Liza Arnason Bio, February 2023 Liza Arnason BA, MA , is the founder and Chair of the Ase Community Foundation for Black Canadians with Disabilities, the owner of Arnason Consulting, founder and Chair of the UCalgary Black Alumni Network, and UofT Alumni from Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; and above all a mom, grandma, and mentor. Liza’s commitment to the principles of “nothing without us” and “for us, by us”, has always been the cornerstone of her work as an educator, administrator, and community advocate. Her depth of knowledge and expertise is informed by her lived experiences, research and policy initiatives, passion for equity, and an inspirational 30-year career journey as pioneer and visionary. Liza draws on critical pedagogy including Black Feminism, disability justice, and critical race theories to inform community-based research and policy change initiatives. She unapologetically brings the lived experiences of those intersectional experiences of race, gender, and disability to the “table”, identifying nuances, gaps, and disparities within systems, structures, and research. Through collective leadership and wisdom across Canada, Liz continues to design and advocate for new models and systems that will affect real change.

Patrick has decades of experience using digital systems with a focus on accessibility and over 5 years of experience auditing websites for accessibility compliance for a host of clients. He is an expert with assistive technologies and a strong team leader on projects. He has developed websites and mobile applications using accessibility best practices and spearheaded initiatives concerning accessibility. Patrick’s familiarity with all of the WCAG 2.2 guidelines allow him to effectively audit systems and provide technical instructions for remediation. In addition, Patrick is proficient in WordPress CMS setup and backend coding, further enhancing his ability to create accessible digital solutions. Outside of work. Patrick loves to travel, read, play video games, and hang out with his cat.

Max Brault is the President/CEO Accommodation Councilors of Canada Network known as Accnet. Max has a vision to move Canada towards a barrier-free society by demonstrating to the world that Canadians with disabilities contribute to society and to successful business ventures. Max organized and facilitated the Persons with Disabilities Champions and Chairs Committee (PwDCCC), and was instrumental in guiding the federal government toward new and progressive accessibility legislation, Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act (the Act).

Max alongside with the Accnet team work together to identify accessibility issues in Canada―for corporations, governments, and non-governmental agencies―and to provide strategic solutions to address them.
Max Brault is one of the key individuals who influenced the development of Accessibility Canada Act. He also has just under 20 years of working in the Employment Equity file. Finally, Max has spent last 5 years prior to leaving the public service supporting directly Deputy Ministers on the PwD & EE file between Infrastructure Canada and Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Recipient of the Diamond Jubilee Medal, The Correction Service Canada Award of Distinction and the Michelle C. Comeau Human Resources Leadership Award, Max Brault has worked in employment equity for the past 20 years. He is also the author of the paper “Interdepartmental Forum of Persons with Disabilities: A Dialogue for Action.”

As the Lead of the Modern Work and Surface business for the America’s (Canada, US, LATAM), Jay leads the team that is responsible for enabling organizations to amplify the ingenuity of their people, while we navigate the shifts in how work gets done. Within the Modern Work portfolio, Jay oversees productivity platforms such as Microsoft Teams; Employee Experience Platforms including Microsoft Viva; generative AI offerings including Copilot as well as Microsoft’s 1st party Surface hardware. Jay’s work frequently involves detailing the future of the workplace, including culture development, prioritization of people and employee wellbeing.

Jay is also an advocate for technology enabling inclusivity and accessibility and leads Microsoft’s Commercial Accessibility Initiative across the America’s. Previously, Jay led Commercial Channel Strategy and Programs in Canada, working across their ecosystem of over 14,000 partners to build the capacity, capability and growth of the Microsoft Channel, to enable organizations of all sizes to drive digital transformation. Since joining Microsoft in 2003, Jay has held a variety of roles spanning Product Marketing, Business Development, Segment Marketing and Sales Leadership. Before joining the Microsoft Canada team, he worked in the marketing services industry, developing and leading teams delivering strategic sales and marketing programs in B2C and B2B environments, across diverse industry verticals such as publishing, telecommunications and technology. Jay also serves on the Board of Directors for INNoVA, an accessible and inclusive consulting firm, grounded in leading edge research, that is developing solutions to enhance Canadian workplaces by cultivating barrier-free and individualized employee experiences.

