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The Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity & Workplace Equity presents the 2nd Annual George Floyd Memorial Lecture

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TORONTO, May 18, 2022 – The Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity and Workplace Equity (Canadian Congress) brings you the 2nd annual George Floyd Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM EDT. Canadian Congress supports & empowers people by the exchange of ideas & strategic training on progressive ways of eliminating systemic racism in the country & transforming the culture of their organizations. May 25th will mark the second anniversary of the killing of George Floyd.

The Memorial Lecture, which is also the call for a National Social Justice Day, presents leaders in organizations, institutions, and the government to learn and discuss the strategic actions they have been taking since the video that changed the world two years ago; or has it? Join the conversation, Wednesday, May 25th, as prominent social justice advocates, community activists, diversity consultants, community, corporate, religious, academic, and political leaders equip thousands of people with tips, tools, techniques, training, and technology to eliminate racism and discrimination.

This year’s theme is The Quest for Black Representation, Empowerment & Brilliance, while enlightening delegates on the UN’s Resolution 68/237 proclaiming 2015 to 2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent. The 2nd George Floyd Memorial Lecture will bring together a lineup of exceptional speakers, which includes the following:

Alex Ihama, Executive Director of the Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity, President, International School of Greatness and a global strategist, executive coach, professional speaker & author of The Mystique of Leadership.

Isaac Olowolafe Jr., an award-winning entrepreneur, philanthropist, board member at the Sick Kids Hospital, Founder/CEO, of The Dream Maker Realty and Olowolafe Family Scholarship Award at the University of Toronto, the largest endowment for African Studies in any Canadian university.

Patricia DeGuire, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission, and a mediator, adjudicator, and arbitrator in human rights and equity for more than 25 years.

Rosemary Sadlier, OOnt (Order of Ontario), a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant; past President of the Ontario Black History Society & author of seven books on African Canadian history.

Farley Flex, a Partner at Urban Rez Solutions – Social Enterprise, a former Canadian Idol judge, an inductee into the Scarborough Walk of Fame, recipient of the Harry Jerome Award for Entertainment and Community Service, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Award for Protecting the World’s Most Vulnerable Children and two Juno Awards as Manager of Maestro Fresh-Wes.

Dr. Helen Ofosu, an Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Carleton University.

Dr. Pat Francis, global transformation speaker, author, business consultant, pastor of the Kingdom Covenant Ministries & Founder of the Canadian Black Directorate and For a Better Canada.

Pauline Christian, award-winning entrepreneur and community advocate, immediate Past- President of the Black Business & Professional Association (BBPA) & Founder/CEO of Best Lifestyle Residence.

Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad, Assistant Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University & author, Decolonizing Educational Assessment: Ontario Elementary Students and the EQAO.

Dr. Wesley Crichlow, a Critical Race Intersectional Theorist at the Ontario Tech University and co-author of Diversity Issues in Policing.

Ray Williams, ICD.D, Managing Director & Vice Chairman of Financial Markets at National Bank Financial & Co-Founder of the Black Opportunity Fund which is committed to dismantling the impacts of systemic racism by providing funding and helping to build the capacity of Canadian Black led businesses.

Tiffany Callender, CEO of the Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE), a coalition of Canadian Black business support organizations that worked with the federal government to co-develop and administer the $291.3 million Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund.

Kevin Junor, retired Deputy Superintendent from the Ministry of the Solicitor General & Regimental Sergeant Major; an awardee of the Order of Military Merit & Harry Jerome Professional Excellence

Dr. Delores Mullings, the inaugural Vice-Provost for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at the Memorial University in Newfoundland, and Labrador; author of Confronting Anti-Black Racism.

Tonya Williams, the Canadian actress, producer, director, and activist who is globally known for her role as Dr. Olivia Barber Winters on the American daytime drama The Young and the Restless; also, the Founder & Executive Director of Reelworld Screen Institute & Festival.

Neville Wright, a 3x Olympian who spent almost two decades as an athlete representing Canada on the World Stage in Track and Field and Bobsleigh; a performance therapist and resilience coach.

Dr. Francis Mpindu, York Region Police Chaplain for almost two decades, Community & Police Relations facilitator, Workplace Fairness Analyst, and the Founder of Niigon Abin Resolutions Services.

Fareed Khan; human rights advocate, a regular journalist on CBC, CTV, Global, Canadian Press, Toronto Star, OMNI, and Founder/CEO of the anti-racism group, Canadian United Against Hate.

In addition to other executives at the Canadian Congress, Chrissy Benz, Henry Luyombya, Moy Fung and Roberto Hausman & a series of entertainers which include the globally renowned Dwayne Morgan, two-time Canadian National Poetry Slam Champion, there is a segment for a group of mayors to share their municipal strategy to dismantle colonialism, embrace diversity & build cohesive cities and towns.

Confirmed mayors are Kassim Doumbia of Shippagan, New Brunswick and the only Black mayor in Canada, and Amarjeet Sohi of Edmonton, Alberta. Others are Philip Brown of Charlottetown, Edward Macaulay of the town of Three Rivers and Basil Stewart of Summerside, all on Prince Edwards Island.

