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Thanks to a committed community of donors, partners, and champions, Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada continues to expand access to education and opportunity for young people from care, helping more youth stay in school, graduate, and move toward meaningful careers.
This year’s Stand Up For Kids luncheon is both a recognition of collective progress and an invitation to go further.
Taking place on Thursday, June 18, 2026, at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, this year’s event features a dynamic panel discussion: From Care to Career: Unlocking Talent for Canada’s Future Workforce, moderated by Peter Armstrong, CBC’s Senior Business Correspondent.
This forward looking conversation will bring together cross-sector voices to explore how education, employers, and philanthropy can work together to ensure young people with lives experience in care –through no fault of their own face some of the most significant barriers to education and the labour market – are not left behind and are supported to succeed.
Guests will:
- Explore what it will take to strengthen pathways from education to meaningful careers for young people from care.
- Learn how philanthropists, employers, and institutions can work together to unlock opportunity.
- Hear directly from young people as they share insights on barriers and enablers they navigated on their education and career journeys.
- Understand how philanthropy can help test, strengthen, and scale solutions that improve outcomes and strengthen the workforce.
Introducing This Year’s Moderator
Peter Armstrong, Senior Business Correspondent, CBC News
Peter Armstrong is the CBC’s senior business correspondent. He was a foreign correspondent and a parliamentary reporter for CBC News. Peter hosted the business program On the Money and World Report on CBC Radio. He is the author of the CBC newsletter Mind Your Business
About This Year’s Panelists
Robert Asselin, Chief Executive Officer, U15 Canada
Robert Asselin is a policy expert on innovation policy, productivity, and industrial competitiveness, with senior experience across government, business, and academia. He is a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and contributes regularly to national discussions on Canada’s economic future.
He previously served as Senior Vice President, Policy at the Business Council of Canada, where he led work on economic and fiscal policy. In government, he was Policy and Budget Director to the Minister of Finance and a senior advisor to two Prime Ministers, roles that placed him at the center of federal decision-making on economic and fiscal matters.
In academia, Robert was Associate Director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and a Visiting Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He also serves on the Canadian Advisory Board of the U.S. Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), one of the world’s leading think tanks on innovation policy.
Andrea Barrack, Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Impact, RBC
Andrea Barrack is Senior Vice President, Sustainability at RBC, responsible for the bank’s sustainability strategy and serves as President of the RBC Foundation, one of Canada’s largest corporate donors. Her mandate includes delivery of measurable societal, employee, brand and business impact through community investments. Andrea has worked in the sustainability field for most of her career, including serving in senior sustainability roles at TD Bank and Deloitte and as CEO of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
An active volunteer, Andrea participated on the Board of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, chaired the Dean’s Council at Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University and was an inaugural board member of Ontario Health from 2019 to 2021. She is currently an Executive in Residence at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and teaches in the ESG Certification Program. She also ran for office in the 2022 Ontario provincial election.
Andrea earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at the University of Guelph and a Master of Health Science in Health Administration at the University of Toronto. In 2016, she was named in the Women’s Executive Network Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the Trendsetter and Trailblazer category.
Erine Roberts, Senior Manager, Enterprise Disaster Recovery Program, RBC
Erine Roberts is the Senior Manager, Enterprise Disaster Recovery Program at RBC, where she has advanced through progressive leadership roles since joining the organization in 2017 via the Career Launch Program.
A former crown ward and passionate child welfare advocate, Erine has leveraged her lived experience to drive meaningful change. She has addressed over 300 forums and appeared across numerous media platforms to spotlight the challenges facing youth aging out of the care system.
Erine holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and is deeply committed to community impact. She currently serves on the Operations Committee for the Corsage Project and has served as an Ambassador for the Children’s Aid Foundation (CAFC) for over 15 years. She is also a founding member of the Never Too Late Program and a former member of CAFC’s Young People’s Advisory Council. In recognition of her leadership both within RBC and her community, Erine was awarded the 2023 RBC Global Citizen Award.
Jeffery Schiffer, President and Chief Executive Officer, CAFC
Dr. Jeffrey Schiffer is a nationally recognized executive leader with more than 15 years of experience driving innovation and measurable outcomes for children, youth, and families. He joins Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada as President & CEO after serving as Chief Impact Officer, where he played a central role in shaping the Foundation’s new strategic plan, Impact Framework, and national approach to outcomes-based philanthropy and social innovation.
Jeff brings not only deep professional expertise but also a personal connection to the mission, with members of his own family having experienced the child welfare system. A former Executive Director of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, he holds a PhD from Columbia University and is known for bringing people, evidence, and bold ideas together to create lasting change.
Event Sponsor
Stand Up For Kids Print Media Partner
