Moderators
Catherine Lapierre-Ouellet
Catherine Lapierre-Ouellet has worked in various capacities in the union milieu for fifteen years. She joined the large Joint Learning Program (JLP) team in 2022 as a Program Officer. Working closely with her union colleagues and employer representatives, Catherine creates learning materials for federal public servants. As part of her duties, she greets new members of the JLP facilitation team and prepares them for workshop facilitation.
Catherine completed a bachelor's degree in communications before reorienting her studies in labour relations in order to better represent union members across the country. Catherine relies on the impressive JLP track record and the diversity of its products to help maintain a healthy working climate in all Canadian government departments and agencies that collaborate with JLP.
Suzanne McFarlane
Suzanne is a Program Officer with the Joint Learning Program and has worked in the area of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility (IDEA) for most of her career with the federal public service, as well as in the private sector. In addition to her background in Labour Relations, which has given her working knowledge of the principles related to the duty to accommodate, anti-harassment and conflict resolution, she has also served as a Diversity Sourcing Specialist in recruitment, created and delivered departmental initiatives on anti-racism; privilege; implicit bias; micro-aggressions and alliance, and has worked as a Senior Human Resources Advisor designing diversity, inclusion and outreach programs.
Suzanne enjoys volunteering her time to help enrich and engage both adults and youth on the impact of equity, diversity and education. To this end, she has given her time as a regional and national JLP facilitator on topics including anti-discrimination, anti-harassment and violence prevention, labour-management consultation and mental health in the workplace. She has served as a panelist at the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers EDI Advantage Conference, speaking to effective recruitment and retention strategies for marginalized candidates; and has contributed to publications such as the HR Reporter's "The Separation of Church and Work: What Employers Need to Know About Accommodation." Suzanne volunteers as a facilitator with Junior Achievement, a program which offers financial literacy workshops and resources to elementary-aged school children and is a very proud mom to her two amazing sons, James and William.
Speakers
Addressing Systemic Discrimination within our Organizations
Meera Chander
Meera Chander is the Director of the Equity, Inclusion and Human Rights Bureau (‘The Bureau’) at the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). She took on this role in April 2023 and has been tasked with building the team, mandate and vision of the Bureau.
The Bureau is the first of its kind within the Canadian labour movement and seeks to break down systemic barriers that exist within PSAC. Its vision is for a workplace free from all forms of discrimination, injustice, and inequity where human rights principles are upheld, and a workplace culture of care and respect is fostered. The Bureau is dedicated to creating a more comprehensive and integrated approach to oppression prevention, anti-racism, diversity & inclusion, and human rights from a social justice perspective within PSAC’s workplaces as an employer. This is achieved through education, research, advocacy, inquiry, monitoring and providing advice and guidance to PSAC’s Directors team and elected officials on ways to ensure PSAC programs, practices and policies have an integrated equity lens.
The Bureau has a dedicated program to address conflict within the workplace through trauma-informed pro-active conflict resolution. It is also working towards the implementation of the National Standard on Psychological Health and Safety to assist in fostering a work environment that recognizes the importance of addressing systemic discrimination and its impact on employee psychological health and safety.
Meera looks forward to speaking about the history of the creation of the Bureau and the process by which its initiatives are being implemented organization wide.
Progress and Improvements on EDI
Sean Ross
Mr. Sean Ross was formerly, the General Secretary to the National Joint Council until June 2023. In this role, he was charged with the overall operations of the Secretariat with a view to ensuring the parties, Bargaining Agents and Employers, were well supported in their deliberations in relation to various terms and conditions of employment.
Prior to this, Mr. Ross was Senior Director, Wellness Policies and Programs in the Pensions and Benefits sector at the Treasury Board Secretariat. In this capacity, he was responsible for supporting organizations with the implementation of the Federal Public Service Mental Health Strategy. Mr. Ross was also the co-chairperson of the Center of Expertise for Mental Health in the workplace.
Mr. Ross has chaired a number of interdepartmental committees over the span of his 30+ year career, such as the Public Service Health Care Plan Partners Committee. In 2016, Mr. Ross received the Deputy Ministers’ Recognition Award for Exceptional Employee Management.
Navdip (Nav) Kaur Singh
Navdip (Nav) Kaur Singh (she/her) is a Sikh Canadian feminist social justice lawyer. She is currently legal counsel with the Department of Justice and co-chair of the Departmental Advisory Committee on Racialized Persons. She is a Governing Council Member of the Association of Justice Counsel, co-chair of the Equity Diversity Inclusion Advisory Committee and former Vice-President, Labour Relations. She has been a member of additional federal public service unions and has held various leadership positions. She is a founding member of the Sikh Public Servants Network and an active member of the Anti-Racism Ambassadors Network (ARAN) which are interdepartmental federal government networks. She previously worked as senior policy analyst, acting manager and adjudicator (tribunal member).
