Indira Naidoo-Harris
Indira Naidoo-Harris is a trusted public leader, policy-maker, journalist and human rights advocate. She is currently the Associate Vice-President of Diversity and Human Rights at the University of Guelph, and previously served as Ontario’s first ever Minister of the Status of Women, Minister of Early Learning and Childcare, Minister of Education, Associate Minister of Finance, Member of Provincial Parliament for Halton.
As the first official voice for women in the province, Naidoo-Harris headed the Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy and the Strategy for Gender-Based Violence. She also worked on Ontario’s first ever Dementia strategy, Ontario’s Renewed Early Years and Childcare Policy Framework and anti-human trafficking legislation.
Naidoo-Harris currently serves as a board member for Fullbright Canada, an Advisory Board member for the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy, and is an Honorary Member for the Canadian Ethnic Media Association. She has co-hosted the Federal, Provincial, and Territorial talks on the Status of Women, and is a former Board member of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Reelworld Film Festival. She was named one of Milton’s 100 Years 100 Women Trailblazers and in 2022, Naidoo-Harris was named one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women by the Women’s Executive Network. In January 2023, she travelled to the World Economic Forum in Davos to advocate at an event for gender equity in leadership and building a strong path forward.