Shane Buchanan maintains a general labour and employment practice. With a background in human resources and a CPHR designation, Shane provides an understanding of the issues faced by human resources professionals and provides practical solutions to all areas of labour and employment law, including collective agreement interpretation, workplace policies, discipline and discharge, employment contracts, OH&S, workers’ compensation, labour standards and human rights, including the duty to accommodate

Jamie Burton leads with a passion for innovation, a commitment to fostering accessibility and a
vision for creating positive impact and systemic change for people with disabilities in Canadian
workforces. As CEO of INNoVA, Jamie strives to implement transformative solutions utilizing
definitive global best practices to shape a future of work which meets labour market demand.
In her professional pathway, Jamie has experienced an opportunity to drive impactful initiatives,
foster growth and deliver strategic results as Vice President, of Dolphin Digital Technologies, and
Chief Business Development Officer at the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW).

She has leveraged her skills and connections to develop and implement a sound mentoring
model, Disabilities Mentoring Day, which has been globally shared as a responsible, sustainable,
and economic best practice. Jamie has represented the Canadian perspective on global economic
panels, championing the talent advantage of inclusive hiring and connection to human rights in
business. Jamie is a recipient of the BMO Celebrating Women- Innovation & Global Growth
Award, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Lt. Governor’s Community Volunteer Award,
& Rogers Women of the Year-Entrepreneur.

Mandi is a manager with seven years of experience in consulting specializing in strategy and accessibility. She has 18+ years of experience in post-secondary education. Mandi has lived experience of a disability and has an extensive background leading initiatives that advance accessibility across Canada, bringing together individuals with diverse perspectives to drive cultural change. Since joining BDO in 2022, Mandi has been the Project Lead on 20 accessibility and strategy-related projects for organizations across Canada.
She was previously the Program Manager of the Canadian Accessibility Network (CAN) where she led efforts to increase collaboration across Canada’s accessibility assets. Before joining CAN, Mandi served as an internal consultant at Carleton University where she spearheaded benchmarking, strategy and planning, and change management efforts. She managed large-scale projects related to accessibility, digital transformation, and university restructuring, as well as facilitating faculty and departmental change and continuous improvement initiatives. These projects included extensive consultation facilitation, as well as qualitative and quantitative research collection and analysis. At Carleton University, she was also a lead content developer and facilitator on faculty and staff learning and professional development and student support initiatives.

Melissa Egan is the Manager, Episodic Disabilities and Education Initiatives at Realize. She has worked in the field of health education for over 20 years as a presenter and facilitator, developing and delivering trainings to diverse audiences across Canada. She has experience using community-engaged research evidence to inform policy and believes this is vital in creating lasting practice change. Melissa brings a commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility to her work and has worked extensively with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and Indigenous peoples. Melissa holds a Masters of Education from the University of Toronto.

Mike Gifford is a Senior Strategist at CivicActions and a thought leader on digital accessibility in the public sector. He is also a W3C Invited Expert and recognized authoring tool accessibility expert.

Previously, he was the Founder and President of OpenConcept Consulting Inc., a web development agency specializing in building open source solutions for the open web. OpenConcept was an impact driven company and Certified B Corporation. Like CivicActions, OpenConcept worked extensively with the Drupal CMS. Mike was also part of the Government of Canada’s Open Source Advisory Board.

Mike has spearheaded accessibility improvements in Drupal since 2008, and has served as a Drupal Core Accessibility Maintainer in 2012.

