GC Data Conference 2024/speakers
The 2024 GC Data Conference is brought to you by Transport Canada and the Canada School of Public Service with support from the GC Data Community.
February 21-22, 2024 | Virtual
Keynote speakers
Anil Arora
Chief Statistician of Canada
Anil Arora is the Chief Statistician of Canada since September 2016. He has led significant transformational initiatives throughout his career, with experience and partnerships spanning all three levels of government, the private sector and international organizations, including the UN and the OECD. He has led projects on high-profile policy issues, legislative and regulatory reform, and overseen large national programs. Mr. Arora is currently the chair of the OECD committee on statistics and statistical policy, Vice Chair of the bureau for the conference of European Statisticians, and the Chair of the High-Level Group on the modernization of official statistics. He was named top 25 immigrants in Canada in 2022 and is a sought-after speaker and thought leader.
Jim Balsillie
Retired Chairman and co-CEO, Research In Motion (BlackBerry)
Jim Balsillie’s career is unique in Canadian business. He is the retired Chairman and co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry), a technology company he scaled from an idea to $20 billion in sales globally. Mr. Balsillie’s private investment office includes global and domestic technology investments including cybersecurity leader Magnet Forensics.
He is the co-founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking in New York, the Council of Canadian Innovators based in Toronto, and Digital Governance Council, as well as founder of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, the Centre for Digital Rights, the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and the Arctic Research Foundation. He currently chairs the boards of CCI, CIGI, Innovation Asset Collective and Digital Governance Council. He is also a member of the Board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Advisory Board of the Stockholm Resilience Centre; an Honorary Captain (Navy) of the Royal Canadian Navy and an Advisor to Canada School of Public Service.
Mr. Balsillie is the only Canadian ever appointed to US Business Council and was the private sector representative on the UN Secretary General’s High Panel for Sustainability. His awards include: several honorary degrees, Mobile World Congress Lifetime Achievement Award, India’s Priyadarshni Academy Global Award, Canadian Business Hall of Fame, Time Magazine’s World’s 100 Most Influential People and three times Barron’s list of “World’s Top CEOs.”
Chantal Bernier
Co-Chair and Counsel, Global Privacy and Cybersecurity Group, Dentons Canada
Chantal Bernier is Co-chair, Dentons’ Global Privacy and Cybersecurity Group as well as a member of the Canadian Privacy and Cybersecurity practice group and Government Affairs and Public Policy group. With Chantal on board, Dentons is proud to be the only law firm in Canada with a former privacy regulator as a practicing lawyer. During her nearly six years at the helm of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), Chantal led national and international privacy investigations in the public and private sectors, as well privacy audits, privacy impact assessment reviews, technological analysis, and privacy policy development and research.
In her Government Affairs and Public Policy practice, Chantal leverages her many years in high-ranking positions at the Government of Canada to provide her clients with strategic counsel. Her experience as a senior executive also uniquely positions her to understand corporate management challenges in both the public and private sectors to find solutions that serve corporate interests and comply with the law. She serves clients in French, English, Italian and Spanish, and is very active at the international level.
Kristina Casey
Chief Service and Digital Officer, Transport Canada
Kristina Casey joined Transport Canada in April 2023 as Chief Service and Digital Officer.
Kristina comes to Transport Canada from Shared Services Canada where she served as Assistant Deputy Minister, Client Service Delivery and Management. In this role, she was responsible for ensuring that SSC services were well positioned to enable partners in delivering their programs and services to Canadians. This involved managing partner requests, prioritizing activities and incidents, and advocating for GC enterprise services while ensuring that partner-specific needs were met.
Kristina previously occupied the position of Chief Information Officer and Director General, Information Management and Technology at Global Affairs Canada (GAC). She led information and technology services to clients at GAC headquarters, as well as at sites across Canada and at Canada’s missions abroad.
In earlier work at Natural Resources Canada, Kristina was known for her leadership in advancing the department’s information management and information technology transformation. She has more than 15 years of experience in developing, managing and delivering information management and information technology.
Timnit Gebru
Computer Scientist
Dr. Timnit Gebru is a researcher in artificial intelligence, working to reduce the potential negative impacts of AI. Until her recent firing from Google which ignited a labor movement resulting in the first union to be formed by tech workers at Google, Timnit co-led the Ethical Artificial Intelligence research team. Prior to her work at Google, she did a postdoc at Microsoft Research, New York City in the FATE (Fairness Transparency Accountability and Ethics in AI) group, where she worked on algorithmic bias and the ethical implications underlying projects aiming to gain insights from data.
Timnit received her PhD from the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where her thesis used large-scale publicly available images to gain sociological insight, and addressed computer vision problems that arise as a result. This work won the 2017 LDV Capital Vision Summit competition.
Prior to her PhD Timnit worked at Apple designing circuits and signal processing algorithms for various Apple products including the first iPad, and spent one year as an entrepreneur. After experiencing the dire lack of representation in the field of artificial intelligence, Timnit co-founded the nonprofit Black in AI, which works on initiatives to increase the presence, visibility and wellbeing of Black people in the field of AI.
