Canada's Best Diversity Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 16
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CANADA’S BEST DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS (2025)
Air Canada aims to make DEI ‘just the way it is’
inclusion policy. Then it’s just the
way it is.”
Gurasis Singh couldn’t agree
more. Now a Montréal-based
teams solutions manager–benefits
and self-described “aviation geek,”
Singh came aboard Air Canada
in Winnipeg in 2018, fresh out of
college. “It was inspiring to step
into an environment where shared
values drive collective success,”
Singh says.
It is fully
understood within
Air Canada that the
more you increase
diversity, the more
innovation you get,
and the better the
problem-solving.”
— Christianna Scott
Director of Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion
Gurasis Singh, teams solutions manager, benefits, at Air Canada.
C
hristianna Scott, director
of diversity, equity and
inclusion (DEI) at Air
Canada, has a resumé
tailor-made for her position.
An accomplished lawyer with
a passion for human rights
advocacy, she was born in Ghana,
the child of a Canadian father and
Ghanaian mother. Raised in small
fishing villages along Québec’s
Lower North Shore and fluently
bilingual, Scott is quintessentially
Canadian in her diversity.
For Scott, her work at Canada’s
largest airline has opened immense possibilities. “Air Canada
has 40,000 employees across the
world, and real change could
come from continuing to advance
on these issues,” she says.
“I asked if they were truly
committed to this, and the
answer was yes. As well as the
very important humanity aspect,
it is fully understood within
Air Canada that the more you
increase diversity, the more
innovation you get, and the better
the problem-solving,” says Scott.
“It’s why I have a team of 12, which
is huge among corporate DEI
groups.”
It’s why, too, the airline
showcases its diversity in its
community outreach. “We need
pilots, aircraft maintenance
engineers, lawyers, doctors,
nurses,” says Scott, “and we need
traditionally under-represented
groups to see themselves in those
roles, for young girls to see a
female pilot and think, ‘I can be
part of this.’”
In her work and its ultimate
aim, the director emphasizes
the E in DEI. “To effect systemic
change, you need to build equity
into programs,” says Scott. “That’s
what creates change that’s no
longer seen as diversity, equity and
“The department that I worked
in always encouraged us to stay
close to our roots, commemorating everything from Diwali to
Christmas to the National Day for
Truth and Reconciliation,” says
Singh. “Being a part of a place that
values diversity like this is truly
uplifting.”
Air Canada has embedded DEI
elements within its corporate
wellness program, Unlock the Best
in You, adds Scott. “It assures employees that when we say, ‘bring
your whole self to work,’ that
includes your identities and the
complexities around them. When
people contact our mental health
partner, they can make a request
