With simultaneous interpretation FRE<->ENG

Véronyque Roy is a lawyer specializing in arts and culture law and serves as a labor relations advisor for the Authors Society of Radio, Television and Cinema (SARTEC). Like her colleagues, she works to improve the socio-economic conditions of French-speaking Canadian screenwriters and to promote their profession and their fundamental role in the cultural industry and society.
Jenna Fung is the Policy Engagement Manager at OpenMedia. A Hongkonger now proudly calling Canada home, she fights for ordinary people's digital rights with the passion of someone who knows what freedom truly means.
Edu Meneses is a researcher and strategic leader in the digital arts ecosystem, dedicated to shaping the future of creative technology. He is the Research Director at the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT) and holds a Ph.D. in Music Technology from McGill University.
Leah Temper is the Director of the Health and Economic Policy Program at the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment where she works on corporate accountability, disinformation and greenwashing. She is the co-chair of Climate Action Against Disinformation Canada.
Moderated by Marie Leblanc Flanagan, independent artist
Marie Leblanc Flanagan is an artist working in the playful spaces between people, especially related to connection and community. Marie builds experimental video games, playful installations, and cooperative experiences and has an enduring fondness for the possibilities of trash.

Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey is the Senior Research Officer for Critical Data Studies at FNIGC, specializing in First Nations data sovereignty and digital tools. With a background in law, information science, and history, she co-authored Decolonial Archival Futures, and currently investigates the impact of artificial intelligence on First Nations governance.
Matthew da Mota is a Senior Research Associate at The Canadian Shield Institute for Public Policy, a non-partisan, independent think tank developing strategic solutions that strengthen Canada’s economic and digital sovereignty. He leads research on issues at the intersection of national security, emerging technologies, and the knowledge economy.
Dr. Danica Pawlick-Potts is an Assistant Professor at York University. Her research focuses on supporting Indigenous data sovereignty and governance, particularly in issues related to emerging technology and scientific practices.
Moderated by Jeff Doctor.
Jeff Doctor is Cayuga from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. As an Impact Strategist at Animikii, he distills complexity and nuance into workable paths forward for many of our software and communications projects. He also assists with planning, managing, and reporting on Animikii’s impact and supports the use of ethical tech to get land, cash, and data back to Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.

Kelly Bronson holds the Canada Research Chair in Science & Society at University of Ottawa where she studies the social and environmental justice impacts of technologies and engages in technology governance. Her latest work is the upcoming book, AI at the Table: What Artificial Intelligence Means for the Future of Food with University of California Press, co-authored with Sarah-Louise Ruder.
Taarini Chopra is a senior researcher and campaigner at the ETC Group, and the coordinator of the Agtech Justice Alliance. She is also senior advisor at the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), and has worked on issues related to corporate concentration in the agrifood system, genetic engineering, and environmental impacts of industrial agriculture for several years.
Sarah Marquis is a communications strategist and policy analyst at the National Farmers Union (Canada). In 2024, she completed her PhD in Environmental Sustainability at the Institute of the Environment at the University of Ottawa, where she conducted interdisciplinary research interrogating the social and environmental impacts of digitization of the Canadian agriculture sector and the food system.
Moderated by Lucy Sharratt, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network
Lucy Sharratt works in Halifax as the Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN). CBAN brings together 14 groups to research, monitor and raise awareness about issues relating to genetic engineering in food and farming. CBAN members include farmer associations, environmental and social justice organizations, and regional coalitions of grassroots groups.

Gabriel Bergevin-Estable is a research fellow in the geography of migration at the Canada Research Chair in Global Migration Dynamics. For the past 20 years, he has worked as an activist, staff member, or administrator for various community organizations, primarily in the areas of immigration and cultural communities, technology, and disability.
Abdulla Daoud is the founder of The Refugee Centre, a Montreal-based non-profit supporting refugees and newcomers through legal, employment, housing, and integration services. He teaches refugee policy at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University and is the Impact Fund Manager at the Northpine Foundation. He has advised governments, institutions, and civil society organizations on refugee policy, newcomer inclusion, and the ethical use of technology in migration systems.
Mostafa Henaway is an author and community organizer with the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC-CTI) in Montreal, focusing on labour and migrant justice. He is also a researcher on the labour conditions of Amazon logistics workers and the author of Essential Work, Disposable Workers: Migration, Capitalism and Class.
Moderated by Sophie Toupin, Université Laval
Sophie Toupin is an assistant professor in the Department of Information and Communication at Université Laval. She employs critical approaches to understand, analyze, and rethink digital and technological issues. These approaches are used to support broader social and political struggles and allow for the treatment of digital and technological issues as sociotechnical arenas for political negotiation.

Naolo Charles is an environmental justice advocate in the social sector with experience in community engagement and social impact. He is the Executive Director and Founder of the Black Environmental Initiative and co-founder of the Canadian Coalition for Environmental and Climate Justice, which contributed to the civil society campaign leading to the adoption of Canada's first environmental justice law in June 2024. He organized the first Black Canadian youth delegation to the United Nations COP conference and has served on a federal advisory table informing Canada's Climate Adaptation Strategy. His work has been recognized with a Clean50 Award.
Jamie Kneen is MiningWatch Canada’s Outreach Coordinator and Canada Program Co-Lead. He is responsible for MiningWatch’s work in western and northern Canada, national and international policy areas, strategic research and communications, and the organisation’s Africa program.
Dr. Sasha Luccioni is a leading scientist at the nexus of artificial intelligence, ethics, and sustainability, with a PhD in AI and a decade of research and industry expertise. She is the Climate Lead at Hugging Face, a global startup in responsible open-source AI, where she spearheads research, consulting and capacity-building to elevate the sustainability of AI systems.
Chief Sheldon Sunshine is the elected leader of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, located in the Treaty 8 territory of northwestern Alberta. With his community, he is fighting the "Wonder Valley" data center development project.
Moderated by Anne Pasek, Trent University (bio forthcoming)
Anne Pasek is a professpr at Trent University. She studies the environmental impacts of data centres, and how the tech sector is influencing climate politics. She's interested in talking to people about data centre resistance, AI refusal, and how to prepare for the AI bubble to pop...

