Selected Projects/Experience  •  Policy and Research

Housing (2016-17)

How can we make housing more affordable in Canada, particularly for those of low and modest incomes?  The National Housing Collaborative (NHC) is a cross-sectoral group of housing stakeholders and foundations which came together in April of 2016 to generate a limited number of transformative, durable policy solutions that could be incorporated into a national housing strategy being created by the federal government.

Under Dina's leadership,  the NHC worked together to identify a limited number of shared priority areas for policy development, commissioned four substantive research papers, convened stakeholders across the country, produced a set of action-oriented policy proposals and advocated for their adoption in the strategy.  Many of its policy proposals were adopted in the government's 2017 National Housing Strategy, including a national housing benefit, a commitment to cut chronic homelessness, and new funding and financing initiatives for housing that is affordable over the long term.

Client: United Way of Greater Toronto & York Region

Role:   Project Director

Project Website: www.nhc-cpl.ca

Legal (2001-2010)

Dina practiced communications law at Goodmans LLP, representing and advising clients on a broad range of regulatory, legal and policy proceedings and in litigation.  Her work included submissions to landmark policy proceedings at the CRTC and Copyright Board of Canada that established frameworks for VoIP, new media, and copyright issues, among others.

 

Municipal Finance and Governance (2014-2018)

Dina was a Senior Advisor at the Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto.  In 2014-2015, she played a role in managing the Institute, and oversaw the production of a number of papers dealing with topics ranging from municipal fiscal health to big data, new revenue tools and inter-municipal agreements.

In 2016, she co-authored an IMFG Perspectives paper on how cities can build fiscal trust, exploring the importance of engagement and open government processes.

In 2016-2017, she also managed a data visualization project, to raise awareness of key issues in municipal finance and make the information more engaging and accessible to the public and policymakers.  The IMFG worked with the Institute Without Boundaries at George Brown College and drew on data that Ontario municipalities report to the province through annual Financial Information Returns, to provide simple and compelling ways to understand complex issues, like property taxes and infrastructure renewal.

Client: Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto

Role: Senior Advisor