Adaoma Patterson

Adaoma completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Windsor and has more than twenty-five years progressive experience in the not-for-profit and public sectors. She is currently Manager – Poverty Reduction and Community Engagement in the Human Services Department at the Region of Peel, responsible for leading the implementation of a multi-year poverty reduction strategy and supporting initiatives that increase community safety and well-being for residents in Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon. Her work involves creating awareness among residents and local politicians about poverty in Peel, advocating to various levels of government for investments, influencing policy and program changes to social services initiatives, and, working with the community to implement actions related to social inclusion, affordable transit, food& income security and economic opportunities.

Since 2016, Adaoma has been President of the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA), a 58 year-old organization serving the Jamaican, Caribbean and African-Canadian communities in the Greater Toronto Area. As part of her current mandate, she is focused on increasing the involvement of youth and young adults in all aspects of the organization, building new partnerships, and ensuring the sustainability of the organization and JCA Centre, located in North York.

Aisha is a seasoned professional with twenty-five years of diverse leadership and business experience across the pharmaceutical, marketing, community and non-profit sectors. Called upon as a thought-leader, creative visionary and prolific speaker, Aisha has a gift of connecting narratives, experiences and ideas seamlessly with structure and strategy to energize, motivate and inspire purpose-driven action and achievement.

Aisha is the founder and executive director of Project: Restore FIBI (Families Impacted by Incarceration), a charity that has created a safe and supportive space for families to heal, grow and thrive after being disrupted by a family member’s involvement with the criminal legal system.

Having the opportunity to meet and collaborate with young change-makers from around the world, inspired her to create tangible change back home in Canada. Drawing from her own experiences, Apefa continued to speak out about the barriers and micro-aggressions she faced as a young Black woman, collaborating with businesses and local organizations to create programming and advise on policy to support women and youth. Using her experiences at the U.N. as a ‘spring point’, she committed her focus to advocacy, gaining the opportunities to collaborate with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the British Council, the University of Waterloo, Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre, WE DAY and many other organizations to create opportunities and build the capacity of young Canadians, while completing her undergraduate education at the University of Toronto.

For over 25 years Bev worked tirelessly as a Social Services Worker at the City of Toronto where she organized job fairs, community and social events, assisted people in need by preparing them for the job market, with resumes and interview techniques.  She also conducted workshops to motivate and encourage youths to be the best they can be.

Always a strong advocate for youth and seniors, she still continues to volunteer in the community with the YMCA and Malvern Family Resource Centre, where she teaches exercises and is an active member of the Senior Advisory Committee. She also teaches English as A Second Language to Newcomers and is resourceful in providing information as part of her broader effort to make their transition to Canada less stressful.  Bev is passionate and resourceful and is well known and respected in her Scarborough Community of Malvern.

Brenda Elizabeth Williams was born and raised in Freetown Sierra Leone, West Africa, by parents Isaac and Georgiana Jones. She migrated with her family to Canada in 2008 as a qualified with a Permanent Resident status. She is a mother of two beautiful children, Christel and Joshua who mean the world to her.

She is the Founder and Executive Director of New Life Project Incorporation, a Non-Profit Organization, registered in Canada, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, and the USA with the goal of inspiring, educating, and empowering women and children through effective support systems such as empowerment forums, workshops, education and relief programs.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in French and International Relations from the University of Sierra Leone Fourth Bay College Freetown, and a BA in Translation, from the University of Quebec in Montreal Canada. Brenda equally hold Diplomas in Administration and Business Management from the British College of Professional and Cambridge International College respectively.

Candies Kotchapaw is a registered Social Worker and the Founder and Executive Director of Developing Young Leaders of Tomorrow, Today (DYLOTT).  She was born in Westmoreland, Jamaica and at the age of fourteen migrated to Canada with her mother and sister.  She completed her education in Canada. She obtained a Child and Youth Worker diploma from George Brown College and the Bachelor and Master of Social Work degrees from York University.

She worked in Social Services for over thirteen years. Most recently, she worked as an independent researcher on precarious work within the Black community and policy practice for social workers course co-developer. These combined experiences led her to create a program for Black youth.

She created DYLOTT so that Black youth who are interested in professional careers, but struggle to get relevant quality exposure, do not continue to fall through the cracks of society.

Carol Mundley- Born in England, but migrated to Jamaica as an infant and then migrated to Canada as an adult.   For almost 18 years working at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health as a nurse, the Co-Chair for Joint Health and Safety Committee, the Workplace Violence Prevention Committee, and the Horizontal Violence, Anti-Racism, and Anti-Oppression Committee.

