meet the 2025 event speakers
Moji Akande
Moji Akande is the program manager for the Anti-Racism in Sport campaign, where she leads initiatives with national sport organizations, provincial and territorial sport organizations and community partners to address and eliminate racism in sport. With over a decade of experience in policy development, analysis and government relations, she integrates research, training and advocacy to advance equitable and inclusive sport systems. A committed equity advocate and former athlete, Moji brings both lived and professional expertise to fostering safer and more accessible environments for First Nations, Métis, Inuit, Black, Racialized and Religious Minority participants, ensuring all sports reflect Canada’s diversity.
Jahmiah Ferdinand-Hodkin
The founder of Sport Dispute Management, Jahmiah Ferdinand-Hodkin is a lawyer, adjudicator and risk manager who has over 15 years of experience as a litigator. Jahmiah works in both English and French and since its inception, has co-managed one of the country’s largest independent third-party safe sport programs, in addition to administering maltreatment complaints in each Canadian province and territory. Prior to opening Sport Dispute Management, Jahmiah was a partner at one of Canada’s largest firms, focusing on sport litigation, professional liability complaints, disciplinary actions, complex multi-party cross jurisdictional commercial litigation and arbitration.
Ted Nolan
Born into a large family on the Garden River First Nation in northern Ontario, Ted Nolan’s career in hockey included playing for his hometown Soo Greyhounds before an eight-year professional career with the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins. After transitioning to coaching, Ted led the Greyhounds to three consecutive Memorial Cups and won the tournament in 1993. He became head coach of the Buffalo Sabres in 1995, and one season later took his team to a first-place finish in the Northeast Division and won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year. Ted established a foundation in 2004 to honour his late mother Rose. Since then, the foundation has raised nearly $2 million and awarded scholarships to over 130 First Nations women across Canada. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in June 2025, Ted has received four university honorary degrees and is the co-founder and president of 3Nolans, which operates hockey schools in First Nations communities.
Edward Aliu
Edward Aliu is a dedicated advocate for equity, inclusion and opportunity in hockey and serves as the director of operations for the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA), an organization founded by eight current and former National Hockey League players. He plays a key role in the HDA’s mission to eradicate racism from hockey and make the sport more accessible to all Canadians, especially new immigrants and first-generational families. In 2022, Edward launched the Grassroots Original Hockey League, a community-based program designed to introduce hockey to youth in underserved communities, and has seen the league grow from 200 to nearly 2,000 participants in three years.
Moezine Hasham
The founder and executive director of Hockey 4 Youth Foundation, Moezine Hasham created the organization with a mission to foster social inclusion for newcomer and barriered kids and teens of all genders through free ice hockey and experiential learning opportunities. Since then, Hockey 4 Youth has worked with over 1,400 youth who represent 42 countries of origin. For his work, Moezine was named to the list of the Top 20 Social Change Makers by The Hockey News in 2023, has received the Herb Carnegie Trailblazer Award and was a recipient of the King Charles III Medal from Her Excellency, Governor General Mary Simon in 2024.
Dr. Richard Norman
Dr. Richard Norman is a dedicated strategist, researcher and futurist committed to advancing equitable practices for racialized and marginalized communities. With a transdisciplinary approach, he intertwines theory, systems thinking and storytelling, drawing inspiration from the wisdom of First Peoples globally. As the director of community futures and innovation at Curling Canada, principal consultant at TwelfthSeed and director at large for UnitedWeCurl, Dr. Norman disrupts and reimagines sports systems, applying his academic and professional expertise to introduce innovative techniques tailored for the uncertainties we face today and sparking transformation and inclusivity in the dynamic world of sport.
Karl Subban
A well-known and dynamic motivational speaker, author, hockey dad and lifelong educator, Karl Subban has learned to inspire people through parenting, teaching and leading over his distinguished three-decade long career of working in schools in service to helping children develop their potential. As a best-selling author, Karl has penned two books that detail his family’s unique hockey journey, mixing personal stories with lessons he learned about goal setting, resilience and accomplishment. Born in Jamaica, Karl immigrated to Sudbury, ON and has raised his family and built his career in the Greater Toronto Area.
