Digital Media at the Crossroads

Dr. Carolyne Sumner is the Executive Director of DM@X. She is currently an Assistant Professor and Cross-Cultural Exchange Advisor at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, and has recently completed her PhD in Musicology from the same institution. Her doctoral thesis investigates the gatekeeping activities of a network of musicians and music administrators who governed the cultural institutions crucial to the dissemination of Canadian art music during the mid-twentieth century, and evaluates the subsequent challenges posed by the implementation of a national cultural policy in Canada upon their activities during the postcentennial era. Since the beginning of her academic career, Carolyne has presented her research at professional conferences including The Canadian University Music Society and the American Musicological Society, and her work has been published in Les Cahiers de la Société québécoise de recherche en musique (SQRM), Intersections, and American Music. Over the course of her academic career, Carolyne's research has been generously supported by various provincial and federal academic awards and grants, including the Ontario Graduate Student award and a SSHRC Doctoral fellowship award.

Doug Barrett (Steering Committee Chair) is a veteran of over 40 years in the Canadian media and entertainment industries. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Arts, Media and Entertainment MBA Program at the Schulich School of Business at York University. Previously he was the BellMedia Professor of Media Management at Schulich. From 2006 until its sale in 2013, he was the President and CEO of PS Production Services Ltd., one of Canada's oldest and leading suppliers of professional motion picture and television production equipment with operations in Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg and Halifax. From 2004 to 2008 Mr. Barrett served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Television Fund (“CTF”). Prior to that he provided the Corporate Secretariat for the CTF from 1996 to 2004, working with a distinguished list of Chairs including Philip Lind, Peter Herrndorf, Richard Stursberg and Janet Yale. From 1986 until 2007, Mr. Barrett was a Partner in the law firm now called McMillan LLP where he developed a leading media and entertainment law practice under the KNOWlaw banner. Mr. Barrett has served on several Canadian television and film industry boards for periods exceeding 10 years, including the Banff Television Foundation, the Feature Film Project of the Canadian Film Centre and the Canadian Film & Television Production Association. He holds an MSc from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and an LLB/JD from Dalhousie University.

Ope Akanbi is Associate Professor in the Creative School and the Graduate Program in Communication and Culture at Toronto Metropolitan University. She also serves as Undergraduate Program Director of the School of Creative Industries. Her research examines the political economy of media, focusing on how corporate interests and capitalist structures shape media industries. She was lead author of Platform Governance: The Antitrust Option, which received the 2024 Canadian Journal of Communication Editor’s Award. Ope teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in media policy and privacy and holds graduate degrees in law and communication.

Samuel Bischoff is the Director of Policy at the Directors Guild of Canada, where he leads national policy and advocacy efforts on issues shaping the screen industry, including artificial intelligence, broadcasting regulation, copyright, and sustainability.

Trained in copyright and audiovisual law, he works at the intersection of public policy, creative rights, and industry practice. His work examines how technological and regulatory change affects creative workers, production, and the long-term sustainability of the film and television industry. He draws on this background and his experience in policy and advocacy to examine the frameworks that guide the adoption of emerging technologies and the role of creators in shaping the future of storytelling.

Grant Buchanan is a top-ranked communications lawyer, a counsel at McCarthy Tétrault LLP and head of the firm's Communication Group. His practice covers a wide range of telecom, broadcast and copyright matters. His experience includes acting as counsel to many broadcasters, telecommunications companies and others. These include/have included BCE/Bell Canada, BBC, Bloomberg, Corus Entertainment, Loral, NTT, theScore, Ontario Ministry of Culture, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Directors Guild of Canada, Astral Media Radio, Toronto Metropolitan University Radio Inc., Stingray, and SiriusXM Canada; Canadian Broadcasters Rights Agency Inc., Pelmorex, Nextwave Broadband, Tata, VisionTV, World Wrestling Federation and many more. He is listed at the top of all of the relevant legal ranking services, and was named “Communications Lawyer of the Year” (Toronto) by Best Lawyers in Canada in 2020. He is the President of the International Institute of Communications, Canadian Chapter, and is the National Coordinator of the McCarthy Tétrault & Martin Family Initiative Mentorship Program for Indigenous Students. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Counsel at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Lincoln Alexander Faculty of Law as well as in the Faculty of Communication and Design.

