Wednesday, December 10, 2025
As 2025 comes to an end, we look back to another eventful year for our Equity Caucuses. Leaders of each Caucus took the opportunity to highlight memorable actions, and we are happy to share some of what they’ve accomplished.
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Photo: Logo of AMAPCEO Indigenous Circle
Indigenous Circle welcomes new Chair
This year, AMAPCEO welcomed Rebecca Gencarelli as the new Chair of the Indigenous Circle. Rebecca was recently appointed to the role, having previously served as the Circle Vice-Chair since January 2023.
Rebecca steps into her new role hoping to carry the momentum into the new year by continuing to build and advocate for the Indigenous community at AMAPCEO, support Indigenous members, and nurture future union activists.
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Photo: Latinx Caucus Chairs with Cynthia Watt, Equity Committee Chair at the Activist & Leaders’ Forum
Latinx Caucus and Women’s Caucus join forces on key event
On June 23, 2025, the Latinx Caucus and Women’s Caucus organized a joint event for their members. “Finding Your Authentic Self in the Workplace” helped to promote professional development and growth, and featured keynote speaker Patricia Perez, Vice-President of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer with Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS).
With 19 years of experience in the Ontario Public Service, Patricia spoke about breaking barriers and overcoming challenges, as well as the power of culture and identity in leadership. She highlighted the importance of representation, and skills and strategies for success while creating support networks through her journey.
Maria Lopez-Pevide, Chair of the Latinx Caucus, remembers how impactful the event was to her and other attendees who’ve reached out to shared their experiences: “To showcase the fact that there are leaders like Patricia with Latin backgrounds in the OPS was important for us, and she did an amazing job demonstrating that our individual and community voices are equally important.”
Parmis Behmardi, Chair of the Women’s Caucus pointed to the mandate of the Women’s Caucus, while sharing the goal of the event and her aim for caucus membership as she settles into her new role as Chair: “We want to create opportunities for members as well as space for empowerment, support, and growth for women in the union and the workplace. The event with Patricia helped us get our members more involved, more engaged, and more aware of how their Caucus can support them.”
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Photo: Attendees at Arab Heritage Month Event hosted by the Arab Caucus and The Arabs in Government Employee Network at the OPS in April 2025
2025 Arab Heritage Month: First-ever Arab Caucus event
Arab Caucus Chair Léa Nsouli hopes that 2026 allows for more chances for the Caucus to advocate for the Arab community and more chances to support those affected by anti-Arab racism and anti-Palestinian racism still occurring in the workplace.
She remembers the Arab Caucus’ successful inaugural event during Arab Heritage Month this year, reflecting on the strong turnout: “Our first Arab Caucus event as part of Arab Heritage Month was a success because we felt it was really needed, especially with everything that’s happening within the Arab Community. You could see that people wanted that community to be able to share their own experience, both directly and indirectly, within the workplace as well as being an Arab-identifying person.
“It was also important to highlight the diversity of Arabs in our workplace, with some individuals identifying as members from Arab regions like Yemen, Lebanon, and North East Africa.”
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Photo: 2025 Joint Lunar New Year Festival Celebration attendees with Mayor Olivia Chow, an event co-sponsored by OPS Diversity East Asian Network Group (EANG), Ontario Leadership Network (OLN), Tomorrow’s OPS (TOPS) and AMAPCEO Asian Caucus.
Jamie Ngo, Asian Caucus Chair cites the recent after work Dim Sum event, the first event the Asian Caucus has held outside office hours, as one of his top events from 2025: “Our after work Dim Sum event allowed us to get to know Tammy Fok, our new Vice-Chair, along with providing us a space to have informal conversations and discussions with members that we might not have had in a formal setting. It was also great to have it ahead of our budget meeting – the event helped us plan for strategies and initiatives next year!”
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Photo: Black Caucus members at the AMAPCEO-sponsored 2025 Bromley Armstrong Awards Gala.