Before joining the federal public service, she was a professor in universities and colleges in Ontario, teaching human rights, labour and employment law, negotiation and mediation, and advocacy courses. As a lawyer and policy consultant, she worked with non-profit community agencies, various levels of government, and individual clients, and served as a member of the Law Society of Ontario’s Equity Advisory Group. She has provided training to social service professionals and law enforcement. She began her law career working for the Ontario government practicing management-side labour and employment law and had previously worked in human resources. She received her law degree from the University of Toronto and studied diversity and inclusion at McGill University for her undergraduate studies. She mentors students, youth, newcomers and colleagues, and has worked in various initiatives to address pressing social issues concerning diverse and marginalized populations. She is committed to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, antiracism, accessibility and reconciliation.
Samantha David
Samantha (Sam) David (she/her/elle) is the Director of TREDIA (Truth, Reconciliation, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility) Relationships and Initiatives for Ingenium, and is responsible for bringing an intersectional lens into museum operations, storytelling and strategic planning. Prior to her current position, she served as the Planning Analyst for the Indigenous Science Liaison Office at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. During her time there, she helped to establish one of the first Indigenous science missions to New Zealand, supported the development of the Interdepartmental Indigenous STEM (I-STEM) Cluster and co-chaired the Indigenous Network Circle. She continues to support the department as a member of the Human Research Ethics Committee. Her relations are tied to Santa Rita and Sariaya in the Philippines and Pokemouche in Mi’kma’ki.
Sam holds a Masters in Indigenous and Canadian Studies and a Bachelors in Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton University. Her work was focused on innovation driven by Indigenous knowledge systems, research diplomacy and the intersections between international and Indigenous relations. She continues to work in this space with a wider focus on community inclusion, facilitating relationship-building activities, and staff cultural competency training.
Bernadeth Betchi
Bernadeth is a human, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a partner and a human rights activist.
She is a Black woman, an immigrant, a francophone and an artist.
She has a Bachelor of Communication, a Masters of Women and Gender Studies and is currently completing her 4th year PHD in Philosophy Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is the recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Bursary for her research on Maternal Mental Health, with a focus on Black mothers in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
She has worked at the Prime Minister of Canada’s Office, at the Canadian Human Rights Commission and as a Professor of Communications, English, Human Rights, Social Justice and Sociology at Algonquin and St-Lawrence College.
She is also one of the twelve representative plaintiffs for the Black Class Action Suit. She appeared in the Senate of Canada as an expert for the study on anti-Black discrimination and racism at the Canadian Human Rights Commission and has been an active advocate for the rights of humans as a whole.
In 2024, Bernadeth was the first Black woman to run for president for the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE).
She has had the opportunity to deliver key notes at the Permanent forum for People of African Descent, at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Bernadeth is one of the co-founders of the Ottawa-Gatineau Black Breastfeeding Week, sat on the Board of Directors for Immigrant Women’s Services Ottawa and Maison d’Amitié Ottawa. Her work inspired the creation of The Village Project, a community-based group that assists parents in finding resources and addressing their specific family needs.
She believes in the power of ubuntu “humanity”. “I am because we are”. Ubuntu embodies the ideas of community, shared humanity, and mutual caring for all. It is a philosophy that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all people, the importance of relationships, and the responsibility of individuals to their community.
Bernadeth understands that her mission on this earth is to leave a better blueprint for the generations to come. Hoping that her actions and activism bring lasting and significant change forever to come. She wants to make sure that all of her encounters leave the person better than the way she found them. Her guiding principles are love, empathy and compassion.
She is doing this work standing on the shoulders of her ancestors.
Health Canada’s Accessibility Centre of Expertise
Fabio Onesi
Fabio Onesi is the Director General of the new Talent and Workplace Culture Directorate (TWCD) within the Corporate Services Branch (CSB). This new Directorate was established April 1, 2024 to strengthen workplace culture across both Health Canada (HC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) – bringing together Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Mental Health, Talent Management , Learning and Development, Outreach and Engagement, Values and Ethics, Data Analytics, Accessibility and Official Languages into a single Directorate. Previously, Fabio was the Executive Director of the Corporate Policies, Programs and Mental Health Division within the Human Resources Services Directorate. Before joining Health Canada in late 2018, Fabio was an Executive Director/Director General at PHAC and Library and Archives Canada, and also spent time at the Treasury Board Secretariat and HRSDC in employee and manager roles. Throughout his career, Fabio has had the opportunity to develop and implement innovative practices and actively engage in situations, whether positive or negative, to draw insights from them. Each of these experiences offered the chance to learn, adapt and grow. In his private time, Fabio is heavily involved in and is a strong supporter of volunteerism in the community.
