Ask the Experts | Indigenous Allyship in the Workplace

Description

Join us for an empowering and thought-provoking conversation on Allyship in the Workplace, where we'll explore what it truly means to be an ally, and how individuals and organizations can actively support equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Sponsored by LBMX, this event brings together voices from across sectors to discuss how intentional allyship can strengthen teams, create safer and more inclusive environments, and drive meaningful change at every level of the workplace.

Whether you're in leadership, HR, or simply passionate about fostering a positive workplace culture, this event will offer practical strategies, personal insights, and actionable steps toward building allyship into your daily work and organizational values.

Facilitator: Katie Wilhelm
Keynote: Sanjay Govindaraj & Andrea Moyer 

Panelists:

• Chantel Antone
• Christy Bressette
• Emily Schuyler
• Ashley Sisco

About our panelists
 

Sanjay Govindaraj - Director of Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression, City of London
With over 30 years of experience in equity and social justice, Sanjay leads initiatives on Indigenous reconciliation, anti-racism, and community well-being. Currently serving as Chair of Council at the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, Sanjay is a passionate advocate for systemic change and community well-being. He will share practical insights on how we can all be stronger allies in advancing reconciliation.

Andrea Moyer - Human Resources Enterprise Supports - City of London
Andrea has worked with the City in the Human Resources department since 2016. She started as a Recruitment Specialist and for the past 7 years have been working as an Employee Relations Advisor with unionized and non-unionized staff. She assists employees through the entirety of their careers – from the recruitment stage through to retirement. During her time with the City She has been involved in many community events, career fairs, and She is a mentor for an internal employee resource group.

Katie Wilhelm, RGD (she/her) is an award-winning Indigenous designer and consultant based in London, Ontario. Katie is a proud Indigenous woman from the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation at Neyaashiinigmiing.

Prior to founding her own design practice, Katie spent more than ten years specializing in corporate communications, specifically in local economic development. Katie is a leader in the local arts and culture community, having worked in London's creative industry since 2009. 

A champion for the Indigenous community, she continuously looks to inspire others to create a colourful future for Turtle Island. Learn more at www.katiewilhelm.design.

Christy Bressette, Vice-Provost & Associate Vice-President
Dr. Christy Rochelle Bressette serves as Western's inaugural Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President of Indigenous Initiatives, where she leads work to advance Reconciliation through Education" based upon her lived experiences as an Anishinabe parent, student, teacher, and community member of Kettle and Stoney Point First Nation. As an educator within provincial public schools, First Nation schools, and within several Canadian universities, and a leader within in a variety of educational leadership capacities, such as the National Coordinator of Indigenous Education at the Council of Ministers of Education Canada; Special Advisor to the Paul Martin Family Initiative; Board Governor with Lambton College; Indigenous Trustee with the Lambton Kent District School Board; and a longstanding member and former Chairperson of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation Education Committee - she relies upon lived-experience and Indigenous wisdom, knowledge, values and worldviews of Indigenous people to advance the work of truth and reconciliation.

Emily Schuyler - The new Specialist, Indigenous London Arts at the London Arts Council
Emily Schuyler is an emerging multi-media artist from Oneida Nation of the Thames, which is located in Ontario, Canada. Schuyler received a certificate and an advanced diploma in Fine Arts from Fanshawe College. Schuyler was also the recipient of both the Bob and Shelly Siskind Visual Arts Award and The Mackie Cryderman Award for Excellence in the Arts. Schuyler has received her Bachelor of studio arts degree from the Institute of American Indian arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Schuyler has exhibited internationally, a two-artist show titled Preserve, 2019 in London, Ontario. 
Schuyler creates mixed media works that provide an intimate narrative into her
cultural traditions, personal stories and lived experiences. Schuyler continues to create work focused on her cultural heritage, and what it means to be a contemporary Indigenous artist.

Chantel Antone - Indigenous Health Lead, Indigenous Health at LHSC
Chantel Antone is a proud great-grandmother to a beautiful baby girl and a cherished great-aunt. Chantel spends her days with family, helping raise her great niece, cooking and travelling. 
Chantel is from the Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nation.  She comes from the Bear Clan, the medicine clan supporting health and wellness.  Her traditional name is Yakonikuluwa:n^’, which in English translates to “she has a great mind/she has a great capacity to take care of a person(s)”.
Professionally, Chantel is a dedicated health and social justice activist who passionately advocates for First Nation, Inuit and Metis people, families, and communities. Her work ensures equitable access to health systems, addresses systemic oppression, and integrates Indigenous knowledge into Western medicine.
Chantel holds a Master's of Public Education from Western University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Ryerson University. She has been a registered nurse at London Health Sciences for the past 11 years and is the Senior Director of the Office of Indigenous Health at Victoria Hospital. In this role, she collaborates with an outstanding team of Indigenous women to advance health initiatives across Ontario and Canada.
Her extensive contributions include publications such as the RNAO’s Best Practice Guidelines for Transitions in Care (2024), Supporting the Journey Home: The Process of Co-designing an Education Program to Strengthen Palliative Care Capacity in First Nations Communities (Journal of Indigenous Health, 2024), and chapter authorship in "Leading and Managing in Canadian Nursing, 3rd Edition" (Elsevier, 2023). Chantel has also published works on culturally safe care in the cancer system for Indigenous patients (International Journal of Indigenous Health, 2019).
Nationally recognized for her leadership, Chantel has contributed to the National Roundtables on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology for under/never-served populations, and served as an expert panel member for the RNAO Best Practice Guidelines for Transitions of Care. As Senior Director of Indigenous Health, she looks forward to guiding health system reform and driving positive change at LHSC.

 

Ashley Sisco, PhD - Owner & CEO Sisco & Associates Consulting Services Inc.

Ashley Sisco is a settler (non-Indigenous) who has been learning from and working alongside Indigenous peoples for over 20 years in Canada and internationally. Committed to allyship, she approaches this work as an ongoing journey—one grounded in listening, reciprocity, and respect.

As Founder and CEO of SISCO & Associates Consulting Inc. (SISCO)—an advocacy-driven research and social impact firm—Ashley works in partnership with Indigenous communities, organizations, governments, and institutions through community-based, participatory approaches that uphold Indigenous priorities and self-determination. SISCO has a majority Indigenous-operated research team grounded in lived experience, and is committed to hiring, mentoring, and building capacity within the communities it serves. 

Ashley also serves as an Assistant Professor at Western University and Huron University College, teaching in the Master of Professional Education program, Indigenous Studies, and Management and Organizational Studies, with a focus on Indigenous entrepreneurship, ethical engagement, and researching and working in good ways with communities.

Ashley holds a PhD and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Education, a Master’s in Canadian Studies (Indigenous Studies stream), and a BA in Anthropology. Yet she emphasizes that her greatest learning comes from the communities she serves. Her recent work includes co-authoring two Allyship Guides for Western University and developing and delivering allyship training for many local health, education and professional organizations, including Western University and the London Health Sciences Centre.