Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion

The Canadian Centre for Diversity (originally called the Canadian Council for Christians and Jews) was founded in 1947 to address issues of antisemitism and promote interfaith dialogue. The mandate expanded in subsequent years to focus on addressing issues related to racism, and religious discrimination in Canadian society. Their primary focus was on providing school programs to educate students on issues related to bullying, bias, and discrimination. The CCCJ changed its name in 2008 to the Canadian Centre for Diversity to be more reflective of its broader mandate.

In September 2013, the board of directors of the CCDI announced that it was closing due to a lack of ongoing funding. Subsequently, CCDI announced in January 2014 that they would merge with the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion.

Logo of the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion

CIDI was founded in 2012 by Michael Bach, the former National Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for KPMG in Canada, a role he created and held for seven years. Having worked as a diversity and inclusion practitioner for the better part of a decade – both in Canada and globally as the Deputy Chief Diversity Officer for KPMG International – Bach felt there was a need for an organization that could wrap its arms around the entire diversity conversation and provide some unity and clarity to what had become a very complicated topic.

Bach's vision was to create a non-profit organization that would support employers along their diversity and inclusion journey. CIDI officially launched in 2012. By the middle of 2013 CIDI had secured its founding employer partners, had a staff of five, and was operating in four cities across Canada.

Merger talks began between the two organizations at the end of 2013. There was an agreement and Bach was named the CEO of CCDI to facilitate the merger over the course of 2014. The merger officially took place in 2015.

In July 2022, Anne-Marie Pham was named Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. Michael Bach was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors.

To help raise awareness of available resources related to American Sign Language (ASL, in French Langue des Signes Québécoise or LSQ) CCDI created TalkingASL.ca (in French ParlantLSQ.ca) - a free library ofASL related resources in Canada.

In view of the 2014 Olympic protests of Russian anti-gay laws, the (then) Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion released a humorous public service announcement to draw attention to the ongoing anti-gay laws controversy coupled with the Olympics being held in Russia.[3] In it the jest that the Games have always been a little gay, and should be kept that way.[3]

In response to the death of Alan Kurdi, a Syrian infant who drowned while his family was fleeing war-torn Syrian, CCDI issued a call to action to Canada's largest employers to contribute to help with the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Canada. They created the Save Syria campaign and the Syrian Refugee Relief Fund.

The fund raised over $200,000 and 100% of the funds go to support the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Canada who have been privately sponsored (as opposed to government-sponsored refugees).

In an effort to raise awareness of the deferral against men who have sex with men (MSMs) from donating blood,[4] CCDI produced a public service announcement referred to as "Gay Blood", and created the hashtag #EndTheBan. The objective was to point out that there is no such thing as "gay blood" and that the deferral against MSMs was not based on science, but on outdated information, and was ultimately discriminatory.

The PSA received significant attention[5] and the result was that Canadian Blood Services reached out to CCDI to include them on the work to develop the research needed to remove the deferral entirely and move toward a behavioral based deferral. Further, CCDI played an influential role in securing the funding required to conduct the research[6] which began in January 2017.

Conferences

The CCDI also sometimes speaks at Conferences with business leaders to discuss how to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies.[7] For example, Anne-Marie Pham, the CEO of CCDI spoke at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s second Commitment to Opportunity, Diversity and Equity (CODE) Conference in 2023.[8] The conference had 280 attendees.[9]