Dr. Sara Diamond is a member of the expert panel of the Canadian Centre for the Purpose of the Corporation (CCPC) and a Senior Advisor with Navigator based out of Toronto. Sara is a global strategist focused on creating an innovative and inclusive future with extensive experience in design thinking and strategic foresight. Sara's breadth of experiences in leadership, innovation and service will drive the work that she does with CCPC.

She has served as president of OCAD University in Toronto, Canada for fifteen years and is now President Emerita. Sara holds an ICD.D (Directors Designation) Institute of Corporate Directors and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a PhD in Computing, IT and Engineering from the University of East London, a Masters in New Media Arts from the University of Arts, London, and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, History and Communication, Simon Fraser University.

Sara founded and led the Banff New Media Institute, a global digital think tank, research centre and incubator as a senior administrator at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, and has created and supported start-up incubators including the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre, OCAD U's Imagination Catalyst and OCADU CO. She leads institutional transformation within digital media/ICT and diverse industry sectors, arts, and post-secondary institutions.

Sara brings over three decades of service on university, not-for-profit, and start-up boards; as chair of juries, associations and association executives, and advisory committees. She consults with governments, industry, boards and institutions on digital media and economies, AI adoption, design, public art, cultural sector, and inclusion policy. She is passionately committed to equity and respect for Indigenous knowledge and cultures. She is an inventor and lateral thinker; an internationally recognized artist, turned research and policy leader. She continues research in data analytics, and visualization and the relationships of human practices, culture, and technologies. Sara has been recognized for her service initiatives through several awards, for example, she was appointed to the Order of Canada C.M. and the Order of Ontario and received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for Service to Canada. She has received two digital media "pioneer" awards, an Inspiring 50 award for the Advancement of Diversity in STEM fields (Government of Netherlands and Senate of Canada); and was designated a Canada 150 leader, champion and luminary and one of Toronto Life's 50 Most influential in 2014.

Dr. Lorena Escandon is from Mexico (B. in Information Technology), and has lived in Sweden (M.Sc in Entrepreneurship), Spain and now Canada (Ph.D in Innovation Management). She speaks Spanish, English and French. Her courses are at the intersection of innovation, creativity, technology and entrepreneurship because those are her passions and research interests. She is trying to get people to work together and use technology to create new ideas and bring them to the market. She organizes workshops, bootcamps and special programs to get participants working together out of their comfort zone. She loves post-its, travel, coffee and walking her dog.

Peter S. Grant is a retired Senior Counsel at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, one of Canada's largest law firms. For many years he was the head of its Communications Group. Mr. Grant pioneered the field of communications law in Canada, and for over 50 years his practice was substantially devoted to this field, including broadcasting and cable television licensing, satellite services, copyright negotiations, cultural industries, and telecommunications regulation. Mr. Grant is the author or co-author of numerous articles, books and publications, including Blockbusters and Trade Wars: Popular Culture in a Globalized World (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2004), Canadian Broadcasting Regulatory Handbook, now in its 14th edition (2017), Communications Law and the Courts in Canada, now in its third edition (2020), and Guide to the Copyright Board of Canada (2020). Mr. Grant’s autobiography, Changing Channels: Confessions of a Canadian Communications Lawyer, was published by Porcupine’s Quill in 2013. Mr. Grant was one of six experts on the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel, which published its report, Canada's Communications Future: Time to Act, in January 2020. Mr. Grant’s website, www.petersgrant.com, contains further information, including links to his recent and current essays.

Lisa Henderson is professor and recent past dean (2019-25) of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University. From 1994-2019 she was Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she also served as Chair from 2009-13. From 2005-09, she was director of CISA, the Five College Center for Crossroads in the Study of the Americas. She is a radio producer by early training, co-founder of the International Communication Association's LGBTQ Studies Interest Group, and 2011 recipient of the Roy F. Aarons Award for outstanding contribution to GLBT education and research from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Her book Love and Money: Queers, Class, and Cultural Production (NYU, 2013) was a 2014 finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. New work considers artist/scholar collaboration and multi-modal research practice--how scholars use images, sound, music, code, and performance to create knowledge on campus and off. With colleagues from five continents, she currently co-leads a project to develop guidelines for the academic support of multi-modal scholarship.

