I’m really impressed with the level of energy and commitment around the Health and Wellbeing table and look forward to continuing collaboration between OLIP and OPH.

Marcela Tapia
Ottawa Public Health
In our city’s history, immigrants have always played an important role. They build our economic prosperity, diversify our culture, contribute to our social vitality.

Jim Watson
Mayor of Ottawa
The Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre is so happy to have joined the OLIP Health and Wellbeing Sector Table. It is clear that OLIP cares about immigrants and refugees and…

Wendy Tang, Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre
My nomination is an indication that our hard work in building Canada is recognized. All we do is to serve the community in return for embracing us when we needed it.  

Mehdi Mahdavi
Ottawa Immigrant Entrepreneurship Awards Nominee
OLIP helps to unite and share scarce resources for greater impact by working together in the field of student education.

Walter Piovesan
Associate Director of Education, Ottawa Carleton District School Board
Canada has been shaped by people who came from all over the world to build this country. WOW offers a platform for us to celebrate this history and the future it will help…

Alex Munter, Chair of the OLIP Council and President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre
The City of Ottawa will continue to play a lead role in the implementation of the Ottawa Immigration Strategy, just as we did in the founding of OLIP.

Steve Desroches
City Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Ottawa
The OLIP Council is committed to leadership.  In only a few years, we have a common vision and priorities, and are up to the task of implementing the Ottawa Immigration Strategy.

Salimatou Diallo
OLIP Council Vice Chair, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
We are very pleased to have done the “Opportunity Cost of Not Investing in Interpretation” report – it is so important to have clarity on these challenges and…

Hindia Mohamoud, Director, OLIP
The WOW seminar on immigrant women’s nutrition and health was a step in the right direction towards closing the gap between academic researchers and service providers.

Josephine Etowa
Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa

OLIP’s Equity Ottawa Partnership: Phase IV Accomplishments

April 13, 2023

As Phase IV of Equity Ottawa is coming to an end, we reflect on the important progress the Equity Ottawa Partnership has made to cultivate equitable and inclusive organizations. During Phase IV of the Partnership’s work, which ran for two and half years (January 2021 to May 2023), we focused on supporting partner organizations’ action strategies focused on defining and removing systemic barriers to equity in three key domains of change:

  1. Governance, leadership, and organizational culture
  2. human resources practices
  3. Service planning and delivery

The highlights of our accomplishments include:

Partnership Expansion:
We have also expanded Equity Ottawa Partnership’s membership base from 26 to 70 members, representing 40 organizations, working in municipal departments, healthcare, education, housing, social services, justice, child and youth welfare, and service sectors.

Experience-based Learning:
We hosted 24 Community of Practice (CoP) sessions, where partners used their experiences to dialogue about challenges and gain insights through each other’s work and seek support from peers. The sessions often included expert speakers that helped unpacked named challenges.

Free Guidance for Members’ Action Strategies:
Equity Ottawa Partnership members leveraged free guidance and advice on their individual organizations’ action plans and strategies, via the OLIP Secretariat.

Tools for Action:
Toolkits and resources on governance and equitable leadership, HR practices, and service planning and delivery have been developed to support partners’ action strategies.  Stay tuned for the dissemination of the new toolkits to partners outside of the Equity Ottawa Partnership.

We are grateful to the members of the Equity Ottawa Partnership and community stakeholders who have contributed extensively to the results summarized above. For more details, including how your organization may join the Equity Ottawa Partnership, please contact Yusra Osman, Equity Ottawa Partnership Lead, at yusra@olip-plio.ca.