Item - 2023.CC11.5

Candidates' biographies:

Etobicoke York Panel

Marie Abraham

Marie Abraham is a qualified and trained lawyer with 28 years of active practice. Marie has life experience with racism, exclusion, and spent the first 25 years of life yearning to be accepted in society. Marie's legal training and experience has added value to many parts of everyday life.

Nicole Treksler

Nicole Treksler is a trilingual (French, English and Spanish) lawyer with extensive experience as an adjudicator/mediator at municipal, provincial and federal tribunals. Nicole also has worked at several regulatory bodies in various capacities, including investigator. Currently, Nicole is the General Counsel at the United Church of Canada. She enjoys volunteering and mentors Black law students through the McGill Black mentorship program. In her spare time, Nicole dances West Coast Swing.

North York Panel:

Nadini Sankar-Peralta

Nadini has worked in federal/provincial governments in senior positions advising on policy, government resources, health care and negotiating land claims, to name a few. Nadini is also a qualified, multilingual, accredited mediator/arbitrator in good standing with the Alternative Dispute resolution Institute of Canada/Ontario and the Ontario Association of Family Mediation. She is working on her Juris Doctor degree in Law and is a current Board Director at the Alternative Dispute resolution Institute of Ontario.

Scarborough Panel:

Rina Afendi

Rina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University with minors in Politics and Sociology, and a Diploma in Interior Design from Georgian College. Rina shares passion for social justice, human rights, and mindful neighbourhood planning for Indigenous, Black and Racialized peoples. She works in the Ontario Public Service for 6+ years, shifting three ministries' cultures towards racial equity. She is proficient in anti-Black, Indigenous, and Islamophobia preventions.

Ryan Hardy

Ryan Hardy is an experienced administrative lawyer who has worked at community legal clinics across Toronto and as Tenant Duty Counsel in eviction hearings. He is a past volunteer with the Toronto Public Library. Born and raised in the Yonge and Eglinton area, Mr. Hardy is an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Queen's University and McMaster University.

Toronto and East York Panel:

Stoney Baker

Stoney Baker is a lawyer practicing in Toronto. She is currently pursuing her Master of Laws at Osgoode Law School with a focus on law and technology. She loves the city and has called it home for all but two years of her life; during that time she missed the city dearly. She is grateful for the opportunity to serve Toronto as a Member of the Property Standards Committee.

Steven Lewis

Steven Lewis is a Barrister, Solicitor, and Notary Public working for a large international private employer. He has clerked with the Superior Court of Justice and is also a Certified Accessibility Professional with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. He has a passion for improving his community and is an active volunteer on boards and executive committees of many legal and equity seeking organizations.