Public Profile Database
Josephine B. Etowa, PhD MN BScN RM RN FWACN FAAN is a Professor and Loyer-DaSilva Research Chair in Public Health Nursing in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa. She is also a senior Investigator with the Nursing Best Practice Research Centre (NBPRC) at the University of Ottawa, and a founding member, and past President of the Health Association of African Canadians (HAAC). As a nurse, midwife, an international Board Certified lactation consultant (IBCLC), a researcher and an educator, Professor Etowa has worked in various capacities within the Canadian health care system and abroad including Nigeria over the past three decades. Prof. Etowa received her BScN and MScN degrees from Dalhousie University and her PhD in Nursing from the University of Calgary, Canada. She completed a Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa.
Her program of research which is grounded in over twenty-five years of clinical practice in maternal-newborn and child health (MNCH), and in public health nursing addresses the health inequities with a particular focus on the health of African-Canadian women. She investigated the childbirth experiences of African-Canadian women, the perinatal food choices of African immigrant women in Canada, and the work life of Black Canadian nurses research. As an African born scholar, Professor Etowa has demonstrated longstanding passion for global health initiatives especially in the African diaspora.
Since 2015, her focus has been to secure corporate sponsorships and charity partners, to take Black performers to communities across Canada during Black History Month. Joy explains that, “by partnering with local charities, we have been able to offer charitable organizations and non-profits from coast to coast, a role in presenting these powerful Canadian stories to a diversified audience, while promoting and advancing their local causes. Our mission is to proudly demonstrate and celebrate ways in which members of our Black community build excellence and strong family relationships to develop healthy Canadian communities”.
One of Joy's most significant achievements is not just a professional milestone but a personal triumph—finding her purpose and staying true to herself. This authenticity is the guiding force behind her work as an educator, advocate, and facilitator.
Judge Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré was appointed to the Criminal and Penal Division as well as the Youth Division of the Court of Quebec in April 1999. Since retirement in 2012, she continues to sit as a supplementary judge.
Ms Westmoreland-Traoré was admitted to the Bar of Quebec in 1967 and The Law Society of Upper Canada in 1997; she specialized in immigration and citizenship law, human rights, family law and non-profit organization law. She was a professor in the Department of Legal Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal from 1976 to 1991 and from 1996 to 1999, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Windsor and was appointed a Judge of the Court of Quebec for the District of Montreal in 1999. From 1982 to 1985, she was a member of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. She is well known for her role in establishing the Conseil des communautés culturelles et de l’immigration du Québec, over which she presided from 1985 to 1990. She was Ontario’s first Employment Equity Commissioner, from 1991 to 1995.
Juanita has a long history of community involvement in human rights and equality issues, both nationally and internationally. She was a board member of the Canadian Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges from 2003 to 2009 and a co-chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee of the Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges from 2004 to 2010. Before moving to Toronto, she was an active member of the Congress of Black Women of Canada, Montreal Regional Chapter; many projects addressed issues relevant to immigration, education and health issues. One of the major undertakings was the coordination of an annual day of solidarity with South African women on August 9th, which mobilized both English and French women’s groups; another was the campaign to have discriminatory material removed from a student reader in public schools. She was one of the original members of the former Court Challenges Program established by government to fund cases developed by equity seeking groups, invoking the new equality provisions in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Dr. Juliet Daniel is a Professor and Cancer Biologist in the Department of Biology at McMaster University. Dr. Daniel received her B.Sc. from Queen’s University and her Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. She spent six years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Memphis & Vanderbilt University–Nashville before joining McMaster in 1999 to establish her own research laboratory.
Dr. Daniel’s research expertise is cell adhesion and signaling through transcription factors. Her research team seeks to elucidate how malfunction of adhesion-related signaling pathways and transcription factors contribute to cancer. Dr. Daniel’s research led to her discovery of a new protein “Kaiso”, named after the popular Caribbean music “calypso”. Kaiso is a transcription factor that regulates the expression of many genes, including those that control cell proliferation and adhesion. Consequently, when Kaiso malfunctions, cells proliferate uncontrollably and become more motile, which contribute to tumor progression and spread in various human tumors.
