Board of Directors
Janet Turnbull Irving (she/her)
Chair
Janet Turnbull Irving is President of The Turnbull Agency, a literary agency based in Toronto. With a career in book publishing that spans over 35 years, she was Vice-President & Publisher of Bantam-Seal Books and a partner with the international literary agency Curtis Brown. In 1998 she founded an independent school for students in K-8, and as a school Board Director spear-headed capital campaigns for several independent schools. A strong supporter of quality education and LGBTQ rights, Janet joined the Canvas Board in 2018.
Jennifer Looi (she/her)
President
Jennifer Looi is the Business Intelligence Lead at the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). Her role is to help OTF work more intelligently with data, and modernize data practices to better support operational and strategic decision-making. She operates with the philosophy that data can and should be for everyone. Prior to joining OTF, she worked to help a number of state departments in Rhode Island to set up outcomes-oriented performance measurement strategies to inform the design of education and employment programs.
Omer Riza (he/him)
Treasurer
Omer Riza is an experienced accountant with S&R Tax and a successful business leader. He has extensive knowledge of international trade, business management, and non-profit financial practices. Omer has extensive experience providing financial oversight for growing nonprofits at the Board level; he was the treasurer for Sketch Working Arts before joining the CANVAS board.
Arielle Lewis (they/them)
Secretary
Arielle Lewis is a policy professional with 5 years of experience as a Senior Policy Analyst in health and social policy for municipal and provincial governments. Their role includes working on high-priority files that cut across multiple sectors in health and social services. Passionate about advocacy and access to justice, Arielle participates in various community-based equity and inclusion initiatives and has experience in leading and facilitating educational programming for professionals. Arielle received a JD degree from Osgoode Hall Law School where they focused their studies on health, mental health, and disability law. They also hold a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Ethics, Society & Law and Jewish Studies from the University of Toronto.
Executive Directors
Miriam Selick (she/her)
Co-founder & Co-executive Director, Programming
Ayla Lefkowitz | she/her
Co-founder & Co-executive Director, Partnerships & Development
Office Staff
Joey (he/him)
Brand & Product Manager
As our in-house artist, Joey works in multi-disciplined art and design mediums throughout the organization. His responsibilities include material production, brand guidance, web design, graphic design, and community art programming.
Syd (they/them)
Adult and Community Programs Manager, Back Talk Social Worker
Syd is a therapist, social worker, and lover of creative writing. Much of their role involves supporting CANVAS' Back Talk: Voices Against Violence program. They work collaboratively with Robyn to support program development and co-lead Back Talk workshops and events. Syd also provides emotional support and resource referral to participants and team members, and acts as a facilitator & moderator for our school programs.
Sangita (she/her)
Finance Manager
Sangita keeps track of the CANVAS financial transactions, records, and data to keep things running smooth!
Robyn (she/he/they)
Youth & Community Programs Team Lead
Robyn is the lead community programmer and facilitator for Back Talk: Voices Against Violence, and co-facilitator for Sculpting Identity, two of our main community programs. Robyn is also a member of the Anti-Racism Committee. If you want to hear details about the arts-based work we do in the community, Robyn is an excellent resource.
Tonya (she/her)
Youth Programs Manager
Tonya is a recent graduate of OISE's Master of Teaching program who enjoys working with children and youth in various capacities. Tonya is a pop culture lover who enjoys karaoke, reading, dancing, and cartoons.
Paddy Leung (they/them)
Adult Programs Coordinator
Paddy is our Adult Programs Manager, working closely with the community and adult program teams. With their many years of experience and passion for arts-facilitation, they focus on program customization and development for CANVAS's Youth Equity Support (YES) and Reframe programs.
Monica (she/her)
Evaluation Coordinator
Monica is our in-house evaluation specialist. Monica is a Psychology graduate from the University of Guelph-Humber who has been working as a research assistant ever since. When she's not analyzing data, she's spending her time on her computer playing video games or watching anime.
Jules (she/her)
Office & Administrative Coordinator
Jules’ focus cross-departmental support to the Program and Development teams. She keeps our departments organized, provides event support and even does material creation!
Nicole (they/she)
Outreach and Communications Coordinator
As the Outreach & Communications Coordinator, Nicole will contribute to the achievement of CANVAS’ goals through stakeholder engagement, sales of CANVAS services, partnership creation, program facilitation, and communications excellence.
Sonny (they/them)
Youth & Community Programs Coordinator
As our Youth & Community Programs Coordinator, Sonny supports the Adult Programs Manager with program customization and development for CANVAS's Youth Equity Support (YES) and Reframe programs