The Honest Talk

The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin was the first female and longest-serving Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Raised in a log house without electricity, plumbing or running water in the foothills of Alberta, she grew up to become one of the most respected jurists in Canadian history. Now retired from the Court and the author of two bestselling books, Chief Justice McLachlin speaks candidly about the highs and lows of her extraordinary life.

You could say that Nicole Verkindt was born into business. The child of aerospace industry entrepreneurs, she founded her own global company called OMX in her twenties, and she hasn’t looked back. Most Canadians know Nicole from her stint as a Dragon on CBC’s popular Next Gen Den and from her frequent media commentary, and this award-winning business leader continues to smash glass ceilings everywhere she goes.

Marci Ien is one of Canada’s most recognizable media personalities. She is co-host of CTV’s popular daytime lifestyle television show The Social, and spent more than fifteen years helping to ease Canadians into their day as co-host of Canada AM. Aside from her professional accomplishments, Marci is also a mom, a wife, a community builder and an activist, using her voice to raise awareness of systemic racism and to celebrate diversity and equality for all.

Before The Honourable Catherine McKenna became one of Canada’s most recognizable women, she was a human rights lawyer, a negotiator with the United Nations mission in East Timor and the co-founder of a non profit organization which committed to providing access to justice for all. Now serving as Canada’s Minister of Infrastructure and Communities after many years as Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna - mother, lawyer, politician and social justice advocate - talks about her public career and why she chose it, and her passion for building a better, more sustainable world.

Michelle Valberg is a celebrated photographer whose photos of people and nature have been featured in publications and exhibits around the world. As the Canadian Nikon Ambassador and the first Canadian Geographic Photographer in Residence, Michelle talks about the challenges and opportunities she has faced as a female entrepreneur in a non-traditional profession, and about using her camera lens to build a better world.

Bree Jamieson-Holloway is a respected international corporate lawyer and the Founder of Nurtured Life, a mobile health and wellness company. But Bree is also of mixed-race, and breaks her silence about the racism, bullying and aggression that marred her childhood, and how she developed the courage and resilience to chart her own path forward.

Ann Douglas is an award-winning author, CBC Radio commentator, mental health advocate and speaker. She speaks openly about parenting through a pandemic, her struggles with mental health, her journey to becoming an author and her thoughts about government policy change to better support parents and our economy.

Hosted by Catherine Clark and Jennifer Stewart, The Honest Talk will shed the layers of key messages and talking points, and create a forum that leaves women feeling connected, inspired and motivated in their careers and personal lives.