The CCRW Speaker Series is a series organized around the theme of creating voice for diverse communities through the lens of disability.
About this Event
The CCRW Speaker’s series will be host to panelists that will speak to their professional experience and lived experience with intersecting communities and identities and how these identities affect them and the people they advocate for.
Dialogue will be facilitated surrounding forms of discrimination and oppressive systems in the workplace. At the same time, the conversation will also navigate self-determination, social justice and what it means to be in a truly inclusive and healthy workspace.
This discussion will bring together organizations, employers/business and communities to share space. Individuals with intersecting identities/experiences will be at the forefront in these conversations, with the attending audience listening and then engaging in a CCRW supported Q&A session.
Get to know our Panelists!
Neil Belanger has over 30 years of experience working within in Canada’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous disability and health sectors. For the past ten years, Neil has been the Executive Director of the British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society or BCANDS, an Indigenous disability organization holding Special Consultative Status with the United Nations. BCANDS provides a variety of programs and services relating to Indigenous disability across Canada. BCANDS work has been highlighted through numerous provincial, national and international awards and recognition, the most recent being the Zero Project International Award presented to the Society in Vienna, Austria, in 2019. In addition to his work at BCANDS, Neil serves in a variety of disability related advisory roles,
Jacq Hixson-Vulpe (they/them) works at The 519 as the Senior Consultant, Special Projects. They have authored a number of resources, including “Creating Authentic Spaces.” Jacq has worked extensively in the field of LGBTQ2S inclusion with organizations like Pride at Work Canada coordinating the LGBTQ2S Workplace Inclusion Index. In their free time, Jacq works on their Ph.D., which explores the representation of queer and trans children in education.
Maya Roy is the CEO of YWCA Canada. Maya is a diversity specialist with 22 years of experience in a variety of sectors in public policy development, public health, adult education and social work. Her work has taken her to Thailand, Brazil, India and the UK where she worked with NGOs to support human rights and violence prevention. Her essays have been published in Going Beyond the Journey (2013) by Insomniac Press, and she is the winner of the 2013 CASSA Gender Advocate Award and the Toronto Community Foundation's Vital People award in 2014. She has a Bachelor of Social Work from the Ryerson School of Social Work, and has a Masters in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics. Maya was a member of the Gender Equality Advisory Council for Canada’s G7 Presidency. She is currently part of Young Global Leaders with the World Economic Forum and sits on the board of Women’s College Hospital.