Meet the Speakers

Kaite Burkholder Harris

Executive Director, Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa

Kaite Burkholder Harris is the Executive Director at the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa. Graduating with a Master of Public Health from the University of Toronto, Kaite worked at a systems level to end youth homelessness with A Way Home Ottawa. She went on to work at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness with communities across the country as a System Planner in housing and homelessness…. Read more

Michèle Biss

Executive Director, National Right to Housing Network.

Michèle Biss is the Executive Director of the National Right to Housing Network. As an expert in economic and social rights, she has presented at several United Nations treaty body reviews and at Canadian parliamentary committees. Prior to her work at the NRHN, Michèle was the Policy Director and Human Rights Lawyer at Canada Without Poverty…Read more

John Heckbert

Executive Director at Operation Come Home

John Heckbert is the Executive Director at Operation Come Home, where he has dedicated over 12 years to supporting Ottawa’s non-profit sector. His experience includes roles as a staff member, volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels, board member, and advocate against human trafficking. At Operation Come Home, he leads a team that helps youth experiencing homelessness achieve educational, housing,….Read more

Dr. Jacqueline Kennelly

Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Dr. Jacqueline Kennelly is a Full Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and the founding Director of the Centre for Urban Youth Research (CUYR) at Carleton University. She is the co-director, with Dr. Liam O’Brien, of a five-year, $4.8 million CMHC and SSHRC-funded project called ‘A Safe and Affordable Place to Call Home: A longitudinal outcomes analysis of the National Housing Strategy. Dr. Kennelly’s research focuses on a range of topics, including: the experiences of young people who have left homelessness and are now living in diverse forms of affordable housing…Read more

Biographies

Kaite Burkholder Harris is the Executive Director at the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa. Graduating with a Master of Public Health from the University of Toronto, Kaite worked at a systems level to end youth homelessness with A Way Home Ottawa. She went on to work at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness with communities across the country as a System Planner in housing and homelessness. Kaite also served as a Policy Analyst with Reaching Home, the federal government’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy in 2019.

As the Co-Chair of the Ontario Alliance to End Homelessness, Kaite advocates with every level of government and has become a leading voice in urging governments and communities for housing-focused solutions to ending homelessness.

Michèle Biss is the Executive Director of the National Right to Housing Network. As an expert in economic and social rights, she has presented at several United Nations treaty body reviews and at Canadian parliamentary committees. Prior to her work at the NRHN, Michèle was the Policy Director and Human Rights Lawyer at Canada Without Poverty.

In 2016, she graduated from the Advanced Course on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. She has extensive professional experience working for marginalized groups, particularly women, persons with disabilities, newcomers, and Indigenous persons through casework, research, and community legal education. In her local Ottawa community, she sits on the board of directors of Ottawa Community Legal Services. She is a human rights lawyer and was called to the Ontario bar in 2014.

John Heckbert is the Executive Director at Operation Come Home, where he has dedicated over 12 years to supporting Ottawa’s non-profit sector. His experience includes roles as a staff member, volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels, board member, and advocate against human trafficking. At Operation Come Home, he leads a team that helps youth experiencing homelessness achieve educational, housing, employment, and mental health goals. The organization also runs three social enterprises that provide employment opportunities for over 50 youth annually.

John holds degrees in Philosophy, Economics, and Corporate Social Responsibility from the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto. His commitment to social services is rooted in his own family’s experiences with United Way, which positively impacted their future. He resides in Ottawa with his wife, Dr. Johanna Peetz, and their two children, Johnny (12) and Lukas (9).

Dr. Jacqueline Kennelly is a Full Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and the founding Director of the Centre for Urban Youth Research (CUYR) at Carleton University. She is the co-director, with Dr. Liam O’Brien, of a five year, $4.8 million CMHC and SSHRC-funded project called ‘A Safe and Affordable Place to Call Home: A longitudinal outcomes analysis of the National Housing Strategy.’ Dr. Kennelly’s research focuses on a range of topics, including: the experiences of young people who have left homelessness and are now living in diverse forms of affordable housing; activist and homeless young people’s experiences of democracy, citizenship and public life; and schools as sites of youth homelessness prevention.

She employs qualitative and participatory methods, with a strong commitment to engaging young people as co-researchers and knowledge producers. Her most recent book is Burnt by Democracy: Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life (2024, University of Toronto Press). Past books include Olympic Exclusions: Youth, Poverty, and Social Legacies (2016, Routledge); Citizen Youth: Culture, Activism, and Agency in a Neoliberal Era (2011, Palgrave-Macmillan; 2nd edition forthcoming), and Lost Youth in the Global City: Class, Culture, and the Urban Imaginary (2010, Routledge; co-authored with J. Dillabough).