Dr. Daniel’s research is currently focused on the aggressive and difficult to treat triple negative breast cancers (TNBC). This breast cancer subtype is most prevalent in young women of African ancestry and Hispanic women despite the fact that these women have a lower incidence and lifetime risk of breast cancer than other ethnic groups.
Single mother of 4 amazing children. Named diabetes educator of the year through the faculty of the Medicine University of Toronto. Recognized by the Canadian Diabetes Education Certification Board for the award of excellence in diabetes education management. Community advocate and activist for continental Africans and other Canadian communities to get free access to health, health equipment and medications for all.
My greatest accomplishments have been to my family, supprting and enjoying
multiple generations and learning from their wisdom and the strength of our ancestors.
The opportunity to address racial and social justice in so many spheres including in education, institutions, government and organizations both public and private, and have been a source of great satisfaction. As an educator and researcher, contributing to the production of knowledge and being able to work with young people in supporting their intellectual, social and social justice development have been a great joy of my life.
June Girvan has devoted her adult life to nurturing, protecting, affirming and giving voice to children and young people. After her retirement, she established the J'Nikira Dinqinesh Education Centre (JDEC), named for her children, in Ottawa, Ontario. The JDEC commemorates pioneers who championed anti-slavery, human rights and social justice in Canada, and bequeathed to us, our North Star legacy. The JDEC's community is based on honouring and celebrating the moral compass of fellow Canadians for their efforts as Keepers of our North Star Legacy, and passing it on to new generations.
June Veecock is now retired after serving the labour movement for many years, both here in Canada and in her native Guyana. For nineteen of those years, she was the Director of Human Rights at the Ontario Federation of Labour.
As the Director of Human Rights, June was a very effective advocate for workers experiencing racism and discrimination in the workplace. She deftly and diplomatically handled many cases, that, although she is now retired, workers still call upon her for help in those cases where employers want to skirt the rights of workers. Of course, when June Veecock enters the arena, employers soon retract with feeble explanations. Her retirement days are spent in active conferencing, advising all who call, and currently providing support and representation for several workers who are experiencing racism in the workplace.
Over the years, June distinguished herself as a very earnest committed trade unionist, and worked tirelessly to ensure that the labour movement reflected the various components of its membership, at all levels. It was sometime in 1990, when June, while in attendance at the Canadian Labour Congress convention in Montreal, fearlessly led the visible minority delegates to campaign against the all-white slate that was presented to delegates for election. Although, the visible minority delegates did not win an elected position, that action paved the way for subsequent deliberations that culminated a few years later, when the Canadian Labour Congress agreed to having two elected positions established for visible minorities. This was a great victory.
Mrs. Justina Ijeoma Nwaesei (nee Okwunwa) is a Canadian citizen, from Issele-Uku Town in Aniocha, Delta State, Nigeria. She was born in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Justina currently resides in Windsor, Ontario. She graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC) and was admitted into a 2-year post-graduate studies in Architecture at UNEC. She obtained a Master of Science degree in Architecture in 1987.
Justina is a Registered Professional Planner and a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners. She is a Senior Planner working with The Corporation of the City of Windsor. She has held various positions with the City since she was hired in June of 1991.
Justina’s mentorship activities were a direct result of her concern about the way girls and women were treated in her society; she wanted to make a difference by proving that, given the opportunity, girls/women with training and support can excel in many areas of life. She chose Architecture because she wanted to make a statement and encourage other girls and women to push forward and break as many glass ceilings as possible.
