David Ng

Union Co-Operative Initiative

David is the Co-Artistic Director of Love Intersections, a media arts collective of queer artists of colour. He is an organizer with the Union Co-Operative Initiative, and a founding charter member of the Artist and Cultural Workers Union (IATSE B-778). David has been a filmmaker for 22 years, and more recently through Love Intersections, he has produced over 15 short films, which have screened internationally at over 60 film festivals. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia.

Njeri Kontulahti

Senior Manager, Vancity, Financial Resilience and Inclusion

Njeri (Jeri) Kontulahti is a Senior Manager Financial Resilience and Inclusion with Vancity, Canada’s largest credit union, where she has worked for over 25 years. Her work involves developing and deepening connections with Not-for-profit organizations to build their capacity and create impact.

Njeri has led Vancity’s leadership in financial health and inclusion, including overseeing work serving refugees and newcomers and supporting our low barrier Pigeon Park branch in the Downtown Eastside. Njeri has developed and managed financial products, services and policies that support the Financial Inclusion of people in Indigenous, Racialized and Equity-deserving communities to build assets, including home ownership and access to credit.

Njeri has a deep commitment to the cooperative movement in Canada and has served as a volunteer facilitator for the Cooperative Development Foundation’s Women’s Mentorship Program in Ottawa since 2007. This program brings women from credit unions all over the developing world to learn about credit union operations in Canada. Njeri has served in many NPO boards and is a founding Director of a non-profit known as Daughters of Hope, whose main aim is to support racialized individuals and families at risk of homelessness in British Columbia Canada.

Robyn Burek

Program Manager, Portland Street Response

Robyn brings her experience from both the mental health industry and local government to the role of Portland Street Response Program Manager. She has over a decade of experience as a Licensed Therapist and Clinical Supervisor and holds licenses to practice in two states. Her experience as a therapist is diverse and includes work in the areas of domestic violence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, poverty, LGBTQ+, and family counseling.

In addition to her mental health career, her professional experience includes serving two Tulsa Mayors in the Office of Performance Strategy and Innovation in which she built programs designed to improve City workplace culture and innovate delivery of City services to the public. While employed with the City of Tulsa, Robyn was also asked to serve as the Mayor’s designee on Tulsa’s Human Right’s Compassion Committee and the City/County Jail Sales Tax Oversight Committee.

Robyn moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Portland, Oregon in 2017 and has been employed with Portland Fire & Rescue since 2018. She has been a key participant in the design and launch of the Portland Street Response program and is deeply committed to its mission and to seeing this program succeed.

Robyn holds a Bachelors in Psychology, a Masters in Counseling, a Masters in Business Administration, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Organizational Leadership.

Thom Armstrong

Chief Executive Officer, Co-operative Housing Federation

Thom Armstrong has more than 30 years experience in the co-operative housing movement, holding leadership positions in Saskatchewan, Ontario, and British Columbia. Since September 2000, Armstrong has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC, and currently serves in the same capacity for the Community Land Trust Foundation of BC and COHO Management Services Society, all headquartered in Vancouver. He also serves on the board of Encasa Financial Inc., an investment fund manager for the social housing sector in Canada with more than $520 million in assets under management. CHF BC represents 260 non-profit housing co-ops with more than 14,000 co-op homes. CHF BC’s group of community land trusts currently holds assets in housing and land worth more than $364 million and is developing or acquiring additional housing assets worth almost $800 million.

Michelle Bonner

Manager, Vancity, Community Investment – Climate

As Manager Community Investment – Climate at Vancity, Canada’s largest community credit union, Michelle leads grant-making and work with community partners in service of the credit union’s climate commitments, in particular to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the whole loan portfolio and to finance an equitable climate transition.

Michelle has been working in the fields of environmental sustainability and climate for more than two decades. Prior to joining Vancity, she served as Vice President and Training Manager with Climate Smart, an award-winning certified B Corp, where she led the design and delivery of Climate Smart’s training and certification program to help small and medium-sized enterprises measure and reduce their carbon emissions. In her role at Climate Smart she worked with local governments, Port of Vancouver, Vancouver International Airport, Vancity and other partners to engage their business tenants, members, and communities in reducing their carbon emissions.

Michelle is currently participating as a mentor in the Women4Climate Mentorship Program to support women working on climate issues to create a healthier, more sustainable and resilient urban future. She lives with her family and very large dog in East Vancouver and loves to spend time exploring the nearby coast and mountains, and attempting to knit.

