Naheed Nenshi became mayor of Calgary in October, 2010. Mayor Nenshi grew up in Calgary and holds degrees from the University of Calgary and Harvard where he was a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government. He has lived and worked in cities around the world. He has been a trusted advisor to non-profits and major corporations, has designed Alberta government policy, has worked with the United Nations on how global business can help the world’s poorest people, and has written significantly on cities.

Since 2006, Luke Stocking has worked with Development and Peace (D&P), the international development agency of the Canadian Catholic Church. His first involvement in D&P was at 16, in a campaign to end sweatshop labour. Most of Luke’s work is with Canadian Catholics. However, he has led trips for volunteer members to visit D&P partners in Zambia, the Philippines and Paraguay. Luke has an MA in Theology from the University of Toronto (St Michaels’). He is happily married and has two children.

Adam Gopnik was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Montreal. He has been writing for The New Yorker since 1986. He has written fiction and humour, book reviews, profiles, reporting pieces, and over a hundred stories. He has received several magazine awards. He is also the author of six books including The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food (2011). Adam Gopnik delivered the CBC Massey Lectures in 2011, on the theme of Winter. He lives in New York with his wife Martha and two children.

Jacques Dufresne , well-known Quebec philosopher and social commentator, is director of L'Encyclopédie de L'Agora, on the Internet, and editor of La Lettre de L'Agora, an online publication of ideas and debate. He is co-creator with L'Arche Canada and the PLAN Institute of Appartenance-Belonging.org. He is a founder of Philia.ca, a resource on Caring Citizenship. He is a thought-provoking author, journalist and lecturer, long at the centre of Quebec social debate on diverse issues. He did his doctoral work on Simone Weil.

Jacquie Boughner is a professional artist living in Richmond Hill, Ontario. She has been a consultant with the Ontario Arts Council and has done curatorial work for public and private galleries. In 2011-12 she was a curator of the L’Arche Ontario Show in the suite of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario at Queen’s Park. She has been involved with L’Arche for 20 years as a friend and board member of L’Arche Daybreak and L’Arche Ontario. She often gives reflections inspired by the art of L’Arche members.

Steven Estey has written and spoken widely on disability as a human rights issue, including to the United Nations and Canadian parliamentary committees, and he has worked with NGOs, governments and multilateral agencies around the world for over two decades to advance the situation of people with disabilities. He chairs the International Development Committee of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and works as a private consultant. He lives in Nova Scotia with his wife and son.

Mary Jo Leddy is founder of and lives at Romero House, a community for refugees in Toronto. She lectures widely, is the author of several books and the recipient of many academic and humanitarian awards including the Order of Canada. She is active in the
Ontario Sanctuary Coalition and in PEN Canada and is a Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. Her Ph.D. work was in the philosophy of religion and political thought with emphasis on Hannah Arendt’s approach to the Holocaust.

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than 40 books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her newest novel, The Year of the Flood (2009) is, in the author’s words, the “simultaneal” to her 2003 Giller Prize finalist, Oryx and Crake. Other books include The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace, The Robber Bride, Cat’s Eye, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Tent. Her next book, In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, will be published in Fall 2011. Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.

Ursula M. Franklin, CC, FRSC, is a Canadian academic, pacifist and feminist. She and her family were imprisoned by the Nazis, an experi­ence that informs her commitment to democ­racy. She received her PhD in experimental physics at the Technical University of Berlin in 1948. She came to Canada in 1949 and began a distinguished scientific career. She was the first woman professor in the University of Toronto’s Dept. of Metallurgy and Materials Science. She resides in Toronto and is a grandmother.

Jean Vanier is a Canadian humanitarian, spiritual leader, and internationally esteemed pioneer in the field of care for people with intellectual disabilities. Born in 1928, he joined the Royal Navy at age 13 and left it at 21 to begin a spiritual quest and to study for his PhD. Appalled by conditions of institutions where people with intellectual disabilities lived, in 1964 he welcomed two men to share a home with him. Thus began what has become the worldwide movement of L’Arche. In 1971, he co-founded Faith and Light, an international support network for families.

Born in Burma and raised in Pakistan, Yahya Qureshi came to Canada in 1967. He taught for 36 years, in the public high school system, first in Toronto and later in Markham, Ontario. When h retired in 2003, he was recruited to be principal of the very well-regarded Islamic Foundation School of Toronto. He holds degrees from Peshawar University, the University of Toronto, and Niagara University. One of his children, Alia, had progressive multiple disabilities and lived out her later teen and adult life in L'Arche.