A Day in the Life
Ghaelle Meta Mulaja
Ghaelle Meta Mulaja works for Health Canada as a crisis counsellor with the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Ghaelle is compassionate, dedicated and enthusiastic about helping and supporting clients (including employees and their family members) to manage their emotions and better cope with psycho-emotional issues affecting their well-being. She assesses client’s needs and uses various Solution-Focused Therapy approaches based on the presenting problems. Ghaelle graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Master of Education (MEd) Concentration in Counselling Psychology in 2020, and is working toward her designation as a Registered Psychotherapist.
Donnalyn McClymont
Donnalyn was appointed as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Senior Personnel and Public Service Renewal) on September 24, 2021. Donnalyn began her public service career in 1994 as a cohort of the former Management Trainee Program at the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Since 2003, Donnalyn has held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in the Privy Council Office (PCO), including as Director of Operations in the Social Development Policy Secretariat, and Director of Operations in the former Operations Secretariat. Prior to her appointment as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Senior Personnel and Public Service Renewal), Donnalyn served as Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Senior Personnel Secretariat. Through her time at PCO, Donnalyn has gained significant experience advising Ministers and senior officials on a broad range of complex policy issues.
Having had the privilege of serving as an executive at PCO for many years, Donnalyn has worked alongside a generation of public servants dedicated to excellence in service to Canada and Canadians. Donnalyn has shared her PCO knowledge and experience through a number of important leadership roles, including co-leading the PCO Champion Network, and previously, as PCO’s Values and Ethics Champion.
Donnalyn holds a Bachelor of History degree from the University of Toronto, and a Masters of History degree from the University of Windsor.
Indigenous Recruitment & Retention in Fisheries and Oceans Canada Arctic Region
Amy Amos
Amy Amos was appointed Regional Director General, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Arctic Region effective April 2, 2024. Amy is based in Inuvik, Northwest Territories (NT).
Amy is from the Gwich’in First Nation and was born in Inuvik, NT. As a northerner, she has a deep appreciation for, and knowledge of the Arctic. Since joining DFO in 2021, she has developed an understanding of the Government’s priorities in the North and across Canada. Amy brings significant experience to this role having spent much of the last year as Associate Regional Director General for the DFO Arctic Region, where she has led DFO’s participation on key initiatives including the implementation of the Inuit Nunangat Policy as well as the development of a Northern Recruitment and Retention Strategy for DFO and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Previously, Amy spent two years as Director, Arctic Operations where she supported the region’s focused approach to meet the Department’s reconciliation objectives, including using Indigenous Knowledge, hiring Indigenous employees, improving engagement and strengthening partnerships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Before joining DFO, she spent 16 years working for the Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board in Inuvik, NT as both a biologist and Executive Director.
Amy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science from Mount Saint Vincent University. She is a certified facilitator with the Canada School of Public Service and is an alumna of the Governor General Canadian Leadership Conference.
Neurodiversity Networks
Deborah Cooper
Deborah Cooper has extensive experience in labour and employment law. She is currently a part-time member of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB), as well as being a regular instructor at the Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre (IRC) since 2013. She has been involved in all aspects of labour relations, having appeared before numerous tribunals and courts. With respect to collective bargaining, she has bargained in various sectors including the federal public service, the private sector, and the non-profit environment.
Ms. Cooper worked in private practice as an employment and labour lawyer before working at several different federal public service unions in various roles including General Counsel and Executive Director, as well as representing employees in the federally-regulated aviation industry as Director Labour Relations and General Counsel. She also held the position of General Secretary of the National Joint Council (NJC) of the Public Service of Canada from 2013-2018. In addition, she works as a volunteer on numerous Boards in the non-profit environment and has been doing so for over 20 years.
She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) degree from the University of Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Western Ontario, as well as certificates in Labour Relations and Advanced Human Resources. She has been a member of the Law Society of Ontario for over 25 years.
