Expert panel: Cannabis Act legislative review

Morris Rosenberg (Chair)

Morris Rosenberg, O.C., is a Canadian lawyer and former senior civil servant with the Government of Canada.

Mr. Rosenberg served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (2010-2013), Deputy Minister of Health (2004-2010), and Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada (1998-2004). He began his public service career with the Department of Justice in 1979. From 1989-1993, he served as Assistant Deputy Minister in the Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. From 1993-1996, he served as Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Economic and Regional Development Policy, Privy Council Office. He was appointed Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Operations) in 1996. After retiring from the government in 2013, Mr. Rosenberg served as President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation from 2014-2018.

Mr. Rosenberg holds a B.A. from McGill University, an LL.L. from the Université de Montréal and an LL.M. from Harvard University. He was appointed Member of the Order of Canada in 2015.

Dr. Oyedeji Ayonrinde

Dr. Oyedeji Ayonrinde is an Associate Professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Queen's University. He is also a Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at Providence Care, where he has provided community mental health care over the past five years. Prior to these roles, he was a consultant at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals (UK) and lectured at the Institute of Psychiatry for nearly 20 years. He holds a specialist Fellowship in both general Psychiatry and Addictions from the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK), an MSc (Research in Psychiatry) from University College London, and an Executive MBA from Imperial College, London. Dr. Ayonrinde is a member of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Royal College of Psychiatrists. His peer-reviewed publications focus on risks with gestational cannabis use, cannabis and psychosis, and safety issues with cannabinoid-based medicines. Dr. Ayonrinde has received healthcare and university education awards, as well as national and international awards for cannabis-related scholarship.

Dr. Patricia J. Conrod

Dr. Conrod is a registered clinical psychologist, a Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction at the University of Montreal, and researcher at the Sainte-Justine Mother and Child University Hospital Centre (CHUSJ), where she holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Preventative Mental Health and Addiction and runs a research laboratory focusing on understanding, preventing and treating neurodevelopmental risk factors and consequences of substance use and misuse. She co-leads the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQS) Research Network on Suicide, Mood Disorders and Related Conditions, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Canadian Cannabis and Psychosis Research Team, and the CHUSJ IMAGINE Centre for pediatric neuroimaging. She is also Director of the University of Montreal Neuroscience and Mental Health Strategy. She holds a PhD in Psychology (clinical) from McGill University and has published over 247 articles.

Lynda L. Levesque

Lynda Levesque is a proud nehiyaw iskwew and member of the Fisher River Cree Nation in Manitoba, Treaty Five territory.

Ms. Levesque is a criminal lawyer, with experience practicing from both the prosecution and defence perspectives. Since 2018, she has worked as a Crown Prosecutor in Calgary and surrounding rural areas. From 2014-2018, she worked as a duty counsel lawyer with Legal Aid Alberta, serving Calgary and surrounding rural areas. From 2005-2014, she worked as a duty counsel lawyer with Legal Aid Ontario in Toronto. Throughout her legal career, she has maintained a passion for Indigenous justice issues and an interest in better ensuring access to justice for marginalized persons.

Ms. Levesque holds a B.A. from the University of Calgary and an LL.B. from the University of Windsor.

Dr. Peter Selby

Dr. Selby is the Giblon Professor, Vice Chair of Research, and Head of the Mental Health and Addictions Division in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto. He is cross appointed in the departments of Psychiatry and the School of Public Health. His research focuses on innovative methods to understand and treat addictive behaviours and their comorbidities especially within a learning health system model enabled through technology. To support these research initiatives, Dr. Selby has received grants totaling over 100 million dollars from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Institutes of Health, the Ministry of Health, as well as others. Dr. Selby has held more than 145 grants as Principal or Co-Principal Investigator. He has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, including 74 as first or senior author. He is also an expert presenter and educator in addiction and mental health especially in primary care and community settings.