Timnit’s work has been covered by outlets ranging from the New York Times to The Economist, and she has been named to notable lists such as the Bloomberg 50, Wired 25, and Forbes 30 inspirational women. Most recently, she was awarded the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s pioneer award along with Joy Buolamwini and Deborah Raji.
Valerie Gideon
Deputy Minister, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and President of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Dr. Valerie Gideon is a member of the Mi’kmaq Nation of Gesgapegiag, Quebec and a proud mother of 2 young girls.
She became Deputy Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada on November 25, 2023, and kept her position as President of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario. From September 2020 to October 2022, Valerie was the Associate Deputy Minister of Indigenous Services Canada. From 2018 to 2020, she was the Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB), Indigenous Services Canada. From 2012 to 2017, Valerie held the position of Assistant Deputy Minister, Regional Operations, Health Canada. From 2011 to 2012, she was Director General, Strategic Policy, Planning and Analysis at FNIHB. From 2007 to 2010, she held the position of Regional Director for First Nations and Inuit Health, Ontario Region, Health Canada.
Before working at Health Canada, her experience consisted mainly of working in First Nations health advocacy as Senior Director of Health and Social Development at the Assembly of First Nations and Director of the First Nations Centre at the National Aboriginal Health Organization. She was named Chair of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Health Research Peer Review Committee of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in 2004.
She graduated from McGill University (Montreal) in 2000 with a Doctorate (Dean’s List) in Communications (dissertation on telehealth and citizen empowerment). She previously completed a Master of Arts in 1996 at McGill. She’s a founding member of the Canadian Society of Telehealth. She’s also a former board member of the National Capital Region Young Men’s Christian Association and Young Women’s Christian Association.
John Hannaford
Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet
John Hannaford was named the 25th Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet on June 24, 2023.
Prior to becoming Clerk, John served as Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Canada, from 2022 to 2023, where he helped advance some of the government’s signature clean energy initiatives.
He contributed to the public service for the preceding two decades representing the Canadian government on key international files, from free trade to foreign and defence policy.
After graduating from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in history, he earned a Master of Science in international relations at the London School of Economics, before completing a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Toronto.
John joined the federal public service’s Department of Foreign Affairs as a newly minted lawyer in 1995, working on a range of issues including maritime jurisdictions, environmental law and trade.
His following career included being Deputy Minister of International Trade at Global Affairs Canada from 2019–2022, after having served in several high-profile senior leadership positions in the public service, including:
- Foreign and Defence Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister (2015–2019);
- Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet of Foreign and Defence Policy in the Privy Council Office (2012–2015); and
- Ambassador of Canada to Norway (2009–2012).
John’s first act as Clerk was to launch a broad discussion on public service values and ethics to ensure the civil service is equipped to serve Canadians’ changing needs in today’s dynamic and increasingly complex environment.
He believes the values of the public service are the cornerstone of our democracy and the compass to ensure “the peace, order and good government” it provides remain relevant and real to every Canadian, every day.
He is married to Anne Lawson. Together they have two adult children.
Jennifer Pahlka
Founder, Code for America
Jennifer Pahlka is the former deputy chief technology officer of the United States and the founder of Code for America, a nonprofit that believes government can work for people in the digital age. Pahlka is the winner of a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, among others, and has been selected by Wired magazine as one of the people who have most shaped technology and society in the past twenty-five years.
Gina Wilson
Deputy Minister, Indigenous Services Canada
Gina Wilson is a grandmother, a proud Algonquin and is the Deputy Minister of Indigenous Services Canada.
Gina began her career in her First Nation community of Kitigan-Zibi as Director of Health and Social Services. She was also Child Welfare Advisor, Director of Health & Social Services and then Chief Executive Officer when she is with the Assembly of First Nations.
She joined the Federal Government in 1996 and held several senior executive positions at various departments, including the Privy Council Office, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and the Correctional Service of Canada.
One of her career highlights was as Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM), Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada where she oversaw the implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and the Prime Minister’s Apology to Survivors of Residential schools in 2010.
She then became Senior ADM of Regional Operations at the then Indian & Northern Affairs Canada, until she moved to Public Safety Canada as ADM, Emergency Management.
Gina was ADM of Treaties and Aboriginal Government at INAC before joining the Deputy ranks in 2014 as Associate Deputy Minister (DM) at ESDC, Associate DM at Public Safety, then Deputy Minister of Women & Gender Equality in 2017. She was appointed DM of Public Safety Canada in 2019.
Gina was in the role of DM, Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, Canadian Heritage, and rejoined Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) as DM on September 1, 2021. She previously served at WAGE from 2017 to 2019, where she led the establishment of the new department.
Gina is the recipient of the 2020 Indspire Award for her leadership and her lifelong work on Indigenous issues and support for Indigenous employees. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Ottawa.
Shoshana Zuboff
Author, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School
Scholar, writer, activist Shoshana Zuboff is the author of three major books, each signaling a new epoch in technological society. Her recent masterwork, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, available in 26 languages, has been hailed as the tech industry’s Silent Spring, the Das Kapital and the Wealth of Nations of the 21st Century. Her work has been recognized with the Axel Springer Award (2019), the EPIC Lifetime Achievement Award (2021), and the inaugural Global Privacy Assembly Giovanni Buttarelli Award (2021).
