Our Team

Staff

Emilly Renaud

National Coordinator

About Me

Emilly Renaud

National Coordinator

Emilly holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Toronto and a Master of Public Administration from Queen’s University. Raised in Ottawa’s public housing, Emilly’s lived experience in poverty informs her work at CWP and her lifelong dedication to social justice. As a teenager, she engaged in local activism through creating awareness about issues like poverty, addiction and mental health, women’s and children’s rights, and was the Youth Representative at the annual meeting of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children in 2011. In her academic career, Emilly focused her studies on social, racial, and economic inequality and policy. Emilly is committed to using education, policy, and human rights law to promote systemic change and improve the lives of marginalized people in Canada.

Rahul Chopra

Finance & Communications Coordinator

About Me

Rahul Chopra

Finance and Communications Coordinator

Rahul was born and raised in India and immigrated to Canada in his mid-20s. Rahul has a Bachelor in Design from MIT Institute of Design, India, and a Postgraduate Degree in Interactive Media Management and Television & Film – Business from Centennial College, Canada. Rahul’s knowledge and background are at the crossroads of User-Experience Design, Filmmaking, Advertising, and Business Administration. Rahul has made social documentaries on subjects such as wildlife extinction and sustainability. Rahul brings his experiences as an immigrant and migrant worker, as well as his passion for social justice, to his work at CWP.

Leilani Farha

Legal Advisor - Honorary

About Me

Leilani Farha

Legal Advisory - Honorary

Leilani served as the  Executive Director of CWP for 8 years. In 2020, she stepped down but continues to support CWP as a legal advisor. Leilani is a leading expert and advocate on economic and social human rights, especially for women. She has a long history promoting the right to adequate housing, equality and non-discrimination in housing in Canada and internationally. Prior to joining Canada Without Poverty, Leilani was the Executive Director of the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation for 12 years. She has extensive experience addressing homelessness, poverty and inequality in Canada through advocacy, casework, litigation, research and community based work. She has been at the forefront of applying international human rights law to anti-poverty issues in Canada, and is known internationally for her work on housing rights and women’s economic and social rights. From 2014 to 2020 she was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing. Currently, Leilani is the founder and Global Director of the global housing rights movement The Shift.

Board of Directors

Harriett McLachlan (QC)

Board President

About Me

Harriett McLachlan (QC)

Board President

Harriett has been an active participant with Canada Without Poverty since 2010. She holds a Master in Social Work degree from Carleton University, and has worked as a Director in various community organisations for the past 25-years. Harriett has presented at numerous Treaty Body reviews of Canada to the Human Rights Committee at the United Nations in Geneva. Her presentations to various parliamentary committees have permitted her to bring the first-voice experience of poverty and the human rights perspective to the discussion table on policy recommendations. Her early life of childhood violence and sexual abuse, close to 35 years of living in poverty, and 19 years as a single parent have inspired her to effect positive change within the community sector and for those living in poverty across the country.

Meris K Brookland (NB)

Board Vice President

About Me

Meris K Brookland (NB)

Board Vice President

K has a BA with a concentration in Sociology. She has struggled with poverty throughout her adult life, including working at two low-paying jobs simultaneously. She has lived on unemployment insurance, and on income assistance as a single parent. Poverty was the impetus for K to work with the Fredericton Anti-Poverty Organization, (FAPO) and later co-founded the Women’s Alliance (WALL), a group of people with lived experience in poverty which advocated for women who were on social assistance. K is now retired and relies solely on government pensions (OAS, CPP and GIS). She volunteers with Fredericton’s Community Action Group on Homelessness.

Shane Pelletier (At-large)

Board Treasurer

About Me

Shane Pelletier (At-Large)

Board Treasurer

Shane is a Program Coordinator for Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. Growing up in poverty in western Canada, Shane ended up homeless. Living on the streets of Edmonton and Vancouver’s DTES for over 10 years, Shane survived street life and many of the common trappings of that experience with the help of many people along the way. Today, Shane is a Member with Lived Experience on Canada’s National Advisory Council on Poverty, Co-Chair of the National Alliance to End Rural and Remote Homelessness, and a dedicated social servant in Canada’s Homeless serving system. Shane works to bring hope to all of those with stolen childhoods, homeless teens with suicidal thoughts, underdeveloped adults living with shame and guilt, and all Canadians who are impacted by poverty and injustice.

