Aida Haroun

Aida Haroun was born in Cairo, Egypt to a multicultural family with Greek, Armenian and Turkish background.  She was brought up speaking four languages (English, French, Arabic, Turkish and an understanding of Armenian).

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Business Administration from York University. Aida spent extensive periods of time studying the French language abroad in France.  Aida‘s passion is travelling and learning the history and culture of countries around world.  She is very much committed, passionate and promotes issues associated with global citizenship, social justice, diversity and equity.

Aida joined Centennial College in 2003 as a Human Resources Consultant and is presently the Equity & Compliance Manager at the Institute for Global Citizenship & Equity Office.   Prior to joining Centennial, she was employed with the Toronto District School Board for over 20 years as a Senior Human Resources Consultant and Labour Relations Officer.  Some of Aida’s responsibilities  as an Equity & Compliance Manager is the Self Identification Census, Outreach and Training for a Diverse Faculty Recruitment, Compliance with for the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) in the areas of Customer Service and Facilities Audit , Outreach to underrepresented groups, promoting social justice issues, and celebrating and recognizing diverse cultures through the “Social Action Fund” and Co-ordinating the upcoming Conference “Engaging Hearts and Minds:  Equity, Social Justice and Global Citizenship in Action.”

Global citizenship to Aida means an acceptance and understanding that we are all interconnected in this world no matter where we live, what cultural, religious or racial background we come from or what language we speak.  As global citizens we must alleviate local and global inequality, respect the globe and all the people on it and do what’s best for the entire human race.