Leader Talks with Anne-Marie Pham powered by CCDI

When it comes to women in engineering, Canada’s numbers are surprisingly low. They are substantially outperformed by countries like Panama and Colombia, both of which have near parity when it comes to the ratio of women to men in engineering (despite having to contend with far greater levels of instability than Canada).

Our guest today, Claudia Gomez-Villeneuve, is uniquely qualified to talk on the topic of women in engineering in ...

Canada is one of the most religiously diverse liberal democracies in the world, but unfortunately the level of religious literacy in the country is very low. This lack of understanding of different belief systems is the root cause of the high levels of hate crimes experienced by minority groups. Today’s guest, Brian Carwana (also known as the ReligionsGeek), is passionate about advancing religious literacy through contact theory. I...

In today's conversation with Ana Maria Desmaison Cornejo and Linda Espinosa Valencia, we are offered some amazing recommendations and expertise on the reality of working towards a better future. As the co-founders of Ventura Collective and individuals who have dedicated themselves to creating systemic change, our guests are uniquely positioned within the Canadian professional landscape to talk about the challenges we face in ma...

When recruiters from the Canadian Armed Forces looked at scrawny, 18-year-old Chinese-Canadian, Albert Wong, they voted that he would be the first person to fail basic training. He ended up serving for 39 years, and today he is a Citizenship Judge in the Greater Toronto Area. During this episode, Albert talks about the discrimination that he faced during his career as a result of his heritage and the color of his skin, and how he i...

Yin Brown is a first generation immigrant of Chinese descent, and the Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility (IDEA) at the Abilities Centre in Ontario. She also happens to be blind. Her passion is employment for people with disabilities, and she has led many advocacy groups to fight for the cause. Join us today as she reveals the work that the Abilities Centre does to facilitate inclusivity both within their o...

September 30th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to help us learn and reflect on what we need to know and do. The Indigenous residential school system was designed to isolate Indigenous children from their culture, religion, and identity to assimilate them into the dominant colonial culture. The impacts of this repressive system are still felt today and injustices of the past have still not been reconciled.

To help us...

Diversity and inclusion is a hot topic in the world right now, but knowing how to make a difference can be tricky. Joining us in conversation today is Erin Goodpipe, a multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and researcher from the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation. She shares her story of being the first in her family to graduate from high school, learning that education far extends beyond what we learn in the four walls of a classroom ...

As we celebrate Canada Day, we look at how we can take pride in our country but also be more proactive in making it a more equitable and inclusive society. Joining us for this conversation is the former mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi. Naheed is a passionate Calvarian, an accomplished business professional, and a community leader with a solid track record of getting things done. While he served as mayor from 2010 to 2021 he success...

Spécialiste réputé.e en équité, diversité et inclusion, Moe Hamandi est une personne libano-canadien.ne parfaitement imparfaite. Entre ses implications communautaires, artistiques et corporatives, l’artiste scientifique a réussi a accompagné plusieurs leaders dans leur chemin vers l’inclusion. Dans cet épisode, Moe rejoint Anne-Marie pour parler de sa vie au Liban, de son expérience d'immigrant.e à Montréal (sa deuxième mère) e...

Today’s episode is a special fireside chat with three very interesting Asian Leaders from across Canada, who will be sharing with us their insights and unique perspectives on what we do in our communities and workplaces to address anti-Asian racism. Anti-Asian racism, over the past two years, continues to trend upwards in Canada according to research. To talk more about it and better understand the issues at hand, we welcome our gu...

Important conversations about diversity and inclusion need to be coupled with effective action, and real change. Figuring out the best steps for this is not always easy, and today we shed some light on the intricacies of the topic, and hopefully offer some practical solutions to these challenging questions. Joining for a CCDI Fireside chat are Tyjondah Kerr and Mark Harrison, who are both doing amazing work on a number of different...

Truly diverse and inclusive organizations are places where employees from many different backgrounds come together and feel that they belong. This in turn creates an environment where complex problems can be solved by teams that bring a rich set of perspectives to the table. Today’s special guest is Ellen Melis, President and Head Coach of Unlimited Potential, and she joins us to talk about how organizations can place a higher valu...

Canada calls itself multicultural, but today’s guest challenges this assertion. The lack of education and public discourse around African Canadian heritage caused Nathan Hall to feel a diminished sense of belonging from a young age. As his life went on he began to realize more and more how people of color are excluded and discriminated against in a multitude of different situations. Uncomfortable and discrediting personal experienc...