Start Time

8:00 AM

Registration, Breakfast

8:45 AM

Welcome Remarks

9:00 AM

Progress Update on Developmental Services Reform

9:15 AM

Director’s Cut: Making Fee-for-Service Work — Mission-Aligned, Person-Centered & Legally Sound

Non-profits in the Developmental Service (DS) are increasingly exploring Fee-For-Service (FFS) models to address flat funding, rising costs, and individualized funding trends. While this approach can support financial sustainability, it can bring moral and legal challenges — prompting the question: how does charging for services fit in the sector’s non-profit legal framework? To help you better understand the pros and cons of implementing a FFS model, Paul Fleming from People Minded Business and Brendon Pooran of PooranLaw, team up to offer practical strategies and tips on how to navigate fee-based services with integrity. Specifically, how to:

·       Align offerings with organizational values through real-world nonprofit examples

·       Keep person-directed planning and equitable access at the forefront

·       Understand what fee-for-service means for people and caregivers as “customers”

·       Address key legal considerations to ensure compliance and avoid pitfalls 

Speakers:

• Paul Fleming, People Minded Business
• Brendon Pooran, PooranLaw

10:15 AM

Fee-for-Service in Action: What Three Agencies Have Learned and Their Vision for the Future

Speakers:

• Ken Edwards, CL Haldimand
• Amy Van Til, Karis Disability Services
• Rebecca Fowlie, Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region

11:00 AM

Break

11:15 AM

PassportOne

Speakers:

• Roshni Galani, Family Services Toronto
• Lewis Dunne, Family Services Toronto

12:15 PM

Break

1:00 PM

Introduction to Supply Ontario

 Join us for an interactive session introducing Supply Ontario, a Government of Ontario agency established to streamline and strengthen public procurement across the province. This presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of the organization, its mandate, and its role in supporting Broader Public Sector (BPS) entities.

Key topics include:

• Understanding Supply Ontario: Its mandate, objectives, and strategic priorities.
• Vendor of Record (VOR) Program: An introduction to how it works and its benefits for public sector organizations.
• BPS Procurement Directives: Overview of key directives and relevant legislation and trade agreements impacting procurement practices.
• Reporting Requirements: What BPS entities need to know.

Speakers:

• Fatema Valji, Business Support Branch
• Cole Boone-Watt, Strategic Partnerships

2:00 PM

Community Shared Services: What it Looks Like and What We’re Learning

Across Ontario, community organizations are exploring Shared Services as a way to improve efficiency, capacity, and sustainability — especially in Finance, HR, and IT.  This session brings together a leaders from one of the province’s established Shared Service Organizations, TriAlliance, along with consultant Michael Schiel, to share what’s really happening on the ground.

Participants will learn what Shared Services looks like in practice, what has worked well, what challenges to anticipate, and what lessons can help others considering this approach. Participants will learn firsthand what has worked, and what hasn’t worked so well, in existing shared services.

Speakers:

• Michael Schiel, Invictus Hight Performance Ltd.
• Michele Bell, Tri Alliance Shared Services

3:00 PM

Break

3:15 PM

From Today to Tomorrow: Exploring the Future of AI in Developmental Services

Description: Step into a time machine and explore how AI will reshape the Developmental Services sector, from today’s generative tools improving accessibility and efficiency, to future intelligent systems creating truly person-centered supports. Discover what the next 5, 10, and 20 years could look like as technology and compassion evolve together.

Speakers:

• Aaron Watson, CL Chatham-Kent
• Julie LaSorda, CL Essex

4:15 PM

Sector Financial Management, Innovation, and Experience – A Panel Discussion

Speakers:

• Brian Kellow, OASIS
• Kent Lee, Community Living South Muskoka
• Viji Hariharan, Reena
• Sayo Tola-Adenaike, Karis Disability Services

5:15 PM

Networking Reception/Cocktail Reception

6:00 PM –

8:00 PM

Dinner

Start Time

8:00 AM

Breakfast

8:15 AM

Breakfast with the OASIS Labour Relations Committee

Labour Unrest in the Sector and Contingency Planning

Speaker:

• Jennifer Rose, HR Manager at Community Living Huntsville

9:00 AM

Welcome Remarks

9:05 AM

Navigating Individual Banking with CLTO: Policies, Challenges & Solutions

This presentation focuses on the challenges and processes associated with individualized banking for people supported by Community Living Toronto. The purpose is to inform stakeholders about current practices, policies, and recommendations related to individualized banking within CLTO, especially for individuals with conditions requiring banking support.

Speakers:

• Betty Yam, CLTO
• Sandee Moore, CLTO

10:00 AM

Workplace Investigations for Executives: Finance, Risk and Governance

This presentation is intended for senior decisionmakers who provide oversight of workplace misconduct and finance, but do not typically conduct investigations personally. How can organizations detect and reduce the risk of financial misconduct in the DS sector? What policy and program considerations should be made to reduce risk and promote compliance, cohesion, and mitigate risks of abuse, theft and harassment?

Speaker:

• Paul Nicholson, Fermata Workplace Solutions

11:00 AM

Building inclusion through EDI leadership and empowering clients to be part of the EDI conversation

This presentation will explore the impact of investing in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. We will discuss examples including successes in making EDI accessible and meaningful for people with developmental disabilities as well as successes in increasing culturally matched and person directed supports. The goal is to put forth examples of financial and other benefits to equity informed approaches to organizational culture and supported living environments.

Speakers:   

• Alison McLean, Sisonke Inc
• Ron Trajano, EAFWR
• Sharri-Ann Edmunds, PH Durham
• Sheldon Samlall, Community Living Fort Erie

12:00 PM

Lunch

1:00 PM

Technology Strategy for the Next Era of Developmental Services

The Developmental Services (DS) sector in Ontario is in a period of transformation. Journey to Belonging (J2B) is shifting the system toward person-directed, needs-based funding, individualized budgets, and more transparent access pathways. While this modernization strategy aims to increase flexibility and individual choice for people supported it stands to disrupt cashflow and planning stability across developmental services and even reshape the provider landscape. These forces, combined with increased workforce pressures and financial complexity are fundamentally reshaping how agencies must run their organizations. Agencies are entering a new, more competitive landscape.

Technology is no longer a back-office function—it is the foundation that enables efficiency, specialization, and collaboration across organizations. It is a critical competitive differentiator, giving an advantage to the organizations who use it effectively and efficiently. Yet many DS agencies still rely on outdated systems, fragmented networks, and inconsistent information practices that limit their ability to rapidly adapt.

This presentation will explore concrete steps organizations can take to leverage technology to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness, thus building the digital backbone required to adapt successfully to this rapidly changing environment.

Speaker:

• Scott Trevithick, Asurtec

2:00 PM

– 2:15 PM

Closing Remarks