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Welcome to the Federal Youth Network's Virtual Learning Series for Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Anti-Racism
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Career for Employment Equity Deserving Public Servants - February 22, 2022 - 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm EST
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Event recording found here
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Panelist Bios
| Photo | Name | Title | Bio | Social Media |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valerie Gideon (Her/She)
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Associate Deputy Minister, Indigenous Services Canada | Dr. Valérie Gideon is a member of the Mi’kmaq Nation of Gesgapegiag, Quebec and a proud mother of two young girls. She currently holds the position of Associate Deputy Minister of Indigenous Services Canada. From 2018-2020, she was the Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB), Indigenous Services Canada. From 2012-17, Valerie held the position of Assistant Deputy Minister, Regional Operations, Health Canada. In 2011-2012, she was Director General, Strategic Policy, Planning and Analysis at FNIHB. From 2007-2010, she held the position of Regional Director for First Nations and Inuit Health, Ontario Region, Health Canada. Prior to working at Health Canada, her experience consisted mainly of working in First Nations health advocacy as Senior Director of Health and Social Development at the Assembly of First Nations and Director of the First Nations Centre at the National Aboriginal Health Organization. She was named Chair of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Health Research Peer Review Committee of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in 2004. She graduated from McGill University (Montreal) in 2000 with a Doctorate degree (Dean’s List) in Communications (dissertation pertaining to telehealth and citizen empowerment). She previously completed a Masters of Arts in 1996 at McGill. She is a founding member of the Canadian Society of Telehealth and former Board member of the National Capital Region YMCA/YWCA. | Twitter @valerie_gideon | |
| Tabassum Khan (Her/She)
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Outreach and Events Director for the Muslim Federal Employees Network and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisor at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. | Tabassum is a Canadian Muslim woman of Southeast Asian heritage, she has experience leading, planning and implementing various DEI grassroots initiative in her organization as the co-chair of the Multiculturalism Stream and a member of the Inclusion Network. In her work at MFEN she has moderated GC-wide events and publicly spoke on topics related to Muslim Canadians (i.e. allyship, impacts of Islamophobia, intersectionality, and more).
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Tabassum Khan | LinkedIn | |
| Michèle Elliott (Her/She) | Senior Advisor and Subject Matter Expert, Talent Management, Knowledge Circle for Indigenous Inclusion &
Manager of the Indigenous Career Navigators Program (ICNP) |
Prior to joining the Public Service, Michèle was a schoolteacher for over 10 years. She then made the move to the Federal Government as an HR assistant. Within her first year in government, Michèle successfully landed a supervisory role at First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) at Health Canada. There she worked on Indigenous files, where she could follow her passion of contributing to the career development, personal growth and better living environment of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people and communities.
Michèle then became the Lead of the Indigenous Development Programs. In 2019, following 11 years of service as the Lead for Indigenous Development Programs, Michèle assumed the role of Indigenous Navigator for FNIHB. In this new role, Michèle supported Indigenous employee recruitment, retention, and advancement within the department. She offered career advice and guidance to Indigenous employees. She helped managers who were looking to staff positions with Indigenous candidates. She assisted Indigenous employees, located across the country, with mapping out career paths, creating learning plans, providing advice on how to be successful in staffing processes, and helping them find staffing opportunities. Michèle is now at the Knowledge Circle for Indigenous Inclusion where she has developed and is currently implementing the Indigenous Career Navigators Program enterprise-wide across Canada. Her passion remains supporting Indigenous peoples and making a difference where she can. Michèle a Mi’kmaq woman who also has ties with the Algonquin culture. She is happily married and a proud mother of three. She has a Degree in Psychology, a Degree in Education, and an Additional Qualification Course: Teaching French as a Second Language from the University of Ottawa. |
To contact Michele please feel free to email her at michele.elliott@pch.gc.ca | |
| Samantha Moonsammy (Her/She) | Section Head, Lead Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion, Materiel Group, National Defence | Samantha has spent over 15 years in the public service working in numerous communications, outreach and engagement initiatives that focuses on the people side of business.
