Meet Alberta’s first Anti-Racism Advisory Council

February 25, 2019 – from Government of Alberta

Alberta’s first council dedicated to combating racism will bring expertise and experience to assist in government’s commitment to end racism.

The council includes 24 members plus Education Minister David Eggen, who is responsible for government’s anti-racism initiative. The council will advise government as it develops strategies to end racism and discrimination in Alberta. This council is the first of its kind in the province.

More than 300 Albertans applied to participate on the council. Members were selected for their demonstrated leadership abilities and experience in advocating for diverse communities. The council includes people from various faiths and other diversities, and members represent regions across the province.

“Establishing the Anti-Racism Advisory Council is an important part of our government’s efforts in fighting racism in this province. Each of the council’s new members brings a wealth of knowledge and lived experience to our government’s anti-racism work. I have a great deal of confidence in this new council and I look forward to working together to ensure all Albertans feel safe and respected. We will work together towards a common goal of ending racism in our province. We owe this to our future generations.”

David Eggen, Minister of Education

Minister Eggen will have two co-chairs on the Anti-Racism Advisory Council: Heather Campbell and Lucenia Ortiz.

“I am extremely proud to share the leadership of the Alberta Anti-Racism Advisory Council (AARAC). Thank you, Minister Eggen, for entrusting me with this fundamental element of the government’s plan to address racism. All Albertans will benefit from AARAC’s inspired work developing community-based solutions to address racism and remove barriers, allowing everyone to thrive.”

Heather A. Campbell, co-chair, Anti-Racism Advisory Council

“I am honoured to be selected as one of the co-chairs of the Alberta Anti-Racism Advisory Council. I look forward to working with the members of the Advisory Council who share a commitment to tackle racism and make Alberta a more welcoming and inclusive province.”

Lucenia Ortiz, co-chair, Anti-Racism Advisory Council

Council member biographies

Co-Chairs

Heather A. Campbell, Calgary

Campbell is a practising licensed professional engineer and procurement manager with the Alberta Electric System Operator. Campbell is a member of the advisory council for Western Engineering, sits as vice-president of the board of directors of Downstage Theatre and is a board member of Arts Commons.

Lucenia Ortiz, Edmonton

Ortiz is a planner with the City of Edmonton’s Citizen Services. Ortiz is a founding member of the Edmonton Multicultural Coalition and a member of the Multicultural Health Brokers Co-op.

Council Members

Shan Ali, Calgary

Ali is the owner and publisher of Express Media Network Ltd. where he launched Weekly Canadian Express, one of Western Canada’s largest South Asian newspapers, covering Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray. Ali also publishes South Asian Xpress Magazine and hosts the Sangeet Studio Radio show. Ali is a board member for the Asian Heritage Foundation and the South Asian Canadian Seniors Society.

Sonia Aujla-Bhullar, Calgary

Aujla-Bhullar is a public school teacher in Calgary and a PhD candidate in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. Her current work centres on exploring multi-ethnic and multicultural community engagement within schools as part of present-day inclusive education measures. Her work with community organizations includes local and national initiatives within the Sikh community and she is a member of the South Asian Police Advisory Committee for the Calgary Police Service.

Melodie Bastien, Brocket

Bastien is the NorthStar parent connector at Opokaasin Early Intervention Society in Lethbridge. She provides one-on-one support, wraparound support services and cultural programming for families. Bastien participates in the Blackfoot Traditional way of life within the Blackfoot Confederacy.

Iman Bukhari, Calgary

Bukhari is a multimedia professional working as a planner in channel management for the City of Calgary. Bukhari is also an adjunct professor at Columbia College where she teaches human rights and diversity courses. She is the founder and CEO of the Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation.

Yic Camara, Edmonton

Camara is an integration and community liaison agent with Centre d’acceuil et d’etablissement of Northern Alberta, establishing and maintaining contact with French multicultural communities in Edmonton. Camara has been actively involved in the Guinean community and sits on the board of directors for Institut Guy-Lacombe de la Famille (Parent Link Centre) in Edmonton.

