Panel Discussion

As our institutions and teams experienced acutely over the last eight months, the internationalization of education in Canada was severely disrupted due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Campuses were required to close, teaching and learning needed to move online, and the inbound and outbound mobility of students, faculty and researchers largely ground to a halt. These realities have represented seismic shifts for the international education sector in Canada and have exposed some of the limitations and vulnerabilities of international education. This crisis has also presented a unique opportunity for change and innovation in the work of international education and the ways and means available to us in continuing this important work.

As stewards of the international education endeavour in Canada, how should our sector responsibly “build back better” such that internationalization in Canada is made more equitable, sustainable and resilient? How do we best collectively chart the path forward towards more inclusive and sustainable internationalization in Canada in a post-COVID19 world? How do we shape and weave this path together coherently and ethically at national, provincial and institutional levels?

We invite you to join a group of thoughtful Canadian and international guests from diverse walks of life to exchange ideas and experiences on the future of internationalization in Canada.

Tariq Fancy founded Rumie after a career at the intersection of finance, technology, and emerging markets. Rumie is an award-winning education technology non-profit whose innovative solutions lower the barriers to learning for underserved communities in over 30 countries. Tariq’s successful business career and unique decision to found Rumie has been chronicled in extensive case studies published by both Harvard Business School and INSEAD Business School.

Prior to Rumie, Tariq led a successful career in finance, beginning as a Palo Alto-based technology investment banker in the group that led the IPOs of Google, Amazon, and Cisco. He next spent a number of years as an investor at MHR Fund Management, a leading private investment firm in New York, and then later at CPP Investment Board in Toronto. In 2018, he was appointed BlackRock’s global Chief Investment Officer for Sustainable Investing, a period during which he remained Rumie’s Board Chair, after returning to the day-to-day CEO of Rumie at the end of 2019.

In 2004, Tariq led early work to bring mobile phones into emerging markets as a ‘leapfrog’ innovation – back when the idea to go directly to mobile phones instead of landlines sounded far-fetched to many. Tariq sees a similar ‘perfect storm’ of market forces enabling a pragmatic, market-based solution to global education that will usher in another watershed moment in international development.

Tariq has studied at four universities – Brown, Oxford, Sciences Po and INSEAD. He was born and raised in Canada to parents who immigrated from Kenya and speaks four languages.

Andrew Gordon is a social entrepreneur and CEO & Founder of Diversity Abroad. With a passion for student success, global engagement, and social entrepreneurship, he founded Diversity Abroad in 2006 with a simple vision, that the next generation of young people from historically marginalized backgrounds are equipped with the skills, experiences, and networks to thrive in the 21st century interconnected world and globally diverse workforce.

As an international advocate for student success through equitable access to global education, Andrew speaks and writes extensively on leveraging global education to support student’s academic success, interpersonal growth, and career readiness. He consults colleges & universities, non-profits, companies, and government agencies on developing, implementing, and monitoring diversity, equity, and inclusive practices, policies, and strategies in their global engagement operations.

Andrew is fluent in Spanish and proficient Portuguese. He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and has studied, worked, and traveled in 56 countries.

Ashley Richard is a proud Indigenous woman from Winnipeg with family from Pine Creek First Nation and Camperville, Manitoba. Her Spirit Name is Forever Woman. Ashley’s life purpose is to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother, Mary Richard, who she describes as the love of her life.

Ashley’s career, both professional and volunteer, has spanned across many grassroots collectives, private sector firms, and non-profits. Currently, she is the National Indigenous Outreach and Partnership Development Lead for the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Manitoba and is part of the Class of 2021 cohort for the Masters in Management Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at Queen’s University.

As a survivor of sexual assault and having been homeless at a young age, Ashley is a public speaker and travels across Canada speaking about her journey and the importance of resilience, empathy, and self-acceptance.

CJ Tremblay is proudly one of the founding members and current Vice-President of the board of the Climate Action Network for International Educators (CANIE). Ms. Tremblay has seven years of marketing, strategy, and stakeholder relations experience in the international education and language-testing industry. During her career she has worked for University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies, IDP Education, owner of IELTS, and most recently is leading the global marketing and instructional products teams at Paragon Testing Enterprises owner of the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) test. Ms. Tremblay earned her Global Executive MBA from Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 2018 and has since completed several training courses in Sustainability and Social Responsibility and was trained as a Climate Reality Leader by VP Al Gore in July 2020.

Dr. Denise O’Neil Green is Ryerson University’s first Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion. This is a new portfolio for the organization and the first in a Canadian university with equity as its sole mandate for a vice president’s office. Under Dr. Green’s leadership and advocacy, Ryerson’s has earned the reputation for its excellence in equity, diversity and inclusion. She was appointed to this inaugural role in 2017 after four and a half years as the Assistant Vice-President/Vice-Provost Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

With over 30 years of experience, she is an inclusive, passionate and strategic leader. Her contributions have led to Ryerson being recognized as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for five consecutive years from 2014 to 2019. In 2018, Dr. Green brought the White Privilege Conference Global – Toronto to the campus. The conference addressed the roles of privilege and oppression in Canada and was attended by over 600 delegates. Dr. Green also convened the first University and Research Funding Agencies’ Equity Officers Roundtable in 2018 to address strategies and greater alignment between universities and federal agencies with respect to equity, diversity and inclusion.

As a Black woman in the academy, she strives to create spaces for women and girls, particularly women of colour, to have their say, be heard and make the world the kind of place we want to live. Her leadership, programming and scholarship reflects this aim. As such, she is proud to be one of the co-authors of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women (2016 and 2018), advancing the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women project to make the invisible visible.

She has published over 50 books, book chapters, journal articles and conference papers, and is the Executive Editor of InstitutionalDiversityBlog.com. A frequent speaker on issues of equity and inclusion in higher education, she has received several awards including the 2017 Association for the Study of Higher Education – Council on Ethnic Participation Founder’s Service Award, the 2016 Pioneers for Change Award for Excellence in Women in Leadership and named a Woman Worth Watching by Profiles in Diversity Journal, in 2015.

Dr. Green earned her PhD in higher education and public policy from the University of Michigan, a Master’s from Princeton and a Bachelor’s from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Anver Saloojee serves as Ryerson’s Assistant Vice-President, International, providing university-wide strategic direction to Ryerson’s international activities and guides Ryerson’s evolution into a global urban university.

Dr. Saloojee had led the development of the first law school here at Ryerson University as the Dean of Record. Ryerson Law School will be the first new law school in Toronto since 1949 and will open its door to students in fall of 2020.

A member of the Ryerson community for almost 30 years as sessional instructor, lecturer and professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, Anver has earned a number of awards including Ryerson Professor of the Year and the Alan Shepard Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award. In 2005, he took on the role as special advisor to the presidency of the Government of South Africa, returning to Ryerson in 2008 and in 2014 was named special advisor to Ryerson’s President and Provost.

Anver has an extensive record of service including a number of roles at the Canadian Association of University Teachers including vice-president as well as chair, equity committee. He has also served as president, Ryerson Faculty Association; president, Laidlaw Foundation; and president, Community Planning Council of Toronto. Currently, Anver serving as co-chair on the Presidential Implementation Committee to Confront Anti-Black Racism.