PowerShift 2026
MAY 25 – 27th
Making Sport Everyone’s Game
A pan-Canadian summit to reimagine sport, play, and movement as human rights.
ABOUT
POWERSHIFT 2026
Sport, play and movement are foundations of thriving communities and people–not luxuries. Yet access is uneven, systems are fragmented across Canada and experiences in sport and play fall short in reaching their full potential.
It’s time for a shift.
As the world turns to Canada for the FIFA World Cup, Play for Dignity is convening a landmark, three-day summit to unleash sport as a lever for dignity, equity, and wellbeing through the power of human rights.
We’re bringing together leaders from across the sport, play and movement who are ready to roll up their sleeves and help co-create what a rights-based sport system could look like in Canada. This is an active space — for debate, design, challenge, and collaboration. If you’re ready to build, not just observe, this is for you.
SUMMIT PROGRAMMING
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Shifting Power to Communities: Grassroots, Innovation & Human-Rights-Based Approaches
This workshop centres the everyday practitioners—coaches, organizers, community leaders, youth workers, and nonprofits—who animate Canada’s sport and play ecosystem. It explores the practice of human rights in action: how organizations embed dignity, inclusion, safety, reconciliation, and belonging on the ground. It highlights innovations that expand access, improve participant experience, and build new forms of collaboration across sectors.
Because Canada’s community sport system is under-resourced and highly fragmented, this track surfaces the practical tools, relational capital, and collaborative models needed to overcome silos.
Participants will share lessons from what’s working, including grassroots innovations, platform and access-expanding models, and community partnerships that unlock new value.
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Shifting Power Through Rights, Governance & Investment
This workshop focuses on the structural levers needed to realign sport in Canada with human rights, community wellbeing, and public-good outcomes. It examines the policy pathways that can shift the system—from federal frameworks and funding models to governance reforms and the emerging momentum behind a Canadian Bill of Rights for Sport and Play. Participants will engage with the next steps following the Future of Sport Commission, the role of federal/provincial/territorial governments, and the tools that can rebalance the ecosystem toward equity, safety, and access.
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Shifting Cultural Power: Storytelling, Representation & the Mavericks of Movement
Culture shapes what Canadians believe sport is for—and whose stories, bodies, and experiences matter. This workshop highlights storytellers, journalists, filmmakers, artists, athlete-advocates, and community “movement mavericks” whose voices reimagine the narrative of sport, play, and movement in Canada.
It explores how narratives can either reinforce exclusion or spark belonging, joy, and social change. Participants will delve into sport in media (traditional and digital), the rise of new storytelling platforms, and the cultural forces shaping public perception—from local community leagues to major tournaments like the World Cup and Northern Super League.
SHIFTS
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Reclaiming sport for community wellbeing
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New voices and narratives that shift culture
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Sharing a collective language and vision around implementation
CORE THEMES
END STATE
A shared framing, collective agenda, community of practice, and post-summit action plan to inform ongoing systems change.
PowerShift 2026 Program
At a Glance
Program Overview
Please note: Program subject to change.
Rights Holders
Day 1
Diagnosis & Possibility
Tuesday, May 26
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Duty Bearers
Day 2
Power & Will
Wednesday, May 27
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The work itself
Three Shifts
Three facilitated workshop tracks every participant moves through together.
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Summit Partners & Sponsors
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REGISTER FOR POWERSHIFT 2026
Discounted Hotel & AIrfare
Frequently Asked Questions
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We are an independent non-profit organization based in Toronto. Our aim is to make sport everyones games. Read more about us here.
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We are currently in the midst of shaping the summit programme and reaching out to speakers we hope to confirm for May. A draft programme and confirmed speakers will be shared towards the beginning of April. Keep an eye out on our social channels for updates too.
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We have a block booking reserved at a discounted rate for Summit attendees at the Omni King Edward Hotel. You can book via this link.
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Everyone who is ready to make tangible change in the Canadian sports system. Everyone from athletes, coaches, sponsors, policy makers, lawyers, advocates, health professionals, education professionals, researchers, and storytellers.
