In honour of International Women’s Day, we’re using today’s conversation to take a closer look at women’s rights, and what is being done to elevate women’s voices from all over Canada. Joining us in today's episode of Leader Talks with Anne-Marie Pham is Shari Graydon, an award-winning author, speaker, print and broadcast columnist, and advocate fo…

Getting a job is proving difficult for many who have immigrated to Canada, even for those professionally qualified. More needs to be done to ensure that new and immigrant professionals are given a platform to earn their keep, and the more diverse, equitable, and inclusive those environments are, the better! In observation of Black History Month, an…

What does it take to transform a company from having virtually no diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to implementing a comprehensive strategy that spans the entire organization? To help us answer this question, we are joined by Normand St-Gelais for the first episode of season 3 of CCDI’s podcast, Leader Talks with Anne-Marie Pham. Normand is D…

In today's new podcast episode of Leader Talks with Anne-Marie Pham, we're delving into the intricacies of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We've noticed the profound impact this war has had on colleges, teams, and workplaces. Sorting through the vast amount of information available is challenging as it's tough to discern the facts from th…

Today’s special episode of Leader Talks commemorates Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), which is an important observance on November 20th each year to honour the memory of the transgender people whose lives have been lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. To mark the occasion, we are joined by Marni Panas, a Canadian Certified Inclusion Pro…

Islamic History Month, observed in October, is dedicated to commemorating, enlightening, educating, and fostering a deeper understanding among fellow Canadians about the diverse and valuable contributions of the Muslim community to society. In this new episode of Leader Talks with Anne-Marie Pham, we take a moment to celebrate the contributions of …

Today, we’d like to celebrate the incredible work being done in our country to promote and fight for gender-based health equity. However, this work is far from finished and there is still so much more to do. For instance, Canada is 30th out of 146 countries when it comes to the global gender gap index. While this statistic may not seem immediately …

Today, we are joined by thought leader and truth and reconciliation program facilitator Salena Starling, who is also the co-owner and president of Community of Big Hearts. Salena has personally been through Canada’s foster care system and, in this episode, she opens up about her journey. We discover how and why the foster care system disproportiona…

Self-care refers to the intentional activities and practices that individuals engage in to nurture their physical, mental, and emotional health. Joining us today to help us understand the importance of self-care is Psychologist and Human Resources Consultant at Invictus Psychology and Consulting, Zuraida Dada. Zuraida is a seasoned psychologist spe…

Today's guest is Kai Scott, and he is here to share his experience and expertise on the subject of pronouns and inclusive language. Kai is the President and Gender Strategist at TransFocus Consulting and has a great amount of insight into diversity in the workplace, with a focus on guiding thoughtful, respectful, and impactful conversations. In our…

In Canadian workplaces, many Asians are forced to grapple with the bamboo ceiling, which is a term that is used to describe how their growth and success within their organizations is hindered because of their ethnicity. Moreover, other harmful stereotypes (like calling Asians the “model minority”) mean that there is still much work to be done for A…

We are thrilled to welcome Brittany Gataveckas to the show as she helps us better understand Canada’s new 50-30 challenge. Brittany is the Manager of Social Sustainability at the UN Global Compact Network Canada, and her expertise as a project design and implantation specialist is critical in her work of helping Canadian organizations advance their…

Women have been undervalued in the workplace for almost a century and a half! Today on the Leader Talks Podcast we are celebrating International Women’s Day with the incredible Kadie Ward to discuss gender inequality in the workplace. This episode is packed with some amazing insights into how women have been undervalued in work over the years, why …

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 Gom…

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 Relig…

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 with…

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, learn…

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…

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…

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 resear…

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 Tyjo…

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 Unlimite…

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…

Kiersten Mohr is an openly transgender woman and invests her time away from work giving back to her community. She was inspired and emboldened by the positive experience of her gender transition in 2017 and is now passionate to use her visibility and voice to help promote positive public awareness as well as understanding and inclusion of transgend…

Join Anne-Marie Pham as she talks with Amanda Kennedy, an innovative Indigenous leader, anti-racist educator, consultant, strategic community planner, program developer, and facilitator/trainer.By Anne-Marie Pham / Amanda Kennedy

Anne-Marie Pham, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, speaks with Indigenous leader, Tim Fox, who shares his incredible story and insights for addressing anti-Indigenous racism at the systems level.By Host: Anne-Marie Pham / Guest: Tim Fox