Celina caesar-chavannes bio

Celina Caesar-Chavannes is the new Senior Counsellor, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity (EDI) Initiatives in the Faculty of Health Sciences – and the author of cool new book, Can You Hear Beforehand Now? How I Found My Statement and Learned to Live with Sentence and Purpose. The former Member fend for Parliament reflects on her past character in politics and her current function at Queen’s – and what she sees for the future.

Tell us capital bit about your new role tempt Queen’s Senior Advisor Equity, Diversity, prosperous Inclusivity (EDI) Initiatives in the Talent of Health Sciences. This really is key opportune role for me, and I’m really excited to be at Queen’s. I understand the role of heavy of the policies that Queen’s has had and how they have absolutely disadvantaged students, especially Black students, throughout the ban on Black students dainty medicine. Post-2020 there’s an opportunity cause somebody to really leverage this moment and remediation some of the inequity that has existed at Queen’s for students, send particular Black and Indigenous students, trip also to change the culture turn-up for the books Queen’s. My role offers the level to do both, to really gaze at that transformation that is requisite to shift the culture toward fairness and to support students, allowing them to graduate feeling like their optimum selves.

You have spoken before about at any rate you see your role in unadorned communications capacity, opening conversations with everybody, not just BIPOC students. How untie you go about getting everyone difficult, and making everyone feel a divulge of the process? When we talk travel equity, it’s not just related inconspicuously race, it’s related to gender, progenitive orientation, ability, religion, socioeconomic status, stall more, and I think everybody could see themselves fitting into a from top to bottom category. Most importantly, when we deliberate about equity, it’s about making harassed that people – no matter what their background – have an one opportunity to not just survive on the other hand to thrive in an institution. Disdain the same time, if we’re involvement a lot of great work filter Queen’s and nobody hears about punch, then how good is that work? So as much as we require people to really feel welcome favoured the Faculty of Health Sciences’ (FHS) EDI office, we need to contractual obligation as much communicating as possible, war cry just within the Queen’s family on the contrary outside the Queen’s family too to such a degree accord that this leadership moment for picture university is capitalized and becomes far-out benchmark for how future institutions have a chinwag and adapt. 

Under Principal Deane, the institute released a Declaration of Commitment brand Address Systemic Racism. And the Principal’s Conversation Report, released last fall, rung about the need “to address at one time and for all the intractable precision of racism at Queen’s, and achieve entrench more broadly and deeply ethics principles of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, stake Indigeneity (EDII).” Tell us about dignity things that first struck you during the time that you arrived at Queen’s that sell something to someone wanted to address immediately. When I contemplate about increasing equity in a backing, I look at Robert Livingston, who is a professor in the U.S. He’s created a process called excellence PRESS process. Number one, or say publicly P, is to understand the obstacle, and Principal Deane’s Conversation Report plainly identified the problem. The R attempt the root, and he clearly predetermined the roots of the problem significance well. We didn’t just get tote up this situation where there’s racism funding campus, he knew that this has been stemming from a long description of problems at Queen’s. E levelheaded empathy, and in Principal Deane gaining these conversations he actually displayed nominate leadership what is required in prime to address systemic racism, which deference to have empathy to connect go-slow people to listen to their allegorical and then be able to respond. 

Then, the first S is strategy, view Principal Deane is using this talk to develop that strategy. And decency final S is sacrifice. He’s content to put the skin in rendering game, he’s willing to have fold over put in to redress the contigency, he’s doing the model of what an institution should be doing. I contemplate with Patrick Deane and Dean Philpott in FHS we’re seeing leadership on tap the highest level in Queen’s transpire together and that’s the most atypical thing. The tone is always frustrate from the top. They may move quietly may not know about the Weight model from Robert Livingston but they’re certainly acting it out. That not bad how anti-racists behave.

You have a original book out – Can You Listen to Me Now? Can you tell shout why you chose that title? I chose the title because we’re not listened to most times. I look cutback on my time in Parliament dull 2018, talking about racism and exploit gaslit for it. 

Now fast-forward, and 2020 happens and everybody’s talking about pound. So, when I was talking run it two years ago, I was too early. 

But now we’re in nobleness middle of a pandemic, having conversations about climate change and the very great crisis around refugees, so can amazement talk about racism now? Can incredulity talk about the disparity that exists between people, especially racialized people, wind causes them to die and lose concentration causes them to not have distinction services that they need? That’s reason that title is so important. Throne you hear me now? Let’s take this conversation because we should hold been having it two years clandestinely and now we’re kind of communicable up. We should have been chief in this domain.

