historical research, impacts of colonization, intergenerational trauma, and Indigenous research methodologies.

She co-founded CityHive, a non-profit on a mission to transform the way young people shape their cities and the civic processes that engage them. She also co-created the inaugural Vancouver School Board Sustainability Conference, currently in its eleventh year, and kick-started the Vancouver Youth4Tap Coalition, a city-wide campaign that led to the installation of new water fountains in every public high school in Vancouver. She has run for office municipally and provincially and has advised Ministers both federally and provincially. She currently works as the Program Manager at Environment Funders Canada.

Tesicca has served on the Mayor’s Engaged City Task Force, BC’s Climate Solutions and Clean Growth Advisory Council, and SFU Senate. For her work, she was awarded the SFU President’s Leadership in Sustainability Award and Vancouver’s Greenest City Leadership Award. Tesicca has also been named on Top 30 under 30 and Top 25 under 25 lists by Corporate Knights, North American Association for Environmental Education, and Starfish Canada. You can find her longboarding and biking through the city, swimming and kayaking in the ocean, rock climbing in the mountains, and exploring the woods.

Michelle joined the federal public service through the Advanced Policy Analyst Program, a rotational development program that includes placements at the three central agencies. Over the course of her career, Michelle has had the opportunity to work on a wide range of files, including mental health, youth employment, pharmacare, and coordination of the federal Budget. In 2017, she was selected to participate in Canada Beyond 150, a Government of Canada leadership and skills development program, where she explored innovative policy tools through a project on reconciliation.

Michelle also serves as a Director on the Board of the Education Foundation of Ottawa, whose mission is to remove economic barriers to successful learning and participation in school.

Michelle holds a Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton University and a Master of Public Policy from Simon Fraser University.

Drawing on Alexandra’s lived experience as a caretaker, her PhD research seeks to understand how colonization impacts Red River Métis health by exploring the connection between identity and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  Alexandra draws on Body Mapping, an art-based approach whereby participants create body maps to help them tell their stories, centering a relational understanding of health.

Having worked in governmental and non-governmental sectors, Alexandra is dedicated to using a strength based, rights based,community engaged participatory methods to improve Indigenous health through addressing anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare, reforming medical education, and designing Indigenous health policy.

She is a Board Certified Athletic Trainer and graduate from Minot State University and a Masters in Development Practice from the University of Winnipeg where she graduated with highest distinction. Alexandra speaks English, German and is an advocate for the Michif language. Alexandra is the current lead on the STEM Fellowship Indigenous Advisory Circle and serves as the McMaster University Indigenous Graduate Students (MIGS) Chair.

Dale’s aspirations include the creation of an organization in Alberta which will advocate for and empower iyiniw children, families, and their communities. Dale currently works for the Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre which provides second and third-level support services for band-operated schools across Alberta ensuring that iyiniw children learn their ways, their history, their customs, and their traditions.

Outside of school and work, Dale is a newly appointed kanawemawasîwapîwin Board Member for the maskêkosak newowacistwan nâtamâkêwin society which oversees the support services for children, youth, and families in maskêkosak (Enoch Cree Nation, AB). She is also a volunteer with Weaving Threads: An Indigenous Engagement Program with Kids Help Phone which aims to increase awareness of Kids Help Phone Services amongst iyiniw children and youth.

Dale notes that her greatest and most important role is that of a wife, mother, and grandmother. In her spare time, she can either be found in the bleachers of a hockey rink or a baseball field cheering on her children.

Deanna is passionate about providing excellent Occupational Therapy Services and runs her own business. Miskihnak Occupational Therapy provides pediatric occupational therapy services to North Battleford and Northern Saskatchewan. Deanna is also the current President of the Saskatchewan Society of Occupational Therapists.

A former Chief of Staff to a minister of the Government of Quebec, Daria has intimate knowledge of the workings of the highest levels of policy and decision-making, as well as of the legislative and regulatory processes. She has led work on a cross-departmental portfolio of pan-Canadian issues and was instrumental in the elaboration and implementation of a new vision for this portfolio. She also served as the content director for an outgoing Premier during a provincial electoral campaign.

Today, Daria helps corporates, investors, and public organizations understand and manage their climate risks, including setting a climate ambition and governance structure and a disclosure strategy. Before founding Clearsum, Daria completed an Executive MBA (HEC Montreal – McGill). She holds bachelor’s degrees in civil and common law (McGill) and is a member of the Quebec Bar (2006).

In her free time, she learns through reading, volunteering, and travelling.

She also loves to dance.

André’s holds a B.C.L/LL.B. from McGill University’s Faculty of Law, where he earned the distinction of being selected as class valedictorian. Additionally, he holds an honours degree in Speech Communication and Business from the University of Waterloo.

Throughout his career, André’s work has largely reflected his commitment to community engagement and equity. For example, as the first-ever Indigenous Liaison Officer at the University of Waterloo, he pioneered significant changes in recruitment and admission policies to better serve Indigenous students and communities.

Presently, André actively contributes to his community as a volunteer with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA), where he assists in search and rescue operations in Nunavut, and as a board member and volunteer at the Niqinik Nuatsivik Nunavut Food Bank.

James works with business, government, and community partners to understand the root causes of our complex challenges, and to shift our entrenched behaviours, cultures, and policies to create long-term change. His current professional and volunteer roles are focused on changing how investment and philanthropic capital can be directed in different ways in the pursuit of social equity and justice.

Outside of work, James is an outdoors enthusiast, rec league athlete, and couch potato in roughly equal measures.

A former Crown Ward, Joey’s life path has informed his journalism and community involvement. He plans to use the skills he obtains during the Action Canada Fellowship to improve his understanding of policy-making processes and solutions being implemented across Canada to the challenges he covers as a local journalist.

