Speaker Profiles - Monday October 19th

09:00 Keynote

Vicky Eatrides began her career practicing regulatory law at a national law firm in 2000. She joined the federal public service in 2005 and held a number of senior executive positions at the Competition Bureau, Natural Resources Canada, and the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Vicky has experience across a variety of areas, including law enforcement, strategic policy, economic analysis, legislative affairs, and international relations.

Vicky held several leadership roles at the Competition Bureau over a twelve-year period, including senior deputy commissioner in charge of enforcing criminal and civil provisions of the Competition Act. During her time at the arm's-length organization, she developed expertise in telecommunications, broadcasting, and new technologies by leading merger reviews, civil and criminal investigations, and regulatory interventions.

Vicky taught competition law courses at Queen's University and has spoken at numerous domestic and international conferences and events. She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.

09:30 Keynote

Steve Verheul is a Principal with GT and Company Executive Advisors as well as President of Steve Verheul Consulting Inc. He co-chairs the Coalition for North American Trade and is a Fellow of the Public Policy Forum. Previously, Mr. Verheul held a number of senior level positions in the Government of Canada, including: Chief Trade Negotiator and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Trade Policy and Negotiations Branch at Global Affairs Canada; Canada's Chief Negotiator for the Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement (CUSMA); and Chief negotiator for negotiations between Canada and the European Union for the creation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. From 1989 to 2009, Mr. Verheul worked in international trade policy at Agriculture and Agri- Food Canada and was Canada's Chief Agriculture Negotiator (2003 to 2009) for international trade negotiations on agriculture.

09:50 Panel

Trade/CUSMA

Patricia Goff is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University and at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. She holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University; a Diplôme d'études approfondies in comparative politics from the University of Paris; and a Master of Arts in French literature from McMaster University. She has held visiting positions at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and the University of Southern California's School of International Relations. She has published widely on various aspects of trade politics and policy. Recent publications include an edited volume entitled Trade and Culture: The Ongoing Debate and The Multilevel Politics of Trade (with Jörg Broschek). Her current research is on export restrictions for art works.

Meredith Lilly, Ph.D., is a full Professor and Simon Reisman Chair in International Economic Policy at Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. Her research focuses on North American trade relations, Canada's trade diversification strategy, economic sanctions, and the use of research evidence in policy making. Prior to her appointment at Carleton, she served as Foreign Affairs and International Trade Advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She was previously appointed at the University of British Columbia Okanagan and has worked in policy roles in several Canadian government departments. She engages regularly with foreign governments and diplomats, and is a frequent media commentator on North American trade issues.She is a member of CD Howe Institute's International Economic Policy Council, a non-resident scholar at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy in Texas, an Advisory Board member for the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, and serves as the Academic Partner for Canada's delegation to the North American Forum.

Eric Miller is President of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, advising public and private clients worldwide on technology matters, trade policy, government affairs, business strategy, and geopolitical matters. He has over two decades of experience at the intersection of government and business in Canada and the United States. Mr. Miller is also a Senior Advisor in the areas of Global Trade and Geopolitics at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In addition, he is a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, where he researches U.S. politics and foreign policy, supply chains, advanced technologies, East Asian and Latin American trade, and global interdependence.

Mr. Miller was the first representative of Canada's Department of Industry (ISED) in the United States and has served as Vice President for North America and Cybersecurity at the Business Council of Canada. He has advised, negotiated with, and led projects involving more than 40 governments worldwide, with extensive experience in Asia and Latin America. His work includes advising governments on trade, technology, transportation, and economic policy as well as serving at the Inter-American Development Bank. He regularly provides guidance to senior management across the Canadian Government.

Mr. Miller has consulted for multilateral institutions and leading global companies across sectors including tech policy, quantum technologies, manufacturing, critical minerals, automotive, logistics, and technology. He is a Fellow at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's Future of Business Centre.

10:45 Panel

AI and the Future of Canadian Newsrooms

Moderator: Kelly Wilhelm is a bilingual consultant and strategist with more than 25 years' experience leading policy and innovation in government, the arts, creative industries, and the not-for-profit sector. Through her company, Wilhelm Strategies, Kelly provides advice to senior leadership, and facilitates and leads systems and organizational change projects. She is a faculty member at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity where she teaches cultural policy, government relations and advocacy, and a member of the Global Creative Economy Council.

