Dan Aykroyd, B.A., is one of North America's best known comedians and actors. Born in Ottawa and a graduate of Carleton University (where he studied psychology, political science and criminal sociology), Dan began writing comedy sketches while at university.  He then went on to become a member of the well-known Second City comedy troupe in Toronto. In 1975, Dan became one of the members of the first cast of Saturday Night Live, which has gone on to become the longest running, most highly rated late-night comedy TV show in the world.  On the show, Dan created such memorable characters as Elwood Blues of the Blues Brothers (with John Belushi playing brother Jake Blues until he passed away), and impressed with his very accurate impressions of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.  Leaving the show in 1980, Dan went on to a successful film (and screenwriting) career, first in The Blues Brothers movie, then among 40 other films Trading Places, Ghostbusters, Dragnet,Grosse Pointe Blank, and Chaplin (in which he played Canadian Mack Sennett, the legendary silent film director).  His first straight dramatic role, in Driving Miss Daisy, earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Dan also has appeared in several TV shows, including Psi Factor and Soul Man, which he both developed and starred in, along with the 1990 Earth Day Special.  In 1992, Dan established in partnership with others thevery successful House of Blues chain of live music clubs and restaurants, and he continues to perform (often at charity events) as the Blues Brothers with John Belushi's brother Jim.  Dan Aykroyd maintains strong ties to his family in Ottawa, and to Canada, including starring in the CBC TV mini-series The Arrow, about the development and scrapping of the world-leading Avro Arrow jet airplane by the federal government in the late 1950s, and assisting with the fundraising efforts of several organizations.  In 1999, Dan was named a Member of the Order of Canada.  In June 2007, Dan announced a partnership with Diamond Estates Wine & Spirits Ltd. to build the Dan Aykroyd Winery in Lincoln, Ontario with an environmentally sustainable design and production process.

David Baker, LL.B., LL.M., was a founder of, and the Executive Director of, the Advocacy Resource Centre for the Handicapped (ARCH) from 1980 to 1998.  ARCH is a public interest law centre governed by a board of directors representing 45 disability organizations.  It engages in test litigation, law reform, and public education.  David has been involved in human rights and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms litigation, as well as law reform in such areas as employment equity, advocacy and income programs for persons with disabilities, throughout his career.  He is currently heads up a law firm in Toronto (bakerlaw.ca) focussing on human rights issues, and provided legal counsel to Democracy Watch in an historic money in politics court case, and an historic government ethics court case.

Lyse Blanchard has worked in the field of International Development since 1964, when she joined CUSO as a volunteer and taught in Ghana, West Africa.  She has an academic background in Political Science and Public Administration, and is fluent in English and French.  In addition to four years of field experience in Africa, she has worked in various sectors in Canada.  Her interest in human rights led to an active involvement on both a professional and personal level with community groups.  She has also worked as a senior consultant with multilateral institutions and has been retained as an advisor on the integration of women in development by a variety of firms and organizations.  Lyse served a four-year term as the Executive Director of CUSO from 1993-1998, a non-governmental Canadian organization committed to social justice around the globe, whose goals include developing alternatives that allow all people to participate in making decisions that affect them.  Since then she has worked as a consultant on gender equity, management and organizational development issues.

Marilou McPhedran, C.M., B.A., LL.B., LL.D., is a lawyer, consultant, and volunteer for many causes, focussing on the areas of equality and health. She was a volunteer member of the Ad Hoc Committee of Canadian Women on the Constitution which led to the successful campaign to change the Canadian Constitution in 1982 to include in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms the "Equal Rights Amendment" on gender equality, which she helped to draft.  Marilou is a founder and continuing volunteer Vice-Chair of METRAC (the Metro Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children) and Chair of the Board of the LEAF Foundation for the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund.  She is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, has been a Member of the Order of Canada since 1985 (awarded for her leadership on the Ad Hoc Committee on Women and the Constitution), and in 1992 was awarded an Honourary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Winnipeg, and the Canada 125 Medallion for community service.  Marilou completed a term as the Corporate Director of Healthy City Toronto for the City of Toronto in 1994, and was then the Corporate Director of the Women's Health Partnership at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, and is a former member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. She is the Founder and was the first Director of the International Women's Rights Project from 2003 to 2007 and still serves as an Advisory Partner for the Project.  In 2007, she was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, a position she left in April 2008 when she was named is the first Principal of the new Global College at the University of Winnipeg.