Sancho Angulo
Sancho Angulo is an autistic Filipino-Canadian public servant, neurodiversity advocate, and public speaker. Born in Manila, Philippines, Sancho moved with his family to Canada at the age of 3, and was raised in Markham, Ontario. At 13, Sancho was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, now a part of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and draws from his personal journey to propel his advocacy and public speaking on embracing neurodiversity in the workplace. As a speaker with the Federal Speakers’ Forum for Lived Experience, Sancho has delivered presentations to more than 30 federal departments and agencies on autism and neurodiversity at work.
Sancho currently works as an Advisor, Privacy and Data Governance with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. He is the Co-Chair and founder of Infinity – The Network for Neurodivergent Public Servants, the Government of Canada’s interdepartmental network focused on connecting and advancing neurodivergent employees across Canada’s federal public service. Having grown to more than 1,000 members across 80 federal institutions, Infinity is the largest government-wide neurodiversity network in the G7. For his efforts, Sancho was named by Future of Good as one of its 2024 Young Impact Leaders – 30 Changemakers to Watch For.
An accredited privacy professional with CIPP/C and CIPM credentials from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), Sancho currently serves as a Co-Chair of the IAPP KnowledgeNet chapter in Ottawa and is also a part-time Contract Instructor at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration, where he teaches a course on privacy management in the Canadian public sector.
Sancho holds a Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) and a Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management (BPAPM), specializing in Communication Technologies and Regulation, both from Carleton University.
Amy Labelle
Amy Labelle is a neurodivergent woman. She currently works as a Senior Implementation Advisor within the Communications Security Establishment's (CSE) Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Secretariate. Amy started working for the Government of Canada in 2016 as a student at Public Services and Procurement Canada. Following that, she held various positions in different departments until 2018, where she was hired full time at CSE. Amy has been working in EDI at CSE for the last 2 years.
In addition to her official role at CSE, Amy also leads the Neurodiversity Affinity group. In her role as lead, she supports the group and the wider organization in identifying and addressing barriers to a neuro-inclusive culture. She also supports the group by holding and maintaining safe spaces, so the neurodivergent people of her organization have a place to find community and share their experiences. In the last 2 and a half years, the Neurodiversity Affinity group has consulted on barriers and possible improvements to various processes including security, recruitment, onboarding, accommodations, and official languages training. The group has also supported Corporate Services in developing and updating a neurodiversity guide, recruiting at events, and even answering questions from neurodivergent candidates during staffing. In her role, Amy has also spoken with multiple GoC departments and with other government organizations around the world about neurodiversity and the things CSE has been able to achieve by having a Neurodiversity Affinity group like theirs.
Anne Rahming
Anne Rahming joined Chief, Professional Conduct and Culture as Acting Deputy Director General, Culture & Executive Director, Gender Equality, and Intersectional Analysis (DGEIA), National Defence (DND) on February 5, 2024. Anne was previously with ADM(HR-Civ) where she provided leadership as Director, Strategic Planning and Accountability (DSPA), its Data Officer, and the L1 Neurodiversity Champion. She is well known in DND’s people management community as a bridge-builder, leveraging strong collaboration skills to build constructive relationships that help move DND’s modernization and change priorities forward. Prior to joining ADM(HR-Civ) three years ago, Anne led the Department of Justice’s Results and Delivery team, working closely with her GBA Plus colleague to guide and advise departmental leads on next steps and to report on departmental progress towards its envisioned outcomes. She is particularly proud of the horizontal anti-racist review of Justice policy and program cycles she had the opportunity to lead just prior to her departure to join her present team, which culminated in novel and more inclusive ways of governing, as well as formalized direction, guidance, and resources for the Department’s management and leadership team.
Anne is fluently bilingual and a graduate of the London School of Economics with expertise in institutional analysis and design, multilevel governance, and intergovernmental decision-making. She has years of experience teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels on such themes as the international political economy, European Union politics, gender and politics, post-colonial politics, and foundational methodology courses for the social sciences. She also holds certifications in Change Management and Knowledge Management.
Outside the office, Anne gives back to her community where and how she can, to improve the quality of life of children and adults on the autism spectrum by sharing her knowledge and lived experience with parents and caregivers in her community.
A Day in the Life
Doug White
In 2016, Doug began his career with the Canadian Coast Guard in operations as a Marine Communications and Traffic Services Officer stationed in Sarnia, ON. In 2019, Doug transitioned to a role within national headquarters as an Operations Officer in the National Command Centre located in Ottawa. Following his operational experience, Doug transitioned to the policy realm working for Transport Canada’s Marine Safety and Security branch in regulatory, legislative, and international affairs and in 2022 he rejoined the Canadian Coast Guard, joining the national Search and Rescue Program team as a Senior Policy Analyst.