Canada25's National Forum

This year's national forum took place at Econiche House, in Gatineau, Quebec, betwen March 11th and 14th, 2004. This year's national delegates were selected in a highly competitive process, and represent some of Canada's brightest young minds.

Amanda Affonso is actively involved in Calgary's volunteer sector, as a member of Alberta's Student Finance Board, The Calgary Foundation Grants Committee, Women In Need Society and the Canadian Unity Council. She is a graduate of the University of Calgary, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and held the position of VP Operations and Finance with the Students' Union. She presently works for Inter Pipeline Fund as a Financial Business Analyst in Business Development, and has previously worked as a Regulatory Analyst with TransAlta.

Bram Lebo is founder and Director, Strategy and Development, of Expatica Communications, Europe’s leading expatriate media company. After completing a law degree in his hometown of Toronto, Canada, he moved to the Netherlands in 1994 to pursue an MBA and MBI at the Rotterdam School of Management. Bram enjoys travel, sailing, politics, food, reading and media. He has worked all over Europe and North America and lived in London, New York and Amsterdam. Two of his proudest achievements are having had his company survive the Internet meltdown, and writing a full-length screenplay which will almost certainly never be produced.

Chris Frankel has recently completed a Masters of Sciences in Environmental Policy, Planning, and Regulation at the London School of Economics and Political Science in London. As part of the International Institute for Sustainable Development internship programme, he is presently working with the International Finance Corporation's environment and social development department within the World Bank Group. Chris has previously worked with Outland Reforestation as a project foreman, as well as in community development with the Human Development Foundation in Bangkok and the Australian-Cambodian Foundation in Cambodia. Chris enjoys travelling and has spent significant time in Asia over the last several years. He is also an avid long distance runner and recently completed his first marathon in London, England.

Erica Fensom is a media relations officer at the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C., responsible for media events, providing background on policy issues, and strategic communications support. Erica is a business graduate from McGill University and also worked in media and communications for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Having lived for at least one year in four different provinces and four different countries, she has developed a deep understanding of what it means to be a Canadian at home and abroad. Her interests also include travel, triathlons, and her volunteer work as a ski patroller. Erica joins Canada25 with a keen interest in international affairs and Canada-US relations.

Hilary Doyle is an actor, writer and freelance journalist based in Toronto. She is an actor and improviser with the Second City National Touring Company and is currently editing a draft report on the future of Ontario, commissioned by Mike Harris’ Progressive Conservatives and chaired by Ron Daniels, Dean of Law at U of T. She was accidentally deported from New York City a few years ago and is writing a humorous novel about her immigration indiscretions. It should be finished sometime within the next seventy years.

Jacob Young is a Masters Candidate of International Economics at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Before graduate school he worked as a Program Manager with the Canada-China Business Council's Beijing office, and as a Summit Analyst with the University of Toronto's G8 Research Group (Genoa and Kananaskis Summits). Jacob holds a BA from the University of Toronto' Trinity College, and an IB Diploma from the United World College in Singapore. He is interested in economic policy in developing countries and speaks English, Mandarin, Spanish, and French. Jacob loves running and was on the Cross Country team in Toronto.

Jeff Colgan is presently employed by McKinsey and Company as a management consultant. He was a Canada-US Fulbright Scholar and Master's student at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Previously, he graduated from McMaster University in Philosophy and Engineering Physics. Jeff was a policy intern at the World Bank within the Energy Sector in Washington, and a Licensing Advisor, at the Atomic Energy of Canada. He is author of the book, "The Promise and Peril of International Trade," forthcoming from Broadview Press.

John Burnett is currently in McGill’s combined Civil and Common law programme. He holds a M.A. degree in Sociology (McGill), and an Honours B.A. (University of Toronto). He has an interest in politics, and has been employed with Allan Rock, Elinor Caplan, and Dalton McGuinty. His policy interests are focused on migration, particularly immigrant integration and national identity. John also volunteers with the Canadian Council for Refugees. He enjoys curling, Canada’s “other” ice sport.

Jordan Gold, a Queen's University Politics/International Development grad, is the director of business development for "Corporate Knights Magazine," Canada's only mainstream corporate responsibility publication. Last year he was placed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development at the International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development in Geneva, Switzerland. Previously, Jordan has worked with Wildlife Fund Thailand throughout the south of Thailand and subsequently produced two thesis-equivalent climate change papers.

Loren McGinnis currently the Planning and Development Coordinator for a literacy organization in Saint John, NB. Loren is also a staff writer for 'here' magazine. He graduated with a BA in Philosophy last spring, and spent two terms as president of the Mount Allison Students' Union and one term as the Chairperson of the New Brunswick Students' Aliance. Some of his interests rest in Canadian cities, education and now a hieghtened love for governance. He also volunteer at a federal prison facility. Loren is into fly-fishing, kayaking, and hacking away on his mandolin.

