​The Hon. Peter MacKay

Vice-Chairman
Wounded Warriors Canada

The Honourable Peter MacKay served in the Parliament of Canada for over 18 years as a Member of Parliament, including Cabinet Minister in the Harper Government for 10 years, as well as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of National Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. Mr. MacKay chaired the Government National Security Committee for almost 10 years and served on numerous other inter-parliamentary committees. Prior to politics he served as a Crown Attorney.  He is now working as a Strategic Advisor with Deloitte Canada and Counsel with McInnes Cooper, an Atlantic Canadian law firm.  He works nationally and internationally in areas such as aerospace and defense, procurement, infrastructure, and justice reform.

Peter serves as a Board Member for Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. and on numerous volunteer boards including Wounded Warriors, Boost Child & Youth Advocacy the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, and the Canada United States Law Institute.  Peter is a loving husband to Nazanin and father to their 3 children Kian 9, Valentia 6, and Caledon 3.  He lives by the sea in Kings Head, Nova Scotia, with two dogs and two cats.

Dr. R. Nicholas Carleton Ph.D., R.D. Psych

University of Regina

R. Nicholas Carleton, Ph.D. is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and a registered clinical psychologist in Saskatchewan. His work is focused on supporting the mental health of first responders and other public safety personnel. He has published more than 270 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters exploring the fundamental bases of anxiety- and trauma-related disorders. He has completed more than 500 national and international conference presentations. He also serves as an active member of several national and international professional associations. As principal or co-principal investigator he has been awarded more than $72M in competitive external funding. He has received several prestigious awards and recognitions, including induction to the Royal Society of Canada’s College and as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and he was awarded the 2023 Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation Mid-Career Award and the 2020 Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research. He is principal investigator for the RCMP Longitudinal PTSD Study (www.rcmpstudy.ca) and the associated extension study for Saskatchewan public safety personnel (www.saskptsistudy.ca), and co-investigator on the Federal Internet Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program for public safety personnel (www.PSPSNET.ca).

​Angela Gevaudan

WWC Ambassador
Greater Sudbury, Ontario

A sensitive and intuitive soul, Angela has a heightened awareness of her experiences and the experiences of others.  Her lived experience with trauma is rooted in intergenerational trauma, continued through her childhood and was impactful to the point of a post traumatic stress injury following a traumatic loss.

As a former 911 communicator/dispatcher, she was quite impacted both professionally and personally by the loss of her late husband and their two colleagues and friends who were all assassinated in the line of duty on June 4, 2014. The more she learns about trauma, the more she realizes how it has shaped her way of being in so many ways.  That her need to feel safe often takes priority in any given situation and she continues to work towards feeling safe within herself.  Through her post traumatic stress injury, she’s been able to learn a lot from her peers and various health practitioners.  The symptoms she’s experienced with this injury have been and can be scary at times.  Knowing how difficult it can be, and needing to understand this injury for herself has also driven her to try and be helpful to other first responders with injuries, to surviving families and to advocate for the health and safety of those who serve our communities.

In recognizing her own need for help with her traumatic grief and with the intention to honour the experiences of her fellow surviving spouses – she was able to contribute to the development of the Wounded Warriors Canada Surviving Spouse Program.  She hopes that with the work she does, she is able to honour the gift of her Mi’kmaw spirit name.  “As I connect with the spirit of my name, White Eagle Dove, I understand that this gift is what I must strive to live up to and continuously choose to work towards.  That is –  to have the courage to connect to that which is pure within me, within all of us.  To have the strength of the seer, the warrior in order to carry prayers to the creator.  To find inner peace within myself – in all ways and with all things, so that others may also feel invited to find peace within themselves.”

Angela is grateful beyond words to have had the privilege to contribute to and participate in the first delivery of the SSP.  She is both grateful and relieved to know that her fellow surviving spouses will have the opportunity to explore their traumatic grief safely and with the appropriate support.

Master of Ceremonies

Ken Reid

Co-host
Sportsnet Central

Ken Reid is the co-host of Canada’s most watched sports news program, the prime-time edition of Sportsnet Central. Ken is also a best selling author and hockey historian. He has written seven books on the game. His 8th and newest release, ‘The Nest One’ will be released in fall 2025.

Ken has spent over 25 years in sports media. He started his career in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia followed by stops in Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton and Toronto. He has appeared as a co-host on Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and had a dream come true during the 2017-18 NHL season when he made his first appearance on Hockey Night in Canada. He has covered the Stanley Cup, Grey Cups, the Super Bowl and just about everything during his television career.

Ken approaches sports like he approaches any aspect of his life, with a smile and a great sense of humour.

Plenary Speakers

Alison Cocking BSc. PT, M.Ed.