As a union activist in OPSEU, the first black woman to hold the Chair for the Provincial Women’s Committee, and the Coordinator for Health and Safety for the Province-wide Mental Health and Addiction Division where the birth of the Violence in the Workplace toolkit was created.   Lobbying Government and policymakers to change laws.   Continuously mentoring women especially racialized women in having a voice not only at work but in their communities.

Cheryl Kerr is the Founder and Managing Director of Medex Health Services Incorporated.

Born in Jamaica, Ms. Cheryl Kerr came to Canada in 1984 where she settled in Montreal while working and attending Dawson’s College.  After successfully completing her program as a registered nurse, she launched a full-time career spanning more than 25 years in the healthcare field.

Dr. Claudette Knight has over twenty years of experience in the Financial Services Industry as a Human Resource (H.R) professional and is passionate about delivering sustainable business results while enabling engagement and wellbeing in others. Claudette is currently VP Talent Development at CIBC where she leads a national team accountable for building employee and leader capability bank-wide. She is also HR’s Executive Sponsor for the CIBC’s ‘Run for the Cure’ and Executive Co-Sponsor for CIBC’s Black Employee Network. Claudette is an ally of CIBC’s Indigenous Employee Circle, Pride Network and Women’s Network.  She presents regularly at CIBC events as well as externally, most recently the Chief Learning Officer Conference in 2019 and at the “Making Money Moves” event for the Black Professionals in Technology Network, in 2020.

Colleen is currently an Associate Director in the Toronto District School Board with responsibility for the following portfolios: Equity, Early Years, Well-being, Schools and School Improvement. Throughout her career, Colleen has held a firm belief that education is one of the most important tools required to change lives. In particular, she has been a dedicated advocate for children’s early literacy development. Perhaps this passion emanated from the love of reading fostered by her mother, Delacy and her early teaching and leadership experiences in North York and Scarborough. Colleen quickly learned that there were systemic barriers faced by underserved students which often stalled their literacy development. She set out to dismantle the system by ensuring children had the ability to read and write, in order to give voice to their ideas. Her commitment to literacy led Colleen to volunteer as tutor of both children and adults. Principal and Teacher, Colleen mentored and taught other educators in Toronto and the United States, in effective and culturally responsive reading practices.

Collette Murray is a Toronto-born dance educator, performer and cultural arts programmer. She is a dedicated dance artist whose critical and creative work span over 25 years in Ontario. Her vision evolved to use leadership and innovative ways to highlight the contributions and social significance of African diasporic knowledge.

Her community arts engagement is in a socially-engaged way and through social entrepreneurship. She later developed Miss Coco Murray, a mobile, dance education business, offering cultural arts services rooted from the African and Caribbean diaspora, that are inaccessible across sectors. She is the Artistic Director of Coco Collective, an intergenerational and multidisciplinary arts team of musicians and artists where she designs and implements innovative, culturally relevant programs for children, youth and adults.

Born in a modest and militant Haitian family, Darlène Lozis was introduced early to social activism through the influence of a philanthropic mother who intervened regularly in favor of needy and abused children. These activities, although kept personal, have shaped her future professional and relational choices. Darlène works at the Public Service Alliance of Canada, as the national coordinator of oppression prevention. She lives with her family in the National Capital Region.

Her own activism, as a young adult, began consciously in Port-au-Prince, Haiti around 1997, with « les servantes de Dieu » (the maidservants of God), an organization whose goal was to guide and support street children (girls and boys) aged between 6 and 17 years old. Although she held no firm religious beliefs at the time, Darlène embraced this opportunity to help disadvantaged youths in her native city. Upon her return to Ottawa, Darlène volunteered her services with several local and national organizations: CALACS, Centraide Outaouais, Jaku Konbit and Canada Haiti Action Network, among others, while remaining connected to international organizations that work for human rights (Haiti, Venezuela, El Salvador).

Donna Wellington was born in Windsor, ON, Canada.  Her parents are Jamaican and immigrated to Canada.  Her mother taught her the importance of hard work, education, and achievement; also not to expect handouts but to outperform her peers in order to overcome the societal disadvantages of being female, a visible minority, and the child of immigrant parents.  She took this to heart and excelled in school, athletics and her career.

She graduated from W.F. Herman Secondary School, earned her Bachelor of Science, Nursing (BSN,) and Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Windsor, 2004.

Donna began working at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit in 1996.  She has held numerous roles, starting as a registered nurse in the Ambulatory clinic to Vice President of Operations for Henry Ford’s flagship 800+ bed hospital to her current role as Chief Operating Officer of the Henry Ford Behavioural Health Services division.

Donna has 20+ years’ health care experience and recognized as an effective leader in complex, high-stake situations in Healthcare. She has led in all aspects of health care delivery including Primary Care, Pediatrics, Urology, Women’s Health, Dermatology, Inpatient and Outpatient Nursing and Behavioural Health.