Kelly's past executive positions include Chief of Staff to the federal Minister of Sport and Economic Development Agency for the regions of Quebec, Chief Strategy Officer at the Canada Media Fund (CMF), Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and Director of Policy, Planning and Strategic Foresight at the Canada Council for the Arts.

In each role, Kelly led national policy renewals that transformed the sector and brought significant new resources to its work. She is a graduate of Queen's University in English literature and art history, and has a Master's degree in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto.

Howard Law writes MediaPolicy.ca and is the author of "Canada vs California: How Ottawa took on Netflix and the Streaming Giants," (Lorimer 2024). Previously he was the Director of Unifor's media locals.

Sonali Verma leads INMA's Newsroom Innovation Initiative, after two years of running the Generative AI Initiative. She is an executive media consultant who has worked as an AI coach for more than a dozen U.S. news publishers and is Learning Lead at the Lenfest Institute's AI Fellowship. She previously worked at The Globe and Mail for 15 years, where she led a mind shift in getting journalists to understand how data and AI could make them more effective in attracting and retaining subscribers. She also collaborated with The Globe's data science team to build Sophi.io, an award-winning machine-learning platform now used by media companies on five continents. She has worked as a journalist at Reuters, CNBC, and Bloomberg in Asia, North America, and Europe and was a Visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.

April Lindgren is a professor emerita/adjunct professor at the School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University and the founder and co-director of the Local News Research Project. She established and led the Local News Data Hub, a reporting initiative (2021 to 2025) that trained early-career data journalists and shored up local journalism by supplying newsrooms with data-driven stories. Lindgren co-created and manages the crowd-sourced Local News Map, which tracks and reports on the launch, closure and other changes to local news outlets in communities across Canada. Her research also investigates local news poverty, the role of local journalism as critical community infrastructure, and philanthropic support for journalism. She is currently one of three lead investigators building the Canadian Local News Finder, a directory that will list local news outlets in each of Canada's more than 5,000 municipalities. Her recent publications include a story in The Walrus that examines what happens on the ground in communities when local news is in short supply.

Troy Reeb is former Co-CEO of Corus Entertainment, Canada's largest independent media company. Until 2025, he oversaw a portfolio that included Global Television, 35 specialty channels, 39 radio stations, and the launch of three Canadian streaming services.

Troy began his career as a radio journalist, working in cities from Yellowknife to Edmonton and Toronto. He joined Global News as a political reporter, serving on Parliament Hill and as Washington Bureau Chief before eventually becoming president of Global News in 2010.

In his later executive roles with Shaw and Corus, Troy oversaw entertainment and studio operations and helped champion some of Canada's best known television series.

Troy has served on many boards, including as chair of the Canadian Radio CEO Council; the Broadcast Consortium on Debates and Elections; Aircraft Pictures; Cupboards Express; and National Geographic Canada.

He personally supports an annual journalism scholarship at Alberta's Lethbridge College, where he was awarded an honourary degree in 2019.

11:45   Short Track 

Developments from the CCTS Perspective 

Josée Bidal Thibault is the Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the CCTS. A founding executive, Josée has been instrumental in shaping the CCTS' strategic direction, operational maturity, and organizational culture since its inception.

Josée has 17 years of executive leadership experience and brings deep operational expertise, strong stakeholder relationships with consumer groups and service providers, and a strategic vision for the future of the CCTS. She has consistently driven transformative initiatives aimed at improving service delivery, increasing operational effectiveness, and delivering value by aligning the organization with the evolving needs of its stakeholders. Josée was previously the Assistant Commissioner at the CCTS and held that role between 2008-2025.

Prior to joining the CCTS, Josée worked with the regulatory law team at a telecommunications service provider, focusing on compliance with regulatory and privacy obligations.

Josée holds an MBA from the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, a B.A. (Honours) in Law, and is a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP). She brings a particular interest in organizational behaviour and governance, and is known for her collaborative leadership style, strategic foresight, and ability to drive positive change in complex environments.

