International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD)

Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Michael Fuentespina joined the CAF in 1991 and has served in a wide range of operational and leadership roles within military health services. His career spans clinical, field, and strategic positions, including deployments to Bosnia and Afghanistan, and service supporting multinational medical operations. He currently serves as Strategic Health Services Reserve CWO. After sustaining service-related injuries, he represented Canada at the Invictus Games and continues to coach athletes through the Soldier On program. Having worked extensively with ill and injured members, he remains a strong advocate for wounded warriors and for creating inclusive opportunities that support recovery, resilience, and continued service.

Lieutenant Colonel Indira Thackorie joined the CAF at age seventeen through a high school cooperative education program and has served for more than thirty years. Her career has included operational deployments and international assignments in Israel, Afghanistan, and Cyprus, as well as training missions with partner militaries in Indonesia and Lebanon. She began her service as an infantry soldier before commissioning as an officer and later becoming a Public Affairs Officer. She has also supported national demonstration teams, including the SkyHawks parachute team and the Snowbirds aerobatic team. She currently leads a communications team responsible for supporting culture changes across the Defence Team.

Appointed Citizenship Judge for the Greater Toronto Area in June 2014, Judge Albert Wong previously completed more than thirty-nine years of service in the CAF. During his military career, he served in public affairs positions across Canada and on international missions, including deployments with the United Nations in Eritrea and Ethiopia, and operational service in Afghanistan. Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Judge Wong has received numerous honours, including the Chinese Canadian Legend Award in 2012, the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) 100 award in 2015, and the Transformation Award for Public Service in 2015. He was also named Diversity Magazine Person of the Year in 2016. He served as the Chief Aide-de-Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 2013 to 2020 and received the Vice-Regal commendation in 2014.

Jenny Chen is the founder of a consulting firm that supports complex institutions in strengthening culture, leadership accountability, and organizational coherence. She brings more than sixteen years of experience navigating and leading within highly regulated, performance-driven environments. After an award-winning career in corporate finance, Jenny transitioned to senior leadership roles focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In that role, she was responsible for embedding equity considerations into policy, governance, performance management, and enterprise decision-making. Her work focuses on translating institutional commitments into operational practice, aligning culture change with performance, and reducing fragmentation across large systems.