Chief Nishan Duraiappah was born in Sri Lanka, and immigrated to Canada. Chief Duraiappah began his career with Halton Police in December 1995. He served in a variety of assignments throughout his career including front line policing, specialized investigations and Diversity and Community relations. He was promoted to Deputy Chief of Halton Police in 2015 leading front-line policing, community mobilization as well as innovation and technology. In October 2019, Chief Duraiappah was appointed Chief of Peel Regional Police. Chief Duraiappah arrived with a mandate for change and the strategic goal of becoming the most progressive police service in Canada. Amidst the first year of his command, Peel Regional Police championed: - The creation of its first-ever community-embedded Intimate and Partner Violence Unit to respond to the growing needs in our Region. - A re-emphasis on front line policing. - A road map for Innovation and Technology, as well as a Digital Officer Transformation plan to better equip officers to serve the community. - The adoption of the Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) framework and establishment of a CSWB Bureau to modernize traditional community policing. Chief Duraiappah is committed to the safety and well-being of the community he serves, with one of the primary focuses being mental health and seeking multi-sectoral collaborative partnerships to reduce risk in the community. Chief Duraiappah is heavily involved in the community. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Criminology from the University of Toronto, and a Diploma of Public Administration from the University of Western Ontario. Chief Duraiappah serves as Vice President of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Board of Directors. He is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and is an Officer of the Order of Merit Canada.

Lynn Barr-Telford is the Assistant Chief Statistician of the Social, Health and Labour Statistics Field at Statistics Canada. Lynn holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from Carleton University and has several years of experience as a senior Executive with responsibility for large, complex statistical programs. The Social, Health and Labour Statistics Field provides accurate, timely and relevant information across a range of social subject matters to decision makers at all levels of government, to non-governmental organizations, to researchers and to the Canadian public. The portfolio includes a number of large survey and administrative data programs such as the Centre for Population Health Data; the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics; the Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion; and the Centre for Labour Market Information, among others. The Field is also the home for Canadian Census content expertise.

Chantal Bernier is a member of both Dentons’ Canadian Privacy and Cybersecurity practice group and the Firm’s Government Affairs and Public Policy group. Chantal comes to Dentons after nearly 6 years as Assistant and Interim Privacy Commissioner of Canada. In that capacity, Chantal led national and international privacy investigations in the public and private sectors, as well privacy audits, privacy impact assessment reviews, technological analysis, and privacy policy development and research.

Rick Linden is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Manitoba.  He is the author of over 60 published papers and reports and four books including Canada’s best-selling Criminology text which is currently in its 9th edition. Rick was the co-chair of Manitoba’s Auto Theft Task Force from 2001-2014.  The Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy reduced auto theft in Winnipeg by over 80 percent. Recent projects include helping develop an inner-city community mobilization project as well as working with the Winnipeg Police Service on a Smart Policing Initiative that led to significant reductions in property crime. He serves on the Retail Security Task Force and is on the Advisory Board of the Downtown Community Safety Partnership.  Rick was the first chair of the Manitoba Police Commission. He also served as a pilot in the RCAF Reserves for over 30 years and retired with the rank of Major-General.

Michael has over 35 years of experience working as a business leader in the field of telecommunications, IT, security and complex application development. Presently he is the President of Motorola Solutions Canada located in Ottawa, Ontario. Michael works closely with Government leaders supporting their requirements for mission critical public safety communications, analytics, artificial intelligence, video and command center software solutions. Prior to Motorola, Michael spent three years as the Federal Practice lead at Accenture, ten years at TELUS as Managing Director of Public Sector Solutions, Vice President of Public Sector Marketing and sixteen years as Director of Engineering with Telesat Canada. Michael holds an Electronics Engineering Diploma from Algonguin College and has completed advanced business studies at Ivey Business School, Rotman School of Business and INSEAD.

