Renée is an associate professor at McGill University in Montreal. She has 20+ years experience working at the intersection of civic empowerment and computational technologies. She is best known for her research and practice on public participation in computerized mapping and in climate modelling. She is currently researching public participation in GeoAI and is advising the design of two AI risk assessment tools. Oh, and she also conducts research on supervised and unsupervised classification and has done some computer vision feature detection.

Ana is a researcher, advisor, and facilitator who works on a more publicly accountable use of data and technology. Currently, she is the 2019-2021 McConnell Professor of Practice at McGill University's Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montreal. Her research examines public investments in AI across Canada. She advises on the design of an AI risk assessment tool, and serves on Canada's Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Open Government. Previously at the World Wide Web Foundation, Ana led research on the implementation and impact of open government data in 115 countries, co-chaired the Measurement and Accountability Group of the Open Data Charter, and co-led gender equality research advocacy. At Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition, she built strategic partnerships and tech policy.

Based in Montréal/ Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyaang, Mich works as a Community Technology Co-coordinator at COCo (Centre for Community Organizations), a non profit whose mission is to help build a more socially just world by supporting the health and well-being of community organizations in Québec. A political scientist by training, they've done work on gender equity in universities through analysis of employment data and research on reconciling academic career and raising children. They have been involved in several feminist media projects and bring a background of ICT trainer, web developer and Executive Director of a Quebec community group to their current position, as as well as a passion for the question how technology contributes to or can help eliminate oppression.

Bianca is an open government advocate with a dual background in technology and public engagement. She is the co-founder of Digital Public, a co-founder of Tech Reset Canada and is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She worked for several years in the tech sector in operations, infrastructure, corporate training, and product management, most recently at Thomson Reuters. As a facilitator at Swerhun Inc., she designed, delivered and supported public consultation processes for various governments and government agencies. In 2014, Bianca founded the Open Data Institute Toronto. She is a columnist, guest lecturer, and speaker on open government and public sector technology policy and a member of the Toronto Public Library’s Innovation Council.

Abigail is a University of California, Berkeley trained tech policy professional with extensive experience in research and data analysis, policy and regulatory analysis as well as stakeholder engagement through her work with the World Bank, Mozilla, several international governments, and most recently a tech startup. She is passionate about ethical, inclusive and responsible AI as well as internet trust and safety issues. Her current research focuses on the meaningful engagement of civil society in the development and deployment of AI.

Sam is a Master’s student at McGill University. He is interested in technologies that promise to deliver social and environmental impacts. Through his Master’s research, he explores the use of interactive visualization to share climate change information on the web. He worked as the Digital Manager of the Geothink partnership grant, showcasing research on civic geospatial technology through articles, webinars and podcasts. He is currently the Project Manager of an Environment Canada research grant and is working with AI for the Rest of Us to examine civic engagement through AI.

Jean-Noé Landry is a social entrepreneur and Executive Director of Open North, Canada's leading nonprofit organization specialized in data governance, open smart cities, and applied research. With more than 20 years of international democratic support experience and a leadership role in the global open data community, Jean-Noé is part of the directing committee of the International observatory on the social impact of AI (OBVIA), a Fellow at the Center for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, and on the national jury of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's Housing Supply Challenge.

Rob is the Director, Data Analytics at the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), an independent, non-profit think tank. Rob is a 25-year seasoned veteran of the software industry and has excelled in senior roles, ranging from Chief Technologist, Vice-President of Product Management to Director of Marketing & Communications. Rob has spoken at national and international events on emerging technologies, AI, and open data and government.

Rob is a passionate open data advocate, promoting the use of open data for social good and business creation. He is a current member of and former co-chair of Canada’s Open Government Multi-Stakeholder Forum.