Sally Lee is Executive Director of the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for Black and People of Colour Creators (CISF), the country's only dedicated production fund governed and operated by members of the Black and racialized communities it serves. CISF administers the Rogers-BSO Script Development Fund and has Certified Independent Production Fund status with the CRTC. With the passing of Bill C-11, Sally has been leading CISF's participation in the Commission's consultations towards a modernized regulatory framework. She has also served in leadership and management roles at the staff and board levels at the Reel Asian International Film Festival, CARFAC Ontario, the Toronto International Film Festival the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Coalition of Canadian Media Arts Distributors, among others.

Mary Elizabeth Luka

Margaret McGuffin is the CEO of Music Publishers Canada. Margaret’s career has focused on research and policy development, and she has worked with a large number of music industry trade and collective management organizations. She currently sits on the Board of Canada’s Theatre Museum, the External Advisory Board of York and Queen's Universities (Canada) Connected Minds Program, and is Chair of the Policy Committee of the Ontario Nonprofit Network.

Margaret is also always happy to talk to you about how music publishers are leading the way in making sure Canadian songs are heard around the world. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Western University and an MBA in Arts, Media and Entertainment Management from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Trina McQueen is Co-Director of the Arts, Media and Entertainment program at Schulich School of Business. In her media career, she was Head of CBC Television News (where she launched and oversaw the development of Canada’s first news channel), founding President of Discovery Channel and President and COO of CTV.

She has served on numerous media boards, including CBC/Radio Canada; Telefilm, Banff World Media Festival, Historica Canada, TVOntario and the Canadian Journalism Foundation. In the arts, her boards include the Canadian Opera Company, Canadian Stage, Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards and Tafelmusik In education, she served the boards of the Banff Centre for Creativity, the University of Waterloo and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, as well as advisory boards at Queen’s, Toronto Metropolitan University, UBC, Carleton, University of Regina and the Arts, Media, Performance and Design school at York University.

She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has received four honorary doctorates, from York University, University of Waterloo, Carleton University and Mount St. Vincent University. Other honours include the CBC News Hall of Fame, the Playback Film and Television hall of Fame, Crystal Awards from Women in Film and Television, and honourary life membership in the Directors Guild of Canada.

David Nostbakken is the principal behind a number of Canadian and international media related ventures including Vision TV, WETV International, Canadian Green Channel, Ecology Global Network, China Green Channel International. He is President and CEO of the communication consulting company Nostbakken and Nostbakken Inc. He served as Director at International Development Research Centre supporting R&D in policy and application of information and communication technologies for development in developing countries. Nostbakken has been a teacher of communication and social entrepreneurship at Carleton University, Ottawa, and at the McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto where he was a McLuhan Centenary Fellow 2014-2018. He is currently the President/CEO of the McLuhan Foundation committed to digital media literacy worldwide.

Stephen Stohn is currently serving as chancellor of Trent University, and a founding partner in the entertainment law firm Stohn Hay Cafazzo Heim Finlay LLP; chair of Orange Lounge Recordings; and a director of the Toronto Music Experience, the Canadian Retransmission Collective, ISAN Canada, and the Producers Audiovisual Collective of Canada. He is chair of the Artificial Intelligence Working Group of the Canadian Media Producers Association.

He is a longtime executive producer of the television franchise Degrassi, amongst several other series. For nearly twenty years, Stephen was a director and then chair of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and executive producer of The Juno Awards, Canada’s national music awards show.

A member of the Order of Canada, Stephen has been nominated four times for Primetime Emmy Awards, was inducted into the Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame in 2011 and is a winner of the Peabody Award. He has received 28 nominations for Canadian Screen Awards (formerly the Gemini Awards) and won 14 times. He and his wife Linda Schuyler recently received a Star on Canada’s Walk of Fame on behalf of Degrassi.

Stephen's industry experience includes being a partner for 10 years in McCarthy Tétrault. He is the author of Whatever It Takes: Life Lessons from Degrassi and Elsewhere in the World of Music and Television (Dundurn Press).

Richard Stursberg is the former President of PEN Canada. He is a communications executive who has been around the media business for a long time. He was President of the Canadian Cable Television Association, Cancom, Telefilm Canada and head of English services at the CBC. He currently runs a boutique consulting practice whose clients have included: Telus, Rogers Media, the Canadian Film Centre, Torstar Media and Allegro Capital. His controversial book, The Tower of Babble, was named one of the best books of 2012 by the Globe and Mail.