On February 24, 2025, Dale McFee was appointed Deputy Minister of Alberta Executive Council. Prior to this appointment, Dale was sworn in as Police Chief for the Edmonton Police Service in February 2019. Prior to his role at the Edmonton Police Service, Dale served 6.5 years as the Deputy Minister of Corrections and Policing in the Ministry of Justice for the Government of Saskatchewan and was the Senior Deputy Minister involved with leading transformational change. Dale served as a police officer for 26 years in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, including 9 years as the Chief of Police for the Prince Albert Police Service. Dale has considerable small to mid-size business experience and lectured extensively on leadership and change management nationally and internationally. He is a former member of Entrepreneurs International and served in the capacity of moderator for groups of business leaders within Saskatchewan. Dale is a past President of the Canadian Association Chief’s of Police, a former Chair of the Federal Provincial Deputy Ministers and former Co-Chair of CCJA within Stats Canada. Dale has received several commendations in his related fields including being appointed and promoted to officer within the Order of Merit within police services by the Governor General of Canada. He has received a provincial policing leadership award for Leadership in Multi-Agency Community Mobilization. He is a recognized Governor General Leadership alumnus and a former citizen of the year within his home community. Dale resides in St. Albert, AB with his wife, Leanne. Their 3 daughters are currently pursuing careers in education, nursing & engineering.

Gary Teare is Scientific Director in Population and Public Health, Alberta Health Services. Previously, he worked at the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council for over 13 years as leader of its research and measurement work and then as its Chief Executive Officer. He is adjunct Professor in the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, also at the Cumming School of Medicine, University  of Calgary, and Affiliate Scientist with IC/ES in Toronto. Dr. Teare earned degrees in Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Immunology (MSc) and Epidemiology (PhD). Gary was Secretary-Treasurer of the founding CSKA Board from 2015-2018 and rejoined the Board in 2019 after a brief hiatus.

Dr. Alina Turner is recognized as a social scientist, researcher, and thinker on social issues with proven implementation results. Alina's work on system planning is recognized as a leading practice and often called upon as a model across communities; her drive and passion for this work is grounded in her lived experience of the social issues she continues to challenge in her professional work. Working with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and A Way Home Canada, Turner helped to establish the Systems Planning Collective – dedicated to building capacity nationally to implement systems approaches to prevent and end homelessness. Alina has worked at an executive leadership level at both management and board of director levels for the past 15 years. During her tenure as VP Strategy at the Calgary Homeless Foundation, Alina led the implementation of Canada’s first Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) and designed Calgary’s Housing First System of Care. She oversaw $35 million in annual investments across 40 programs in Calgary, their performance management and quality assurance. Prior to this, Alina worked at the Poverty Reduction Initiative of the United Way of Calgary & Area, and a variety of front-line immigrant and homeless-serving agencies. Alina co-founded HelpSeeker - a social technology and innovation Alberta-based B-Corp, in 2018. HelpSeeker's team develops and services a suite of data-driven digital solutions to support social sector decision-makers, service providers, and community members looking for help. She is passionate about putting new technologies to use in reforming the design and delivery of social safety nets.

Matt Torigian is an internationally recognized leader in justice and public policy with a 40-year career involving many aspects of community safety and well-being, having served as Ontario’s Deputy Solicitor General and as chief of police for the Waterloo Regional Police Service. In June 2025, Matt was appointed Deputy Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services for the Government of Alberta. In his current Deputy Minister position, Torigian is responsible for working across government with a mandate to design and implement a seamless, integrated model of care for all Albertans. Prior to this appointment, Matt was the Chief Strategy Officer for Niche Technology, a Canadian-based global software company focused on case management. As Deputy Solicitor General, Matt led a comprehensive community safety transformation through the passing of the Safer Ontario Act. The ground-breaking legislation resulted in the mandating of Community Safety and Well-Being Planning to every municipality in Ontario; created Canada’s first Inspector General of Policing; and enabled Indigenous Police Services equitable access and rights to adequate and effective policing. Matt is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, contributing to the Community Safety and Policing Research Program by facilitating symposiums, participating in the design and delivery of research initiatives, along with mentoring graduate students in their pursuits of a career in public service. Matt is a published author and holds a Master of Public Administration from Western University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wilfrid Laurier University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, the FBI National Executive Institute, and was invested as an Officer of the Order of Merit of Police Forces in 2012. Matt is also a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award.