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SPEAKERS AND PRESENTERSAbrar HasanSaturday morning plenary: What are the Main Policy Issues?
Born in Canada, Dr. Hasan has a PhD from Queens University and also pursued post-graduate studies at the University of British Columbia. Before joining the OECD he lectured at the University of Illinois, Chicago Campus (1971-1973), was Head of the Policy Policy Analysis Division with the Government of Canada’s Unemployment Insurance Commission (1973-1975) and was a senior economist with the Economic Council of Canada (1975-1983). Sheila B. KamermanSaturday Afternoon Plenary: Looking Beyond our Borders - What is Possible? Sheila B. Kamerman is a professor of social work at Columbia University, as well as Co-Director of the Institute for Child and Family Policy. She is also an active and prolific social policy practitioner and scholar.
In addition to her research and scholarly writing, she serves on several Boards of Directors of child and policy-related organizations, including: Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants and Toddlers and their Families, Citizen's Committee for the Children of New York; the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, and the National Partnership of Women and Families. She is on the Advisory Board of several scholarly journals, including the Journal of Public Policy, the Children and Youth Services Review, and the Social Service Review. She is a frequent lecturer on such topics as how America neglects its youngest children, family change and family policies internationally, and social security. Mark KelleyModerator of the Sunday Morning Town Hall on Child Care
Kelley served as a co-host on the investigative journalism program CBC News: Disclosure from 2002-2004. Prior to that, he co-anchored CBC News: Morning from 1998-2002. Kelley has won the Gemini Award for Best Host or Interviewer in a news information program for the past two years (one for his work covering the September 11th attacks on the morning show, and one for his work on Disclosure). Last year, Kelley also won the best news story of the year award from the Canadian Association of Journalists for a story he did on Disclosure about body checking in minor hockey. Kelley graduated from Concordia University in Montreal, where he studied journalism. He joined the CBC in 1990. From 1992 to 1995, he was the National Assembly correspondent for Newswatch, the Montreal supper-hour program. He joined The National in 1995, where he served as the Montreal correspondent and covered such stories as the Great Ice Storm of 1998. Mark Kelley, his wife and their four young children live in Toronto. Donna LeroFriday afternoon panel presentation: Setting the Stage: The Multiple Purposes of Early Learning and Child Care
Lero has been involved in Canadian research related to quality child care and early childhood services, and work-family issues for over 25 years. Recent projects have focused on predictors of child care quality in day care centres and family day care homes, and critical resources to support the effective inclusion of children with disabilities in child care centres. She has published a variety of research studies and book chapters on work-family challenges faced by single parents, dual-earner couples, and parents of children with special needs. Dr. Lero has served as an advisor/expert panel member on a variety of government task forces at both the federal and provincial levels. She is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences on policies and programs that support work-family integration and children’s development. Stephen LewisSunday morning: Into the Future: Where to From Here?