Professor Zuboff has received honorary degrees from the University of Amsterdam and the Copenhagen Business School. She is the Charles Edward Wilson Professor Emeritus Harvard Business School, a faculty associate at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights, and the Co-chair of the Prefiguration Committee of the International Observatory on Information and Democracy.
Speakers
Kaveh Afshar-Zanjani
Executive Director, Data Strategy, Chief Data Office, Canada Border Service Agency
Kaveh is the Executive Director, Data Strategy, at Canada Border Service Agency’s Chief Data Office, where he leads strategic planning and implementation of enterprise data and analytics for the Agency. He joined the Agency in Spring 2020 as the Director, Data Science. His expertise is in use of data, analytics, and artificial intelligence to support and drive policy and operational decision making. He has been involved in analytics and data science for over ten years in both academia and government.
Before joining CBSA, Kaveh worked at Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Chief Data Office, where he led the development of Departmental Data and Analytics Strategy. He has worked at a number of other Government of Canada departments, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Employment Social Development Canada. He is a graduate of McGill, uOttawa, and Queen’s University.
Benjamin Alarie
Professor, University of Toronto Faculty of Law; Specialist, Legal Innovation, Blue J
Benjamin Alarie, M.A. (Toronto), J.D. (Toronto), LL.M. (Yale) is an expert in tax law, judicial decision-making, machine learning, and the future of law and technology. Before joining the Faculty of Law, Professor Alarie was a graduate fellow at Yale Law School (2002-2003) and a law clerk for Madam Justice Louise Arbour at the Supreme Court of Canada (2003-2004). Over the years his publications have appeared in numerous academic journals, including the British Tax Review, the Canadian Tax Journal, and the American Business Law Journal. His research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. He is coauthor of several editions of Canadian Income Tax Law (LexisNexis) and was awarded the Alan Mewett QC Prize for Excellence by the JD class of 2009. He is co-author (with Andrew J. Green) of the leading study of comparative empirical supreme court decision-making practices, Cooperation and Commitment on High Courts (Oxford University Press, 2017). He is an affiliated faculty member of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.
Professor Alarie is co-founder and CEO of Blue J, a leading North American legal tech company specializing in artificial intelligence, legal prediction, and intelligent diagramming. He combines academic scholarship with legal technology through his monthly column in Tax Notes, entitled Blue J Predicts, where he analyzes recently decided and pending U.S. tax cases using machine learning. An educational Hot Docs / uDocs documentary, The A.I. Taxman, recounts the early Blue J story and outlines a vision of how artificial intelligence is likely to affect tax law in the coming decades.
Professor Alarie is co-author (with Abdi Aidid) of The Legal Singularity: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Law Radically Better (University of Toronto Press, 2023), available from Amazon and the University of Toronto Press. See some of the book’s pre-publication press: Law360, the University of Toronto.
Niraj Bhargava
CEO and Co-Founder, NuEnergy.ai
Niraj Bhargava (P.Eng, ICD.D) is the co-founder, CEO, and lead faculty at NuEnergy.ai. At NuEnergy.ai, Niraj leads a team of experts who are specialized in AI Governance Education, creating organization level AI Governance Framework and integrating AI trust measurement software – Machine Trust PlatformTM (built on a patented methodology). Niraj has over 30 years of experience in technology, business creation and leadership. He is a serial entrepreneur and has successively been the CEO, founder and leader of technology companies – focused on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Neural Networks. He is currently the Chair of the Innovation Committee of the Board at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. In the past, he has served as a dean and a university professor. He holds an MBA, a degree in Systems Design Engineering and completed the Directors Education Program leading to his P.Eng & ICD.D designation and has been a prominent speaker globally on sustainability and on ethical AI.
Chrysandre Courchêne
Manager, Responsible Data and AI Centre of Expertise, Chief Data Office, Canada Border Service Agency
Chrysandre Courchêne (she/her/elle) is the Manager for Responsible Data and AI Centre of Expertise (RDAICoE), at Canada Border Service Agency’s Chief Data Office, a team whose focus is on helping the Agency to build a responsible and representative data and analytics ecosystem. She joined the Agency in Winter 2021. Her expertise is in the qualitative dimensions of data and analytics to support social consideration on bias, ethics and digital harms . She has been involved in social data and analytics for over 5 years in both academia and government. She has a BA in Political Science and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies for which the thesis focused on data justice.
Benoit Deshaies
Director, Responsible Data and Artificial Intelligence, Office of the Chief Data Officer of Canada, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Benoit Deshaies is the Director of Responsible Data and Artificial Intelligence for the Office of the Chief Data Officer of Canada, located within the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). In this role, he oversees the development of the Directive on Automated Decision-Making the Algorithmic Impact Assessment (AIA). These policy tools aim to ensure that the use of automated decision systems by the federal government prioritizes transparency, accountability and fairness, leading to more efficient, accurate, consistent, and interpretable decisions. Additionally, his team publishes the Guide on the use of generative AI which offers guidance to federal institutions regarding the use of generative AI tools.
