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Ann Dadson is a director of The CRB Foundation, a charitable organization established by Andrea and Charles Bronfman. She is a director of The Historica-Dominion Institute, a trustee of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, and a director of the CGECO Film Development Fund. She has degrees from the University of Toronto and Harvard University’s Institute in Arts Administration.

Mr. Bennett is the Chair of McClelland & Stewart, the Canadian Publishers, Chair Emeritus of the Historica-Dominion Institute, President of the International Readings at Harbourfront and a board member of Luminato. Mr. Bennett is Chair of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Special Projects Committee, past Chairman of the AGO Board of Trustees, and past Chair of the Finance Committee. He serves on the Executive and Government Relations Committees of the AGO.

Mr. Bennett was Chancellor of York University from 1998 to 2004, and is currently their Chancellor Emeritus.

Deon Ramgoolam is the founder and owner of EOCI Pharmacomm, a medical and scientific communications agency based in Montréal.  EOCI works closely with the pharmaceutical and medical device industries to develop medical communication platforms (live, digital and print) for specialists practicing  in Canada and abroad.   

In 2010-2011, EOCI  was retained by most of the major research-based pharmaceutical and medical device companies including Abbott, Actellion, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, Eli-Lilly, Medtronic, Merck, Pfizer, sanofi-aventis, Servier and Takeda.  

EOCI also works in partnership with medical schools in Canada and abroad.  EOCI’s flagship program at Harvard University brings cardiologists from around the world to Boston for two days of intensive training on late-breaking developments in heart disease.  EOCI manages a similar program at McMaster University’s Population Health Research Institute, one of the most important cardiovascular research groups in the world.  

In his spare time, Deon is Co-Director of the Salon Speaker Series’ Série 357C,   bringing leading intellectuals, statesmen and thought leaders from around the world to Montréal .  Deon is also on the board of the Historica-Dominion Institute,  McGill University’s McCord Museum Foundation and  Equitas (International Centre for Human Rights Education).  

Deon is married to Myrtho-Emmanuelle Drouin.  They have two young children.

In 2003 Duncan became Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of E-L Financial Corporation, an investment and insurance holding company.  At the same time he was elected also Chairman of the Board of The Empire Life Insurance Company and its sister company, The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company.

He is also Chairman and President of Economic Investment Corporation and United Corporations Limited, and a member of the Boards of Directors of several public and private companies.

Duncan is Chair of the Patron’s Council for Community Living Toronto (CLT).    CLT provides support to thousands of individuals with an intellectual disability searching for accessible and meaningful ways to live in the community.

He graduated with an Honours B.A. in literature from McGill University in Montreal.

L. Yves Fortier is Chairman Emeritus of Norton Rose OR and is recognized as one of the
top arbitrators in the world.

Mr. Fortier has served as Chairman or party-appointed arbitrator on more than 100
arbitral tribunals, either ad hoc or constituted by different arbitral institutions, including
the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (Paris),
the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Hong Kong International
Arbitration Court (HKIAC), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the
China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), the
American Arbitration Association, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Zurich Chamber
of Commerce, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID),
the Canadian Commercial Arbitration Centre, the British Columbia International
Commercial Arbitration Centre and the ADR Chambers International Panel. He has also
served as Chairman or party-appointed arbitrator on more than 30 Investor-State
International Tribunals. From 1984 to 1989 he was a member of the Permanent Court of
Arbitration at The Hague.

From July 1988 until January 1992, Mr. Fortier took leave from his law practice to take
up an appointment as Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the
United Nations in New York. During his term at the United Nations, Mr. Fortier was
Canada’s Chief Delegate to the 43rd, 44th, 45th and 46th Sessions of the UN General
Assembly. In September 1990, he was elected Vice-President of the 45th General
Assembly. From January 1989 to December 1990, Mr. Fortier served as Canada’s
Representative on the Security Council of the United Nations and in 1989 he was
President of the Council.

As a trial lawyer Mr. Fortier has pleaded important cases before all court jurisdictions in
Canada and before domestic and international arbitral tribunals. He has also served as
counsel to many Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry in Quebec and
Canada.

Malcolm Jolley is the Executive Director of Good Food Media and the Managing Editor of Good Food Revolution, Ontario’s food and wine news site. Good Food Media is a not-for-profit company with a mandate to educate the public about artisanal food in Canada, chiefly through Good Food Revolution, which is supported by a community of businesses and like-minded organizations dedicated to helping people enjoy better food. Jolley also the founder and former editor of Gremolata (2004-2010), Canada’s first food and wine web-magazine. Jolley also writes the Ingredients column for the National Post newspaper and a regular feature on seasonal foods for Chatelaine. He is a Fellow of the Ontario Hostelry Institute.

The Rick Mercer Report, a week half-hour topical comedy, debuted on CBC Television in January 2004 and returns for a 9th season in the fall of 2011.  This Gemini Award winning program is now the most-watched Canadian television comedy in the country.

Rick Mercer began his career in comedy performing and writing with a series of one-man stage shows, beginning with Show Me the Button, which debuted at the National Arts Centre in 1990 and went on to tour the country. Subsequent theatre were I've Killed Before, I'll Kill Again (1992) and Canada: A Good Place to Hide (1995).