Kinya Baker
An award-winning equity strategist, keynote speaker and social worker, Kinya Baker has over 18 years of experience helping teams, leagues and communities build winning cultures on and off the ice. As the founder and executive director of Shades of Humanity Consulting, she works with organizations to turn diversity and inclusion goals into game-changing results, and has partnered on national- and league-level initiatives that tackle racism, bias and inequity head-on. Kinya’s approach blends trauma-informed practice, intersectional thinking and practical sport strategies that strengthen the bench, locker room and community, and helps teams go beyond awareness into measurable action through designing anti-racism coaching programs, restorative approaches and leadership playbooks.
Waneek Horn-Miller
A Mohawk from the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, Waneek was behind the lines during the Oka crisis in 1990 when she was stabbed by a Canadian soldier’s bayonet in a near-death experience that marked a turning point in her life. Waneek has overcome discrimination and violence to emerge as one of North America’s most inspiring female Indigenous speakers, with a compelling perspective, dynamic stories to share and presentations and keynotes that are aimed at bridging the gap and repairing relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. The former co-captain of Canada’s Olympic women’s water polo team, Waneek is an advocate for building Indigenous sport and has worked with the Assembly of First Nations to develop their sport, fitness and health strategy. As one of Canada’s few Indigenous Olympians, Waneek has used her unique experiences in life and sport, combined with a passion for her culture, to influence Indigenous and non-Indigenous leadership in sport and wellness, Indigenous business, women in business and community business, and was recently named one of Canada’s most influential women in sport by Canadian Women & Sport.
Richard Picart
A seasoned communications, media and public relations strategist with over two decades of experience helping organizations amplify their ideas and connect meaningfully with audiences, Richard Picart is a communications and media advisor, and business coach who has guided prominent brands to bridge the gap between vision and consumer engagement, including with Snap Media, AG Media, Search Engine People and DECOSTA Marketing. In the sports sector, Richard’s expertise includes developing crisis communications strategies for incidents in hockey, training sports communications teams to manage media under pressure and coaching leaders on allyship to foster more inclusive environments on and off the ice. Using an approach that combines integrity, passion, collaboration and relationship building, Richard ensures both organizations and individuals are prepared to navigate challenges and seize opportunities.
Kelly VanBuskirk
A lawyer, mediator and educator, Kelly VanBuskirk has been recognized for his innovative use of restorative justice in resolving workplace and organizational disputes, and completed a certificate in restorative justice from Simon Fraser University. In addition to being the owner of VanBuskirk Law, Kelly is a professor at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law and Faculty of Business, where he teaches courses in sport law, trial practice, dispute resolution and negotiation. Kelly is a frequent speaker and author who has contributed to the development of national conversations around fairness, equity and positive organizational culture, and has been appointed King’s Counsel.
Bob Dawson
Now a diversity management consultant, sportswriter and Black hockey historian, Bob Dawson was the first Black player in the Atlantic Intercollegiate Hockey League (now Atlantic University Sport) in 1967, while attending Saint Mary’s University. Among his many accolades, Bob was presented with the Carnegie Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 in recognition of his work to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in hockey. Bob believes that history not shared is history lost, and remains committed to bringing attention to Black hockey history, including the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, which was designated as an event of national historic significance in 2024.
Dr. Wilton Littlechild
A residential school survivor whose work as a Cree leader, lawyer and Member of Parliament has transformed personal adversity into national and international advocacy, Dr. Wilton Littlechild was the commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations. Dr. Littlechild’s leadership contributed to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and his lifelong commitment to Indigenous rights, sport and reconciliation has been instrumental to healing and empowerment, particularly for Indigenous youth. A Companion of the Order of Canada, Dr. Littlechild is a Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame inductee, a two-time recipient of the Tom Longboat Award and a winner of the Pearson Peace Medal.
Dean Smith
A lawyer with the federal Department of Justice and volunteer hockey coach, W. Dean Smith, KC serves on the Hockey Nova Scotia Board of Directors as chair of diversity and inclusion, and is the president of the Black Ice Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame Society. In 2016, Dean was appointed a commissioner to the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children Restorative Public Inquiry, before serving as chair of Hockey Nova Scotia’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force from 2019 to 2021. In recognition of his dedication to diversifying hockey in Nova Scotia, Dean was awarded the Tom Miller Human Rights Award in 2022 and the NHL’s Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award in 2023.