We ask attendees to come with a collaborative mindset that is ready to work on solutions for a future in Canada in which sport is recognized as not just a method for community and personal growth, but as a human right.
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Yes! Be prepared to be part of a collaborative effort on how to reimagine sports, movement, and play in Canada.
We will be working together on how best to shift practice, policy, and perception to recognize sport as a human right and realize that rights within sports are actually human rights.
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PowerShift is designed as an active experience.
Rather than choosing between sessions, all participants will move through three facilitated tracks together over the course of the summit. Each track is a working space where we’ll explore ideas, test assumptions, and co-design possibilities for a rights-based approach to sport, play, and physical activity in Canada.
At the end of each day, we’ll come back together to reflect on what’s emerging, the progress we’re making, the tensions we’re encountering, and the ideas worth carrying forward.
PowerShift isn’t a sit-back conference. It’s a space for people who want to think, question, and build together.
If that feels exciting to you, we’d love for you to join us.
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This is a Canadian-rooted summit with global relevance. If you’re thinking about how sport can better serve people and communities, your voice belongs in the room.
PowerShift 2026 is grounded in the Canadian context, but the questions we’re working through, and the shifts we’re trying to unlock have global relevance.
Canada is at an inflection point. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil and a national conversation underway about the future of sport, there is a real opportunity to shape how sport is governed, funded, and experienced. In reimagining what sport can be in Canada, there's an opportunity to share ideas and frameworks that resonate internationally.
If you join us, you’ll be stepping into that moment.
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For general sale, tickets are $565, including sales tax.
For students and newly graduated students, with student ID tickets are $225, including sales tax.
For those at the grassroots level whose organizations have revenue streams of less than $1 million tickets are $395 including tax
We’re operating on a cost recovery model, meaning tickets sales go directly to funding the space, speakers, food and tech required.
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Although we are a non-profit, we do not have charitable status, so are unable to offer tax receipts for ticket purchases.
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Yes! Breakfast and lunch will be provided on both summit days.
Upon registration you’ll be asked to share dietary requirements and we’ll do our best to accomodate your needs. -
If you’d like to attend but the cost is prohibitive please reach out. We have an allocation of tickets donated by partners.
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Whatever you’re comfortable in. There will be stretch breaks and one of the workshop is based in play so dress to move as you’re willing, and able.
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Sponsorship and funding are hugely appreciated and help us reach our goal of creating meaningful artefacts and conversations within, and beyond, the summit .
If you or your organization wishes to sponsor Play for Dignity or PowerShift 2026 please contact us at info@playfordignity.ca.
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Tickets are refundable up until May 7th at 11.59pm. Tickets can be transferred until May 13th 11.59pm. If you require assistance please reach out to a member of our team.
INTRODUCING OUR CO-HOSTS
Shireen Ahmed
SPORTS ACTIVIST, journalist, a Senior Contributor with
CBC Sports-
Shireen Ahmed is a multiplatform journalist, a Senior Contributor with CBC Sports, a public speaker, and an award-winning Sports Activist focusing on the intersections of race and gender in sports. She is a global expert on Muslim women in Sports.
She is a 2019 TEDxToronto Speaker and is the national ambassador to Sakeenah Canada, an organization that offers essential services to women and families who have survived violence.
She is on the Board of Directors of Hijabi Ballers, a friend of Black Girl Hockey Club, part of the Executive Committee of the Muslim Women in Sports Network, and mentors students and budding sports journalists in official and casual capacities.
Shireen’s passion for sports, politics and women’s issues has been recognized by Sports Media for its candid discussions. Her work has been featured and discussed in The Guardian, TIME magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Walrus, Football Weekly, Racialicious, Chatelaine, The National Post, espnW, Globe and Mail, MSNBC Democracy Now! and TRT World. Shireen’s work was published in Best Canadian Sports Writing 2017. Her expertise is sought after by a host of international news outlets. In 2021, her academic work was published in Sports Media Vectors: Gender and Diversity, Reconstructing the Field.