Sevgui Erman
Executive Director, Digital Technologies Research Center, National Research Council of Canada
Dr. Sevgui Erman is the Executive Director of the Digital Technologies Research Centre at the National Research Council of Canada. She leads research in computer vision, natural language processing, advanced analytics, cybersecurity and quantum computing. Her team’s focus is on using AI and digital technologies to accelerate scientific discovery and innovation.
She holds a Ph.D. in system control and signal processing from the Université Paris-Saclay. She has a background in engineering, math and IT, with experience in developing algorithms and systems in the private, public and academic sectors.
Before joining the National Research Council, Dr. Erman was Chief Data Scientist and Senior Director of the Data Science Division at Statistics Canada. Since 2017, she led the agency’s data science strategy and engineering efforts, and she spearheaded the creation of the Data Science Accelerator (DSA) in 2018. The DSA operated as a start-up, entirely driven by business needs—taking advantage of best practices in entrepreneurship, catalyzing culture change through delivery of small wins, and building trust in new technologies and leading-edge methods. For this work, she was awarded Statistics Canada’s Excellence in Service Delivery Award. While at Statistics Canada, Dr. Erman launched and led the Data Science Network for the Federal Public Service, which supports data science capacity-building within the Government of Canada.
Dr. Erman has also worked in system design roles at Ericsson Wireless as well as Nortel Networks Optical R&D. She holds patents in real-time electro-optical system performance optimization.
Yvan Gauthier
Head, Artificial Intelligence Accelerator, Data Analytics Centre / NRC Digital Technologies, National Research Council
Yvan Gauthier is a senior research council officer with the National Research Council of Canada’s Digital Technologies Division, where he leads the AI Accelerator for the Government of Canada. The AI Accelerator delivers impactful and responsible AI solutions to other federal departments and agencies, and supports them in their digital transformation. Before joining the NRC, Yvan worked for 20 years as a defence scientist with the Department of National Defence (DND), where he became the first-ever Director of Data Science and established a new enterprise data science team supporting DND’s Chief Data Officer. He also chaired a NATO Specialist Team on Advanced Analytics and AI and has led several operational research projects while being embedded with various branches of DND and the Canadian Armed Forces.
Phil Gratton
Associate Faculty, Digital Academy, Canada School of Public Service
Phil Gratton is an Associate Faculty at the Canada School of Public Service’s Digital Academy, with a mission to help public servants and their leadership gain the knowledge, skills and mindsets required to flourish in the digital age. He was previously the Director General of the Data Management Branch at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), where he led teams of security practitioners in innovative and compliant data solutions in support of national security investigations. He previously served as the CSIS Chief of Cyber Centre, investigating threats from state and terrorist cyber actors. He has been involved in a broad range of national security investigations at the CSIS’s national headquarters in Ottawa, in various regional offices across the country, and in locations abroad. He holds a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Ottawa. Phil explores issues of leadership, technology, national security, and complexity.
Chantal Guay
Chief Executive Officer, Standard Council of Canada
In April 2018, Chantal Guay was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Standard Council of Canada.
Prior to this role, Ms. Guay was SCC’s Vice President, Standards and International Relations where she was responsible for the overall management of the Canadian standardization network. She also served as SCC’s Vice President, Accreditation Services for five years where she led the transformation of this unit including a completely renewed business model with a customer-centric focus.
In January 2020, Chantal became the first woman to both lead SCC and represent Canada on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Council. She’s also very active in the international community, holding many positions such as Chair of the Pacific Asia Standards Congress. She brings a strong understanding of the importance and value of standards, conformity assessment, quality, and systems management in the private and public sectors.
Professional Background
Prior to joining SCC, Ms. Guay was CEO of Engineers Canada, the national organization comprised of the 12 provincial and territorial associations that regulate the practice of engineering in Canada, and that license the country’s more than 300,000 professional engineers. Under her leadership, the engineering profession adopted the 30 by 30 strategy which is aimed at raising the percentage of newly licensed engineers who are women to 30 per cent by the year 2030. Chantal was recognized for this work in 2020 when she was honoured with a fellowship from the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Education
Ms. Guay holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Geological Engineering from Université Laval, and a Master’s in Environmental Management from the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke. She has also earned an Advanced Executive Certificate in General Management from the Queen’s University School of Business, as well as the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors after completing the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program.
Shion Guha
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Shion Guha is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information and cross-appointed to the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. His research interests include human-computer interaction, data science, and public policy. He’s been involved in developing the field of Human-Centred Data Science. This intersectional research area combines technical methodologies with interpretive inquiry to address biases and structural inequalities in socio-technical systems. He is the author of Human-Centered Data Science: An Introduction, an Amazon Best Selling textbook published by MIT Press in 2022.
Shion wants to understand how algorithmic decision-making processes are designed, implemented and evaluated in public services. In doing so, he often works with marginalized and vulnerable populations, such as child welfare, homelessness, healthcare systems, etc. His work has been supported by grants from Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, National Science and Engineering Research Council, National Science Foundation, American Political Science Association etc. He has been featured in the media (Newsweek, Associated Press, ACLU, ABC, NBC, Gizmodo etc.)
