Relive Our 40 Year Event

40 Years and Onward: Celebrating Independent Living Canada

Honouring our past. Celebrating our present. Imagining our future.
Ottawa | September 9–11, 2026

In September 2026, members of the Independent Living Canada network gathered in Ottawa to celebrate four decades of connection, leadership and collective action. Member Centre representatives, movement leaders, youth, partners and friends came together to honour the people who built this movement and consider the future we want to shape together.

Under the theme “40 Years and Onward – Shaping the Future of Independent Living,” our conference and anniversary celebration connected our history with the experiences and aspirations of the network today.

Throughout the gathering, one conviction connected the conversations: people with disabilities are the experts in their own lives. Their choices, knowledge and leadership remain at the heart of Independent Living.

Coming Together: Learning, Connection and Shared Purpose

The conference opened on September 9 with MCs Angela Gray, Executive Director of Independent Living Sudbury Manitoulin, and Shari Hildred, Executive Director of South Saskatchewan Independent Living Centre.

A land acknowledgement from Louella Tobias and a welcome from National Executive Director Freda Uwa set the stage for three days of learning, reflection and celebration.

Christopher Sutton of the Canadian Human Rights Commission contributed to the opening day's discussions. Yacouba Traoré of the Centre for Excellence in Nonprofit AI then guided participants through the opportunities and responsibilities associated with artificial intelligence.

The afternoon connected the movement's history with its future through a presentation from Tom Pugliese and a Youth Advisory Council segment. Together, these contributions created space to consider both the foundations of Independent Living and the perspectives of a new generation of leaders.

Across the first two days, participants exchanged ideas, reconnected with colleagues and learned from the experiences of Member Centres across Canada.

Recognizing the Work Across Our Network

With Angela and Shari continuing as MCs, the second day brought the network's shared work and local achievements into focus.

The Annual General Meeting business was successfully completed, and Member Centres shared programs, activities and events from their communities. These presentations demonstrated how Independent Living takes shape locally, through relationships, peer support and practical opportunities for people with disabilities to exercise choice and participate in community life.

A special moment was the presentation of the Paula Saunders Award for Independent Living to Kim Ives. Paula Saunders and Sue Larocque presented the award, which Shari Hildred accepted on Kim's behalf.

Member Centres also received commemorative 40th anniversary plaques, recognizing their place in the national movement and their contributions to its continuing story. The gathering offered an opportunity to acknowledge Board service and the many people whose time, commitment and leadership sustain the network.

The Gala: An Evening with Our IL Family

The September 10 gala dinner opened the official anniversary celebrations with food, friendship, music and plenty of laughter.

Tom Pugliese and Freda Uwa welcomed attendees to an evening that brought together people from different chapters of the movement's history. It was a particular honour to share the celebration with Traci Walters, whose longstanding leadership remains an important part of IL Canada's story.

A special Gala Production video, created by Tom Pugliese for IL Canada, helped mark the occasion. Sharing the production also extended part of the celebration to members of our IL family who could not attend in person.

One of the evening's memorable moments came when women from across generations of the movement joined in karaoke to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” It captured the warmth and friendships that have grown alongside the work.

Our thanks also went to the hotel staff, whose food, hospitality and attentive service helped make the evening special.

September 11: A Day Dedicated to 40 Years of Independent Living Canada

On Friday, September 11, the gathering turned fully to our 40th anniversary.

Tom Pugliese served as host and MC, guiding a program that moved from remembrance and recognition to lived experience, partnership and future visioning. Among those welcomed were honoured guests Anne MacRae and Tony Lalliboise, alongside colleagues and friends whose connections to the movement span many years.

The day invited everyone to reflect on their own place in the story: the people who encouraged them, the barriers they challenged, the relationships they built and the possibilities they see ahead.

Bringing Our History into the Room

The anniversary experience began before the formal program, with displays and opportunities to explore, contribute and connect.

Archival photographs, historic documents, Member Centre images and milestones provided a window into the movement's development. An Interactive Timeline spanning 1986–2026 connected individual memories with the national story, while the Future Vision Wall invited participants to look ahead.

Other anniversary experiences included Get Inked for IL, the “Independent Living Means…” installation, and the IL Canada Photo Booth by Kohl Gray.

These activities gave participants different ways to engage with the celebration throughout the day. They also made room for the personal memories and meanings that cannot be captured by a formal agenda alone.

40 Years of Change: Remembering How We Got Here

The formal celebration opened with the “40 Years and Onward” multimedia tribute, followed by a welcome and recognition of movement leaders.