She is part of the team of women who created the weekly Burn It All Down podcast. The first feminist sports podcast that analyzes sports culture from an intersectional feminist lens.
Shireen holds a Master of Arts degree with a specialty in Media Production. She currently teaches Journalism and Sport Media at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Associate Professor, School of Journalism & Communication, Carleton University
Adrian Harewood
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Adrian Harewood is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University. He’s the host of the current affairs podcast In Bed with the Elephant (Apple, Spotify, YouTube). He's the former host of CBC Ottawa’s drive home radio show All in A Day and was the anchor of CBC Ottawa News at Six from 2009-2022.
In 2020 he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Local Anchor. Adrian has been the guest host of national programs on radio and television including The Current, As It Happens, The House, Counterspin, Hot Type and Power & Politics. He was the host of programs on BRAVO and PBS including Literati, The Actors, The Directors, Playwrights & Screenwriters.
Adrian is on the board of Journalists for Human Rights and the Writers’ Union of Canada. He has a BA in Political Theory and History from McGill University & a MA in History from Carleton University.
INTRODUCING OUR Advisors
elisabeth walker-young
Co-Founder, Inclusive Experiences | Disabled Anti-Ableism & Inclusion Advisor-
Elisabeth Walker-Young (she/her) is a white, congenitally disabled, cisgender, straight settler and co-founder of Inclusive Experiences, an anti-ableist consultancy working across sport, nonprofit, and public sectors. Their work is evidence-informed and grounded in disability justice, focused on creating spaces and systems that anticipate access needs for all, including those who may not identify as disabled, while amplifying the voices and experiences of diverse perspectives.
A four-time (recorvering) Paralympian and former Team Canada Assistant Chef de Mission (London 2012) and Chef de Mission (Toronto 2015 ParaPan American Games), Elisabeth brings both lived and professional experience navigating systems that have historically prioritized certain voices. She has worked with organizations including viaSport British Columbia, the Rick Hansen Foundation, Canucks Autism Network, and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee. Elisabeth blends storytelling, facilitation, and evidence-informed approaches to ensure disabled people are active participants, co-creators and leaders in shaping inclusive experiences.
Janelle JosepH
FOUNDER & DIRECTOR of Ideas RESEARCH LAB | AWARD-WINNING SCHOLAR | CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR IN RACIAL JUSTICE, HEALTH, AND SPORT-
Janelle Joseph is an internationally recognized and award-winning storyteller and scholar committed to disseminating knowledge about wellbeing, recreation, and equity. Dr. Joseph is Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Racial Justice, Health, and Sport and is the Founder and Director of the IDEAS Research Lab, which has produced over $4.5 million in research grant funding. As an Associate Professor at Brock University situated at the intersection of Black Studies, Health Sciences, and Sport Management, Dr. Joseph's research enables storytelling about uninhibited joy, abiding colonialism, and steadfast resistance of racialized peoples.
Nikki Dryden OLY
HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, FORMER OLYMPIAN, SPORT INTEGRITY & ATHLETE RIGHTS ADVISOR-
Nikki Dryden is a two-time Canadian Olympic swimmer, 23-time National Champion, and Commonwealth and Pan Am medallist, who is now an internationally recognized human rights lawyer working in all aspects of sport, from grassroots to the Olympics, and sport for development to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
After hanging up her goggles, Nikki spent a decade covering Canadian and international swimming at two more Olympics as a journalist, before transitioning into law to address the power imbalances and systemic harms she experienced and observed in elite sport. She is a dual-qualified human rights lawyer and Senior Lawyer at Game Legal in Australia, with more than 20 years’ experience advising on governance, safeguarding, integrity, accountability, and athlete rights.
Nikki has held senior advisory roles with Sport Integrity Australia and the Australian Human Rights Institute, was Co-Chair of the inaugural Board of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights in Geneva and served for ten years on the Editorial Board of LawInSport. A Fulbright Global Research Scholar, she conducted advanced research at Sport Resolutions (UK) and the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, examining how rights-based approaches can be embedded in sport dispute systems.
