Speakers / Topics: Social Change | Humanitarian Issues
Diversity, access to clean water, the refugee crisis and war are just some of the critical issues our social change and humanitarian speakers address. Speaking from experience on the front lines of battle or the front lines of education and health care, our speakers use their voice to make a difference.
Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Leadership & Diversity Expert | Social Advocate
Yassmin Abdel-Magied is an engineer, author, broadcaster, and award-winning social advocate. Her powerful TED talk, “What does my headscarf mean to you” has more than 1.8 million views, and she has become an internationally renowned speaker on the topics o...
Sally Armstrong
Human Rights Activist | Journalist | Author
Sally Armstrong has covered stories in zones of conflict all over the world. From Bosnia and Somalia to Congo and Afghanistan, her eyewitness reports have earned her the Amnesty International Media Award four times over, as well as acclaim all over the world. ...
Jordan Axani
Mental Wellness and Leadership Expert | Focus of World's Most Viral Human-Interest Story
Jordan Axani has a long track-record of bold acts that move and inspire people. Whether becoming one of the youngest people to bike across Canada, or being at the centre of the most viral human-interest story in the internet’s history (the tale of a Canadian...
Afdhel Aziz
Expert on Purpose & Organizational Culture | Bestselling Author
Afdhel Aziz is one of the world’s leading experts in organizational purpose, marketing innovation, and social entrepreneurship. After a 20-year career as a global marketer at Procter & Gamble, Nokia, Heineken, and Absolut Vodka, Aziz is now the Found...
Mark Brand
Social Entrepreneur | Restaurateur
Mark Brand is one of North America’s foremost social entrepreneurs. With 11 businesses under his belt, he is an example of a new form of leadership that encompasses good in every step. Determined to breathe new life into our struggling and disjointed com...
Michael Burns
President and CEO, Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation | Former CEO, Invictus Games
Under Michael Burns’ leadership, the Toronto Invictus Games were completely sold out, and viewed by more than 40 million people around the world. But, more than anything, the Games continued to enhance the global understanding of the ongoing challenges veter...
Michel Chikwanine
Former Child Soldier | Inspirational Speaker on the Ability to Create Change
Michel Chikwanine has overcome unimaginable pain and struggle. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Michel grew up amid the terror of the Great War of Africa. Much of his childhood was ravaged by the death and decay of a war that claimed the lives of 5.8 ...
The Rt. Hon. Joe Clark
Former Canadian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
Canada’s 16th Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Joe Clark is one of the most widely respected Canadians in history. Clark reaches across divides — from chairing the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers campaign against apartheid, to winning unanimous agre...
Jessi Cruickshank
Television Personality
As the host of many of television’s most popular programs, Jessi Cruickshank knows how to capture eyes and ears. Acclaimed for her hilarious humour and friendly demeanour, Jessi showcases her unique abilities as an emcee, moderator, or on-stage interviewer f...
Severn Cullis-Suzuki
Environmental Activist
At just 12 years old, Severn Cullis-Suzuki gained international attention when she delivered her famous speech at the Rio Earth Summit, pleading for the delegates to preserve the planet. Since then, Cullis-Suzuki has continued to advocate for intergenerational...
Ilona Dougherty
Leading Expert on Millennials and Generation Z | Social Entrepreneur
For businesses, organizations, and governments striving to succeed in the innovation economy, and anyone who hopes for a bright future, Ilona Dougherty’s perspective is what you have been waiting for. Ilona Dougherty is an award winning social innovator and ...
Mike Downie
Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker | Co-Founder, Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund
Mike Downie is a multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker and the co-founder of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund. A celebrated and inspirational storyteller, Downie takes his audiences on a ride that explores how our stories define us, remind us of o...
Shane Feldman
Connection | Community | Leadership
In this digital age of distraction and disconnection, many companies are finding it increasingly challenging to engage and retain both top-tier talent and customers. This is where Shane Feldman thrives. Recognized by The White House, The Prime Minister of Cana...
Sarah Ferguson
The Duchess of York
Internationally recognized for her inspiring story, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is an acclaimed author, humanitarian, broadcaster, and spokesperson who has spent much of her life in the glare of the public spotlight. Speaking candidly about her person...
Michael J. Fox
Parkinson's Activist | Celebrated Actor
Michael J. Fox has one of the best-known faces in Hollywood. In addition to being recognized as a star in dozens of blockbuster films and highly rated television series, Fox is also recognized world-wide as the face of Parkinson’s disease, a condition he has...
Sir Bob Geldof
Influential Global Visionary | Pop Icon
Rock musician, songwriter, and political activist, Sir Bob Geldof is the rare combination of musical talent and successful businessman. He created the Live Aid concerts, built a media empire, called urgent attention to the world’s most vulnerable people,...
Yossi Ghinsberg
Adventurer | Amazon Survivor | Inspiration for the Movie Jungle
Yossi Ghinsberg knows survival like almost no one else. When he was just 21 years old, he made headlines around the world for having survived in the Amazon rainforest for three weeks, alone. Today, Yossi draws on the lessons he learned from his ordeal to show ...
Swish Goswami
Startup Canada's Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Swish Goswami has built a multi-hyphenate career at just the age of 23. He is the CEO of Trufan, a social intelligence platform that helps brands of all sizes make smarter marketing decisions. His company, which acquired SocialRank in late 2019, works with cli...