Craig Jones is the Executive Director of The John Howard Society of Canada, an NGO based in Kingston whose mission statement is “effective, just and humane responses to the causes and consequences of crime.” He holds a doctorate in political economy from Queen's University and before coming to the Society was a researcher in the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Centre for the Study of Democracy (both at Queen's) as well as a teacher and lecturer at Queen's, RMC, St. Lawrence and Loyalist Colleges. He has published on drug policy, public policy, crime and mental illness.

National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo is a Hereditary Chief from the Ahousaht First Nation in British Columbia. During two terms as the BC Regional Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), his skills contributed to a historic accord, overcoming decades of discord among BC First Nations leadership. He was elected AFN National Chief in 2009. He holds a Master of Education degree in Adult Learning and Global Change, and is Chancellor of Vancouver Island University. He is supported by his partner of 23 years, Nancy, and their two adult children.

Ian Brown is a feature writer for the Globe and Mail; and anchor of TVO’s Human Edge and The View from Here, Canada’s pre-eminent television documentary series. For ten years he was host of CBC Radio’s Talking Books. His reporting and editing have won more than a dozen national magazine and newspaper awards. He is the editor of the anthology What I Meant to Say: The Private Lives of Men, and author of the books Freewheeling and Man Overboard, and most recently, The Boy in the Moon: A Father’s Search for his Disabled Son.

James Penner, veteran youth specialist, is Associate Director of Dr. Reginald Bibby's "Project Teen Canada 2008." He teaches Sociology of Youth at the University of Lethbridge, and is co-author of Soul Searching the Millennial Generation (2005), and this fall, Aboriginal Millennials in National Perspective, and Ten Things You Have to Know About Today's Teenagers. Formerly a national youth consultant with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and a public school educator, James is primary researcher of James Penner and Associates. He and his wife Claire have two adult children."

Gerry Helleiner is economics professor emeritus and distinguished research fellow  at  the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre. He has written widely on developing countries, and was a faculty member at Yale, Oxford, Sussex and the Universities of Ibadan and Dar es Salaam. He was research director of the developing countries’ caucus at the IMF and World Bank, and board chair of the North-South Institute, the International Food Policy Research Institute and International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty. He has also advised numerous UN agencies and African governments.

Gabor Maté is a medical doctor and author in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has worked in family practice, palliative medicine, and addiction medicine. Currently he is staff physician at a facility for drug addicted persons in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, many of them with HIV. His special interest is impact of early childhood experience on lifelong emotional and  physical health. Dr. Maté has written four nationally bestselling books in Canada, most  recently In The Realm of  Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction.

Jessica Vorstermans  is a recent MA graduate from the University in Utrecht, The Netherlands, where she studied Conflict Studies and Human Rights and completed an internship at the European Center for Conflict Prevention in The Hague. She has volunteered, worked and studied in various Latin American countries--Ecuador, Paraguay, Guatemala and Cuba--and considers these experiences as definitive in shaping her in a moral, intellectual and spiritual way. Jessica is currently working as a freelance consultant and plans to continue her studies at the PhD level in September 2009.

Danny Graham is a thought leader on justice reform, democratic renewal and citizen engagement. He has long encouraged the practice of restorative justice and he advises international agencies on its institution in developing countries. He is the Chief Negotiator for the Province of Nova Scotia in the Mi’kmaq rights and title initiative. Previously, he served as Nova Scotia Liberal Party leader, was a defence lawyer with Nova Scotia Legal Aid and Pink Murray Graham, and worked for Justice Canada to advance prominent national legislative initiatives. He is the father of three funloving boys.

Pamela Cushing is a Cultural Anthropologist teaching at King's College, University of Western Ontario. Her research includes health and disability studies, social inclusion, the politics of difference, and experiential education. She did her doctoral research at L'Arche, interviewing over 100 L'Arche assistants across Canada, and her post-doctoral research with Camphill Schools in Scotland. She has also done research with numerous other organizations (Roeher Institute, CACL, the Laidlaw, Templeton and McConnell Family Foundations). Pam grew up in Montreal, and has lived in Europe, the U.S.A., and Togo. She and her husband, Jay, and their young son live in London, Ontario.