Mark Mallet is a freelance writer and editor living in Vancouver. His articles regularly appear in publications such as Vancouver Magazine, British Columbia Magazine, the Vancouver Sun, Ski Canada, and Explore Magazine, and he has won awards for both his fiction and creative non-fiction. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and he is the past Executive Editor of the Vancouver-based literary magazine, PRISM international. His undergrad degree was in Outdoor Pursuits at the University of Calgary, and, as a member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, he still does occasional work as a backcountry ski guide and as an instructor for Outward Bound.

Michelle Toering is currently completing a combined BCL/LLB at McGill University and holds a BA in Political Science from Princeton University. Her concentration in law is on international sustainable development law. Prior to law school she worked as an Environmental Advocate for the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group working primarily on energy policy and air pollution. She has also worked as a legal intern at the Trade Law Bureau at DFAIT and with the Environmental Law and Policy Centre in Chicago.

Nadim Kara is currently a Child and Youth Social Planner with the City of Vancouver's Social Planning Department. As a graduate of both the Human Geography and International Relations programs at the University of British Colubmia, Nadim has an interest in social change at the local, national and international level. At the City, he works to strengthen the social infrastructure supporting youth in Vancouver and to facilitate meaningful youth involvement in municipal decision making. Nadim has been involved with a range of non-profit and governmental actors at the local level working on building healthy communities, and was the 2002 recipient of the Power of Humanity award from the Canadian Red Cross. He has also worked on issues of international political economy with Oxfam Canada, the Sustainable Development Research Institute and the Institute of Asian Research. His areas of interest for the National Forum are related to international trade policy reform as well as corporate accountability.

Peter Holland is presently a Masters student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. He was formerly the director of Oxfam Quebec’s Middle East office, managing development projects and responding to humanitarian crises in Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinian Territories. Peter graduated from Carleton University’s International Business program in 1998 and is interested in issues pertaining to conflict resolution, international trade and Canadian foreign policy within the changing global context.

Currently serving as a policy analyst for the Department of Western Economic Diversification Canada, Phillip Lee recently graduated with a MPHIL degree from Cambridge University, as well as an MSc from the London School of Economics. He is presently working on two initiatives, the Urban Aboriginal Strategy(a nation wide policy that seeks to reduce the socio-economic gap between Aboriginals and non Aboriginals in Canada) and Vancouver Agreement (a tri-partite policy that seeks to rebuild the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver). Prior to Cambridge, he had a brief stint as an intern for Professor Michael E. Porter's the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City in Boston, and has worked as a knowledge intern for the World Bank.

Simon Robillard-Nicoloff is presently pursuing a Masters of Science in Comparative Politics/Public Policy in the London School of Economics’ Department of Government. He has worked as a policy analyst with the Privy Council in Ottawa (Foreign & Defence Secretariat), and before that as a protocol officer for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. In Montréal, Simon was involved with immigration specialized NGOs and wrote a weekly column in Le Délit Français. He is a graduate from McGill University.

Suzanne Boss is the co-founder, President, and Managing Producer of GroundWorks Integrated Arts Collective (Association) and a partner in Boss Consulting Inc., both based in Calgary.   Prior to holding these positions, Suzanne worked with Gibson Petroleum Limited, Canadian Pacific Limited, and the Walt Disney Company (Canada) Ltd.   Her work has included marketing, corporate-community relations, project management, leadership development, and operations management.  Suzanne is a former senior dancer with The Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede, and has a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) from the University of Calgary.

Trevor Fleck is an International Economist with Finance Canada, where he advises on institutional and strategic issues for international bodies and international financial institutions. Trevor is involved with Oxfam Canada's policy working group on food and trade, working to involve members and partners more deeply in Oxfam's policy development. He holds an M.Sc. in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford and an LL.B from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Veronica Kitchen is a Fulbright scholar and PhD candidate in Political Science at Brown University, where she researches North Atlantic security. She holds a BA (Hons) in International Relations from Trinity College, University of Toronto, and an MA in Political Science from Brown. Her article “From Rhetoric to Reality: Canada, the United States and the Ottawa Process to Ban Landmines” was published in International Journal, where it won the CIIA’s Marvin Gelber Essay Prize, and her op-ed “Fortress North America or Smart Border?” appeared in Shout online magazine. Veronica is a graduate teaching consultant at Brown and an avid cyclist.

Amitabh Saxena is a Product Manager at Capital One and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University. Highly involved in the student engineering community, he has given presentations at conferences in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Hong Kong, most as VP Communications of the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students. He has worked in Norway and Mexico and recently completed an internship in Kenya for a local micro-finance organization. He was selected as a finalist in Magna’s “As Prime Minister” Awards competition in 2003 and counts climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro as one of his most euphoric experiences. He speaks English, French and Spanish and is gradually becoming proficient in Swahili and Hindi.