Shion has been awarded a Way-Klingler Early Career Award in 2019, a Connaught New Researcher Award in 2021 and a Schwartz-Reisman Institute for Technology and Society Faculty Fellowship from 2023-25. Previously, he received an MS from the Indian Statistical Institute in 2010 and a PhD from Cornell University in 2016.
Ryan Hum
Chief Client Experience Officer and Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Citizen Service Branch, Service Canada
Ryan Hum is the Chief Client Experience Officer (CCXO) and Associate ADM at Employment and Social Development Canada, and the first ever CCXO in the Government of Canada.
Over the past ten years, Ryan has developed a track record of successful “first ever” type jobs, introducing the power of human-centered design, behavioural science, and data science to policy and program delivery.
Ryan holds a Master of Engineering in Design from McMaster University and earned a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Biology and a second in Chemical Engineering, both at Queen’s University. He also conducted doctoral research (abd) and has published research in the areas of global health, at the University of Toronto. Over the years, Ryan has taught at the University of Toronto, Carleton, as well as at OCAD University in the areas of design, engineering, and public policy.
He was named the Canadian Public Sector CIO of the Year (2023) and Technation’s Public Sector Disruptor of the Year (2022). He is also a recipient of the Public Service Award of Excellence.
Ryan loves leading eclectic interdisciplinary teams that imagine new ways of solving problems, conducting meaningful engagement with clients and stakeholders, prototyping solutions and putting them into production.
Family is important to him. Ryan is the father of two young children. This, as well as his deep personal learnings on reconciliation, serve as the inspiration and motivation that drives his commitment to creating a better future for individuals and families.
Suzanne Kite
Executive Director, Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
Kite (Dr. Suzanne Kite) is an award winning Oglála Lakȟóta performance artist, visual artist, composer and academic, known for her sound and video performance with her machine learning hair-braid interface. Kite’s practice explores contemporary Lakota ontology through research-creation, computational media, and performance. Kite often works in collaboration with family and community members.
Julie McAuley
Chief Data Officer and Director General, Innovation, Science and Economic Development
Julie McAuley is ISED’s Chief Data Officer and the Director General of the Data, Digital and Innovation Branch (DDIB) in the Digital Transformation Services Sector (DTSS). In this role, she is responsible for the implementation of the Departmental Data Strategy, the policy and data components of business related Digital Identity and Credentials, as well as innovation and analytics. Working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders across ISED and the GC, she provides strategic advice related to data and information management, as well as strategy / program design and implementation.
Julie joined ISED in September 2017 as the department’s Chief Results and Delivery Officer. In this role, she led the implementation of the department’s outcomes-focused results and delivery framework. Prior to joining ISED, she worked at Statistics Canada where she held a number of executive positions in the areas of health, justice and social statistics.
Surdas Mohit
Director, Artificial Intelligence and Data Policy, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada
Surdas Mohit is the Director of Artificial Intelligence and Data Policy at Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, where he leads work in support of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act. Prior to joining ISED, Surdas worked at the intersection of technology and national security policy at Public Safety Canada. He has also worked in environmental and manufacturing policy and holds a Doctorate in Planetary Science from Washington University in St. Louis.
Somaieh Nikpoor
Lead, Data Science and AI Strategy, Transport Canada
Somaieh Nikpoor is a researcher, advocate, and mentor working at the intersection of AI, data, and policy. She is a lead for AI and Data Science at Transport Canada. She designs AI and analytics road maps based on organizational readiness and leads various initiatives on data science and AI. She is passionate about the responsible development and application of AI technologies and is currently collaborating with academia and non-profit organizations to curate and generate original content that will help others navigate through various AI ethics and AI policy topics and concepts.
Before joining Transport Canada, Somaieh held an advisory role for AI and machine learning at ESDC – Labour Program. Somaieh has also worked at the Advanced Analytics Lab within Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, where she led the development and delivery of several analytical products. Somaieh holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Ottawa.
Ima Okonny
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Data Officer, Employment and Social Development Canada
Ima, Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Data Officer at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) has over 23 years of experience in the field of data.
As Chief Data Officer of ESDC, she works to enhance and advance Data Science, Data Management and Data Sharing to support ESDC’s policies, service delivery and results reporting.
Prior to ESDC, Ima held an executive role at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, where she led a team to ensure the effective collection, governance, and management of federally regulated financial institution and pension plan data collected by the Office.
Ima has also worked at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, where she led the development and delivery of analytical data, research databases, data products and tools that supported performance measurement, policy development, program monitoring, results/outcome reporting and research and evaluation. Ima’s previous experience has also included positions with the Canada Revenue Agency, and Statistics Canada.
She has an educational background in Mathematics, Computer Programming and Public Management and during her time with the Government of Canada, she has received several nominations and awards for her leadership and results.
She is passionate about helping organizations develop the capabilities required to ethically and intentionally unleash concrete business value from data.