Her work spans policy reform, dispute resolution, and practice on the ground. She finds balance by coaching her child’s soccer team and volunteering for great women’s sport like the FIFA Women’s World Cup. This keeps her grounded when representing athletes like Mami, a child abuse survivor in global sport dispute systems, evacuating over 80 Afghan women athletes and their families from Kabul in 2021, and supporting athlete-led advocacy initiatives internationally. She consults with the Right Collective and leads the Rights in Sport Working Group in Australia, supporting sporting organizations to integrate human rights into governance, funding, and everyday decision-making.
As keynote speaker, Nikki draws on lived experience, law, and global practice to explore how rights can reshape sport structures, inform daily practice, and shift the stories sport tells about power, performance, and belonging.
Stephanie Dixon C.M. PLY
Paralympian, Chef de Mission 2020, anti-oppressive access and inclusion advocate-
Stephanie Dixon, C.M., MSc, PLY (she/they) is a congenitally-disabled white-settler researcher, facilitator, and activist dedicated to reducing harm and advancing meaningful access, inclusion, and participation in sport through anti-ableist, anti-oppressive, and trauma-informed practices. Drawing on disability-justice principles, Stephanie contributes to collaborative initiatives that identify and dismantle systemic barriers, promote consent-based participation, and cultivate affirming sport and recreation spaces.
A 19-time Paralympic medalist, Stephanie has held leadership roles as a community coach in Northern Canada (on the traditional territories of the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council and the Kwanlin Dün First Nation), Chef de Mission at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and contributed to numerous national and international committees advancing integrity, human rights, and safety in sport.
Celeste McKay
Founder of Céleste McKay Consulting Inc, Human Rights Consultant, specializing in Indigenous rights-
Céleste McKay is a citizen of the Red River Métis Nation from Manitoba, with a background in social work and law, including an LL.M from the University of Ottawa, an LL.B from the University of Victoria and a B.S.W. from the University of Manitoba.
Céleste is a consultant, working on human rights, policy, philanthropy, and research, primarily for Indigenous Peoples. Her primary focus is on the human rights of Indigenous peoples, including the safety and security of Indigenous women and girls; language and cultural rights; and rights related to self-determination. She has worked extensively on advancing truth and reconciliation. Since 2004, Céleste has worked within the international human rights system, including the Working Group that finalized the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (serving as Chief Wilton Littlechild’s technical analyst) and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She has worked locally and nationally on Indigenous focused philanthropic and sports initiatives. She is currently a Board of Trustee for United Way Winnipeg and for Fort Whyte Alive.
Ernest Edmond
Social Entrepreneur, LBI Founder and Ashoka Changemaker
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Born in Port-au-Prince and having moved to Quebec at the age of six, Ernest Jr. Edmond is a Montréal-based social entrepreneur and community leader who has been committed to youth development for more than fifteen years. From an early age, he became deeply aware of social inequalities and has dedicated his path to using sport, culture, and community engagement as levers for inclusion, holistic development, and the long-term transformation of communities.
As the founder of Les Ballons Intensifs (LBI), he has led since 2009 the development of innovative, accessible sport programs rooted in the realities of youth from underserved communities. Recognized as an Ashoka Fellow since 2023, he has built through LBI a model that connects physical literacy, leadership development, community engagement, and social innovation. His work aims to create quality environments where young people can build confidence, strengthen their sense of agency, and develop their capacity to become changemakers in their communities.
Senior Project Lead, Centre for Sport and Human Rights. Assistant Professor at University of TorontoDr. Sabrina Razack
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Sabrina Razack is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. She is an award-winning curriculum writer and has worked with Canadian Women & Sport, the Pan/Parapan American Games, and the Toronto District School Board. As the senior project lead for Canada at the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, Sabrina is spearheading initiatives for the upcoming FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2026 in collaboration with the other host countries in the United States and Mexico