12:00   Lunch Keynote

Since her appointment in 2018 as Canada's Information Commissioner, Caroline Maynard has championed an efficient access to information system, while investigating thousands of complaints and pursuing litigation to enforce the law and uphold the right of access. She is the first Information Commissioner of Canada with the authority to issue orders to institutions subject to the Access to Information Act.

A lawyer and senior executive, she previously held roles with the Military Grievances External Review Committee, the Office of the Judge Advocate General at National Defence, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police External Review Committee, the Canada Revenue Agency, and in private practice.

She holds a law degree from the Université de Sherbrooke and has been a member of the Québec Bar since 1994.

13:15 Panel

Telecoms and Broadband: Balancing Competition, CAPEX and Consumers

Moderator: Irene Galea is a reporter for The Globe and Mail's Report on Business, based in Toronto. She currently covers the telecommunications industry. Since joining the Globe, her reporting has spanned corporate finance, technology and policy.

Irene was named the 2026 Jeff Sanford Best Young Journalist by the Society for American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) Canada, for her deep coverage of telecom-sector job cuts, numerous scoops on legal and financial stories and her investigations into cellular dead zones in Canada.

Irene has reported from six countries in three languages for The Globe, including as an Arthur F. Burns fellow in Berlin.

Irene is a graduate of Carleton University and The University of Cambridge.

Eric Smith is Senior Vice-President at the Canadian Telecommunications Association, where he leads the organization's regulatory, policy, and public affairs work.

He brings deep experience at the intersection of law, technology, and public policy, having previously held senior roles at BlackBerry (Divisional General Counsel & Head of Government Relations – Canada), Corel Corporation (as Vice-President and General Counsel), and Fraser Milner Casgrain (now Dentons), where he co-chaired the Technology Transactions Practice Group and was recognized by The Best Lawyers in Canada for his work in the field of information technology law.

Michael Koch is a partner at Goodmans LLP. Since serving a secondment to the legal directorate of the CRTC in 1993-1994, Michael's practice has focused on federal regulatory matters, including communications, copyright, competition and foreign investment, in both transactions and litigation.

Michael advises and represents telecommunications and media companies in navigating Canada's regulatory framework and before tribunals (e.g., the CRTC, Copyright Board of Canada and Competition Tribunal), assists financial and strategic investors - both domestic and foreign - in completing mergers and acquisitions, and advocates on behalf of targets of government-initiated investigations and proceedings brought by the Competition Bureau. Michael also appears before the courts at all levels on reviews of, and appeals from, decisions of these bodies.

Michael is recognized as a leading lawyer in Canada in the areas of telecommunications by Chambers Global, Chambers Canada, The Legal 500 Canada, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Lexology Index Canada, the Lexpert Special Edition: Technology and Best Lawyers in Canada.

Melissa Dupuis-Crane is a recent graduate of the J.D. program at the University of Ottawa, and holds a B.A. in History from Queen’s University. Before studying law, Melissa spent nearly a decade working in digital advertising, most recently as Director of eCommerce at Publicis Media Canada. During law school, she interned at CIPPIC, led the University of Ottawa Tech Fellows, and served as Team Captain for the University of Ottawa’s Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Moot team.

14:15 Short Track 

Effective Emergency Preparedness 

Marc-Antoine Prévost is an Enforcement Officer in the Compliance and Enforcement sector of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), where he investigates matters under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and the Telecommunications Act. His work involves open-source research and evidence analysis, the preparation of enforcement instruments, and recommendations on appropriate enforcement measures, in collaboration with domestic and international partners. The role sits at the point where regulatory frameworks meet enforcement practice, applying existing instruments to rapidly evolving conduct. He is a designated officer under both statutes.

Mr Prévost holds an MBA with distinction and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Université du Québec en Outaouais.

He is the winner of the 2026 IIC Future Leaders Competition for his essay "Resilience by Accident, Not by Design: Are Current Policies Enough to Protect Communications Networks from Disruption?", which examines whether current policy frameworks adequately protect national and international communications networks from disruption.