Managing Director
Insight Health Solutions, Trillium Health Partners

Alison Cocking is a strategic healthcare leader who serves as Trillium Health Partner’s Managing Director, Insight Health Solutions, one of Canada’s largest hospital-based disability management third-party programs. As a senior leader in the healthcare sector, Alison has over three decades of experience leading high functioning teams and programs in their delivery of impactful value-based quality services. The ability to financially contribute Insight’s profits to the hospital’s programs and services to help create a new kind of healthcare for a healthier community, is what drives and inspires her. Alison is a UK-trained Physiotherapist with a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Toronto. An avid kayaker, hiker, traveler and general enthusiast of the great outdoors, Alison’s goal is to have visited 100 countries by 2045.

Scott Maxwell

Chief Executive Officer
Wounded Warriors Canada

Dr. Paul Robert Thomas Atkinson, BSc (Hons), MB BCh BAO, MA (Cantab), FRCEM, FRCPC

Clinical Academic Department Head
Department of Emergency Medicine
Saint John Area, New Brunswick

Dr. Paul Atkinson is a Professor in Emergency Medicine at Dalhousie University and recently appointed Clinical-Academic Head in Emergency Medicine, Saint John Area, New Brunswick, and Assistant Dean, Research at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick. He is also deputy editor for the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine; and was Chief Medical Officer at WorkSafeNB from 2016 to 2020. He is past chair of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians research committee, as well as the NB Trauma Program research sub-committee.

His international training began at the Queen’s University of Belfast, followed by postgraduate programs in internal medicine in Belfast and emergency medicine in Cambridge, UK. He completed a fellowship at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia. He relocated to Saint John, N.B. from Cambridge in late 2009.

He has over 80 peer-reviewed publications, as well as being the lead editor on two textbooks, Emergency Medicine an Illustrated Colour Text, 2010; and Point of Care Ultrasound in Emergency Medicine and Resuscitation, 2019.

Awards include the inaugural “Best in Class” undergraduate teaching award from Dalhousie University in 2012, and the national Grant Innes Award for Emergency Medicine research in 2014, and the Ian Stiell Researcher of the Year Award from the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, 2019.

Paul is married to Julie, and together they have three young adult offspring, Jordyn, Lucy and Jack. Paul enjoys cycling and hiking in the wide-open spaces of New Brunswick and is looking forward to the challenge of leading the emergency medicine team in the Saint John zone.

Dr. Tim Black PhD, R. Psych.

National Clinical Director
Wounded Warriors Canada

Dr. Tim Black, R. Psych. is the National Clinical Director for Wounded Warriors Canada. During his more than 20-year career as a tenured Associate Professor at one of the top graduate counsellor education programs in the country, Dr. Black has been a researcher, clinician, program developer, program co-founder, and clinical supervisor specializing in group counselling approaches for working with Trauma Exposed Professionals (TExP) and Trauma Exposed Family (TExF) members. As National Clinical Director, Tim supports and oversees the development and delivery of WWC’s group counselling programs in Canada, as well as WWC’s TExP education and training programs, alongside an extensive team of dedicated mental health professionals committed to serving the needs of TExP and TExF communities.

Dr. Heidi Cramm, PhD, OT Reg. (Ont.)

Research Lead, Families Matter Research Group & Garnet Families Network
Queen’s University

Heidi Cramm is Professor, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen’s University and a registered occupational therapist. She is the lead for Garnet Families, the hub for first responder, public safety, and defence families, and those who study, serve, and support them. She is the research lead for the interdisciplinary Families Matter Research Group, working in tandem with its Garnet Families Network. As Project Director for the Garnet Families Partnership, funded through to 2031, she leads this collaboration that grows the community, creates knowledge, and advances research training. She has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and publications primarily dedicated to the mental health and wellbeing of defence and public safety families. She has completed more than 300 regional, national, and international presentations and received over $11M in competitive research funding as a Principal or Co-Principal Investigator. Dr. Cramm has been recognized with multiple distinguished research and leadership awards, including the 2018 Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists’ Leadership Award and the 2021 Mihran and Mary Basmajian Award for Excellence in Health Science Research. She is also the Co-Principal Investigator for PSPNET Families (pspnetfamilies.ca), an online wellbeing hub for public safety families. As a longtime PSP spouse, she understands what it is like for families to be “on the job”.

Dr. Rosemary Ricciardelli, PhD

Professor and Research Chair: Safety, Security, and Wellness
Memorial University of Newfoundland

Dr. Rosemary Ricciardelli is Professor (PhD) and Research Chair in Safety, Security, and Wellness, at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Fisheries and Marine Institute. The winner of the 2023 International Corrections and Prison Association’s Research Excellence Award and the Canadian Sociological Association’s Angus Reid Applied Researcher Award, Ricciardelli was also elected to the Royal Society of Canada and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Her research centers on evolving understandings of gender, vulnerabilities, risk, and experiences and issues within different facets of the criminal justice system and among mariners. She has published 17 books, 285+ journal articles and 70+ chapters all in the areas of police, firefighting, correctional workers, public safety communicators, and criminalized persons, and wellness – broadly defined. As a sex and gender researcher, her interests lay in the social health, identity construction, and lived experiences of individuals. She leads a longitudinal study on the mental health and well-being experiences of correctional officers employed by Correctional Services Canada.

