This episode features Rosey Edeh and Dr. Sheema Khan. Rosey is a three-time Olympian, Commonwealth Games medallist, and a member of the Quebec Sport Hall of Fame. She has spent the last decade as TV personality. We were also joined by Dr. Sheema Khan, who is a columnist for The Globe and Mail and the author of the book Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman.

We talked about how racism in sports manifests itself, the racism they experienced as athletes of colour, and recent racist incidents targeting Black hockey players. We also discussed how sporting leagues can deal with racism and the importance of offering diversity and inclusion training in youth leagues for both parents and players.

Episode 4 features Iain Reeve and Yilmaz Dinc. Iain Reeve is the Associate Director for the Immigration Knowledge Area at the Conference Board of Canada. He runs the Board’s immigration research agenda and manages the National Immigration Centre. Yilmaz E. Dinc is a Senior Research Associate for the Immigration Knowledge Area at the Conference Board of Canada.

We talked about immigration in the wake of the pandemic, the difficulties immigrants face in having their skills and education recognized, and public opinion on immigration. We also discussed providing pathways to permanency for migrant workers, the challenge of attracting immigrants to settle in small and rural communities across Canada, and the need to prioritize immigrants with essential skills.

Episode 3 of the special miniseries on racism and diversity features Ravi Jain, the founding artistic director of Why Not Theatre in Toronto. Ravi was twice shortlisted for the 2016 and 2019 Siminovitch Prize and won the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director and the 2016 Canada Council John Hirsch Prize for direction. He co-directed Sea Sick, which is currently on at the National Theatre in London, his adaptation of the Indian epic Mahabarata will premiere at the Shaw Festival, and What You Won’t Do For Love, starring David Suzuki, will premiere in Vancouver.

We talked about fighting stereotypes in the theater industry, systemic racism in the arts, and why meaningful change has not yet happened in the sector. We also discussed the importance of redefining what the arts can be in society, why cancel culture is complicated, the impact of artist brain drain, and why some Torontonians never set foot in a theater.

This episode features Supriya Dwivedi and Nicholas Keung. Supriya is senior counsel at Enterprise Canada, a visiting researcher at the Ryerson Journalism Research Centre, a political commentator, and a former radio host. Nicholas writes about immigration, refugee, and diversity issues for the Toronto Star.

We talked about why it’s important to have journalists of colour, how to encourage more diversity in the sector, and what organizations can do to protect journalists who receive threats of violence. We also discussed why issues of immigration, diversity, and racism rarely came up during the last election, and the importance of making mentorship opportunities available to BIPOC journalists.

This episode features Dr. Kwame McKenzie. Dr. McKenzie is CEO of the Wellesley Institute, Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and a full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

We talked about the definition of systemic racism, and why diversity and inclusion did not come up as major election issues. We also discussed racism in healthcare, including the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on racialized people, the importance of racially disaggregated data, and how the pandemic has changed our perspective on essential workers.

This episode features Goldy Hyder, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, and Lisa Lalande, CEO of Century Initiative. Prior to joining the Business Council, Goldy Hyder served as the President and CEO of Hill+Knowlton Strategies and as Director of Policy and Chief of Staff to The Right Honourable Joe Clark. Lisa Lalande previously held the position of Executive Director of the Mowat Centre’s Not-for-Profit Research Hub and served on the executive management team at Lift Philanthropy Partners.

We discussed Canada’s aging population, barriers to employment faced by new immigrants, and how our country can grow its population to 100 million people by the year 2100. We talked about the need to plan now to ensure that we have the infrastructure in place to accommodate this growing population, as well as the need to spread immigrants more evenly across the country.

This episode features the Mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi. In 2010, Mayor Nenshi become the first Muslim mayor of a Canadian city and of a large North American city. Mayor Nenshi was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and received the President’s Award from the Canadian Institute of Planners, the Humanitarian Award from the Canadian Psychological Association, and the 2014 World Mayor Prize from the City Mayor’s Foundation.

We discussed why he got into politics, the importance of civic engagement, the barriers that prevent women from running for office, and why hyper partisanship is detrimental to us all. We also talked about climate change, the oil and gas industry, the Black Lives Matter movement, the lack of diversity on boards, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This episode features Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Member of Parliament for Beaches-East York. We explored the issue of digital disruption and how it is affecting Canada and other countries. We discussed why he got into politics, the role of social media in propagating misinformation, foreign election interference, and the need to treat drug use as a health issue.

This episode features Dr. Miles Corak and Armine Yalnizyan. Dr. Corak is a full professor of economics with the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and senior scholar at the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality. Armine Yalnizyan has served as a senior economic policy advisor to the Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development and was a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Inequality Project. We discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on income inequality, the upcoming release of the federal budget, and their opinions on UBI.

This episode features the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, who is the chair of the World Refugee and Migration Council and one of Canada’s leading voices on global migration and human security. After a 27-year political career, where he served as Canada’s minister of Foreign Affairs and minister of Employment and Immigration, Dr. Axworthy has continued to work extensively on refugee protection and human rights. We discussed what drove him to get into public service, the value of allowing Canadians to privately sponsor refugees, the need for an International Anti-Corruption Court, and his work on banning the use of anti-personnel landmines around the world.