Jada Wallace (She/Her) is a Caribbean-Canadian residing in Mississauga, Ontario, and working in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). She is a dedicated multimedia artist, film enthusiast, and creative! Entering her final year of studying Media and Communications at the University of Guelph-Humber, she has a strong foundation in photography, videography, and editing. She also possesses professional marketing skills, enhancing her versatility in the creative industry. Her journey in the world of visual storytelling has guided her interests in social media content creation and art therapy practices. Jada’s position as a production assistant and stage production hand is the building block to a successful career in film direction. She is also committed to youth advocacy in her underfunded community of Malton and for 2SLGBTQ+ students in the Humber and Guelph campus community and finding ways to promote good representation for minorities in the media.

Michael Redhead Champagne is working towards a revolution that dismantles harmful systems and builds up new ones based on justice, equity, and love. A community leader from Winnipeg's North End with family roots in Shamattawa First Nation, Michael is host, helper, published author, on-screen personality and sought after public speaker. Michael happily shares his words, wisdom, and welcoming energy across Canada and around the world.

Michael believes Indigenous knowledge will save the world and this can be seen in his commitment to Ininew concepts such as wahkotowin, mino bimadisiwin & sakihitowin. He is actively working on reclaiming his Ininew language and has started a language nest at the St John's Public Library. Whether it's eliminating poverty, ending homelessness or increasing supports for children, youth and families, he is relentless in his pursuit of a more compassionate world. He organizes the annual North End Grad Walk, the North End Historical Society and is a board member for Fearless R2W & the Manitoba Health Coalition.

You can find him speaking out about poverty, politics and reconciliation on podcasts, video projects and in the news. Featured on multiple TEDx Talks, APTN’s Michif Country & First Contact, Michael is also developing a number of storytelling and multimedia projects. He loves family friendly jokes, Tetris, Stevie Wonder music and celebrating the success of others. Michael's first children’s book, We Need Everyone, from HighWater Press is now available everywhere books are sold.

Agathe is a passionate self-advocate from Québec City who has experienced detox for substance use and is now committed to help others struggling with this. She has done many presentation about detox to audiences including social worker college students and students at risk of addiction. Agathe has been involved with The Students Commission of Canada for the past 6 years, including 2 years with the Over The Influence (OTI) program. The goal of OTI has been to mobilize youth leadership across Canada to take action on the opioid crisis, providing youth-led synergy to the efforts of the federal government’s Blueprint for Action and the work of the Joint Consortium on School Health.

James Wang is a pediatrician specializing in Adolescent Medicine and Addiction Medicine and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UBC. He is one of just a few pediatricians specializing in Addiction Medicine in Canada and the only one in Western Canada. He provides youth substance use care at BC Children's Hospital and Foundry youth clinic. He also provides complex youth health care with the clinic's intensive case management team and does outreach to urban Indigenous communities in Vancouver. His academic interests include health care services for youth in government care and co-occurring substance use and eating disorders. Outside of work, he is a husband, published poet, and backcountry hiker.

Dr. Sarah Gander lives in Saint John, NB and with her family of two boys, Eddie and David with husband Steve. She has a busy clinical practice in the newly opened Community Social Pediatrics clinic and is faculty at both Dalhousie University and Memorial University of Newfoundland. She is involved with numerous organizations in the community aiming to better the care of families and children living in difficult living situations, particularly poverty. She is also the founder of NB Social Pediatrics Inc., a non-profit aimed advocating for child rights as per the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child using a medical-legal-social approach and empowering the voices of children and youth and the Parent Child Assistance Program, a 3 year advocacy and support program for women who use drugs and/or alcohol during pregnancy. Dr Gander is a certified Life Coach through The Life Coach School and is committed to the wellness and professional development of peers and colleagues.

Dr. Katie Birnie, PhD RPsych, is a Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary where she leads Partnering For Pain, a patient-oriented research program striving towards quality equitable pain management for children through partnerships with youth, families, health professionals, policymakers, hospitals, and community organizations. Dr. Birnie is the Associate Scientific Director of Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP), a Canadian national knowledge mobilization network working to mobilize evidence-based solutions for children’s pain through coordination and collaboration. She joined Alberta Children’s Hospital as a medical psychologist in 2018 in the Vi Riddell Children’s Pain and Rehabilitation Program. Dr. Birnie has published more than 110 scientific publications, including on acute and chronic pain assessment and management, and health services and systems design. She chaired the working group that developed the world’s first national health standard for Pediatric Pain Management in 2023 in partnership with SKIP and the Health Standards Organization (CAN/HSO 13200:2023) that has been downloaded >1600 times in >65 countries. Dr. Birnie's work has been shared via CBC News, CTV News, Global News, the Washington Post, Radio Canada International, and The Globe and Mail, among others. She is a strong advocate for the partnership of patients and families in health research, health care delivery, and health systems design.