Rick Hansen
Man In Motion | Champion for Accessibility and Inclusion
Rick Hansen, C.C., O.B.C., is a Canadian icon who has dedicated his life to awakening the world to the potential of people with disabilities. He is best known as the “Man In Motion” for undertaking an epic 26-month, 40,000 km journey around the world in hi...
Scott Harrison
Founder and CEO of charity: water | World Economic Forum Young Global Leader
Scott Harrison has helped to bring clean drinking water to millions of people around the world. The founder and CEO of charity: water, one of the most well-known philanthropic organizations in the world, shares how his approach to running a non-profit — from...
Simon Jackson
Movement Builder | Founder of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition
Simon Jackson, who shot to fame as the founder of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition when he was just 13 years old — is a storyteller, connector and movement builder committed to improving our public discourse and shaping a better balance between the needs...
Jamil Jivani
Award-Winning Activist | Lawyer
Jamil Jivani tackles some of the biggest challenges in the world as a lawyer, community organizer, and teacher. With research and teaching appointments at Yale Law School and Osgoode Hall Law School, Jivani focuses on issues that impact youth, immigrants, and ...
Bobby Jones
Marketing for Social Change
Bobby Jones is an expert on engaging people for social change. He is the co-author of the bestselling book Good is the New Cool: Market Like You Give Damn, a bold manifesto and how-to guide helping marketers to address environmental, civic, and economic issues...
Sheldon Kennedy
Former NHL Player | Author of Why I Didn't Say Anything
Sheldon Kennedy skated for three teams in his eight-year NHL career, but he is likely best known for his courageous decision to charge his Major Junior Hockey League coach with sexual assault for the abuse he suffered while a teenager under his care. Since the...
Martin Luther King III
Global Human Rights Activist
As the oldest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King III serves as an ambassador of his parent’s legacy of nonviolent social change. Motivating audiences with his message of hope and responsibility for ...
Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida
Acclaimed Musicians | Award-Winning Humanitarians
One of Canada’s most influential cultural couples, Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida have earned nearly every accolade their country can give them, including a joint appointment to the Order of Canada for their humanitarian efforts. But ask them what the...
Nilofer Merchant
Former Tech Executive | Bestselling Author
Nilofer Merchant is a renowned business strategist and innovator on a mission to reinvent work so that it actually works. A bestselling author, TED mainstage speaker, and recipient of the “Future Thinker” Award from Thinkers 50, Merchant says few companies...
Dr. Samantha Nutt
Founder of War Child Canada and War Child USA
A leading authority on current affairs, war, international aid, and foreign policy, Dr. Samantha Nutt, a medical doctor and founder of the internationally renowned non-profit War Child, is one of the most recognized voices in the humanitarian arena. For more t...
Jade Simmons
Transformative Leadership Expert | Motivational Pianist
How do you get to be named Classical Music’s “No.1 Maverick?” By repeatedly defying expectations, delivering riveting performances, and combining passion and innovation at every turn. Called a “musical force of nature”, Jade Simmo...
Barb Stegemann
CEO and Founder, The 7 Virtues | Social Entrepreneur
Barb Stegemann’s entrepreneurial vision was formed after her best friend—a soldier—was severely wounded in Afghanistan. Understanding that supporting Afghanistan’s economy was key to building stability for its people, Stegemann launched The 7 V...
Tanya Talaga
Award-winning Journalist | Author of Seven Fallen Feathers
An award-winning journalist and author, and the First Ojibway woman to deliver the CBC Massey Lectures, Tanya Talaga is an acclaimed storyteller. Her book Seven Fallen Feathers, a national bestseller that introduced us to seven Indigenous high school students ...
Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci
Co-Founders of Optimist | Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers
From living in a Syrian refugee camp to surviving on $1 a day in Guatemala and spending 10 years documenting the journey of an undocumented boy living in New York City, Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci are award-winning humanitarians, activists, and filmmakers. ...
Alexandre Trudeau
Documentary Filmmaker | Journalist
Documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist, Alexandre Trudeau shares his bold views on the political, social, and economic forces of our times. Having gained widespread recognition for his edgy and insightful humanism and for his brave iconoclasm and fierc...
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Environmental, Cultural, and Human Rights Advocate
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier is in the business of transforming public opinion into public policy. Experienced in working with global decision-makers for more than a decade, Watt-Cloutier offers a new model for 21st century leadership. She sp...
Spencer West
Double Amputee | Motivational Speaker for Social Change
After losing both legs from the pelvis down at the age of five, Spencer West tackled challenge after challenge, learning to navigate a world set against those with disabilities. His many accomplishments, including summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, and the lessons l...
Samra Zafar
Human Rights Activist | Social Entrepreneur | Bestselling Author
After escaping a decade of abuse living as a child bride in a forced marriage in Canada, Samra Zafar became a beacon of hope for many people facing exclusion, abuse, and gender-based violence. Now an award-winning international speaker, bestselling author, sch...
Ray Zahab
Inspirational Ultra-Marathon Runner and Adventurer
Ray Zahab wants people to know they are extraordinary. A former sedentary “pack a day smoker”, Ray turned his life around in 1999 when he decided to get in shape and enter the world of ultra-marathons. Since then, he’s gone on to inspire mill...