As a long-term environmentalist, Mike has found ways to integrate his passions for the web and the planet. His most significant contributions have been in the development of the Sustainable Web Manifesto and adding an open source perspective to Tim Frick’s book Designing for Sustainability.

Lizna Husnani-Puchta (She/Her/Hers) is a distinguished leader in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), currently serving as the Senior Manager for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and as the newly appointed Accessibility Lead at Coast Capital Savings. With a strong background as an occupational therapist specializing in disability management, accommodations, and accessibility, Lizna’s journey is marked by a blend of professional expertise and personal advocacy. As a mother to a child with a disability and a South Asian woman living with a hidden disability, she brings a uniquely empathetic and intersectional perspective to her roles. Lizna also serves as a Board member for BALANCE for Blind Adults and as a Co-Chair for the Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) DEI Working Group. These positions allow her to apply her extensive knowledge and passion for EDI on a broader scale, impacting policies and practices across different organizations and communities.

David Lepofsky is a visiting research professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario (starting July 2023) a past visiting professor of Disability Rights and Legal Education at the Osgoode Hall Law School and, for over three decades, an adjunct member of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (all part time.) He holds volunteer leadership roles in the disability community. He is chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance. He is a member chair of the Toronto District School Board’s Special Education Advisory Committee. From 2018 to 2022, he served as a member of the Kindergarten-Grade 12 Education Standards Development Committee appointed by the Ontario Government to recommend reforms to tear down barriers impeding students with disabilities. He is also a member of the board of the Ontario Parents of Visually Impaired Children (OPVIC). In 1979,

From 1982 to the end of 2015, David practised law in Toronto with the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, in the areas of constitutional, civil, administrative and most recently, criminal law. In 2004, he was appointed to the position of General Counsel. This is the highest promotion in the Ontario Public Service (outside management). Reserved for only a handful of the 2,000 lawyers in the Ontario Public Service, it is reserved for the most senior counsel, to recognize career achievement in handling the most complex work, demonstrated diversity of expertise, creativity, professional leadership, judgement, and mentoring/role modelling.

From 1982 to 1988, he served as counsel in the Crown Law Office Civil, conducting civil, administrative and constitutional litigation on behalf of the Ontario Government. From 1989 to 1993, he served as counsel in the Constitutional Law and Policy Division, conducting constitutional litigation on the Government’s behalf. From 1993 to the end of 2015, he served as counsel in the Crown Law Office Criminal, conducting criminal appeals in the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. He has appeared on at least 30 cases in the Supreme Court of Canada in his career, as counsel or co-counsel, and in some 200 cases in the Ontario Court of Appeal. He retired from his position with the Ontario Public Service at the end of 2015.

In 1980, he appeared before the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons on the Constitution of Canada, on behalf of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind for an amendment to the proposed Charter of Rights, to guarantee equality rights to persons with disabilities. The efforts of a great many combined to lead Parliament to pass the disability amendment to the Charter.

From 1980 to 1982, he served on the leadership team of a broad disability coalition that successfully advocated for inclusion of protection against discrimination based on disability in the Ontario Human Rights Code.

From 1994 to 2005, he led the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee. That coalition successfully campaigned for ten years to win passage of two new Ontario laws to make Ontario fully accessible to persons with disabilities, the Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2001 and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005. Since then, he has helped in efforts to get that law effectively implemented.

In February, 2009, he became the Chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance. He and the Alliance have pressed for the prompt enactment and enforcement of strong accessibility standards under the Disabilities Act. In 2010 they succeeded in getting Ontario election legislation amended to address accessibility barriers impeding voters with disabilities in provincial elections.

In addition to advocating at the provincial level, he has led the AODA Alliance advocacy efforts to secure the enactment of a strong accessibility legislation at the federal level, appearing before Standing Committees of the House of Commons in October 2018 and the Senate in April 2019. His advocacy efforts combined with those of many others to lead to the enactment of the Accessible Canada Act in 2019. He also led the AODA Alliance’s efforts in 2022 and 2023 to strengthen Bill C-22, the proposed Canada Disability Benefit Act, including giving testimony before Standing Committees of the House of Commons and Senate.

