A Recap on BHM 2023 at Desautels
This Black History Month, Â鶹AV Desautels hosted a lineup of five in-person and virtual events that not only promoted equity in the workplace for Black people, but also highlighted uplifting aspects of Black culture through enterprise.
Okimaw Community & HR Solutions works with First Nations leaders to implement effective human resources
First Nations’ band managers typically play dual roles, serving as both finance and human-resources manager, but finances are often their primary focus, says Miranda Kennedy, the Vice President of Human Resources at Okimaw Community & HR Solutions, a company that works with First Nations and related organizations. “Rarely is anyone in the band office equipped to manage employee grievances, workplace safety or updating policies and procedures,” Kennedy told Prof.
Dean Yolande Chan seeks to foster inclusivity, to generate future successes
The Dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management wants to give out keys to doors that were once locked. “The hope and dream is to create opportunities for others,” Yolande Chan told Bill Brownstein in an interview for the Montreal Gazette. “As a Black dean, I’m not about exclusion. I’m about inclusion. We want to be representative of the markets we serve as businesses.
Corporate gender dynamics are an important factor in women’s job-seekers decision-making
Male-dominated startups have more difficulty hiring female talent, and their company’s gender dynamics play a role. An article in Forbes.com cites research from Desautels Prof. Elena Obukhova, which has shown that female job-seekers give consideration to how women are treated in their prospective workplaces.
Delve: How Organizations Can Increase Gender Diversity by Rethinking Job Recruitment, with Brian Rubineau
In the past few years of the Covid pandemic, many people have left or lost their jobs and sought out new ones. Who has succeeded and who hasn’t depends not only on merit and ability, but on who you know—word-of-mouth is one of the most common ways that people learn about and are encouraged to apply for jobs. And who you know typically reflects your gender, race, and other influential differences that in policy terms are markers of diversity.
Cheekbone Beauty founder Jenn Harper incorporates Indigenous teachings into company culture
Many companies have missions and visions, and ours is helping every Indigenous person see and feel their value in the world, said Jenn Harper in an interview with Professor Karl Moore for The Globe and Mail. Harper’s company is called Cheekbone Beauty, and it seeks to make sustainable cosmetics that won’t end up in a landfill.
National Indigenous Economic Strategy is a road map for building Indigenous economies
There are more than 50,000 Indigenous businesses in Canada. They operate in every sector of the economy, and contribute $32 billion to the country’s GDP. And Indigenous businesses are poised to grow further, said Dr. Marie Delorme in an interview with Prof. Karl Moore for The Globe and Mail. Economic prosperity is critical to achieving reconciliation, says Delorme, who is CEO and founder of the Imagination Group of Companies.
Delve: Why Environmental, Social, and Governance Investment Standards Need an Indigenous Perspective
In the high-stakes realm of finance and investment, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria play a larger role than ever in companies’ decision making and commitment to creating shared value. In this accelerated transition toward cross-sector economic change, whose interests are centred and whose concerns are left out of the sustainability conversation?
Business leaders now operate at the intersection of business operations and global trends
Politics has pervaded the world of business, writes Prof. Karl Moore in Forbes.com. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are both changing corporate practices.
Chef Rich Francis revives Indigenous culinary traditions
Rich Francis, owner of Seventh Fire Hospitality Group in Six Nations in Ontario and Alberta, never set out to be a chef, but leveraged his time on Top Chef Canada to launch a prominent culinary career. Francis focuses on the precolonial culinary traditions of Indigenous peoples, but there are limits on what he’s able to do. “Most of my work is in First Nations communities,” Francis told Prof.
Inauthenticity in the workplace can harm diversity and inclusion
Leaders are often faced with being their authentic self or doing what it takes to succeed. Decisions taken by senior management in the face of this authenticity dilemma can set a negative example for their juniors. This can be particularly insidious for people from underrepresented groups who may feel the need to suppress their identity to progress in their career.
More guns and drugs on the street fuel perception of increased violent crime in Quebec
Quebec’s homicide rate is lower than it was a decade ago, but a slight majority of people that live in cities aren’t feeling as safe as they used to. This rests in the public’s perception that there is a lack of organization, according Fady Dagher (EMBA’12), Chief of Police in Longueuil, in an interview with TVA’s Le monde à l’envers.
Indigenous women are fastest growing group of entrepreneurs
There are about 60,000 Indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada, and Indigenous women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs. “They are outpacing all other segments” says Monica James, a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and the regional manager for client diversity at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). Indigenous women have been in business for many years, said James in an interview with Prof.
Â鶹AV team wins honourable mention at EDI case writing competition
Congratulations to 2023 BCom Jaslie Denault and MBAs Alfonso Rodriguez Gomez, David Iacono and Kriti Pradhan, in collaboration with Faculty Lecturer Tatiana Gauvin, for their honourable me
Chafik Hamad establishes RAFAH bursary to honour his mother’s memory by helping students who face systemic barriers
Â鶹AV celebrated its bicentennial in 2021, and as the university community began looking toward the next hundred years, it launched the Third Century Challenge Fund. Created by Chancellor Emeritus Michael Meighen, it encourages others to give by matching funds. Forty-eight new scholarships and bursaries have been created since the launch of the fund in 2019, and Chafik Hamad (MBA’15) is one of the donors who took up the call.
