Our Team

Liv Mendelsohn, MA, MEd, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, where she works to strengthen the systems and communities that support caregivers and care providers across Canada. She leads this work through research, innovation, policy engagement, and co-design with people whose lived experience shapes and guides the sector.

A lifelong caregiver, Liv brings her own experiences as someone with a disability and as a member of the sandwich generation to everything she does. These perspectives fuel her commitment to building a Canada where caregiving is understood and valued, and where the voices of caregivers meaningfully shape programs, policy, and decision-making. Under her leadership, the Centre has helped shift the national conversation on caregiving by advancing a coordinated vision across aging, disability, and health care; generating the kind of evidence that is now guiding policy and organizational decisions; and bringing together leaders and lived-experience experts in ways that are accelerating real systems change across the country.

Throughout her career, Liv has founded and led organizations that centre inclusion and community, including the Wagner Green Centre for Accessibility and Inclusion and the ReelAbilities Toronto Film Festival. She serves on the City of Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee and sits on the boards of the Kids Brain Health Foundation and the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto.

Liv’s work has been recognized with the City of Toronto Equity Award and honours from the University of Toronto, Empowered Kids Ontario, Shalva Centre, and the Jewish Community Centres of North America. She speaks regularly about caregiving, disability inclusion, and social change, and her insights are featured in media and public forums across Canada and internationally.

A senior fellow at Massey College, Liv is also an alumna of the Mandel Institute for Non-Profit Leadership and the CivicAction Leaders program.

James Janeiro is a public policy and advocacy professional with over a decade of experience in politics, policy and government relations. As director of policy and government relations at the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, James leads an ambitious national and pan-Canadian advocacy and policy development agenda focused on substantive and practical reform.

He began his career in the Ontario Public Service working on disability legislation. He then transitioned to the political policy space and served two successive Ontario ministers of community and social services as senior policy advisor on social assistance, poverty, disability, and veterans’ issues.

In 2014, James assumed a new role serving Premier Kathleen Wynne as her social policy advisor. In this position, he was responsible for a diverse array of policy areas, including poverty reduction, housing, the Basic Income Pilot, disability issues, autism services and municipal affairs. In 2018, James left government for a senior role in the not-for-profit sector. He was director of community engagement and policy at Community Living Toronto from 2018 to 2022. In this role, James developed and executed advocacy strategies focused on housing, income security, and service improvement.

He holds an honours BA in political science, history, and languages and a master’s in public policy from the University of Toronto. James lives in Toronto with his wife, dog and two cats.

Christa Haanstra is the Chief Granting and Impact Officer at the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, where she advances change by collaborating with caregivers and the organizations that support them. As a senior leader and strategic advisor with experience spanning the public, private, and non-profit sectors, she brings a rigorous, relationship-driven approach to CCCE.

Christa is a trailblazer in caregiver and patient engagement and thrives when bringing people together for a common purpose to achieve a common goal. She’s deeply committed to ensuring lived experience is integral to everything she does at CCCE, in keeping with CCCE’s own commitment to valuing caregiver voices.

Christa has been a caregiver for many years, most recently caring for her father, who has dementia, alongside the rest of her family. That experience shapes her work as a public voice for family caregivers. She is known as a passionate spokesperson for better identifying, recognizing, supporting, and ultimately integrating caregivers as true partners with health and social care teams. She brings this passion to CCCE’s mission, advancing its granting and impact strategy at a national scale.

Olivia Olesinski is a professional communicator with over 10 years of experience working for various healthcare organizations including Health Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. Through her experience, she has gained a keen understanding of the Canadian healthcare landscape, its strengths and shortfalls, and is passionate about using the power of storytelling to bring meaningful change to recipients of care and their caregivers.

Melissa Ngo is an inclusive designer and enjoys collaborating to create accessible and equitable spaces for those who provide and receive care. Her background includes frontline paediatric healthcare, advocacy for culture change in provincial healthcare systems, and co-founding a local award-winning nonprofit that has been driven by volunteer work for the last 20+ years. She is very proud to work alongside the many people who bravely share their lived experiences to advocate for better health outcomes.

Grace Smith, PhD, is a data-focused project manager and instructor who has worked in community, health, and arts settings. She has also worked as an independent theatre producer and director, as well as a writer. Grace comes from a family of wonderful caregivers and is passionate about creating better systems for caregivers, care providers, and care recipients.

Grace is an avid animal lover and in her spare time enjoys writing and reading.

Esther Lee is a communications professional with experience in financial technology, media and non-profit sectors. She is passionate about digital storytelling and finding ways to connect to people from all walks of life. She is eager to tell caregiver stories to make an impact through storytelling.

She has an undergraduate degree from the Toronto Metropolitan University’s journalism program, with a double minor in economics and French. In her spare time,
Esther can be found reading, exploring new restaurants, and going to dance classes.

Oliver is a public health advocate with experience in non-profit and grassroots movements. He enjoys fostering intersectoral collaborations for change on social issues, from disability justice and arts movements, to care, to 2SLGBTQIA+ students’ issues.

He joins the team after establishing young caregiver services at AMI-Quebec and contributing to the growing young caregiver movement in Canada through awareness and policy projects. Oliver holds a BA in Public Health with a focus on Disability Studies from the University of Victoria. As a caregiver himself, to a chronically ill friend and to his partner with a disability, he strongly believes in peer-based support and empowerment.

Alexis Szabo is a dedicated administrative professional that moved from the amusement park industry to the care industry. Her understanding of caregiving started with her mom. Watching her mom care for her grandfather shaped her belief in the need for a more compassionate, accessible, and sustainable healthcare system. This experience continues to inspire her dedication to improving supports for caregivers and care recipients alike.

Outside of work, Alexis likes to spend her time outdoors exploring the city and finding unique places to shop and eat.

Fabio Robibaro is a sociologist who specializes in the care economy. His research interests are embedded in understanding the scope, scale and impacts of care through quantitative research. His work at the Canadian Center for Caregiving Excellence focuses on creating a clear data narrative for care in Canada.

Fabio joins the team after being part of Statistics Canada’s Care Economy project, where he contributed to the development of various surveys, consulted with key data users, and worked to define how care can be understood in Canada. He is affiliated with schools across the country, including Université de Montréal, McGill University, and the University of Toronto.

Fabio’s passion for better understanding systems of care is tied to his experience as a young caregiver for his grandmother with Alzheimer’s.

Helen is the co-founder of Siblings Canada, part of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence. Siblings Canada raises awareness of the critical role siblings play in creating robust and responsive systems of care for people with disabilities.

Helen is a community builder, innovator and, most importantly, carer to her brother Paul. During a lifetime of advocating, Helen has learnt of the power of full and inclusive citizenship for all members of our community. Helen holds an MBA from the University of Guelph.