Starting in 1994, he personally campaigned to get the Toronto Transit Commission to announce all subway stops, and later all bus stops, for the benefit of passengers with vision loss. Between 2001 and 2007, he personally fought two cases against TTC. In 2005, the Human Rights Tribunal ordered TTC to consistently announce all subway stops (Lepofsky v. TTC #1). In 2007, the Human Rights Tribunal ordered TTC to announce all bus and streetcar stops (Lepofsky v. TTC #2).

Awards include investiture in the Order of Canada (1995), the Order of Ontario (2007), and the Terry Fox Hall of Fame (2003), honorary doctorates from Queen's University, the University of Western Ontario, the Law Society of Ontario and Brock University, and awards from other organizations including e.g. the City of Toronto, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Ontario Bar Association Public Lawyers Section, the Advocates Society, the Ontario Crown Attorneys Association, the American College of Trial Lawyers, the Ontario March of Dimes and Community Living Ontario. In March 2020, the American College of Trial Lawyers awarded him the Samuel E. Gates Award for contributing to improvements to the litigation process.

He was very flattered and humbled when the Canadian Lawyer Magazine August 2010 edition listed him among Canada’s 25 most influential lawyers. However, he was left wondering: “If I am so influential, why doesn’t anyone listen to me?”

Ensuring that INNoVA truly stretches from coast-to-coast Meghan holds down the fort in the country’s most easterly point. Working out of St. John’s, Newfoundland Meghan has been leading change in the space of Disability and Employment since 2013. With a background in Psychology and Education, Meghan started her career in this space at CCRW, and has transitioned into her current role at INNoVA -an innovative employment strategies firm using evidence informed solutions focused on creating dynamic inclusion for Canadian workforces. Meghan has been involved on varying levels of project, program and service delivery and leads INNoVA in the solutions they design for Business. Meghan’s most recent area of focus, outside of being a mom of a 2-year-old and an 9-year-old, has been concentrated in showcasing INNoVA’s expertise, working directly with business and ensuring best in class delivery of customized accessibility consulting services.

Shilpa is Senior Manager of Corporate Innovation at MaRS Discovery District, North America’s largest urban innovation hub, where she leads Grand Challenges: awards based, open competitions helping communities and organizations tackle some of our greatest social issues. She has two decades of global experience in equity and social impact programming, working as a researcher, educator, program strategist and innovation consultant. Shilpa has a PhD in Education, advancing values-based systems.

Gaurav Upadhya serves as Chair of the recently launched Canadian Business Disability Inclusion Network. He is also Board Director and Audit Committee Chair of Amex Bank of Canada, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. Gaurav moved last year to Victoria BC after a professional career that included roles of Global Chief Actuary and Chief Risk officer of Forester Financial, a Senior Vice President at Manulife John Hancock, and Managing Director at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Gaurav also has had the lived experience of contracting polio in India when three years old and has since walked with crutches and leg braces. He immigrated to Canada at age 12 after living in Africa and UK for some years. These early life experiences, as well as the challenges of studying and living independently with physical disabilities, have helped him build strong skills in empathy, communication and problem solving, and a strong desire to support others in society.

Meggan Van Harten, RGD is Co-CEO for Design de Plume, an Indigenous and women-owned creative agency that designs inclusive and accessible solutions that resonate. She brings equity and accessibility to the heart of the business. Bringing a decade of experience in design to her leadership role, Meggan sets the vision for projects, establishes standards, and builds both business and client strategies that lead to greater impact.

She recognizes the value that accessibility work creates for people, and projects, with proven results. She provides insight and implementation guidance for content writers, designers, and organizations looking to adopt accessibility into their core and ensures that compliance standards and real-world experience align in unique and innovative ways.