Kate Mechan (YK)

Board Secretary

About Me

Kate Mechan (YK)

Board Secretary

Kate has been working with the Yukon Anti-Poverty  Coalition since 2012, most recently doing advocacy and outreach within the community of Whitehorse. She also works on the Outreach Van – a mobile, harm reduction outreach service for street-involved individuals. She lives with her partner and two children on their organic farm, off-grid in a yurt just outside of Whitehorse.

Rev. Bonnie Morton (SK)

About Me

Rev. Bonnie Morton (SK)

Board Member

Bonnie grew up on a dairy farm in Ontario. With only a grade 5-level education while living in poverty and raising her son when she was 33, Bonnie went back to school and earned a Bachelor of Human Justice. Bonnie has been active since 1989 in international work around poverty issues, including acting as a presenter to the Economic Social and Cultural Rights Committee of the United Nations in 2006. Bonnie has worked as an Anti-Poverty Minister/Advocate for 25 years with the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry. Bonnie is currently the Chairperson of the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues, and the Chair of the Equality Advisory Committee of the Court Challenges Program. She has received the Keith Couse award for social justice work; the YWCA Women of Distinction Award; the International Helen Prize Certificate for social justice work of “Bolder Women”; the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal; the Elizabeth Fry “Rebel With A Cause” award; an award from Canadian Dimension; and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal. Most recently she was a member of the “People’s International Observers Mission” in the Philippines. Recently, Bonnie finished a Master’s Degree in Justice Studies at the University of Regina.

Susan Gwynn (AB)

About Me

Susan Gwynn (AB)

Board Member

[bio coming soon]

Jessica Keating (NL)

About Me

Jessica Keating (NL)

Board Member

Jessica was born in North West River, Labrador, where she experienced a tough childhood, facing poverty, hunger, and unsafe living conditions due to her parent’s struggle with addiction. Jessica is a member of the NunatuKavut (Labrador Métis Nation) and dedicated over 10 years of her career working in an Indigenous treatment facility. She currently holds the Executive Director position of the Libra House, an emergency shelter for women and children fleeing violence. Jessica dedicates her success and drive to her two children.

Glenn Roil (NL)

About Me

Glenn Roil (NL)

Board Member

Glenn Roil is a global mental health and basic income advocate with over 30 years of education and work experience in the fields of mental health, poverty reduction and housing issues. He is the Co-Lead of the Americas Region with the Global Mental Health Peer Network, and a member of the Government of NL’s Department of Community Services Towards Recovery Action Plan, and of the Legislative Stakeholders Committee reviewing the Mental Health Care and Treatment Act. Formerly, Glenn was a NL representative of the Canadian Mental Health Association, the National Council of Persons with Lived Experience, a member of the Community Sector Council of NL Vibrant Communities St. John’s, the Citizen Voice Network, and one of the public figures of Government of NL’s  anti-stigma mental health and addictions campaign called “Understanding Changes Everything”. He has trained with the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Mental Health Commision of Canada. Glenn was the recipient of the 2021 NL Human Rights Awards Champion for Mental Health from the Government of NL’s Human Rights Commission, and the 2022 recipient of the Lionel Aldridge Champions Award from the National Alliance of Mental Illness in the United States of America. He has his own mental health story and his mental health advocacy work profiled and published in the Narrative Inquiry and Voices John Hopkins University affiliated bioethics Medical Journals.