According to Nosakhare Alex Ihama, the Executive Director of the Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity & Workplace Equity and Executive Producer of the George Floyd Memorial Lecture:

“No call for social justice can be louder than the graphic live transmission of the modern-day lynching of George Floyd, with no mercy on the part of the law, law enforcers and inequitable justice of our days, even as the dying man cried repeatedly for his long-dead mom to come to his rescue. Two years after over a billion people watched the gruesome murder of George Floyd live on social media, the unjust killings of Black men and women by the police are still on the rise. When coupled with mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, only about a week before Floyd’s second death anniversary, it is clear we need more allies to help reduce these atrocities towards people of African descent.”

Tickets are free and available at www.canadiancongressondiversity.ca.

THE CANADIAN CONGRESS ON INCLUSIVE DIVERSITY & WORKPLACE EQUITY 

The Canadian Congress is a national organization with over 100 academic and experiential experts, researchers, and facilitators in Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) that offers an end-to-end strategic framework for organizations, institutions, and the government to eliminate systemic racism from their brand, culture, systems, policies, and management.

To enable organizations to foster a cohesive, inclusive, and progressive corporate culture, we facilitate customized training programs, audit policies and processes from an EDI lens, engage their staff and coach their executives to maximize Inclusive Diversity & Workplace Equity.

While we organize some of the largest and most impactful events in the country, empowering thousands of Canadians each year to stand up for social justice, we also help organizations to develop and implement short & long-term corporate EDI strategies, specialized EDI initiatives, content for Learning Management Systems (LMS), and a three-to-five-year corporate strategy and strategic roadmap to facilitate the transformation of their corporate culture.

For more information about this or other programs by the Canadian Congress, sponsorship packages, strategic partnerships and opportunities to develop corporate EDI strategies, audit policies from an EDI lens and facilitate corporate workshops and other EDI services for your organization, contact Henry Luyombya at +1-416-854-8935 or email henry@canadiancongressondiversity.ca

Keep up with Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity & Workplace Equity: 

Website: www.canadiancongressondiversity.ca

Facebook: www.facebook.com/canadiancongressondiversity

Instagram: www.instagram.com/canadiancongress

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ccidwe

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/canadian-congress-on-inclusive-diversity-workplace-equity/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0foJrkoNfWskNeQKPWC41w

Media Inquiries:  

For more media inquiries and interviews, kindly contact Sasha Stoltz Publicity, Sasha Stoltz | Sasha@sashastoltzpublicity.com  | 416.579.4804

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Suspicious deaths of two N.S. men were the result of homicide, suicide: RCMP

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September 16, 2024

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Nova Scotia RCMP say their investigation into two suspicious deaths earlier this month has concluded that one man died by homicide and the other by suicide.

The bodies of two men, aged 40 and 73, were found in a home in Windsor, N.S., on Sept. 3.

Police say the province’s medical examiner determined the 40-year-old man was killed and the 73-year-old man killed himself.

They say the two men were members of the same family.

No arrests or charges are anticipated, and the names of the deceased will not be released.

RCMP say they will not be releasing any further details out of respect for the family.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Turning the tide: Quebec premier visits Cree Nation displaced by hydro project in 70s

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September 16, 2024

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For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.

François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from its original location because members were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.

The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.

George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”

“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”

Nemaska’s story illustrates the challenges Legault’s government faces as it looks to build new dams to meet the province’s power needs, which are anticipated to double by 2050. Legault has promised that any new projects will be developed in partnership with Indigenous people and have “social acceptability,” but experts say that’s easier said than done.

François Bouffard, an associate professor of electrical engineering at McGill University, said the earlier era of hydro projects were developed without any consideration for the Indigenous inhabitants living nearby.

“We live in a much different world now,” he said. “Any kind of hydro development, no matter where in Quebec, will require true consent and partnership from Indigenous communities.” Those groups likely want to be treated as stakeholders, he added.

Securing wider social acceptability for projects that significantly change the landscape — as hydro dams often do — is also “a big ask,” he said. The government, Bouchard added, will likely focus on boosting capacity in its existing dams, or building installations that run off river flow and don’t require flooding large swaths of land to create reservoirs.

Louis Beaumier, executive director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montreal, said Legault’s visit to Nemaska represents a desire for reconciliation with Indigenous people who were traumatized by the way earlier projects were carried about.

Any new projects will need the consent of local First Nations, Beaumier said, adding that its easier to get their blessing for wind power projects compared to dams, because they’re less destructive to the environment and easier around which to structure a partnership agreement.

Beaumier added that he believes it will be nearly impossible to get the public — Indigenous or not — to agree to “the destruction of a river” for a new dam, noting that in recent decades people have come to recognize rivers as the “unique, irreplaceable riches” that they are.

Legault’s visit to northern Quebec came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.

The book, published in 2022 along with Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Nemaska community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, Wapachee said.

In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.

“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”

Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.

Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.

Earlier Sunday, Legault was in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro complex in honour of former premier Bernard Landry. At the event, Legault said he would follow the example of his late predecessor, who oversaw the signing of the historic “Paix des Braves” agreement between the Quebec government and the Cree in 2002.

He said there is “significant potential” in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, both in increasing the capacity of its large dams and in developing wind power projects.

“Obviously, we will do that with the Cree,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.



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Quebec premier visits Cree community displaced by hydro project in 1970s

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4 hours ago

 on

September 16, 2024

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NEMASKA – For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.

François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from their original location because they were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.

The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.

George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”

“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”

The book, published in 2022 by Wapachee and Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Cree community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, 100 and 300 kilometres away, Wapachee said.

In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.

“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”

Legault’s visit came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.

Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.

Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.

Earlier Sunday, Legault had been in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro dam in honour of former premier Bernard Landry.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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