Nadine Eagle Child, Lethbridge

Eagle Child is a student counselor at Red Crow Community College. She is an executive member of the Apiistamiiks – White Buffalo Trail Blazers, a grassroots group fighting against racism, hate and discrimination in Southern Alberta. She has served as the co-chair of the Employment and Education subcommittee with the City of Lethbridge’s Interagency Group, and chair of the Student Success and Retention working group under the Iniskim Education Committee at the University of Lethbridge.

Michael Embaie, Calgary

Embaie is a practising, licensed immigration consultant and has volunteered with not-for-profit local, provincial, national and international organizations for over 25 years, including as president and board member of the Southern Alberta Heritage Language Association and as founding member and president of the African Community Association of Calgary.

Sithara Fernando, Fort McMurray

Fernando is a community-based environmental monitoring instructor at Keyano College. Fernando formerly served as the secretary and chair of the governance committee for the Pride Centre of Edmonton and the vice-chair of Some Other Solutions crisis prevention centre. Fernando is a registered professional forester and a mental health advocate.

Nahla Gomaa, Edmonton

Gomaa is an associate clinical professor, researcher and educator at the faculty of medicine and dentistry at the University of Alberta. Gomaa serves as the Interfaith Portfolio chair in the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities, contributes to the city’s commemoration of Remembrance Day and organizes Islamic history month at city hall.

Adil Zaki Hasan, Edmonton

Hasan is the vice-president and chief operations officer at Hasco Development Corporation. Hasan is active in the community including as vice-president of civic engagement for the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council and board member for Al Mustafa Academy and Humanitarian Society.

Zahro Hassan, Edmonton

Hassan is a doctoral student at the University of Alberta. She has extensive community and youth development experience within several multiracial/multicultural immigrant communities in Toronto, Ottawa and Edmonton. Hassan is a board director at the Edmonton Social Planning Council and a former support staff for the Toronto District School Board Task Force on the Success of Students of Somali Descent.

Abdulghani Haymour, Edmonton

Haymour is a business manager who works closely with the Canadian Arab Friendship Association (CAFA) to assist community members in areas such as filing government documents, accessing government resources and facilitating events. Haymour attends CAFA board meetings as a guest member.

Bernadette Iahtail, Edmonton

Iahtail is co-founder and executive director of Creating Hope Society, a society founded for the survivors of the Sixties and Seventies Scoop of Indigenous children in care. Iahtail is an active member of the Edmonton Coalition for Human Rights, Aboriginal coalitions, the Edmonton Aboriginal Leadership Team and Stony Plain Wapekin Leadership Team.

Adebayo Katiiti. Edmonton

Katiiti is the founder and president of RARICAnow, an organization for all LGBTQ refugees in Canada. Katiiti advocates for the rights of refugees by creating awareness of their existence in Canada and ensuring that newcomers and refugees learn Canadian culture and get support in navigating the refugee and settlement process.

Feisal Kirumira, Edmonton

Kirumira is special advisor to the dean of international students at Augustana campus, University of Alberta. Kirumira chairs the International Student Engagement Committee and participates on the Bridging Program Advisory Committee and the International Week planning committee.

Omar Najmeddine, Edmonton

Najmeddine is the executive director of the Al Rashid Group and leads all corporate functions for the organization. He is a board member with the American University of Beirut Alumni Foundation and a former board member with the Red Cross, and Community Interest Companies Association.

Roy Pogorzelski, Lethbridge

Pogorzelski is the director of Indigenous Student Affairs, an instructor for the Dhillon School of Business at the University of Lethbridge and owner and operator of three business. Pogorzelski is a member of the U of L senate, board member with the YMCA of Lethbridge, president of the Rotary Club of Lethbridge Mosaic and board member of the chamber of commerce. Pogorzelski is also an appointed director for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) and sits as the CRRF advisor to the National Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination committee.

Tasneem Rahim, Calgary

Rahim is the director of fund development and alumni engagement at Bow Valley College. Rahim serves as a member and manages community relations on the Aga Khan Council for the Prairies, and is the communications member of the Management Committee for Generations: Multi-Generational Housing and Community Centre Campus Calgary.

Judy Shapiro, Calgary

Shapiro is the former associate executive director of the Calgary Jewish Federation, overseeing all of its programming areas. She is a member of the Calgary Interfaith Council and a regular volunteer at the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank. Shapiro is a past board member for the Calgary Council of Christians and Jews and the Committee on Race Relations and Cross-Cultural Understanding.