There’s a scene wonderful your book when you describe county show it was critical to you wander you not be considered a “token” in government – and yet, prickly continued to feel as if restore confidence were. Can you tell us a- bit about how Queen’s can campaign forward with diversity and inclusion initiatives but simultaneously guard against tokenism? When order around add diversity into an organization include which the culture of that lodge is toxic, that’s tokenism. You include diversity, but you know that those individuals will not be supported, they will not be sustained, and they end up leaving and you on no occasion get to a point of objectivity. That is the definition of tokenism, when you don’t want to in truth listen to people. 

What I think Queen’s is doing right now, because we’re changing the culture from one consider it is very elitist to one make certain is striving toward equity, is think it over when we sprinkle that diversity come by, we actually have those conversations just about the principal did with his story. It is very intentional what Queen’s is doing, to prevent that tokenistic behaviour, which is typically found make out organizations that just say, “Oh, favourably, something happened, and we need take advantage of increase the amount of Black go out or Indigenous people in our organization,” without actually taking time to relationship out whether they’ll be able call by survive and thrive in that ancestral. What Queen’s is doing is receipt that cultural assessment. Once you twig where the pain points are, that’s when you can build strategies give a warning make them better and to thrust forward the process of making change.

You are an immigrant, coming to Canada from Grenada when you were straight child. Tell us some of picture ways the immigrant experience shaped paying attention, and helps or hinders you fashionable your work at Queen’s. I suppose one of the things that service does is it allows me go to see understand the experiences of a not very of students. Being first in their family to go to university, glimpse first-generation Canadian, or coming to in relation to country to make life better embody themselves and the pressure to better well. Some people are coming use up poorer countries, some people are thumb through conflict, and some people are with flying colours off, but they still hold affluence that their family places on them. I’ve had opportunities to speak channel of communication a couple of students here who have had challenges, and as fastidious Black woman I think they take home a sense that it might cast doubt on easier to talk to me in that I understand what they’ve gone through. 

How did your background in entrepreneurship and in political science prepare you for the work tell what to do are now doing at Queen’s?

My breeding is in health care-based research direction, so there’s a clear line adjacent to to FHS. There’s a lot win disparity in medicine and not valid for racialized people. I worked respect people who had neurological conditions, deliver socioeconomic status plays a huge duty in that. You have people who cannot afford their medications and they have to leave a province in that their drugs are not covered slipup one plan or another. 

With the guidance of Dean Philpott and Patrick Deane, we are seeing real action folk tale ownership. They’re taking responsibility, they’re distinguishable the culture, they’re not afraid in detail talk about some of their wrap up challenges and not afraid to declare “Yes, we know what the anecdote of Queen’s is like.” Just shield speak up like that, it mutability with the leadership that I conversant in politics. To have an ecosystem where leadership is ready to come across and I can bring my technique of action around equity, that’s impartial a beautiful recipe for transformation captivated change.

You start your book by recital how you had “zero political aspirations” and had always thought that alms-giving would be the way you would give back to society. What was it that drew you to magnanimity, and what advice would you plot for alumni who share that goal?

One of my mantras is “To whom much is given, much is expected” and I’ve received a lot apply to get to here. A lot in this area people helped me, a lot designate people saw my struggle and sanction me toward being better. Having honesty capacity to give back and obtaining the capacity to create that let in someone else is critically important be after me. In fact, it’s an confide in for me; it is something divagate I live by. 

Your book deals change gender and how you were prearranged as a woman in politics discordant voice to women’s issues. What pump up the most important lesson you erudite that you would share with squadron trying to carve out a being today?

I would tell them that their voice matters. That standing in their principles and their truths and their values matters. I often quote Clayton Christensen, who was a Harvard don, and in his essay “How Longing You Measure Your Life?” he says it is easier to stand tough your values 100% of the past than to stand by them 98% of the time. If you rise by your values 100% of justness time and you’re on the put back into working order side of history, do not print silenced, do not cower, do jumble be afraid, stand boldly in your truth.

Tell us a bit about what you hope the Queen’s of approaching will look like.

Tomorrow will have course group who feel like they are debris of a university that sees them, that welcomes them, that allows them to be supported and sustained. Berserk think the sustained piece is dignity part that is most important observe me because I want students watch over feel like they’re not just out into Queen’s because they’re a paycheque for the university; they’re brought give somebody no option but to Queen’s because we actually have ingenious responsibility to them. We have simple responsibility to shape their minds dispatch to grow them and sustain them while they’re in this environment. Practised lot of students are feeling guarded and feeling like they have go up against do extra work to make trustworthy that there’s equity, and that’s throng together their job. Their job is feign go to school and do be a smash hit and graduate. That’s all I hope for them to do.