Founder & Chief Development Officer, Alberta Classical Academy

Caylan Ford is an international affairs specialist, documentary filmmaker, and charter school founder. She earned a B.A. (Hons.) in Chinese history from the University of Calgary, an M.A. in International Relations from the George Washington University, and a M.St in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University.

She previously served as a senior policy advisor with Global Affairs Canada, and wrote and co-produced two feature documentaries that shed light on China’s system of reeducation-through-labour, religious persecution, and mass persuasion under totalitarian regimes.

Her most recent documentary project examined the problem of “cancel culture”—a phenomenon she experienced personally during a 2019 run for political office. She is the founder of the Alberta Classical Academy, a K-12 charter school network that now serves approximately 1300 students in Calgary and Edmonton. Caylan occasionally writes on topics related to education, culture, family, foreign policy, and philosophy.

Litigation Director, Canadian Constitution Foundation

Christine Van Geyn is a Canadian lawyer and bestselling author. She is the Litigation Director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation and host of the national broadcast television program Canadian Justice. She is a YouTuber, Podcaster, and professional speaker.

 Christine earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Ethics, Society and Law at the University of Toronto, Trinity College. Christine earned her JD at Osgoode Hall Law school, and also studied at New York University School of Law. She was called to the bar in Ontario in 2012. Before joining CCF, Christine practiced commercial litigation, and then was the Ontario Director of a national non-profit where she was involved in several high profile constitutional challenges.

Chair, Ontario Law Society Tribunal

Malcolm Mercer is the Chair of the Ontario Law Society Tribunal which adjudicates lawyer and paralegal conduct, capacity and licensing disputes. He speaks and writes regularly on legal ethics. He is an adjunct professor of Osgoode Hall Law School, teaching legal ethics, and a member of the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics. Malcolm was previously the administrator of the Thunder Bay Police Services Board. Malcolm was previously an elected bencher from and Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario, which regulates lawyers and paralegals in Ontario. Malcolm has been a member of the Ontario Judicial Council, Chair of the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee of the Canadian Bar Association, Ethics and Regulatory Team Lead for the CBA Futures Project, General Counsel to and litigation partner of McCarthy Tétrault LLP and member of the Immigration Appeal Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Partner, BT Legal

Lorne is one of Canada’s top legal experts in Defamation Law.  While acting for both Plaintiffs and Defendants in the complicated world of Libel Law, Lorne is consulted regularly to assist his clients to have defamatory information removed from social media and other internet sites. He has acted in breach of privacy issues and misappropriation of personality cases.

Lorne received his Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto in 1977 and his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1995. Prior to practising law on a full time basis, Lorne was the legal specialist for City TV in Toronto for more than 20 years. With thousands of stories filed, he was considered one of Canada's most experienced broadcast journalists.

In addition to defamation law, Lorne's litigation practice is both extensive and wide ranging including, corporate, civil, regulatory, product liability and criminal.

Lorne was an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto where he taught a course on defamation from the litigation perspective. Lorne's teaching and consulting services expand beyond the Court and Classroom. He provides reputation management consulting to executives in the fields of pharmaceuticals, insurance, entertainment and health sciences. Read more.

Professor, University of Alberta Faculty of Law

Steven Penney is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Alberta. Born and raised in Edmonton, he received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. He researches, teaches, and consults in the areas of criminal procedure, evidence, and substantive criminal law. He is co-author of Criminal Procedure in Canada and co-editor of Evidence: A Canadian Casebook; Professor in Residence

at Sankoff Criminal Law; a member of the advisory board of the Alberta Law Review; and Chair of the Centre for Constitutional Studies Advisory Board.

Previously, he was Associate Dean at the Faculty of Law, University of Alberta; Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario; Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of New Brunswick, and law clerk to Mr. Justice Gérard V. La Forest of the Supreme Court of Canada. He is the winner of the Faculty of Law Tevie Miller Teaching Excellence Award (2020) and the Law Society of Alberta / Canadian Bar Association Distinguished Service Award for Legal Scholarship (2021).