Tom then guided participants through a presentation on the history of Independent Living in Canada. The journey connected the movement's foundations with the establishment and growth of Member Centres, the creation of the national organization in 1986, and four decades of work grounded in choice, self-determination, peer support and community participation.

The historical presentation and anniversary materials brought attention to the people behind these milestones, including those featured through the 40 Faces of IL campaign.

Looking back offered a reminder that the movement was built through countless individual and collective decisions: to challenge exclusion, to create alternatives, to share knowledge and to insist that people with disabilities direct their own lives.

The Movement Through Our Eyes

At the heart of the anniversary program was “The Movement Through Our Eyes,” a lived-experience panel hosted by Freda Uwa.

The panel brought together:

• Traci Walters
• Paul-Claude Bérubé
• Paula Saunders
• Tyler Cooley
• Diane Kreuger

Their reflections connected decades of leadership with experiences shaping the movement today. Together, they brought personal perspectives to its achievements, challenges and future.

The conversation reinforced the importance of lived experience as knowledge and leadership. Our history lives in the people who built Centres, supported one another, questioned assumptions and created opportunities for others.

By bringing different generations and experiences into the same conversation, the panel made visible the continuity of the movement—and the importance of making room for new voices within it.

Celebrating Leadership: Then and Now

Bonnie Brayton, CEO of DAWN Canada, and Nicole Fontyn-Taylor, Manager of Research Projects, joined the celebration for “Celebrating Leadership: Then & Now.”

Their presentation included an update on the Scaling Resilience and Change partnership and tributes to Traci Walters and Freda Uwa.

This contribution honoured women's leadership within the Independent Living movement and recognized the relationship between DAWN Canada and IL Canada. It connected the contributions of longstanding leaders with the partnerships and work continuing today.

Sharing a Meal and Marking the Milestone

The anniversary lunch provided time to reconnect, continue conversations and enjoy being together.

Recognition of longstanding movement leaders and anniversary cupcakes added to the celebration. Between the formal sessions, participants could revisit the displays, contribute to the interactive experiences and capture memories at the photo booth.

These shared moments were an important part of the gathering: an opportunity to spend time with people whose relationships often stretch across communities, provinces and decades.

A Keynote from Meenu Sikand

The afternoon included the 40th Anniversary Keynote from Meenu Sikand.

Her contribution brought Independent Living, disability leadership, progress and the work ahead into the anniversary program. Positioned between the morning's reflections and the afternoon's visioning, the keynote helped connect the history being honoured with the future participants were preparing to discuss.

Imagining the Next 40 Years

In “Imagining the Next 40 Years,” Tom invited participants to turn their attention toward the future.

Through the Postcard from 2046 exercise, attendees imagined a message arriving from a future Independent Living movement. What would have changed? Which values would remain essential? What barriers would people no longer accept? And what could the network begin doing now to help make that future possible?

The responses described a Canada where people with disabilities shape decisions, exercise choice and participate without repeatedly having to argue for access or rights.

Several connected themes emerged:

• A stronger, connected national movement, grounded in local knowledge and shared purpose.
• Choice, dignity and self-determination, with “Nothing About Us Without Us” remaining central.
• Accessibility built into everyday systems, including housing, employment, physical environments and technology.
• Disability-led leadership, with youth recognized as leaders in the present.
• Partnerships that lead to practical change, including stronger relationships with other organizations and underrepresented communities.

Participants also identified steps that could begin now, including continued advocacy, stronger relationships and greater representation of people with disabilities in positions of influence.

These reflections were captured for the network to revisit. They represented a range of hopes and ideas, rather than a formal vote or a single agreed plan, and provided a meaningful starting point for further conversation.

Closing Together, Looking Forward

A reflection video and closing remarks from Tom Pugliese and Freda Uwa brought the anniversary program to a close.

At the end of the day, a group photograph captured many of those who had shared in the celebration. While it could not include everyone connected to the occasion, it became a lasting record of the people gathered in Ottawa for this milestone.

We left with renewed connections, shared memories and ideas to carry into the work ahead.

A Celebration That Belongs to the Whole Movement

Our thanks go to the Member Centres, speakers, panellists, partners, Board members, staff, youth, movement leaders and friends who contributed to this gathering—and to everyone across Canada whose work made the anniversary possible.

We also hold a place in this story for those who could not join us. The movement's history reaches far beyond one room or one event.

The Ottawa gathering marked a major moment in an anniversary year continuing toward December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Plans for an immersive docuseries centred on lived experience across the IL Canada network will offer another opportunity to preserve and share the journeys that have shaped Independent Living.

Forty years of IL Canada represent the work of people and communities who continue to turn the principles of Independent Living into everyday possibilities.

40 Years and Onward – Shaping the Future of Independent Living.