Mercer launched his television career in 1994 as one of the creators, performers, and writers on the hit topical weekly show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In 1998 he joined Gerald Lunz and Michael Donovan to create the satirical dramatic series Made In Canada, where he again starred and contributed as a writer. In 2001 his CBC Television special Talking To Americas became the highest rated Canadian comedy special of all time with 2.7 million viewers. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, and the Los Angeles Times all ran articles about the impact of Talking to Americans and Mercer went on to discuss it on ABC's Nightline and NBC's The Today Show.

Rick Mercer has received over 25 Gemini Awards for television writing and performance. He was given the Sir Peter Ustinov Award at the Banff Television Festival, named Journalist of the Year at the Atlantic Journalism Awards, Artists of the Year from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, and has received a number of Canadian Comedy Awards. He is the sole civilian recipient of the Canadian Arms Forces Commander Land Force, Command Commendation in recognition of his support of Canadian peacekeepers, and in 2004 he received the National Arts Centre Award at the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.

Mercer went to Afghanistan in the fall of 2003 to entertain the troops and tape Rick Mercer's Christmas in Kabul, a special for CBC Television. He has returned twice to Afghanistan to visit the Canadian Forces.

As a solo performer he has hosted the East Coast Music Awards, The Gemini Awards, Juno Awards, the history series It Seems Like Yesterday, the annual Canada Day show from Parliament Hill, and in 2008 he hosted the CBC Television special The Next Great Prime Minister for the second time.

Mercer's writing has been published in Time, Maclean's, Globe and Mail, and the National Post. His first book, Streeters, hit the top of the Globe and Mail's best-seller list, and his second book, Rick Mercer Report: The Book, published in the fall of 2007, also went to the top of the national best-seller list.

He has appeared in the movies The Vacant Lot, Understanding Bliss, Secret National, and Bon Cop, Bad Cop.

In 2006 Rick and Belinda Stronach founded the charity Spread the Net, which raises funds to stop the spread of malaria by providing mosquito nets for African children.

Rick holds Honorary Doctorates from Memorial University, Laurentian University, University of British Columbia, McMaster University, and Bishop's University.

Rick Mercer is a native of St. John's, Nfld.

Charles Bronfman has spent much of his life as an active businessman. He retired following a 50 year career with The Seagram Company Limited. During that time, he was President of the Canadian subsidiaries; Senior Liaison Officer to the Du Pont Company, and upon his retirement in 2001 he was Co-Chairman of Seagram.

Mr. Bronfman was Chairman of Koor Industries Ltd. from November 1997 until May 2006. For twenty-two years he was the Chairman and principal owner of the Montreal Expos, the first Major League Baseball club to exist outside of the United States, which was subsequently sold in 1991.

He is Chairman of The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies Inc, a family of charitable foundations operating in Israel, the USA and Canada. The Philanthropies are committed to encouraging young people to strengthen their knowledge and appreciation of their history, heritage and cultural identity. In Canada, the goal is to enhance Canadianism. Efforts to encourage a stronger sense of national identity are directed to support two organizations: The McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, and the Historica-Dominion Institute.

Mr. Bronfman is Co-Chairman of birthright israel which provides an educational travel experience to Israel for young Jewish people throughout the world, aged 18 to 26.

Over a memorable 24-hour period in June, 1992, Mr. Bronfman was honoured by throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the World Series game in Toronto, the first such contest ever to be played outside the United States. The following afternoon in a private ceremony at the Governor General’s residence, he became a Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and later that evening was elevated to Companion of the Order of Canada, our country’s highest civilian honour.

In 2002, Mr. Bronfman joined the Board of Trustees of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He established the Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine in 2007.

Born on June 27, 1931 in Montreal, Canada, to the late Saidye (Rosner) Bronfman and the late Samuel Bronfman, Mr. Bronfman attended Selwyn House School, Montreal, Quebec; Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ontario; and McGill University, Montreal. Mr. Bronfman has two children, and three step-children as well as 9 grand-children. He was married to Andrea Morrison until her untimely passing in January 2006.

Hon. Myra A. Freeman C.M.,O.N.S.,  former Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Nova Scotia (2000-2006), is a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia and the first Chancellor of the Order of Nova Scotia.

A graduate of Dalhousie University, and former teacher with the Halifax Regional School Board, she is the recipient of six Honorary Doctorate Degrees, the Woman of Action Humanitarian Award from the Canadian Israel Research Foundation, and was recognized as a Trailblazer and one of Canada's 100 Outstanding Women by the Richard Ivy School of Business and the Women's Executive Network. Appointed by the Government of Canada in 2003 and reappointed in 2010, she continues to serve as Honorary Captain(Navy) to Maritime Forces Atlantic, as Chair of the Community Leadership Advisory Council to Maritime Forces Atlantic, as National Council Chair of the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust, and as a Director of the Canadian Forces Liason Council.

Nationally, Mrs. Freeman is a Director of the Historica-Dominion Institute of Canada, the RCMP Foundation, the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, the Canadian Friends of the Israel Museum,  the Frank H. Sobey Awards for Excellence in Business Studies, the Advisory Board of the Coady International Institute and a Director on the Chairperson’s Advisory Group to the Canadian Judicial Council. She recently served as Honorary Chair of Mount Saint Vincent University’s Capital Campaign and as an Advisor on the Legacy Committee of the 2011 Halifax Canada Games.

She is married to Lawrence Freeman, a partner in McInnes Cooper  and is the proud mother of three adult children and two granddaughters.