The importance of music on Emancipation Day
Black Caucus Chair Bonnie Wiltshire identified this year’s OPS-wide Emancipation Day Gathering as a memorable event this year. With the theme of ‘I’ to ‘We’, the gathering included a mixture of storytelling, spoken word poetry, music, art, and words of wisdom.
Sharing that many of the attendees were impacted on a deeper level, Bonnie points to the drumming segment of the gathering as a highlight for her: “The drumming segment of our Emancipation Day gathering was really impactful to me, as it told our story in a different form in terms of rhythms and music, and shows how significant this musical form is in our past.
“It took me back to our people’s history, where drumming evolved across different countries with people of African descent, as well as borrowed in more recent times to develop modern day musical genres. Rhythms today like R&B morphed into what they are based on different expressions and versions along that historical journey.”
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Photo: June Pride Karaoke Night hosted by the AMAPCEO Pride Caucus and AMAPCEO Young Workers’ Caucus.
From panel discussion to singing on stage: Two important Pride Caucus events
Noémie Bergeron, Pride Caucus Chair, reflects on why Pride Caucus work matters by sharing two important events from this year: the Pride Caucus panel on challenging homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia, as well as the June Karaoke Night the Pride Caucus hosted alongside the Young Workers’ Caucus.
“The Karaoke Night stands out every year because the turnout is always incredible, our members love it, the energy is unmatched, and our collaboration with the Young Workers’ Caucus brings such a fun and inclusive dynamic,” said Bergeron. “By the end of the night everyone is singing together and it feels like the best kind of community building.”
“The panel event was powerful in an entirely different way because the stories and insights shared by our panelists were honest, emotional, and deeply impactful. It brought us laughter and tears, and we saw our own experiences reflected in what was shared. Many of our attendees expressed how grateful they were to be afforded the space and how validating it felt.”
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Photo: Lieutenant Governor of Ontario event organized by Franco.Noire and AMAPCEO Francophone Caucus to honour La Journée Internationale de la Francophonie (International Francophonie Day).
March 24 Lieutenant Governor event in honour of International Francophonie Day
Francophone Caucus Chair Vincent Lavigne was proud of this year’s celebration of La Journée Internationale de la Francophonie (International Francophonie Day) with the Lieutenant Governor and credits the partnership with Franco.Noire, an employee group within the OPS who are Black and Francophone, in enabling members of Diversités Noires to participate in the celebration.
“Because of the partnership with Franco.Noire, we were able to bring members of Diversités Noires, a group of Black students from Béatrice-Desloges Catholic Secondary School, enabling them to participate in a two-way learning event to inform Francophone youth about careers in the public service,” said Lavigne.
“This also allowed us to educate our members about the changing face of the Francophonie, highlighting the rich cultural tapestry of the Francophone community and to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of our diverse backgrounds.”
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Photo: Equity at AMAPCEO Interview Series with Chairs of the Disability Caucus and Cynthia Watt, AMAPCEO Vice-President and Equity Committee Chair.
Disability Caucus focus on inclusivity as part of 2026 events
Andrew Nolan, the newly-appointed Disability Caucus Chair, shared his excitement at his new role.
Andrew also aims for the Caucus to revive the inclusive speaker series and information awareness sessions as part of its advocacy work: “What we’re looking forward to next year is to highlight key months that have days/periods that we can potentially have a speaker session.”
“Whether it’s World Mental Health Day (October 10), Workplace Awareness Month (October), Indigenous people with Disabilities Awareness Month (November) and United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3), we are hoping to have speakers, within and outside the caucus, share more of our lived experience and efforts that we can take to end the stigma while making the workplace better within the OPS and across our bargaining units.”
Don’t miss out on future events for 2026!
Stay informed with what our caucuses are up to for the new year by visiting these important pages
Sign up today at amapceo.on.ca/joinequity to join one or more of AMAPCEO’s Equity Caucuses.