Dr. Angela Carter is the Canada Research Chair in
Equitable Energy Governance and Public Policy and Professor in the Department of Political Science at Memorial University. Her research is focused on climate and energy politics in Canada and internationally, particularly on how an oil production phaseout in Newfoundland and Labrador can be managed to improve social equity. Dr. Carter is an award-winning author from Conception Bay, Newfoundland.
www.angelavcarter.ca

Avi Lewis is a veteran journalist, educator and activist who brings 35 years of movement-building experience to his campaign for NDP leadership, combining grassroots organizing with national media reach to advance working-class politics across Canada. As a two-time federal NDP candidate (West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea-to-Sky 2021, Vancouver Centre 2025), Avi understands the challenges facing our party and the communities we serve. Between campaigns, he teaches Climate Justice and Documentary Film at UBC, preparing the next generation of organizers and storytellers.
https://www.ndp.ca/avilewis

Jessica McCormick is the President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour. The Federation unites and represents nearly 70,000 workers in the public and private sectors across the province.  

Jessica has worked in labour, student and social justice movements since 2010. Prior to her role with the Federation, Jessica was a Public Relations, Communications and Research Officer with the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees. She has also worked as Director of Public Affairs with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union and has served as National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, representing more than 600,000 college and university students. Jessica is passionate about supporting the next generation of union activists to organize and build worker power to win better wages, safer working conditions and strong communities.

Sherry Hillier was elected General Vice-President at the 2019 National Convention. Sherry served as Regional Vice-President representing Newfoundland and Labrador from 2017-2019, and was elected Division President in May 2018. As a licensed practical nurse, she has worked in long-term care for 24 years. She has been involved in her local since 1998 – as a shop steward, recording secretary, treasurer and president. On a provincial level, she has served as a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Health Care Bargaining Committee since 2008, as recording secretary for the division from 2008 to 2016, and as secretary-treasurer for the division since 2016.  She is also the labour representative on the Newfoundland and Labrador NDP provincial executive.  She brings her experience and passion for health care issues to CUPE’s National Health Care Issues Committee, and is also an active member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Health Care Coalition, and serves as liaison to the CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador Equality Committee.

Yvonne Earle (she/her) was born and raised on the island of Newfoundland. She is a graduate of Memorial University and received her post-graduate degrees in Library Science & later Information Science from the Universities of British Columbia and Toronto. Her library career included public, university and special libraries in locations across Canada and her active involvement in provincial, territorial and national library organizations. While at North York Public Library she served on their CUPE local executive and the bargaining committee where she learned firsthand the importance of “being at the table” to keep things on the table! For Yvonne “being at the table” has also meant actively participating in social justice organizations and lobbying over the years on issues ranging from rescinding the national abortion act to demanding equal pay to fighting NAFTA to getting the Canada Pharmacare Act passed.

Meghan Hollett (she/her) is a community champion and local organizer whose work and volunteering have been focused on engaging youth, new Canadians, and environmental sustainability.

Meghan has worked for over 10 years in the non-profit sector for organizations such as the Association for New Canadians, Community Sector Council NL, the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival and Conservation Corps NL. These days Meghan is a municipal public servant focused on housing.

You may catch Meghan in community these days volunteering at LSPU Hall scanning tickets for performances or organizing community cycling events for marginalized populations. 

Christine Saulnier is the Nova Scotia Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives (CCPA-NS), a role she’s held for 20 years. She holds a PhD in
political science and leads the living wage calculations for Newfoundland and
Labrador, Nova Scotia, and PEI. Saulnier is co-author of recent reports on pay
equity in Atlantic Canada and on the value of public services in Newfoundland
and Labrador, and is a frequent media commentator on economic and social
policy in the region. Originally from New Brunswick, she has called Halifax home
for almost 25 years.

Lesley Burgess is Executive Director of Bridges to Hope Food Aid Centre. Serving the St. John’s Metro region since 1989, Bridges to Hope’s mission is to provide dignified and accessible assistance to our neighbours experiencing food insecurity.

Patrice Gordon (she/her) is a Jamaican who emigrated to Canada to pursue a career in Early Childhood Education in 2013 and has since made Newfoundland and Labrador home with her teenage daughter Imani. A Level III Early Childhood Educator, Patrice has worked in various capacities within the early learning and childcare sector, including as an ECE in both for-profit and non-profit centres, a family childcare operator and Manager of Childcare Development at YWCA St. John’s. Patrice currently serves on the Board of Directors for Child Care Now, and is a member of Child Care Now NL Steering Committee. She is extremely passionate about the early learning and childcare sector, especially in Newfoundland and Labrador and is committed to continuously advocating for meaningful change that will support ECEs, children and families.

Sally Housser was raised in downtown St. John’s and started her career with the NDP in the office of Jack Harris. She is a political commentator and public affairs professional who now serves as the Saskatchewan NDP MLA for Regina University and Shadow Minister for Energy, Resources and SaskEnergy. Sally has previously served as Deputy Director of Communications for the Manitoba Government, Press Secretary for Jack Layton and Rachel Notley, and has worked as a consultant for the renewable energy, oil and gas, health care and IT sectors. Sally has frequently appeared on CBC’s Power and Politics and in print and radio nationwide. She is an active volunteer having served as a board member with the Regina Chamber of Commerce and Regina YMCA.

Anne Malone is a Disability Rights Activist who has a sensory disability (sight loss), and whose work emanates from her own experiences of ableism, after many years of living in a world that perceived her as “normal”. Anne is a TED-X St. John’s alumnus (License to Beg, 2015), emerging author (Popcorn For the Blind (essay), Voices From The Shore anthology), and has appeared
in two documentaries (Honk If You See Me In The
Road, How To Fail At Accessibility) and broadcast
news media productions. In 2021, as an expression of protest, Anne ran as a candidate-at-large in the St. John’s, NL municipal election. Her platform advocated that the City adopt a Universal Design policy as a solution to the woefully inaccessible conditions experienced by people with disabilities or other mobility barriers in St. John’s. Anne lives in St. John’s NL, where she navigates a complex urban environment with the support of her Guide Dog, Purdy.

Mat Whynott is the Nova Scotia Regional Rep for the Canadian Labour Congress and has been in this roll for 3 years. A long time political operative, he has worked in the background from everything from a campaign director in PEI and Newfoundland & Labrador to a regional organizer for Atlantic Canada and has also sat in the NS Legislature as the youngest MLA ever elected for the former riding of Hammonds Plains Upper Sackville from 2009-2013, where he served at the Chief Government Whip and Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and Education.