But Samantha is much more than that. Her layers include being a woman, mother, partner, daughter, sister, community builder and immigrant. As an Indo-Caribbean Canadian she was born in Guyana, South America and immigrated to Canada as a toddler. From a young age, dating back to elementary school to the present, Samantha has been a leader in diversity, inclusion and equity always helping to amplify the voice of others and create sustainable change in organizations to build deeper respect and understanding for all humans. Samantha lives in the Ottawa area and spent some time in Toronto and Barbados during her Master’s degree in Communications and Culture. She is a passionate world traveler who has worked and studied in India, China, France and the Caribbean. Her daily mantra: Be the change you wish to see in the world. |
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| Jeremy Tait (He/Him) | Director and Departmental Liaison, Engagement, Communications, Digital Enablement and
Information Management Knowledge Circle for Indigenous Inclusion |
Jeremy Tait is a member of Nisga’a Nation in British Columbia, and lives in Moncton NB. Jeremy graduated from St. Mary’s University in Halifax with a concentration in Management and Human Resource Management. Jeremy started his career in Employment Skills Development Canada (ESDC, formally HRDC) as a student through FSWEP. Now for more than 20 years he has served with various departments/organizations including:
ESDC, Social Development Canada, Service Canada, Public Service Alliance of Canada, and Indigenous Services Canada. Working in a regional office Jeremy’s expertise is through corporate services and Indigenous programming in the following: Employment Equity, Training, Indigenous Recruitment, Development, Retention, Finance, Human Resources, Issues Management, Education, Social, and Indigenous Liaison Services. Jeremy is a natural leader and naturally takes on the lead of Indigenous Employee networks. He is naturally and intricately connected to the federal family through Federal Council, Indigenous Employee Networks, and Interdepartmental working groups to advance reconciliation. Jeremy works to make the workplace a better place for all employees from all walks of life. His daily goal is: “to leave the workplace in a better way than when I found it”. |
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| Christopher Scipio (He/Him) | Senior Analyst
Secretariat, The Black Executives Network (BEN) |
Christopher K. Scipio is a strategic policy advisor in Canada’s Federal Public Service specializing in Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+). He is an intersectional feminist and anti-racist committed to using his work to contribute to collective efforts to dismantle systems that oppress individuals and groups due to their race, gender, ability, religion, and other identity factors.
Since joining the federal public service in 2010, Christopher has worked primarily in strategic policy on a wide range of files including: change management, access to justice, Indigenous justice, digital government and performance reporting. He is also involved in public service renewal efforts through his participation with the Black Employee Networks (BENs) and the Anti-Racism Ambassadors Network (ARAN). Outside of his day job, Christopher is a past volunteer with Family Services Ottawa, the Canadian Centre for Women’s Empowerment, Ottawa Community Immigration Settlement Organization and is presently a board member (Director-at-Large) for the Institute of Public Administration of Canada-National Capital Region. |
Twitter @ScipioCk
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-scipio-bbaa1a76 | |
| Dr. Vinita Ambwani (Her/She) | Director for Special Projects Implementation at the Centre on Diversity and Inclusion, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat | Dr. Vinita Ambwani is the Director for Special Projects Implementation at the Centre on Diversity and Inclusion, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat. Before taking on her current role, Vinita was the Manager for Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Programs at OCHRO and Manger, EE, in the Corporate Staffing, Employment Equity and Official Languages directorate in the HRM sector of CSC. Prior to her twelve years in the federal public service Vinita has taught management at the university level for many years. She has also authored several papers on topics related to workplace outcomes for diverse populations that have been presented at diversity conferences across the world and published in academic peer-reviewed journals. | Twitter @vinitaambwani
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-vinita-ambwani-20108a9/ | |
| Jennifer Hong (She/Her) | Policy Analyst (Canadian Forest Service) | Jennifer Hong is the current co-chair of NRCan’s Visible Minority Advisory Council (VMAC). As the co-chair, she provides strategic direction to VMAC’s work in achieving a representative, inclusive, and discrimination-free federal public service. Jennifer actively collaborates with VMAC’s 9 executive team members to implement programs and advise NRCan senior executives and other EDI stakeholders, both inter and intra-departmentally, on policies that support NRCan’s visible minority community.
Under her leadership, VMAC has successfully organized and delivered 10 virtual inclusive-by-design events that have had a combined audience of over 500 federal employees, with the most recent event garnering an audience of over 800 NRCan employees and active participation from the NRCan’s previous Deputy Minister, Jean-François Tremblay, and four Assistant Deputy Ministers. She has also developed and facilitated NRCan’s first-ever Safe Space Session on the topic of anti-asian racism and continues to support spaces that allow for meaningful dialogue and learning amongst staff. Jennifer is a recent graduate from the University of British Columbia holding a BSc Honours in Forest Sciences specializing in Forest Ecosystem Services and currently is a policy analyst for the Circular Bioeconomy and Supply Chain Economics team at the Canadian Forest Service. She is passionate about engaging youth in environmentalism and has worked for the Parks Canada Agency developing community outreach programs for diverse public audiences including new-to-Canada and Indigenous communities and has led a student team to complete environmental restoration activities for the City of Surrey’s Salmon Habitat Restoration Program. Previously, she has supported NRCan’s employees in 19 different innovation-related projects and has international experience working for Singapore’s National Parks Board. In addition, Jennifer has experience analyzing environmental policy solutions and programming to implement the Pan-Canadian Framework for Environment and Climate Change Canada. She is also a member of the CFS EDI Working Group, the events organizer for the Young Professionals Network, an NRCan Mental Health and Wellness Ambassador, and has been trained in Positive Space and GBA+. |
Twitter: @jenn1616hong | |
| Emily Doan (Her/She) | Emily is a second-generation settler with family ties to Vietnam. Having grown up in the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, she developed a love for ecology and nature in childhood that led to degrees in Natural Resources Conservation and Resource Management. She currently works in Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Research and Development. Alongside her work, she is currently managing NRCan’s Executive Pilot Mentorship Program, which connects BIPOC early-career professionals with executive-level mentors. | Twitter @emfdoan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emdoan |
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