Anneke Olvera
Director, Programs & Operations, Strategy and Stakeholder Engagement, Standards Council of Canada
Anneke Olvera is a seasoned leader specializing in stakeholder-funded Programs at the Standards Council of Canada (SCC). She has worked at the SCC for 27 years occupying several roles across the organization. Her main areas of work have been on the crafting and executing of impactful initiatives in programs such as the AI and Data Governance Standardization, Standards to Support Resilience in Infrastructure, Mental Health and Substance Use Health, and Innovation, IP, and Standards-Setting. Anneke focuses on fostering partnerships to maximize national opportunities through the influence of standardization. Anneke is a strong advocate for Canada’s leadership in the realm of standardization in support of the health and safety, and economical welfare of Canadians. Anneke holds an BA in English literature and Theatre from Mount Allison University, and an MA in English Literature from Carleton University. She is the Secretariat for the AI and Data Governance Standardization Collaborative.
Martin Perron
Lawyer and Developer – Rules as Code Lab, Public Sector Experimentation, Canada School of Public Service
Martin Perron is a lawyer-turned-developer experimenting with Rules as Code (RaC) tools and approaches at the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS). He has an Hon BsSocSc in Economics and Public Policy, and started learning some basic programming while acquiring his Juris Doctor at the University of Ottawa. Prior to joining CSPS, Martin articled and served as legal counsel at the Department of Justice.
While not formally trained in computer science, Martin first started exploring the intersection of law and technology as a means to compensate for being a slow and distracted reader. Among other things, he unsuccessfully tried to parse his study materials using Natural Language Processing tools in preparation for his bar exams. Through these initial experiences, he discovered that law-as-data was a severely underdeveloped resource, largely due to current limitations in the way that legal information is diffused. However, if laws were also available in a trustworthy machine-consumable format, the data could be used to power a variety of legal automation, verification, and simulation tools.
Martin believes rules are best encoded by rule-makers in the drafting room, where it helps reveal gaps, loopholes, and ambiguities that often go unnoticed when reading and writing the natural language of the law on its own. As such, he is currently experimenting with a user-friendly and open-source RaC prototype called Blawx, which he believes could one day make the act of writing laws into code accessible and practical for legal drafters.
Gwen Phillips
BC First Nations Data Governance Initiative Champion, Ktunaxa Nation
Gwen is a citizen of the Ktunaxa Nation and has worked for the Ktunaxa Nation Council for the past thirty-nine years. She has held a variety of senior management positions, at times overseeing departments of Education, Health, Corporate Services, Traditional Knowledge and Language and for the past decade, functioning as part of the team leading the Ktunaxa Nation back to self-government.
A few things that Gwen has done:
- Negotiated the first Local Education Agreements in BC
- Established the first Community-based Healing and Intervention Program to address fetal alcohol exposure: CHIP
- Chaired Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee at the East Kootenay Community College
- Developed and Instructed First Nations Studies course at the College of the Rockies
- Treaty Side Table Negotiator
- Presented to Treasury Board’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions
- Public Educator and Facilitated Dialogue Engagement practitioner
- Chaired First Nations Education Steering Committee
- Negotiated MOU with Metis Nation BC to receive services through Ktunaxa government agencies
- Established the design for the first person centric, population data warehouse in BC
- Founded the BC First Nations Data Governance Initiative; initially a five-year tripartite initiative
- Presented to Treasury Board’s Transparency Conference
- Designer Poster Series: Nation to Nation, Determinants of Health, ICDNS Implementation
- Keynote and presenter at numerous conferences, workshops and gatherings in First Nations Communities, in education settings such as Carleton University, for and with governments, and in international spaces
- Co-Chair ISC Indigenous Community Development National Strategy Working Group
- Worked with BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner on the Grandmother Perspective on disaggregated data
Gwen is currently championing the BC First Nations’ Data Governance Initiative (bcfndgi.com); a tripartite government initiative (federal, provincial and First Nations governments) with a key objective being that federal, provincial and First Nations governments, have timely access to quality data to plan, manage and account for investments and outcomes associated with First Nations well-being. As a member of the First Nations Health Council for 11 years, Gwen was part of the team that negotiated the transfer of Health Canada’s BC Region First Nations and Inuit Health Branch to First Nations control. She advances BC First Nations’ interests nationally in Data Governance, as a member of the First Nations Information Governance Centre Board.
Gwen is also assisting Indigenous Services Canada in the implementation of their Indigenous Community Development National Strategy; a co-developed approach to manage the shift from program-based funding and reporting relationships, to community-driven investments and reporting that is aligned with Community-driven, Nation-based development plans. She co-chairs along with ISC HQ, a national Working Group comprised of Indigenous Advisors from across the country, and federal government managers from Ottawa and the Regions.
Gwen has extensive experience in relationship building; she has developed and instructed First Nation Studies courses at the elementary, secondary and college levels and continues to function as a public educator. Her formal education is in Business Administration and she has operated her own small business, as a community planner, facilitator/trainer, artist and curriculum developer.