Kadine Taylor is an experienced human resource professional with knowledge and experience in the areas of employee relations, compensation and benefits, recruitment and selection and labour relations. She has a passion for people and makes a positive impact in the lives of those she encounters. Kadine has a Bachelor’s in Business Administration majoring in Human Resources and she is currently completing her Master’s in Human Resource Management. She holds Certificates in Adult Education and Training and Policy Development. In recognition of her academic achievement during her studies, Kadine has been the recipient of the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Public Service in 2012, and the Academic Silver Scholarship from the University of Regina on two occasions. 2013 and 2014. This is an annual award that recognizes the job contributions that individuals have made to the Government and the citizens of the Province of Saskatchewan. The vision of the Government of Saskatchewan is to be: “The Best Public Service in Canada”, dedicated to service excellence, innovation, collaboration and transparency, effective and accountable, use of resources and promoting engagement and leadership at all levels.
Kadine worked as Project Lead for ten months at SaskPower, the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan. She later worked in the role of Employer Relations Officer for over four years with the Government of Saskatchewan.
Kamala-Jean whose ancestors moved from India to Jamaica, was born in Jamaica and moved to Canada in 1963, after spending fifteen months in New York attending business. While spending her formative years at a Quaker boarding school and an Anglican girl’s high school in Jamaica, she learned that equity and justice could be used as avenues to overcome discrimination and racism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (1975) and a Master of Education (1990), degrees from the University of Toronto. She taught in elementary schools and was a teacher, librarian, consultant for equity in the curriculum and university lecturer before retiring in 1998. She is best known for her community activism within Toronto.
She served as President of the Jamaican Canadian Association from 1979 to 1980 and was a member of the Ontario Advisory Council on Multiculturalism and Citizenship from 1980 to 1984. She later served as Chair of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and was a founding Director of the Black Business and Professional Association in 1982. In early 1986 she was appointed to the Ontario Housing Corporation and became Chairperson of the Harry Jerome Scholarship Fund for Black Canadian athletes. Later in the same year, she helped to organize a Toronto dinner for South African anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu.
Ms. Gopie served on the Ontario Race Relations and Policing Task Force in 1989. She has received several awards for her community activism, most notably the Order of Ontario in 1996. She served as a Governor of the University in the 1990s and was appointed to the Federal Immigration and Refugee Board in 1998. The University of Toronto offers a Kamala-Jean Gopie Award to Undergraduate students that have ‘demonstrated an interest in issues concerning women of Indian descent from or in the Caribbean.
Kamshuka, a two-time Author, an award winning community leader, an entrepreneur , International Speaker and Certified Life Coach. She was born in Uganda, East Africa. Her educational background includes her passion for photography, Travel and Tourism and studies in Communication. Kamshuka is the Founder of “I AM Warrior International”.
She has mentored women in Shelters and was assigned to Black women. Having participated in the “Ahead of the Game” Mentorship Program with former CFL football player - Johnathan Hood, she considers herself as a mentor to many, both locally and globally. She has won several awards, such as Best Black Canadian Photography for 2014 and the Aroni Award for Leadership and Involvement with Youth.
“Starting our non-governmental organization, SMILE, to empower and inspire marginalized single mothers to soar to new heights through education. The ability to impact the life of another in a meaningful and transformative way is both rewarding and humbling. I am also very proud of the work I do as a trade unionist, negotiating fair collective agreements and advocating for decent working conditions for all Canadians.
Born in Brantford, Ontario, Karen Burke’s love for gospel music was nurtured through the strong musical legacy of her family, whose roots on both sides can be traced back to the 1800s in Ontario. Karen continued her musical training at McMaster University and while there developed an interest in choral conducting, she completed her Honours Bachelor of Music Degree in 1983. Since then, Ms. Burke has also received the A.R.C.T. Diploma in Piano Teaching from the Royal Conservatory of Music and a Masters of Education degree from York University.
My topic three accomplishments are: Provincial Family Award - September 2020 for exceptional volunteer work within my community; National recognition of Canada's Outstanding Principal in 2019; and the Creator of the first Africentric Cohort within a Public Education System in 2018.
Karen Murray is currently a Centrally Assigned Principal for Equity, Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). A proud product of Georgetown, Guyana, Karen has had the pleasure of growing up between Toronto, Ontario and Brooklyn, New York. These experiences have molded her into the woman she is today, a strong committed activist that believes in the power of community to support the learning and development of our future generations.