14:30 Short Track

AI and Conflicts with Admin Law Principles

Paul Daly is the University Research Chair in Administrative Law & Governance at the University of Ottawa. A leading scholar of public law in the common-law world, his work on judicial review, reasonableness, and the culture of justification has shaped academic debate and judicial decision-making across multiple jurisdictions. He is the author of several major monographs published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and UBC Press, most recently A Culture of Justification: Vavilov and the Future of Canadian Administrative Law (2023), shortlisted for the Walter Owen Book Prize. 

Professor Daly's scholarship — including his long-running blog Administrative Law Matters — has been cited over 200 times by courts in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel, including numerous appellate and supreme courts. These citations include more than 50 separate books and articles. He is widely regarded as one of Canada's foremost authorities on administrative law and the modern administrative state. Bilingual in English and French, Professor Daly is a frequent speaker at conferences, judicial-education programs, and continuing legal-education events across Canada and internationally. He has appeared as counsel in both official languages at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, in precedent-setting public-law cases. He also regularly advises administrative tribunals and agencies on compliance with administrative law principles and best practice. Before joining the University of Ottawa, he held faculty appointments at the University of Cambridge and the Université de Montréal. He has held visiting positions at Harvard Law School, Université Paris II – Panthéon-Assas, Louvain Global College of Law, Trinity College Dublin, and the Law Reform Commission of Ireland. Since 2019 he has served as a part-time member of the Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada.

15:00 Panel

Social Media (& Bill C-34)

Moderator: Raisa Patel covers federal politics in Ottawa for the Toronto Star. She was previously a producer for CBC's flagship political radio show, The House, as well as an online reporter on the broadcaster's Parliament Hill team.

Helen Hayes is a Fellow at Simon Fraser University's Dialogue on Technology Project, where her work sits at the intersection of AI, digital rights, and democratic participation. A pioneer in new participatory approaches to tech policymaking, she designed and led Canada's first national youth assembly on digital rights and safety (2023), and Gen(Z)AI, Canada's youth consultation on AI and online harms (2025-2026). In recognition of this work, and for her teaching at McGill University, Hayes was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list (2026) and The Peak's Emerging Leader list (2026). Her research has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, the Election Law Journal, and Lecture Notes in Computer Science, among others. She is the co-author of Voting Online: Technology and Democracy in Municipal Elections (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2024), and a co-editor of Regulating Digital (University of Toronto Press, 2026) and Trust and Trustworthiness: Evaluations of Online Voting (McGill-Queen's University Press, forthcoming).

Josh Tabish is Senior Director for Canada at Chamber of Progress, based in Ottawa. Before joining Chamber of Progress, he served as Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), where he led the organization's domestic and international policy engagement and managed its relationships with the government.

Prior to his work at CIRA, Josh was a leading digital rights campaigner and held leadership roles at prominent advocacy organizations including Fight for the Future (U.S.) and OpenMedia (Canada). During this time, he was an innovator in civic engagement, spearheading successful grassroots campaigns to establish strong net neutrality rules, curtail government surveillance, and help ensure broadband internet access was recognized as a basic service in Canada.

Josh holds a B.A. in Communication from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia (B.C.), and has been a frequent media commentator on digital policy and consumer rights issues. Born and raised on the B.C. coast, he's made peace with Ottawa winters—and the ski hills that come with them. When he's not working, he's cycling, chasing after his young children, or trying (and often failing) to watch an F1 race in a single sitting.

Supriya Dwivedi is a columnist, strategist, and former senior advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Supriya has spent her career at the intersection of public policy, media, and politics, often serving as a rare voice of reason in an increasingly polarized world.

A longtime fixture in Canadian media, Supriya hosted The Morning Show on Global News Radio in Toronto for years before she ultimately resigned after listeners hopped up on conspiracy theories and disinformation started to target her then infant daughter with threats of violence. Refusing to be silenced, Supriya transitioned into academia and policy, leading policy and engagement at McGill University's Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy to better understand the information ecosystem and help combat the very digital threats that forced her off the air.

As a senior advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Supriya worked on everything from AI policy and the online harms bill to a number of national security and foreign interference files. Getting highly classified briefings by Canada's national security and intelligence agencies became part of Supriya's day-to-day routine, and she soon realized that her previous work as a journalist and in academia barely scratched the surface when it came to the threats posed to Canada – and ultimately other G7 countries – from disinformation, foreign interference, and our fractured information ecosystem.