Pavit Sidhu, Calgary

Sidhu is the WiseGuyz program facilitator and sexual health educator at the Centre for Sexuality in Calgary. Sidhu served as a member of the University of Calgary senate in 2013 and as an appointee of the students’ union representing the undergraduate student body.

Delainah Velichka, Worsley

Velichka is a school board trustee with Peace River School Division No. 10. Velichka’s portfolios include Administrators’ Association, Teacher Board Advisory Committee, Transportation Liaison Committee, Audit Committee, Alberta School Boards Association Second Language Task Force, Clear Hills Trades Training, Council of School Councils Liaison Committee, Discipline Committee and the First Nations, Métis & Inuit Liaison Committee.

Teresa Woo-Paw, Calgary

Woo-Paw is owner and principle of Teresa Woo-Paw & Associates Ltd. Woo-Paw is a member of the board of directors for the Calgary Arts Foundation, board president of Action Chinese Canadians Together Foundation and is a founding member and current co-chair of the Asian Heritage Foundation.

Related Topics:Alberta Anti-Racism feature

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Alberta

Premier Smith: Canadians support agreement between Alberta and Ottawa and the major economic opportunities it could unlock for the benefit of all

Published on December 6, 2025

Todayville

From Energy Now

By Premier Danielle Smith

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If Canada wants to lead global energy security efforts, build out sovereign AI infrastructure, increase funding to social programs and national defence and expand trade to new markets, we must unleash the full potential of our vast natural resources and embrace our role as a global energy superpower.

The Alberta-Ottawa Energy agreement is the first step in accomplishing all of these critical objectives.

Recent polling shows that a majority of Canadians are supportive of this agreement and the major economic opportunities it could unlock for the benefit of all Canadians.

As a nation we must embrace two important realities: First, global demand for oil is increasing and second, Canada needs to generate more revenue to address its fiscal challenges.

Nations around the world — including Korea, Japan, India, Taiwan and China in Asia as well as various European nations — continue to ask for Canadian energy. We are perfectly positioned to meet those needs and lead global energy security efforts.

Our heavy oil is not only abundant, it’s responsibly developed, geopolitically stable and backed by decades of proven supply.

If we want to pay down our debt, increase funding to social programs and meet our NATO defence spending commitments, then we need to generate more revenue. And the best way to do so is to leverage our vast natural resources.

At today’s prices, Alberta’s proven oil and gas reserves represent trillions in value.

It’s not just a number; it’s a generational opportunity for Alberta and Canada to secure prosperity and invest in the future of our communities. But to unlock the full potential of this resource, we need the infrastructure to match our ambition.

There is one nation-building project that stands above all others in its ability to deliver economic benefits to Canada — a new bitumen pipeline to Asian markets.

The energy agreement signed on Nov. 27 includes a clear path to the construction of a one-million-plus barrel-per-day bitumen pipeline, with Indigenous co-ownership, that can ensure our province and country are no longer dependent on just one customer to buy our most valuable resource.

Indigenous co-ownership also provide millions in revenue to communities along the route of the project to the northwest coast, contributing toward long-lasting prosperity for their people.

The agreement also recognizes that we can increase oil and gas production while reducing our emissions.

The removal of the oil and gas emissions cap will allow our energy producers to grow and thrive again and the suspension of the federal net-zero power regulations in Alberta will open to doors to major AI data-centre investment.

It also means that Alberta will be a world leader in the development and implementation of emissions-reduction infrastructure — particularly in carbon capture utilization and storage.

The agreement will see Alberta work together with our federal partners and the Pathways companies to commence and complete the world’s largest carbon capture, utilization and storage infrastructure project.

This would make Alberta heavy oil the lowest intensity barrel on the market and displace millions of barrels of heavier-emitting fuels around the globe.

We’re sending a clear message to investors across the world: Alberta and Canada are leaders, not just in oil and gas, but in the innovation and technologies that are cutting per barrel emissions even as we ramp up production.

Where we are going — and where we intend to go with more frequency — is east, west, north and south, across oceans and around the globe. We have the energy other countries need, and will continue to need, for decades to come.