Before being appointed UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa in 2001, Lewis worked as Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF (1995 to 1999) and as Special Representative for Unicef (1990 to 1995). He spoke and travelled widely, advocating for the rights of children. In the early 90s he coordinated an international study on the consequences of armed conflict on children. From 1984 to 1988, he was Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. Prior to his international career, Stephen Lewis had a distinguished career in media and politics in Canada. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was an elected representative to the Ontario Legislature, and became leader of the New Democratic Party and leader of the Official Opposition. He went on to become a well-known commentator on radio and television, and a prominent labour relations mediator. Mr. Lewis holds 18 honorary degrees from Canadian university, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2003. That same year Columbia University honoured him with the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to public health. Pauline MaroisFriday afternoon plenary: Why Early Learning & Child Care is Important for All
First elected to Quebec’s National Assembly under the PQ banner in 1981, Marois occupied several cabinet positions in the Levesque government, among them Minister of State for the Status of Women. Under the Bouchard government she held a cabinet portfolios which included Health and Social Services. Under the Landry government she was made Minister of Finance, the first woman to formally fill that position. Pauline Marois has also occupied positions on the Executive of the Parti Québecois. In 1985 she ran for the leadership of the party, and she recently announced her interest in running again. Marois earned a BA in social work from Laval University in 1971. She then took on progressively higher management position in community services before returning to the University of Montreal for her MBA in 1976. Nancy Neamtan
Previously Neamtan was the Executive Director of RESO, a community economic development corporation devoted to the economic and social renewal of southwest. She remains Vice-president for Strategic Development at RESO. She is the founder and President of the Board of Directors of Réseau d’investissement social du Québec (RISQ), a $10 million investment fund dedicated to the non-profit and cooperative sector. A social worker by training, Neamtan began her career working for food co-ops and organizations which defend tenants’ and welfare recipients’ rights. She was named director of the community department of the Point St Charles YMCA in 1983, then in 1988 was named director of the Institut de formation de développement économique communautaire (IFDEC). In 1989 she participated in the founding of the Regroupement pour la relance économique et sociale du Sud-Ouest de Montréal (RESO). The Honourable Landon PearsonSaturday Morning Plenary: Child Care: Building on Policy Frameworks
Judy Rebick
During the 1990s, Judy was the host of a national TV show on CBC Newsworld. She is now publisher of the activist online publication rabble.ca, and has been a regular contributor to several publications including the Ottawa Citizen, the Globe and Mail, and Maclean’s and Elm Street Magazine. She is the author of several books, among them Imagine Democracy, her vision of how Canadian democracy can truly represent the wishes of the people. In 2002 she was appointed to a three-year term as Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice at Ryerson University. The chair’s mandate includes teaching at Ryerson, conducting research in social justice and democracy issues, presenting an annual lecture, and working with representatives from trade unions and others in the broader community to examine social justice and democracy issues. | |||
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Dr. Abrar Hasan is Head of the Education and Training Policy Division in the Directorate for Education at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a position he has held since 1994. As such he directs comparative policy analysis of a range of education policy, from early childhood to adult learning. He has been working for the OECD since 1983. 
Mark Kelley is a correspondent for CBC News: The National. During Canada's recent federal election, he spent five weeks on the road in CBC's election bus crossing the country to cover the stories unfolding behind the campaign. 
Donna Lero is the Co-Director of Research of The Centre for Families, Work and Well-Being at the University of Guelph, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition. Her recent research includes studies of work-life balance among Canadian women and young couples, and a national evaluation of the impacts of changes to Canada's parental leave legislation. 
Best known for his work on the global AIDS crisis, Stephen Lewis is also an impassioned champion of child care. In his “10 points for a peaceful community” written in 2002, Lewis lists excellent childcare as number one. He comments “It is scandalous that in Canada we don’t have universal childcare.” He has also been an outspoken critic of cuts to social and health services for young children.
As the Minister responsible for Education and the Family during the previous Parti Quebecois government government, Pauline Marois oversaw the beginnings of Quebec’s $5 a day child care program. She continued to be an advocate of work-family reconciliation in her later roles as Minister of Social Services and Minister of Finance. 
Nancy Neamtan is President/Executive Director of the Chantier de l’économie sociale, a non-profit organisation administered by representatives of cooperatives, non-profits and social movements. She advocated for the development of this organization at Quebec’s 1996 Summit on the Economy and Employment. She became president when the organization was officially created in 1999, with a mandate to support social entrepreneurship. 
The Honourable Landon Pearson has lived by her conviction that investing in the care and education of children is an investment in our collective well-being, an investment in our future. In her private life, as the wife and partner of a former Canadian diplomat, she met the challenge of raising their five children in five very different countries: Canada, France, Mexico, India and the Soviet Union. Her public life - entirely in a volunteer capacity until her recent appointment to the Senate - is filled with activities which show her commitment to improving the well-being of children.
Judy Rebick is one of Canada's best known political commentators. She first achieved national prominence as president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Canada's largest women's group. She went on to an extensive career as a media commentator and activist for a variety of causes. 
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