Steve Rennie
Director, Data-Driven Technologies, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Steve Rennie is the Director of Data-Driven Technologies at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). In this role, he leads a division focused on advancing the responsible and ethical adoption of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and robotic process automation. In June 2023, Steve and his team won the inaugural Public Service Data Challenge with a generative AI chatbot that offers conversational information on government programs in agriculture. Launching in February 2024, it marks the Government of Canada’s first public-facing generative AI chatbot. He also led the development of another AI tool that helps Access to Information officers quickly find duplicate documents and close matches, which AAFC has shared with other government departments and agencies. Prior to joining AAFC in 2021, he held progressively more senior roles at Natural Resources Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. A former journalist, Steve covered federal politics for nearly decade in the Parliamentary Bureau of the Canadian Press news agency and later served as the managing editor of Metro Ottawa.
Elissa Strome
Executive Director, Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
Elissa Strome is the Executive Director of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy at CIFAR. She works with leaders at Canada’s three national AI Institutes in Edmonton (Amii), Montreal (Mila), and Toronto (Vector Institute) and across the country to advance Canada’s leadership in AI research, training and innovation. She is a champion of equity, diversity and inclusion in science, and an ambassador for Canada’s position in AI research, innovation, and policy internationally. Elissa is a member of the federal government’s AI Advisory Council, where she co-chairs the Public Awareness Working Group, and the OECD Network of Experts on AI.
Elissa completed her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. Following a post-doc at Lund University, in Sweden, she decided to pursue a career in research strategy, policy, and leadership. From 2008 – 2017 she held senior leadership positions at University of Toronto’s Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, advancing major institutional strategic research priorities, including establishing and leading the SOSCIP research consortium. She recently earned her black belt in taekwondo.
Jutta Treviranus
Director and Professor, Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University
Jutta Treviranus is the Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and professor in the faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto (http://idrc.ocadu.ca). Jutta established the IDRC in 1993 as the nexus of a growing global community that proactively works to ensure that our digitally transformed and globally connected society is designed inclusively. Dr. Treviranus also founded an innovative graduate program in inclusive design at OCAD University. Jutta is credited with developing an inclusive design methodology that has been adopted by large enterprise companies such as Microsoft, as well as public sector organizations internationally. In 2022 Jutta was recognized for her work in AI by Women in AI with the AI for Good – DEI AI Leader of the Year award.
Joshua Turner
Senior Advisor, Application Development, Canada School of Public Service
Josh is a career technologist with experience spanning the public and private sectors, academia, consulting, and law enforcement. He’s provided deskside support, held the title of Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and everything in between. Josh rejoined the federal public service in 2020, sharing his knowledge and experiences to help create change. He currently leads tech activities on the Canada School of Public Service’s Public Sector Experimentation team.
Christopher Valiquet
Director, GC Data Community, Canada School of Public Service
Christopher Valiquet is the founding Director of the Government of Canada Data Community at the Canada School of Public Service. He is dedicated to building connections and solutions that help the federal public service to harness data for better decisions and operations.
Prior to this, he served as Senior Advisor at the Privy Council Office, where he supported the Prime Minister, Cabinet and the Clerk in navigating transition, setting priorities, defining policy and tracking implementation. Christopher began his public service career at the Office of the Auditor General over eighteen years ago. He then held progressively senior positions at Treasury Board Secretariat and Natural Resources Canada. His work has focused on improving economic competitiveness, environmental performance, social outcomes and the efficiency of government.
Christopher earned his BA (Honours) in International Development from the University of Guelph, and his MA in Public Policy and Administration from Concordia University.
Carol Wilson
Director, Advanced Analytics, Canada Post Corporation
As Director of Advanced Analytics, Carol is fully engaged in the data driven strategy and transformation at Canada Post. She leads of team of data scientists as they leverage cloud computing, machine learning and visualizations to fulfil their mandate to understand and optimize CPC’s business.
Carol is an engaging speaker, having presented at several international research conferences and national events including locations such as San Diego, Marrakesh and Toronto. She specializes in statistics and research methods, presenting topics such as Random Forest, Time Series Analysis and Natural Language Processing.
Carol holds a master’s degree in Experimental Psychology and Statistics from McMaster University and a bachelor’s degree from Mount Allison University. She currently resides in Ottawa, Ontario.
Moderators
Kara Beckles
Executive Director, Privacy and Responsible Data Division, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Kara Beckles is the Executive Director within the Privacy and Responsible Data Division at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). As an active and experienced data leader in the Government of Canada, Kara has held various executive positions across the public service, including Chief Data Officer and Director General of Data and Information Services at the Privy Council Office (PCO), Director General of Data Integration in PCO’s Result and Delivery Unit, and Chief Economist at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. She has also held various strategic, policy and analytical roles at Finance Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, Statistics Canada, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and PCO. Kara holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and business from the University of Winnipeg and a Master of Arts in economics from Dalhousie University.
Stephen Burt
Chief Data Officer of Canada, and Assistant Deputy Minister of Digital Policy and Performance
In March 2022, Stephen Burt was appointed Chief Data Officer for the Government of Canada, at the Treasury Board Secretariat. His mandate is to provide leadership within the federal government across all aspects of managing information and data. This includes protective policy elements for privacy and responsible use of data-driven technologies, and policy elements related to transparency such as access to information and open government, including GC enterprise tools for data and information sharing. The CDO also oversees policy and guidance for data-enabled digital services and programs, including foundational information management and data governance practices across federal departments.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Burt was the functional authority for data governance and analytics capability for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF). He drove the analytics adoption and maturity throughout DND/CAF, and led the department-wide initiative to establish analytics and data governance.