Karen is a dedicated equitable leader, who is an international speaker, lecturer and presenter engaged in working with educators, administrators and superintendents on deepening their understanding in the areas of Equity, Anti-Oppression, Anti-Racism and Anti-Black Racism. She is an honours graduate of York University’s Urban Diversity, Faculty of Education Program and continues to credit this program in providing the foundation for her ongoing equity work within the educational system. Karen was a York University’s Teacher of Excellence recipient in 2006 and was also featured in York University’s magazine, 50th Anniversary Special Issue, representing the decade 1990 and the Urban Diversity program.
Karen Richards-Bradshaw is the Chief Operating Officer for Patrick Cassidy & Associates a business interior, design and furniture dealership. Karen has a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Western Ontario and a Business Administration Marketing Diploma from Fanshawe College. She considers her 25 year career journey as blessed by a combination of: a laser focus on learning, several opportunities to uncomfortably stretch to lead large and complex programs, followed by career moves to continually build new capabilities while leading fantastic teams across several disciplines.
Karris Ann’s employment experience includes working at Scotiabank as a Reconciliation clerk (Corporate Accounts), GEAC Computer Corporation, as a Financial Analyst and United Way as a Finance coordinator with the focus on fundraising and allocation of funds. This was based on corporate donors and sponsors’ Allocations which included non-profit organizations, families and community groups.
With her goal of becoming an entrepreneur, Karris Ann kept running her business as a Nail Technician, throughout this journey. At the same time, she became a Financial Planner with the mission to help families make better financial commitments with their fixed incomes. Motivated to become and maintain financial independence after experiencing the financial needs of various recipients, Karris’ quest to become an entrepreneur continued.
My major accomplishments include; creating space for Black and Racialized students to feel heard and seen in higher learning, co-developing a Black mentorship program at the university of ottawa, and developing a knew consciousness to address systematic inequalities.
Karine is Canadian born from Haitian parents and graduated from York University in 1990 with a Bachelor's degree in Women’s Studies. At York University, she was very committed to the cause of Francophone minorities and took the lead to organize the International Women’s Week at the campus, the International Culture Annual Gala Event, and the very first conference on violence against women for francophone immigrant families and in so doing, created a safe environment for women to have exchange on their issues.
She began her career at the Victim/Witness Assistance Program of the Ministry of the Attorney General, working mainly with immigrant women who were victims of Sexual Assaults and Domestic Abuse. She is proud to have participated in the implementation of the first Special Court to hear cases of abused children, a program that now exists throughout the province. She was the only person in Toronto to offer services in French to the victims and worked on many French trials. It was her first steps through the Canadian Legal System.
With her ability to manage crisis situations, she also worked as a counsellor at the 1.800 Line for abused children, "Kids Help Phone". She conducted key interventions, such as suicide prevention for young children and particularly young girls who were otherwise isolated in their community.
My top three accomplishments are: Leading as director for 6 years (2 terms); receiving the Fellowship of the American College of Nurse Midwives (FACNM) for service and leadership; and having the joy of co-parenting 3 step sons and co-grandparenting 3 grandchildren.
For the past decade, Kathy has devoted her efforts to documenting, digitizing and videotaping the stories of Black Canadian veterans and Black Canadian History. She places an emphasis on interviewing veterans and elders; inviting participation from the loved ones of the deceased, public engagement, and connecting their stories to Canadian history. Kathy has made educational presentations to municipalities, schools, and community organizations promoting an inclusive approach to storytelling and historical documentation. Connecting to her audience through social media, Kathy continues to engage a diverse audience, receiving a half million views on her page annually.
Kathy has made educational presentations to municipalities, schools, and community organizations, promoting an inclusive approach to storytelling and historical documentation. Kathy’s approach has resonated with numerous stakeholders. She has collaborated with the Canadian War Museum, Library and Archives Canada, Department of National Defense, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Veteran Affairs Canada.