The Honourable Michelle O’Bonsawin was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on September 1, 2022, and served as a justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa from 2017-2022. She holds a Doctorate in Law from the University of Ottawa where she also taught part-time. She is the author of various publications and afrequent guest speaker on Gladue principles, Indigenous issues, as well as mental health, labour, and privacy law. Justice O’Bonsawin grew up in Hanmer, Ontario, a small Francophone town near Sudbury. She is a fluently bilingual Franco-Ontarian and an Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation.

Peter Brown is a Lanark based jazz and blues pianist/singer who entertained us during our 2023 Holiday Event.

Dr. Della Stanley, retired professor of Canadian History and Canadian Studies who taught at
Queen’s University, Saint Mary’s University and Mount Saint Vincent University will captivate us
with the story of Elisie Reford – an amazing woman. A few years ago, Dr. Stanley spoke to us
about her unique connection with the history of the Canadian Flag, her father having supplied
the initial design. On September 18, she will share with us her interest in Elsie Reford who
along with Lady Drummond founded the Canadian Women’s Club in Montreal in 1907, and who
in middle age, adopted a new passion – gardening.

Speaker: Joan Harrison, MM (Yale), PhD (uOttawa)

Joan combines her experiences as a cellist, educator, and entrepreneur, to manage the Capital Strings and Voices Collective (CSVC) whose mandate includes building community through the arts. Currently, CSVC is collaborating with youth from Kitigan Zibi First Nations Reserve to provide music lessons in concert with youth from Ottawa. In 2020, Joan was one of two Canadians awarded a Global Leaders Fellowship to receive an intensive year of executive training for agents of social change.

Speaker: Hallie Cotnam

Hallie joined the CBC out of journalism school in 1996, after a brief career as a bank manager. She worked in Montreal and Quebec City as a researcher and associate producer, and then began reporting in Gaspé, QC and Windsor, ON. The bright lights of Ottawa beckoned in 2002 when Hallie moved to the Nation’s Capital. Here she’s been a news editor, reporter, writer-broadcaster, and sometimes host of Ottawa Morning, while balancing life with a husband and 13-year-old twins.

Speaker: Monica Patten, Chair of Compassionate Ottawa

Monica is the Chair of Compassionate Ottawa, an organization of community volunteers that encourages everyone to work together to offer compassion to all. Monica brings many years of experience in the voluntary sector to this work. She has often been recognized for her leadership in the sector at home and around the world, including her 2013 appointment to the Order of Canada.