Mr. Burt began his career in the Government of Canada in 1997 with Revenue Canada. In 1999, he joined DND, where he worked in a variety of policy, operational and defence intelligence roles, including two years as Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister.
Mr. Burt moved to the Privy Council Office (PCO) in 2007 to work in the Security and Intelligence Secretariat as Senior Advisor on National Security. In that role, he was secretary for the committees of the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister. In 2009, he joined the Intelligence Assessment Secretariat (IAS) at PCO, and held positions as Director for Afghanistan and, later, for Asia. Mr. Burt was appointed Director of Operations for the IAS in January 2012, and took on the position of Assistant Secretary on an acting basis in March 2014.
In April 2015, Mr. Burt assumed the role of Assistant Chief of Defence Intelligence at Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, where he led the federated production of intelligence within DND/CAF, and oversaw defence intelligence policy.
Mr. Burt has an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Ottawa, as well as a Master’s in Public Administration from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
Karine Duhamel
Director of Indigenous Strategy, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Dr. Karine Duhamel (she/her) is an Anishinaabe-Métis historian and an off-reserve member of Red Rock Indian Band in northwestern Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education, as well as a Masters degree and Ph.D. in history. She has extensive expertise and experience in dialogue-based approaches to research and engagement, including in her role as Director of Research for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) from 2018 to the end of its mandate in 2019 and as Chair of the National Action Plan Data Sub-Working Group from 2020 to 2021. In 2021, she was awarded the Bruce and Lis Welch Community Dialogue Award through the Simon J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. In 2022, she joined the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as Director of Indigenous Strategy, working to implement the Strengthening Indigenous Research Capacity initiative to better support Indigenous research and research training in Canada. In addition to her role as a public servant, she is an official Speaker for the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba, an Indigenous fellow at Simon Fraser University, and a Research Affiliate of the Centre for Human Rights Research at the University of Manitoba.
Eric Rancourt
Assistant Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada
Eric Rancourt is Assistant Chief Statistician for the Strategic Data Management, Methods and Analysis Field at Statistics Canada. He is also Statistics Canada’s Chief Data Officer.
He has worked at Statistics Canada for 33 years and has occupied several roles such as Director General of the Modern Statistical Methods and Data Science Branch, Director General of Strategic Data Management, Director of International Cooperation, Director of Corporate Planning, Head of research, Production manager of Survey Methodology Journal, and Researcher.
His main areas of work have been on the treatment of nonresponse, estimation, and the use of administrative and alternative data in statistical programs. Recently he has worked on frameworks for optimizing privacy and information, data ethics, and modern statistical designs.
He holds a BSc in Statistics from University Laval, BAs in Arts (Ancient Studies; Medieval and Renaissance Studies), as well as a BA in philosophy from the University of Ottawa focusing on data ethics. He is Chair of the Board for the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI). He has been involved in many professional associations including the International Association for Survey Statisticians (IASS) for which he is Vice-President, and the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) and is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). He is Chair-Elect for the Survey Research Methods Section of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and he is also a member of the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC).
Taki Sarantakis
President, Canada School of Public Service
Taki Sarantakis has been President of the Canada School of Public Service since July 2018, having previously served as Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Mr. Sarantakis spent most of his career at Infrastructure Canada, including as Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy and Communications.
In 2011 Mr. Sarantakis was awarded Canada’s Public Service Award of Excellence in Public Policy, and in 2013 he was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Prior to joining the federal government, Mr. Sarantakis was a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. from York University in Toronto, as well as an Executive Certificate in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a graduate of the Rotman School of Management’s Institute of Corporate Directors Education Program, holding the ICD.D designation.
Vanessa Vermette
Vice-President, Innovation and Skills Development, Canada School of Public Service
Arun Thangaraj was appointed Deputy Minister of Transport on February 20, 2023.
Vanessa Vermette is currently the Vice-President of Innovation and Skills Development at the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS). In this role she is responsible for the Digital Academy, Transferable Skills, and Public Sector Innovation teams. She has also served as the Director General of Communications and Engagement at the CSPS, and has served in other executive positions at the School and at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. In addition, she has worked at the Public Health Agency of Canada, Transport Canada, and Infrastructure Canada in both policy and communications and has over 20 years of experience in the public service. In her current role, Vanessa actively supports the Government of Canada’s digital and data mandate and its digital and data communities, and leads efforts to advance digital government and public sector innovation through learning. Vanessa is the first Chair of the Digital Governance Standards Institute, Canada’s only accredited standards development body focused exclusively on setting and managing digital technology governance standards. Vanessa holds a Master’s of Public Health from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and is passionate about equipping public servants with the skills and tools they need to succeed in meeting the needs of Canadians.
The program and list of speakers are available at Canada.ca/data-conference.
GC Data Community | Contact us | Subscribe | Join us on GCcollab | GC Data Community Partners