Supriya continues to be a highly sought-after media commentator, appearing weekly on CBC's Power & Politics as well as the popular podcast, Real Talk with Ryan Jespersen, in addition to writing a column for Canada's National Observer, where she provides analysis on politics and the intersection of technology and democracy.

Dr. Charlotte Moore Hepburn is a faculty paediatrician in the Division of Paediatric Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto Temerty School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME). A clinician and health policy leader, she has dedicated her career to advancing child health through both clinical care and public policy. She is the inaugural Medical Lead of the Child Health Policy Accelerator (CHPA) at SickKids.

Dr. Moore Hepburn graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in Cultural Anthropology before earning her medical degree at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completing paediatric residency through the Harvard-Boston Medical Center Combined Program in Paediatric Medicine. During 12 years in the United States, she worked in legislative and health policy roles with the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Massachusetts Legislature.

Returning to Canada in 2005, Dr. Moore Hepburn combined academic clinical practice with leadership in child health policy at both the provincial and national levels. Her roles have included Provincial Lead for Maternal, Child and Youth Health with the Ontario Ministry of Health, as well as Director of Medical Affairs at the Canadian Paediatric Society.

In May 2024, SickKids launched the Child Health Policy Accelerator, Canada's first hospital-based applied child health policy initiative, with Dr. Moore Hepburn as its inaugural Medical Lead. CHPA is dedicated to accelerating evidence-based policy change for children and youth and closing the gap between what we know is needed to improve child health and well-being and the policies that shape their lives.

16:00 Short Track 

Update on European Digital Regulation 

Olaf Steenfadt is the Founder and Managing Director of Global Media Registry (GMR), a charitable social enterprise that promotes transparency, accountability and pluralism in the digital information space. With his background in news reporting and investigative journalism, he is a speaker, lecturer, entrepreneur and globally visible expert on digital media policy and ethics. Two of his signature projects include the "Media Ownership Monitor" and the "Journalism Trust Initiative" which he developed and implemented on behalf of the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Olaf previously worked for national German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF in various roles, as well as for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). He is a member of the "High-level Expert Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation" of the European Commission and of the "Committee of Experts on Quality of Journalism in the Digital Age" and the "Committee of Experts on Media Environment and Reform" at the Council of Europe.

16:15 Short Track

The Importance of Subsea Cables (and related threats)

Sun Ryung Park is Senior Research Specialist, Northeast Asia, at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She examines how geopolitical competition is reshaping digital and green transformation, economic security, critical infrastructure, and strategic industries in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Her current work covers energy security, semiconductor and artificial-intelligence ecosystems, and critical-mineral supply chains, with particular attention to their implications for Canadian policy and Canada's cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners. Her research has appeared in Pacific Affairs and East Asia Forum, and she has provided expert commentary to Policy Magazines, Bloomberg Television, Channel NewsAsia, and Global News. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and has extensive research and policy experience across Northeast Asia. In 2026, she was a Visiting Research Fellow at National Tsing Hua University. She was also awarded a 2024 Taiwan Fellowship by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and named a 2023 PAFTAD Young Scholars Fellow.

16:30 Closing Remarks/Invitation to Reception

As President and CEO of the Canadian Telecommunications Association Robert Ghiz provides overall leadership and direction to an organization that is dedicated to building a better future for Canadians through connectivity. Robert has served in this role since 2017, helping the Association represent and promote companies and service providers that collectively contributed nearly $87 billion to Canada's gross domestic product in 2024 alone.

Prior to joining the Association, Robert had a successful career as a political leader. He was twice elected Premier of Prince Edward Island from 2007 to 2015, successfully stewarding the province's economy through the 2008 global financial collapse and contributing to its record-setting economic growth following the recession.

In addition to his role today with the Canadian Telecommunications Association, Robert is the Chair of Mobile Giving Foundation Canada, and the Chair of the Medavie Health Foundation. He also serves as an Advisor on numerous Boards including the True Patriot Love Foundation.