Pamela Cushing is a Cultural Anthropologist teaching at King's College, University of Western Ontario. Her research includes health and disability studies, social inclusion, the politics of difference, and experiential education. She did her doctoral research at L'Arche, interviewing over 100 L'Arche assistants across Canada, and her post-doctoral research with Camphill Schools in Scotland. She has also done research with numerous other organizations (Roeher Institute, CACL, the Laidlaw, Templeton and McConnell Family Foundations). Pam grew up in Montreal, and has lived in Europe, the U.S.A., and Togo. She and her husband, Jay, and their young son live in London, Ontario.

Katharine Pearson has been with the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in Canada, since 1997. She is director of the Foundation's five-year "Social Innovation Generation" initiative, the goal of which is to strengthen understanding of and capacity for social innovation in Canada. She serves on the board of Oxfam-Quebec and the program advisory group of the Foundation of Greater Montreal. Katharine's father was a diplomat and she grew up in India, Mexico and France. The Hon. Lester B. Pearson was her grandfather.

Marc Kielburger is founder of Leaders Today. It has provided local and international training experiences to over 350,000 youth around the world. He is also Chief Executive Director of Free the Children, founded by his brother Craig. First organized to fight child labour, today it focuses on education and an effective development model to help communities become sustainable. It is the world’s largest network of children helping children through education. A Rhodes Scholar, Marc is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford. He has a law degree with emphasis on human rights law.

Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has had a distinguished career as a lawyer, academic, and judge. She served on the Supreme Court of Ontario, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada, and she made history as the courageous and determined Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Since accepting the role of High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2004, she has implemented reforms of her Office and, among other concerns, has encouraged the fast-tracking of the new U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Mme Arbour was born in Montreal.

Pamela Wallin's distinguished career spans 30 years and several continents. She has worked with CBC radio, in the Ottawa bureau of the Toronto Star, as co-host of Canada AM, as CTV's Ottawa bureau chief, and as first woman co-anchor of CBC television's nightly national news. Through her own production company she hosted a nightly interview program. She has written three books, and has received many honours for her work in journalism. In 2002, she accepted an appointment to the prestigious post of Canada's Consul General to New York City.

Philip Coulter is a documentary producer with the CBC Radio program Ideas and also the producer of many of the prestigious Massey Lectures. The common thread in his work is his interest in the things that form us as societies and how we choose to live together. He has brought his considerable gifts to the exploration of topics as diverse as the contemporary Maya and Inca, the mystery of pain, landscape architecture, the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and the contribution of individuals such as Jean Vanier. He is presently preparing a series on the people who live near Chernobyl and is also working with Margaret Somerville on the 2006 Massey Lectures.

Dr. Balfour Mount, F.R.C.S.C., is a urologist and surgical oncologist. He pioneered palliative care and founded the hospice movement in Canada. He was founding director of the Royal Victoria Hospital Palliative Service, and he established the McGill Palliative Care and Integrated Whole Person Care programs. He is also a much-loved teacher.

Jean Vanier is founder of L'Arche and a spokesperson for all who are marginalized. Maclean's magazine has called him "A Canadian who inspires the world." Both Balfour Mount and Jean Vanier speak from the profound integrity of lives given fully to the vision and values they present.

Stephen Lewis is the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He also sits on the WHO's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health and he is a director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, dedicated to easing the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa. His roles over the past two decades include Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and Canadian Ambassador to the UN. Recipient of many honours, he is well known for his deeply compassionate commitment to issues of justice and his concern for Africa. He is this year's CBC Massey Lecturer.

Elizabeth May, lawyer, writer and internationally recognized environmentalist, is Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada. In the 1970s she became known in the Canadian media for her successful volunteer work against insecticide spraying near her Cape Breton home. Before going to the Sierra Club in 1989, she was a Senior Policy Advisor to the Federal Minister of the Environment and was instrumental in establishing several parks. In 2001, she fasted 17 days on Parliament Hill to draw attention to the plight of people whose homes were on contaminated land in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Dr. Lloyd Axworthy is President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. Formerly he headed the Liu Institute for Global Issues. During his 27- year political career he held various Cabinet posts including Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995-2000). He is internationally acclaimed for his advancement of the human security concept, his work establishing the International Criminal Court and the Protocol on child soldiers, and the global treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. For this he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jacques Dufresne, well-known Quebec philosopher and social commentator, is editor of the independent French language magazine of ideas and debate, L'Agora, and director of the evolving L'Encyclopédie de L'Agora, on the internet. For 30 years as a thought- provoking journalist and lecturer he has been at the center of social debate in Quebec on issues as diverse as suicide, sport, the health system, and agriculture. He is a founder of Philia, a Canadian organization dedicated to the promotion of dialogue encouraging of civil society. He did his doctoral work on Simone Weil.