Honorary Directors

The Right Honourable Charles Joseph (“Joe”) Clark, PC, CC, AOE

About Me

The Right Honourable Charles Joseph (“Joe”) Clark, PC, CC, AOE

Honorary Board Member

Born in 1939 in High River, Alberta, Mr. Clark has led a life of achievement as a student, politician, statesman, businessman and professor. First elected as a Member of Parliament in 1972, representing a largely rural western Alberta riding, Mr. Clark won the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party in 1976, becoming at age 36, the youngest leader of any major federal political party in Canada’s history. By 1979, he also became the youngest Prime Minister in Canada’s history, leading the Progressive Conservative Party to a minority government victory over the Liberal Party, then led by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Mr. Clark served with distinction, prominently in foreign affairs, as a senior Cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative government of 1983 to 1993, under former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He made a comeback in 1998 to once again lead the Progressive Conservative Party before its eventual dissolution, serving a final term in Parliament from 2000 to 2004. Since 2004 Mr. Clark has been a scholar, university professor, president of his own consulting firm, and a widely traveled and highly respected statesman.

The Hon. Louise Arbour

About Me

The Hon. Louise Arbour

Honorary Board Member

Since 2009, Ms. Arbour has been the President & CEO of the International Crisis Group, an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization located in Brussels, committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict. Prior to joining Crisis Group, Ms. Arbour blazed a distinguished career as a lawyer, academic, judge and diplomat. Her career has included being Associate Professor and Associate Dean at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University; a Supreme Court of Ontario Justice; a Court of Appeal for Ontario Justice; and a Supreme Court of Canada Justice (1999 to 2004). In addition, she has served as a Commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario; as the United Nations’ Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda; and, from 2004 to 2008, as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Hon. Monique Bégin, PC, OC, FRSC

About Me

The Hon. Monique Bégin, PC, OC, FRSC

Honorary Board Member

Dr. Bégin is a distinguished former Member of Parliament and a leading Canadian expert on poverty as a social determinant of health. In 1972, Dr. Bégin became one of the first of three women from Québec ever elected to the House of Commons. Re-elected three times, she was twice appointed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as Minister of National Health and Welfare. Besides being instrumental in the creation of the 1978 the Refundable Child Tax Credit (now the Canada Child Tax Benefit), she remains best known for the Canada Health Act (1984). Dr. Bégin also co-chaired the 1993-1995 Royal Commission on Learning of Ontario. She served on the International Independent Commission on Population and Quality of Life. Her academic and political career included distinguished service, over 2005-2008, as a member of the international Commission on Social Determinants of Health, convened by the World Health Organization to give support in tackling the social causes of poor health and avoidable health inequalities (health inequities).

The Hon. Ed Broadbent, PC, CC, PhD

About Me

The Hon. Ed Broadbent, PC, CC, PhD

Honorary Board Member

Ed Broadbent’s distinguished career has spanned academia, civil society and politics.  First elected to Parliament in 1968, Mr. Broadbent became Leader of the federal NDP in 1975. Under his leadership through 1989, the NDP reached record party popularity and, for the party, a record number of seats in the 1988 federal election.

Mr. Broadbent has lectured at, and/or been a Fellow of, many universities including McGill, Harvard and Oxford, is currently a Fellow in the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University. An expert on economic and social rights, Mr. Broadbent was the founding President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (now Rights and Democracy). He was made a member of the Privy Council in 1982, an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993 and a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2002.

Ovide Mercredi, OC OM

About Me

Ovide Mercredi, OC OM

Honorary Board Member

Ovide Mercredi is a Cree, former president of the Manitoba New Democratic Party, and currently serves as the Chief of Misipawistik Cree Nation in northern Manitoba.

A graduate of the University of Manitoba with a Law degree he practiced criminal law and later specialized in constitutional law as an advisor to Manitoba Chiefs. Chief Mercredi has worked tirelessly for the rights of First Nations people throughout Canada. In 1989 , he was elected Regional Chief of the Assembly of First Nations for Manitoba. He became a key strategist for the Assembly during the time of the Meech Lake Accord constitutional reform discussions. He also had a strong leadership role in helping to resolve the Oka Crisis in 1990.

Chief Mercredi was elected as National Chief for the Assembly of First Nations in 1991. During his first term he led the negotiations for the First Nations in the Charlottetown Accord. He was re-elected in 1994 and served as National Chief until 1997. He addressed the United Nations in Geneva and New York. He led a human rights delegation of Canadians to the troubled area of the Mexican state of Chiapas.

In 2021, Chief Mercredi Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

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