Ryan is the Managing Director of Inspiring Healthy Futures. Before joining IHF, Ryan worked for over a decade as a consultant in healthcare strategy, human-centred research, and government advocacy. He is a strong and passionate community builder who believes in celebrating and incorporating every individual’s unique contributions and achievements. Taking a relationships-based approach, Ryan works every day to create safe and inclusive spaces for productive and transformational dialogue. With strong facilitation and strategic thinking as a foundation, he uses humour, creativity, and insight to help individuals and groups move forward collaboratively.

Ryan earned a Bachelor of Knowledge Integration from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University in Toronto.

Dr. Sandra Magalhaes is a Research Associate at the University of New Brunswick affiliated with the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) and Department of Sociology. She held a Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit (MSSU) postdoctoral fellowship at NB-IRDT in 2018, received her PhD in Epidemiology from McGill University in 2017, an MSc in Epidemiology in 2008 and a Bachelor of Health Sciences and Biology in 2005, both from the University of Western Ontario.

Her research interests are in chronic disease epidemiology across the lifespan, with a focus on prevention, including active research projects focused on both pediatric and aging populations, and conditions of the brain such as dementia and mental health. She utilizes integrated knowledge translation methods to develop research with partners in government, healthcare, and patients across New Brunswick. She actively collaborates with researchers and organizations across Canada including the MSSU, Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration and Aging (CCNA) and InterRAI Canada. She has obtained grant funding from provincial, national, and international funding agencies.

She is currently leading research funded by ResearchNB and Public Health New Brunswick to examine Early Enrollment in Perinatal Home Visiting Programs and Maternal and Child Health Outcomes in Canada, research that is engaging academic and government partners from across Atlantic Canada, research she is conducting in partnership with Public Health New Brunswick.

Hanna Grover is a strong youth advocate for children's health equity and committed to forging pathways for access to rights. She has worked with national organizations, such as Our Kids Health, to deliver culturally relevant health information and dismantle the spread of health misinformation. Alongside serving on councils to improve healthcare equity within Canada, she is passionate about community outreach, as evident through delivering workshops on health and nutrition to elementary school students, aiming to empower them with essential knowledge for a healthy lifestyle. Her commitment to children’s well-being extends beyond her own projects, evidenced by her personal passion for scientific inquiry and research within medicine. Hanna’s advocacy work has garnered national recognition, including awards such as Canada's Top 10 Under 18 Changemaker, Canada Health Grant For Youth, and Surrey's Top 25 under 25.

Hanna is a firm believer in the power of community service and advocacy. Her community work reflects a commitment to inclusivity and breaking down barriers for young Canadians, ensuring that every youth has the opportunity to thrive and access the resources they need.

Blaise Humblelaine Cabanban is a Filipino-Canadian who has been working as an Immigrant and Refugee Settlement Counselor since 2016 in Toronto. Blaise graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Trent University and received professional education and training funded by OCASI, at University of Toronto and McMaster University. Blaise has led and has been involved in many culturally relevant projects and initiatives with teachers and school board learning coaches in Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board Schools and its surrounding communities providing opportunities to those who experience the impacts of family reunification, immigration and settlement issues, by eliminating key barriers and cultivating resilience. Blaise was one of the delegates and speakers at The 2022 American Educational Studies Association in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at The 2023 Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) and at this year’s Congress- Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences in McGill University.

Publication: Guerrero, C., Cabanban, B., & Zupo, S. (2022). Listening to and working with Filipino youth: The roles of culturally sustaining pedagogy and relational practice on
academic success, well-being, and belonging. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, 35(1), 40-63

Professor Bukola Salami is a Registered Nurse, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Black and Racialized People’s Health and a Full Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary. She is also the Scientific Director for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute. She previously held the rank of Full Professor in the Faculty of Nursing and was Director of the Intersections of Gender Signature Area in the Office of the Vice President Research, both at the University of Alberta.

