Debbie Burke-Benn is known as a passionate advocate for Indigenous, Black, and equity-deserving communities in her position as the Director, Equity and Human Rights at the City of Toronto. She has been instrumental in developing innovative approaches to promoting diversity and equity. They include leading the team that delivered the Basic Income Pilot to create income equity, and the first-of-a-kind Ontario Anti-Racism Secretariat government organization that provides operational funding to anti-racism community organizations. Debbie strives to create a culture of systemic change, where empathy guides everyone to enable moving forward. Her team at the City of Toronto is leading the Reconciliation Learning plan, a Gender Equity Strategy and a Data for Equity Strategy.
Debbie’s leadership strengths are compassion, empathy, and dedication. She led the redesign of a diversity mentoring program for an organization of 60,000 employees to focus on career-related outcomes. She was instrumental in developing the Enhanced Black Youth Action Plan, which focuses on economic empowerment, and the Student and Family Advocates initiative, which provides community advocacy support for Black Children Youth and their Families navigating the education system.