Topic: Refugees

Amy Robichaud

Amy is the daughter to Lore, granddaughter to Rae, and great granddaughter to Rita.

She currently serves as CEO at Mothers Matter Canada and previously as Executive Director of Dress for Success Vancouver, Director of Engagement at the Minerva Foundation for BC Women, and as a development and governance consultant to organizations such as the RBC Foundation, the Global Centre for Pluralism, and the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Amy’s passion for practical ways to generate equity, create economic inclusion, opportunity and prosperity for all informs everything she does, including her volunteerism. She is serving her second term as Chair of the Women’s Advisory Committee for the City of Vancouver where she advises Council and staff on enhancing access and inclusion for women and girls to fully participate in City services and civic life. She has previously served as Chair of the Dress for Success Canada Foundation, and was nominated for the YWCA Vancouver’s Women of Distinction Awards in 2023. She’s a member of the Banff Forum and WNORTH.

Amy and her husband have lived all over Canada and now happily and humbly call the unceded, ancestral and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations home, along with their pets and overgrown library.

About Mothers Matter Canada

Mothers Matter Canada (MMC) is a national organization dedicated to empowering socially isolated and economically vulnerable mothers by providing innovative, evidence-based programs that support early childhood education, strengthen parent-child bonds, and promote community integration. Through partnerships and advocacy, MMC works to break cycles of poverty and isolation, ensuring mothers and their children achieve their full potential and thrive in welcoming, inclusive communities. When mothers thrive, children flourish, and communities prosper.

Robin McMillan

Robin McMillan has spent her career of over 30 years working in the early learning sector. For the first eight years, she worked as an Early Childhood Educator with preschool children. She left the front line to develop resources for practitioners at the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF). She has been with the CCCF since 1999 and worked her way from Project Assistant to Project Manager to her present role as Innovator of Projects, Programs and Partnerships. Highlights of her career with CCCF have been managing over 20 national and international projects, including a CIDA project in Argentina and presenting a paper with the Honourable Senator Landon Pearson to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, Switzerland.  

Robin served as a board member on the Ottawa Carleton Ultimate Association for two years, as well as participated in organizing numerous local charity events. She founded and facilitated a local parent support group, Ottawa Parents of Children with Apraxia, and a national group, Apraxia Kids Canada. She is married and has a 17-year-old son with a severe speech disorder, childhood apraxia of speech, and a mild intellectual disability, which launched her into the world of parent advocacy. She was the recipient of the Advocate of the Year Award in 2010 from the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America. 

About the Organization: We are the community in the early learning and child care sector in Canada. Professionals and practitioners from coast to coast to coast belong in our community. We give voice to the deep passion, experience, and practice of Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) in Canada. We give space to excellent research in policy and practice to better inform service development and delivery. We provide leadership on issues that impact our sector because we know we are making a difference in the lives of young children—our true purpose, why we exist—to make a difference in these lives. What gets talked about, explored, and shared in our community is always life changing, and we know that. We are a committed, passionate force for positive change where it matters most—with children.

Liv Mendelsohn

Liv Mendelsohn, MA, MEd, is the Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, where she leads innovation, research, policy, and program initiatives to support Canada’s caregivers and care providers. A visionary leader with more than 15 years of experience in the non-profit sector, Liv has a been a lifelong caregiver and has lived experience of disability. Her experiences as a member of the “sandwich generation” fuel her passion to build a caregiver movement in Canada to change the way that caregiving is seen, valued, and supported.

Over the course of her career, Liv has founded and helmed several organizations in the disability and caregiving space, including the Wagner Green Centre for Accessibility and Inclusion and the ReelAbilities Toronto Film Festival. Liv serves as the chair of the City of Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee. She has received the City of Toronto Equity Award, and has been recognized by University College, University of Toronto, Empowered Kids Ontario, and the Jewish Community Centres of North America for her leadership. Liv is a senior fellow at Massey College and a graduate of the Mandel Institute for Non-Profit Leadership and the Civic Action Leadership Foundation DiverseCity Fellows program.

About the Organization: The Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence supports and empowers caregivers and care providers, advances the knowledge and capacity of the caregiving field, and advocates for effective and visionary social policy, with a disability-informed approach. Our expertise and insight, drawn from the lived experiences of caregivers and care providers, help us campaign for better systems and lasting change. We are more than just a funder; we work closely with our partners and grantees towards shared goals.