Natasha Dixon is the founder and executive director of the Digital Sexual Violence Support Centre (DSVSC), which is a Canadian non-profit that support adults facing technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV). Natasha’s approach to non-profit leadership is founded on her master’s degree in public and international affairs, her research on gender-based violence and her lived experience of TFSV.
Rosel Kim is a Senior Staff Lawyer at the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). She leads LEAF’s work on technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
Dr. Nasreen Rajani is a researcher and advocate whose work focuses on the relationship between digital technologies and society, with a particular emphasis on ending gender-based violence. Her work centres equity, anti-racist, decolonial, and intersectional approaches.
Moderated by Mylène de Repentigny-Corbeil, Executive Director of Les 3 sex* and as Co-President of the Conseil québécois LGBT.
Mylène de Repentigny-Corbeil(she/her) holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and International Law, as well as a Master’s degree in Communication. For nearly 10 years, she has been actively advocating for sexual rights, particularly those of women and LGBTQ+ people, serving as Executive Director of Les 3 sex* and as Co-President of the Conseil québécois LGBT.
This panel is supported by active listener Rachel Chloe Obas from Women AWARE / Femmes AVERTIES

With simultaneous interpretation FRE<->ENG

Vincent Charlebois is a member-worker at Hypha Worker Co-operative, a software developer, and an artist-researcher. His work focuses on how democratic governance can protect cultural and collective labour from platform capture and builds on open-source protocols and collective digital infrastructure to resist the extractive logic of the AI industry.
Lucie Enel is an advisor in the research department at Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ), where she focuses on issues related to public employment policy, the FTQ’s participation in the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail, and challenges related to artificial intelligence and the digital transformation of the workplace. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from UQAM, with her research focusing on algorithmic management of working conditions and the mobilization of Uber drivers in Quebec.
Sarah Ryan works in the research branch at the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) with a focus on artificial intelligence, employment insurance and housing. She coordinates CUPE's Working Group on Artificial Intelligence and is keen to equip workers for this new wave of technological change.
Moderated by Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood (he/him) is a senior researcher and political economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. His work focuses on federal economic, social and environmental policy, especially in the areas of climate change, artificial intelligence and industrial strategy.

Georgina Alonso is the Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at Above Ground, a group that works to ensure that companies based in Canada or supported by the Canadian state respect human rights and the environment worldwide. She holds a PhD in international development from the University of Ottawa.
Curtis McCord, Ph.D. is a Policy Analyst with the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. His work examines the political economy of technology markets, and how we can address concentration and its consequences through regulation, decentralization, and civic action.
Bianca Wylie is the Director of T&S Advisory, a strategy firm that advises organizations on using technology thoughtfully and intentionally. She's worked in the private sector technology industry at both start-up and multinational scale, in the public sector as a professional facilitator, and in the non-profit sector as a public-interest technology advocate and policy expert.
Alejandro Mayoral-Baños is the Co-Executive Director of Access Now, where he leads the mission of extending and defending the digital rights of people and communities at risk. A dedicated activist and academic, he is passionate about bridging Indigenous Peoples and digital technologies. As a Mixtec/mestizo and a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, Dr. Mayoral Baños is driven by a commitment to inclusivity and equity through technology.
Moderated by Jim Thomas, AI and Market Power fellow, European Ai Fund
Jim Thomas is a Global Programme Director with Hopper Dean Foundation where he supports tech justice movements. He has over thirty years experience in international tech justice activism, advocacy and research (especially around biotechnology and biodigital technologies) , food sovereignty movements, countering corporate concentration and biodiversity governance. He was formerly Co-Executive Director of Canada-based international CSO, ETC Group and more recently writes occasionally at www.scanthehorizon.org.

Charlotte Akin is the Campaign Programs & Engagement Officer for Stop Killer Robots, an international coalition of over 300 civil society organisations in 71 countries working to ensure meaningful human control over the use of force, counter digital dehumanisation, and reduce automated harm. Charlotte is an activist passionate about disarmament, human rights, and gender justice and holds a Master’s degree in Global Development Studies from Queen’s University.
Fanny Dagenais-Dion works as a Legal Advisor and Senior Specialist in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in the Canadian Red Cross’s IHL Unit. As part of her role, she contributes to the dissemination of IHL by organizing and delivering conferences and trainings to diverse audiences and works with national and international partners on its development and implementation.
Azeezah Kanji (JD, LLM) is a legal academic and journalist, whose work focuses on anti-colonial and anti-racist perspectives on international law, constitutional law, and the "war on terror." Her opinion writing has appeared regularly in Canadian and international media, including Al Jazeera English, Haaretz, Jacobin, and the Toronto Star.
Moderator: Kristen Thomasen, University of Windsor
Kristen Thomasen is one of the leading Canadian experts in robotics law and policy, specializing in drone regulation and the privacy impacts of robotic technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). Dr. Thomasen is an Associate Professor and Chair in Law, Robotics and Society at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law.