At one time, Joey was a member of a competitive pinball league, once ranking among the top 1000 players in Canada. He is presently rated 43720th in the world by the International Flipper Pinball Association.

Joey lives in Downtown Hamilton, Ontario, where people joke that his usual seat at the farmers’ market is his real “office.”

They are also an Ontario Legislature Internship Program alum and previously worked with Global Affairs Canada as a member of Canada’s G7/G20 Summits team. Outside of work, Leslie enjoys cycling, exploring new towns and cities and spending time at home with their toddler and partner.

Sara has travelled extensively throughout the communities of the Circumpolar Arctic and across Canada. She resides on the Traditional Territories of the Kwalin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwäch’än Council in Whitehorse, Yukon with her three children. Sara is passionate about building an inclusive, progressive, and innovative Canada, where her family has made their home since the 1600s.

Naheda developed a strong interest in STEM outreach and finding innovative and creative ways of bringing STEM to rural and Indigenous communities during her graduate programs. She also found her passion in enhancing graduate education, and as a student leader worked hard to strengthening the student-supervisory relationship, finding more resources for graduate students, increasing the networking opportunities for graduate students with non-academic partners, and working on initiatives that prepare graduate students for non-academic careers.

Having herself tackled an academic journey with a visual impairment; she is passionate about advocating for inclusivity, diversity, equality and accessibility in science and education in general. She is committed to redefining the landscape and finding ways to support women and girls succeed. Her unique background and first-hand experience navigating academia, combined with her fierce and enthusiastic nature, have given her the tools to be an excellent advocate for the matters that are close to her heart.

Recently, Sakariya has worked to shift educational pipelines and inclusion efforts with his alma-mater, Ivey School of Business as a member of the EDI Council and a founder of BSIC (Black Students at Ivey Collective). He’s been able to help Ivey revamp their EDI strategy and partner with the private sector to implement transformative programming to Black students and advocate on their behalf to administration.

Sakariya is passionate about distributing opportunity and access to disenfranchised communities, especially those experiencing housing. Previously, he’s been part of a group of 10 young people across Toronto who worked on a Youth Engagement Strategy to help the city of Toronto how it can engage with disenfranchised and disinterested youth in their 20-year plan.

Additionally, he’s been involved as a Youth Fellow in the City of Toronto and has been featured on CBC Radio on numerous occasions regarding his work representing his community at various levels in Toronto.

In her current role, Jas has spearheaded projects ranging from mapping the infrastructure gap in Canada’s North, to examining the role of artificial intelligence tech on children’s privacy rights, to researching career guidance as a policy tool for those with barriers to work. Before joining Springboard, Jas worked as a Policy Advisor and Press Secretary to Ontario’s Deputy Premier, where she worked on key policies like the transformation of Ontario’s Student Assistance Program. She began her career working in post-secondary student advocacy, creating province-wide campaigns on issues like tuition affordability and pay equity.

Raised in London, Ontario, Jas has a B.A. in Media and the Public Interest from Western University, and an M.A. in Political and Legal Thought from Queens University. At Queens, her research focus was on corrections policy in Canada and the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in high-security settings.

Jas also enjoys reading, lightly interrogating friends and strangers about the things they are interested in, and performing live comedy.

Her passion for equitable education and social policy stems from her work running Mikinakoos (Little Turtle) Children’s Fund in coordination with the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority.

Prior to joining Teach For Canada, Deanna worked as a Policy Analyst in the Privy Council Office, providing briefings for the Prime Minister and senior government officials on key Indigenous priorities. Key priorities included support of the permanent bilateral mechanisms established between the Government of Canada and First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation leaders from across the country, as well as the examination of relevant federal laws, policies, and operational practices related to Aboriginal and treaty rights, international human rights standards, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.Deanna has also worked within Health Canada’s Climate Change and Health Adaptation Program. Often having her feet ‘in two different canoes’ – one eager to advance Indigenous policy in Canada, and another striving to center Indigenous methodologies and experiences in research and practice – Deanna brings an interdisciplinary perspective to her work.

Deanna received her Bachelor of Education with distinction from Western University, and is concurrently a SSHRC Doctoral Scholar, studying First Nations education governance. She is also undertaking a Master of Public Health in Indigenous Health at the University of Toronto. Deanna is a 2022-23 Action Canada Fellow.

Merryn’s career has been focused on alleviating food insecurity in Canada through work in public, academic and non-profit organizations, including the national youth charity Meal Exchange. She currently serves on the board of directors of Community Share Food Bank in the Don Mills neighbourhood. She is a believer in cross-sectoral collaboration to address complex problems and public policy as a key lever for change.

Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Merryn currently lives in Toronto with her partner and their dog, Joni. She holds a Master of Science degree from the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Psychology from McMaster University.

And as a government geek, he’s helped advance policy within 3 government space agencies, 2 divisions of the UN, the Canadian Urban Institute, Banff Forum, and the Yukon Government. Thrilled to be a new dad, Ben and his family live together in an off-grid home (100% solar) near Whitehorse.

Originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Scott is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Immediately after graduating from Georgetown, Scott worked at Goldman Sachs Inc. in New York City. Scott was recognized as the 2018 Telus LGBTQ Innovator of The Year by The Inspire Awards, a 2019 Young Impact Leader by Future of Good, and a 2022 Changemaker by The Globe and Mail. Scott has contributed to or been featured in The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Forbes, Future of Good, The Chronicle Herald, and The Georgia Straight. He has also appeared as a commentator on CBC News Network and BNN Bloomberg.