However, this agreement is just the first step in this journey. There is much hard work ahead of us. Trust must be built and earned in this partnership as we move through the next steps of this process.

But it’s very encouraging that Prime Minister Mark Carney has made it clear he is willing to work with Alberta’s government to accomplish our shared goal of making Canada an energy superpower.

That is something we have not seen from a Canadian prime minister in more than a decade.

Together, in good faith, Alberta and Ottawa have taken the first step towards making Canada a global energy superpower for benefit of all Canadians.

Danielle Smith is the Premier of Alberta

Alberta

A Memorandum of Understanding that no Canadian can understand

Published on December 6, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Niels Veldhuis

The federal and Alberta governments recently released their much-anticipated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining what it will take to build a pipeline from Alberta, through British Columbia, to tidewater to get more of our oil to markets beyond the United States.

This was great news, according to most in the media: “Ottawa-Alberta deal clears hurdles for West Coast pipeline,” was the top headline on the Globe and Mail’s website, “Carney inks new energy deal with Alberta, paving way to new pipeline” according to the National Post.

And the reaction from the political class? Well, former federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault resigned from Prime Minister Carney’s cabinet, perhaps positively indicating that this agreement might actually produce a new pipeline. Jason Kenney, a former Alberta premier and Harper government cabinet minister, congratulated Prime Minister Carney and Premier Smith on an “historic agreement.” Even Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi called the MOU “a positive step for our energy future.”

Finally, as Prime Minister Carney promised, Canada might build critical infrastructure “at a speed and scale not seen in generations.”

Given this seemingly great news, I eagerly read the six-page Memorandum of Understanding. Then I read it again and again. Each time, my enthusiasm and understanding diminished rapidly. By the fourth reading, the only objective conclusion I could reach was not that a pipeline would finally be built, but rather that only governments could write an MOU that no Canadian could understand.

The MOU is utterly incoherent. Go ahead, read it for yourself online. It’s only six pages. Here are a few examples.

The agreement states that, “Canada and Alberta agree that the approval, commencement and continued construction of the bitumen pipeline is a prerequisite to the Pathways project.” Then on the next line, “Canada and Alberta agree that the Pathways Project is also a prerequisite to the approval, commencement and continued construction of the bitumen pipeline.”

Two things, of course, cannot logically be prerequisites for each other.

But worry not, under the MOU, Alberta and Ottawa will appoint an “Implementation Committee” to deliver “outcomes” (this is from a federal government that just created the “Major Project Office” to get major projects approved and constructed) including “Determining the means by which Alberta can submit its pipeline application to the Major Projects Office on or before July 1, 2026.”

What does “Determining the means” even mean?

What’s worse is that under the MOU, the application for this pipeline project must be “ready to submit to the Major Projects Office on or before July 1, 2026.” Then it could be another two years (or until 2028) before Ottawa approves the pipeline project. But the MOU states the Pathways Project is to be built in stages, starting in 2027. And that takes us back to the circular reasoning of the prerequisites noted above.

Other conditions needed to move forward include:

The private sector must construct and finance the pipeline. Serious question: which private-sector firm would take this risk? And does the Alberta government plan to indemnify the company against these risks?

Indigenous Peoples must co-own the pipeline project.

Alberta must collaborate with B.C. to ensure British Columbians get a cut or “share substantial economic and financial benefits of the proposed pipeline” in MOU speak.

None of this, of course, addresses the major issue in our country—that is, investors lack clarity on timelines and certainty about project approvals. The Carney government established the Major Project Office to fast-track project approvals and provide greater certainty. Of the 11 project “winners” the federal government has already picked, most either already had approvals or are already at an advanced stage in the process. And one of the most important nation-building projects—a pipeline to get our oil to tidewater—hasn’t even been referred to the Major Project Office.

What message does all this send to the investment community? Have we made it easier to get projects approved? No. Have we made things clearer? No. Business investment in Canada has fallen off a cliff and is down 25 per cent per worker since 2014. We’ve seen a massive outflow of capital from the country, more than $388 billion since 2014.

To change this, Canada needs clear rules and certain timelines for project approvals. Not an opaque Memorandum of Understanding.