Professor Salami’s research program focuses on the well-being of Black, immigrant, and racialized people. She has been involved in over 90 funded studies totaling over $230 million. She recently received a $2.5 million SSHRC Partnership Grant titled Transforming the Lives of Black Children and Youth in Canada.

She founded and leads the African Child and Youth Migration Network, a network of 42 scholars from four continents. In 2020, she founded the Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program, the first university-based fully interdisciplinary mentorship program for Black youths in Western Canada. This program seeks to socially and economically empower Black high school youths to meaningfully contribute to Canadian society. Her work on Black youth mental health informed the creation of the first mental health clinic for Black Canadians in Western Canada (which was founded by Africa Centre and the Alberta Black Therapist Network). She has presented her work to policy makers (including the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health). She has trained over 100 undergraduate and graduate students, including many (~10) who are now Assistant or Associate Professors.

Professor Salami is Vice President of the Canadian Nurses Association and board member of Black Opportunity Fund. She is a former Board member of Africa Centre (the largest Black organization in Western Canada), the Alberta College of Social Workers, Black Health Alliance, Edmonton Local Immigrant Partnership, National Association of Nigerian Nurses of North America, International Nursing Interest Group of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, and Project Esperance (a housing unit for women in Toronto). In addition to being an Editor for the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, she is an Associate Editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and on the Editorial Board of Nursing Inquiry, Nursing Philosophy, and Qualitative Health Research. She is a board/council member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, an advisory board member of the CIHR Institute for Human Development, Child and Youth Health, and on the Scientific Advisory Committee on Global Health to the Government of Canada.

Dr. Salami has received several awards for research excellence and community engagement: 100 Accomplished Black Women in Canada; Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing Emerging Nurse Researcher of the Year Award; College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) Award for Nursing Excellence; Rosalind Smith Professional Award from the National Black Coalition of Canada – Edmonton Chapter; Alberta Avenue Edmonton Top 40 under 40; Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame; Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing; Killam Accelerator Award (a $225,000 value for research); Top 25 Canadian Immigrants; Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal; Health Research Foundation Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award; and Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Jaswant Guzder (MD FRCP), is currently a Clinical Professor Psychiatry (UBC) and Professor(ret.), McGill University (continuing teaching in the McGill Division of Child Psychiatry, Division of Social and Cultural Psychiatry from 1979), a family therapist and psychoanalyst living between Victoria BC and Montreal QC. Her current clinical appointments are: consultant psychiatrist (and trainer) for VICCIR (Vancouver Island Counselling Center for Immigrant and Refugee) and community psychiatrist with ICYMH (Indigenous Child and Youth Mental Health) in teams that advocate for mental health.

Her training was at McGill, and later as staff working at the (McGill teaching hospital) Jewish General Hospital from 1975 with roles as Head of Child Psychiatry , Director of Childhood Disorders Day Hospital (a family therapy based service for complex care of children aged 5 to 12 yr) and Senior Psychiatric Consultant. She was the founding clinical director of the first (family and adult) Cultural Consultation Services providing community consultation for refugee and immigrants in Montreal. She has continued to work on collaborations in research, teaching and global health projects in Jamaica, Ethiopia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India as a consultant.

She has lived in Mumbai for 5 yrs from 1979 to 1983 but primarily in British Columbia and Quebec. Her maternal roots are third generation South Asian settler (arrived in 1906) from Vancouver Island and a paternal lineage as a second generation settler. She is a visual artist (has exhibited internationally), teaches an art and healing course at McGill and was a training supervisor for art therapists for 25 yrs in Montreal for interns at our Childhood Disorders Day Hospital.

Chinazam Igwe, commonly known as Zammie, is a 16 year old from Moncton, New Brunswick. Since immigrating to Canada in 2019, Zammie has emerged as a powerful voice for youth empowerement and the UN’s sustainable development goals especially sdg 4 and sdg 8 and sdg 17 . She has been celebrated on a local and national level for her leadership and firm belief that youth aren’t just leaders of tomorrow but leaders of today. Zammie is passionate about addressing the needs of underserved youth and has been involved as a youth speaker and contributor in many innovative and socially focused projects. She focuses on driving innovation , reducing inequalities in education particularly STEM, and fostering and discussing collaborative strategies for meaningful change in the community.