Toronto / May 2025
Over a year ago, the person that I’ve worked most closely with at the management level of the Council, informed me and one other colleague that she was preparing to wind down this part of her professional journey. We had celebrated her thirtieth year at the Council a couple of years earlier. The impact of her contributions to the work of the Council and the sector as a whole is immeasurable. It was her leadership in the implementation of the vision of a technologically connected sector that led to the significant leap into the technological future by the sector and OCASI member agencies in particular. This work also formed the foundation for the solid relationship we developed and continues today with the major funders of the work that we/you do as service providers and advocates.
The year went by way too quickly. My attempt to stop time, by not thinking about the inevitability of her leaving until months later was in vain. Time marched on until we came to that moment on March 31st, her last formal day of work. We were smart enough, some months earlier, to secure a commitment from our cherished colleague (and friend) to support the transition process in an advisory capacity. Thank Goddess, because her knowledge and institutional memories have kept us moving along as we dealt with unexpected funding cuts, staff turnover, an unstable political climate and so much more. Her support of the Council’s leadership team over these past few months has been immeasurable.
We planned a wonderful send off. When a call went out for volunteers to help plan a farewell gathering, the response from the staff and management teams were overwhelming – new and older staff stepped up all wanting to lend a hand. The RSVPs started coming in less than an hour after invitations was sent. We had to rethink the venue and the program. So many wanted to speak, to pay tribute to this person- this woman, who herself had walked the journey so many of the clients supported by our service agencies have traveled.
Who is this person? OCASI’s internal leader, our Associate Executive Director, Eta Woldeab. Let me call her by her full given name: Etagegnhue!
The meaning of her name lends itself to how I often think of her- I have found a sister!
This is what I shared in front of over a hundred colleagues and friends as my tribute to my colleague and friend.
I love this poem. ‘Won’t You Celebrate With Me’ by Lucille Clifton.
Won’t you celebrate with me
What I have shaped into a kind of life? I had no model.
Born in Babylon
Both non-white and woman
What did I see to be except myself?
I made it up, here on this bridge between sunshine and clay,
My one hand holding tight my other hand
Come celebrate with me that everyday
Something has tried to kill me
And has failed.
Eta – Etagegnhue. I have found a sister! Your name defines the experience I have had with you since I took a deep breath and knocked on that second floor office door on a chilly November Monday morning some twenty-six and half years ago.
It was your smile. And that of our beloved sister Amina who I know is here with us today, smiling from the ancestral realm. That was my warm welcome to OCASI. It was you who sat me down and asked me questions, guiding me with grace to pay attention to the places in the work that most required my gaze. It was you who would gently touch my arms and slightly shake your head when you sensed my frustration and anticipated that I would say or do something that would do nothing to change a situation and I would regret later on reflection.
Eta, the sister that I found and that I have grown to love and cherish, it was you who modeled for the rest of us, the importance of marrying vision with action. It was our late night meetings with Howy (OCASI first executive director) and Michael (tech consultant par excellence) that instilled in me, the OCASI work ethic as I learned and breathed in the stories of the building of the Council. And I witnessed the coming to fruition of the sector’s and the membership’s leap into the technological future.
You are a visionary. A leader who measures her success by the successes of those who you have nurtured and coached and coaxed into excellence. Many are gathered here today, to pay homage to you!
I am thankful for you Etagegnhue. Thank you for leading. For sharing yourself and your brilliance with so many of us, always ensuring that those who live at the margins are centered in our work. It is your commitment to our members and the communities they serve; your recognition of the excellent work being done at the grassroots with little funding support, that led myself and others to advocate strongly for a funding stream to support these groups and agencies. It is your vision that has brought the Equity Fund into being. You are the rare political being who walks her talk. You, Etagegnhue Woldeab are a phenomenal woman.
To paraphrase our sister poet, Maya Angelou:
Now I understand just why your head is not bowed
You don’t shout or jump about or have to talk real loud.
When we see you passing, it ought to and it does make us proud.
It’s in all of who you are, including the click of your heels.
The bend and curls in your hair,
The palm of your hand and the need of your care…
Cause you’re a phenomenal woman phenomenally.
Phenomenal Woman, that’s you!
Thank you Eta, for thirty-four years of excellence!!!
On the Federal Electon.
What can we do but wait to see the direction of the country and at the micro level, our sector, under this renewed Liberal government with a new Prime Minister. We are awaiting the naming of the Cabinet, especially the political leadership of IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada).
The Council along with our feminist allies across the country are watching closely to ensure that that there is a Department and a Minister responsible for the Women’s agenda. This is critical. The Prime Minister’s decision to fold this Department into what has been renamed as ‘Culture and Identity’ is not good enough. Women as half of the population in all our diversities deserve and demand equitable representation in government. We will be paying attention as well to ensure that First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples have a seat at the Cabinet table; and that all equity seeking communities have a seat at the Cabinet table.
At the Council we are concerned about the rightward (conservative) drift of our political discourse given the historical experiences for our immigration program and the supporting settlement and integration services and interventions. OCASI has long supported and encouraged successive federal governments to maintain permanent immigration at one percent of population. This government’s proposal to keep it at under one percent is problematic. There are over two hundred and eighty thousand applications for asylum in the IRB (Immigration and Refugee Board) backlog. Yet, we have heard nothing about increased resources for the Board including new appointments of adjudicators. Yet we have heard of billions of dollars for border security and surveillance. The priorities here need to shift. We must be vigilant. We must forge new relationships with the political class while we support and encourage our colleagues in the bureaucracy to be brave.
We must work in coalition with other groups and organizations who share our vision of a just and equitable immigration system. One that is responsive to the social and economic needs of our country. A system that privileges the rights of people over corporations. We cannot be silent. This is the time to burnish our government relations chops as much as we burnish our organizing and mobilization chops. This is a time for clarity of thought. And for action. We outlined some of these thoughts and calls for action in a joint policy paper on priorities for the next government – a Call for Equity for All .
As your provincial Council, we will be walking beside you; taking guidance from our membership and providing progressive leadership to the regional and national sector. Come join us!
In Solidarity.