Jean Vanier is known as a social visionary with a keen sense of what makes for a compassionate society. He has received numerous humanitarian honours including the Companion of the Order of Canada. He had a naval career, earned a doctorate in philosophy (Institut Catholique, Paris) and taught at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, before founding L'Arche. Jean Vanier also founded an international network of support groups for families of people with developmental disabilities. He is a son of Canadian Governor-General Georges Vanier and Pauline Vanier.

Margaret A. Somerville, AM, FRSC, A.U.A, (pharm.), LL.B. (hons), D.C.L., LL.D. (hons. caus.) With a pharmacy background from Australia, in the ’70s Margaret Somerville did a Doctorate in Law on the ethics of medical research and, as she describes it, fell in love with this field. She was recently chosen by UNESCO as the first winner of the Avicenna prize for Ethics in Science. She is the founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, and holds professorships in both the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, Montreal.

Raheel Raza is a free-lance writer and a public speaker. Besides her work for the Ontario Public Service, she has spoken to dozens of church and civic groups since 9/11 and been interviewed by the media frequently. A passionate advocate for human rights and a leader among Muslim women, Raheel promotes interfaith relations. On International Women’s Day 2002 she received the Women’s Intercultural Network award for “Making a Difference”. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two sons, ages 18 and 20.

Otto Baruch Rand is a respected educator, Heschel scholar and lecturer, and friend of L’Arche. A former teacher and principal in Toronto and New York and director of Winnipeg’s Jewish Board of Education, in 1995 he co-founded the popular Toronto Heschel School, which he describes as “a mini-laboratory for shaping a society guided by Heschel’s lofty principles.” He studied at the University of Chicago, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He is currently completing a textbook, The Story of Civilizations.

Linden MacIntyre has produced documentaries and stories around the world. Many have influenced Canadian society for the better. His penetrating work in broadcast journalism has garnered Gemini, Michener and Sinclair Awards. Prior to joining the CBC in 1976, he worked with The Halifax Chronicle- Herald in the Ottawa parliamentary bureau, and in Cape Breton, and with The Financial Times of Canada. At the CBC he hosted The MacIntyre File, worked on The Journal, and was host of CBC Radio’s Sunday Morning before moving to The Fifth Estate.

Linden MacIntyre has produced documentaries and stories around the world. Many have influenced Canadian society for the better. His penetrating work in broadcast journalism has garnered Gemini, Michener and Sinclair Awards. Prior to joining the CBC in 1976, he worked with The Halifax Chronicle- Herald in the Ottawa parliamentary bureau, and in Cape Breton, and with The Financial Times of Canada. At the CBC he hosted The MacIntyre File, worked on The Journal, and was host of CBC Radio’s Sunday Morning before moving to The Fifth Estate.

David Adams Richards has won the Governor General’s Award for both fiction and non-fiction. Several of his novels have been adapted for film. His concerns include “the complex moral and spiritual dimensions of power and violence and his characters’ personal responses to instances of inhumanity” (Margo Wheaton, Antigonish Review). His newest novel is River of the Brokenhearted, due out in August.

Miriam Wyman coordinated Canada’s contribution to the Commonwealth Foundation’s Civil Society in the New Millennium Project, contributed to the From Venting to Inventing study, and is a member of the Foundation’s Citizens and Governance Programme team. She is a researcher, writer, facilitator and developer of consultative processes to strengthen citizens’ voices in decisions that affect them.

Canadian social activist Dr. Mary Jo Leddy lives in and leads the Romero House community for refugees, which she helped found in 1990. She teaches theology at Regis College, in the University of Toronto’s School of Theology, and has written several other books including At the Border Called Hope.

“Unless we can reclaim our commitment to one another, we’re not a society.”

Beth Porter reflects on Michael Adam’s recent findings and on the thought of Jean Vanier and other Canadian intellectuals.”