Clara Prager

Campaign Lead, Women Transforming Cities

Clara Prager is privileged to work alongside Women Transforming Cities’ team of intersectional feminists to advocate for communities where everyone can belong and thrive. Her background in community organizing, policy analysis, and communications informs this work, as well as her experience working in government, Indigenous-led non-profits, and sustainability consulting. However, she primarily draws inspiration from and seeks to be in solidarity with those who have confronted and continue to challenge systems of oppression––from both within and outside of institutional power structures.

Clara has an interdisciplinary BA in Canadian and First Nations studies from UBC. She is a settler of English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry raised in stolen Syilx territory and currently living in stolen xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ territories.

Aidan Shirley

CAO & Development Manager, CityState Consulting Group

Aidan is the CAO of CityState Consulting Group, a boutique development consultancy specialized in planning and managing complex development projects. During his time at CityState, the company has intensified social, economic, and environmental innovations in their applications, working with clients to deliver more fully accessible units, access to hyper-local child care, and greener, higher quality buildings. Previous, he served as an Associate with the Columbia Institute and has continued to stay involved at events and through the High Ground forum.

Michelle Laviolette

Director, Vancity, Indigenous Banking Strategy

As Director of Indigenous Banking at Vancity, Canada’s largest credit union, Michelle advances Reconciliation at the organizational level. Michelle oversees a strategy to deliver on Vancity’s commitment to Reconciliation and its goal to become a valued financial partner to Indigenous members, organizations, and communities.

Prior to becoming Indigenous Banking Director, Michelle held several management roles with the Vancity Group including in business development, broker services and as a branch manager.

Michelle’s achievements in building strong relationships with Indigenous communities include her leadership in opening a remote community branch in Alert Bay, in partnership with the ‘Namgis First Nation and the Village of Alert Bay.

With some Métis-Ojibway ancestry and married to a member of the Northwest Territory Métis Nation, Michelle is passionate about advancing Vancity’s work to uphold Reconciliation as a core value.

Michelle is an active member of several boards supporting the environment and cultural harmony in her home of South Delta, where she can be found playing on the Fraser River when she is not watching her children play sports.

Tara Marsden/Naxginkw 

Hlimoo Sustainable Solutions

Tara is from the Lax Ganeda (Frog) Clan of Gitanyow Huwilp of the Gitksan peoples. For more than two decades, Tara has been dedicated to advancing sustainable development and operationalizing free, prior and informed consent for Indigenous peoples. Drawing on her Master’s degree in Political Science and her upbringing in Gitksan Ayookxw (laws), Tara has worked for a number of First Nations governments, academia, the provincial government, philanthropic organizations, and most recently for her own nation Gitanyow as Wilp Sustainability Director. In 2021, Tara established Hlimoo Sustainable Solutions to continue her life’s work as an independent consultant in her homelands of the Gitksan people.

Kim Mackenzie

Director of Policy, CMHA BC

Kim Mackenzie (she/her) is the Director of Policy with the Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division. She has had the privilege of working in community, non-profit and government on a variety of intersecting policy issues including mental health and substance use, children and youth, gender equity, income security, access to justice and sex work. She holds a Masters of Public Policy and is grateful to live on the beautiful lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples (Victoria).

Amina Yasin

SFU, Director of Public Hearings and Planning, Renovate the Public Hearing

Amina Yasin is a Canadian Institute of Planning award winning urban planner and a community advocate who has worked across Canada for ten years in community, land use and affordable housing development and planning.

Amina has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Policy, and a Master’s of Science (MSc) degree in Planning and Development.  She serves on a number of boards and committees and is the co-chair of the Vancouver City Planning Commission and Urban Design Panel Commissioner and former co-chair of the Canadian Institute of Planning Social Equity Committee. 

Shauna Shortt

City Shift Project Lead, YWCA Vancouver

Shauna Shortt leads YWCA Metro Vancouver’s City Shift project, advocating to make our region more equitable, prosperous and just by supporting Metro Vancouver cities to challenge assumptions, incorporate diverse perspectives and support actions that serve the entire community. She draws endless inspiration from her 7-year old to advocate for transformational social change. She believes wholeheartedly in serving the community and is a board member with the Sharing Farm Society.