Matthew Pegg

Chief Operating Officer
Warrior Health

In November 2024, Matthew Pegg joined the Warrior Health team as Chief Operating Officer, following a 32+ year career as a Firefighter and Fire Chief. From 2016 through 2024, he served as the Fire Chief in the City of Toronto, Canada. Toronto Fire Services is the largest fire service in Canada and one of the largest in North America, with more than 3,250 career staff who respond to more than 184,000 emergency incidents each year.

From March 2020 through April 2022, Chief Pegg served as the City of Toronto’s COVID-19 Incident Commander, leading the development and continued operation of one of the most complex incident management systems in North American history. This included leading the longest-ever continuous deployment of Toronto’s Emergency Operations Centre, as well as the development and operation of Toronto’s COVID-19 Immunization Task Force and development of the Provincial playbook for vaccine clinic operations.

Prior to being appointed as Fire Chief in Toronto, Chief Pegg served as a Deputy Fire Chief in Toronto, Brampton, Ajax, and Georgina, and he is also a licensed mechanic and a commercial pilot, having also worked in both industries. Chief Pegg is a graduate of Dalhousie University in both Leadership and Administration, Queen’s University in Labour Relations, and the Schulich School of Business’ in Public Management. He is a recipient of the Heroism and Community Service Medal, Ontario Medal of Firefighter’s Bravery, the Canadian Fire Service Exemplary Service Medal, and the Ontario Fire Services Long Service medal.

Matt is a strong advocate for mental health and has worked tirelessly to break down the stigma faced by those who seek professional help to both get and stay healthy and resilient. Leveraging his experience and passion as a public safety professional, Matt now leads the Warrior Health consortium in delivering proactive resilience and mental health resources, training and support for public safety personnel across Ontario.

Toni Harrington, MSW, MSc., DSc(c)

Assistant Vice President Mental Health Innovation
Homewood Health Inc.

Toni is the AVP of Work Focused Mental Health Innovation at Homewood Health within Workplace Intervention and Clinical Services. Toni is responsible for providing the vision and leadership required to execute and deliver high-quality, accessible, and integrated work-focused mental health and addictions programs across the country. For over two decades, Toni has dedicated her work to changing the trajectory of health for working Canadians by ensuring optimal and accountable care through evidence-based occupational and organizational health practices. Toni holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Social Work from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Toni also holds a Master’s of Occupational Health Science from McGill University and is currently a doctoral candidate at Queen’s University. Toni hopes to defend her research in the fall of 2025. Toni’s research identified the key components of a practice framework for case managers working with public safety personnel.

Shannon Remers, MSc

Senior Director Research, Quality and Outcomes
Homewood Health Inc.

With over 15 years of dedicated service and experience in the mental health and addictions sector, Shannon is an effective and highly experienced professional, researcher, and presenter and serves as the Director of Research, Quality and Outcomes at Homewood Health Inc.

Within her role as Director, she leads innovative research initiatives to optimize treatment outcomes and utilizes her expertise to improve treatment across Homewood’s Continuum of Care. Her primary focus is integrating best practices into various treatment programs, defining and implementing measurement-based care and employing psychometrics to tailor treatment plans effectively.

In addition to her role at Homewood, she is a Collaborating Researcher with the Homewood Research Institute and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. Her academic background includes a Master of Science in Cognitive Neuroscience from Wilfrid Laurier University, a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology, complemented by a diploma in Forensics Science from Saint Mary’s University.

Shannon’s work is driven by a passion for advancing mental health treatment through rigorous research and evidence-based practices.

Mike Sears

Captain
Halifax FFA

Mike Sears is a dedicated firefighter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a deep commitment to serving his community through resilience, teamwork, and compassion. Born in Halifax but raised in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, Mike grew up with a strong sense of duty and a desire to make a difference. This drive led him to pursue a career in firefighting, where he has become known for his unwavering work ethic, problem-solving skills, and ability to remain calm under pressure. Mike is currently assigned to a Technical Rescue Company in Halifax at the rank of Captain.

With 21 years of experience in emergency response, Mike has been involved in a wide range of challenging scenarios. Beyond his technical skills, Mike places a high value on mental health and well-being within the fire service, advocating for peer support and resilience training, as well as, coverage for members with no barriers to care to help his colleagues navigate the stresses of their demanding roles.

Outside of his work, Mike is an active member of his community, donating his time for the charity Fight4Life as a Founder and current President and is also the Government Affairs Liaison for the Halifax Professional Firefighters I.A.F.F. Local 268. In his downtime, he enjoys exploring the scenic beauty of Nova Scotia, spending time with family, and staying active through hunting, fishing, and anything else that brings him into nature.