Introducing the 2021 Mentors  

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is proud to announce six accomplished leaders as our 2021 Mentors.

After a thorough, multi-tiered process, the Foundation selected these extraordinary leaders based on their remarkable accomplishments in various professional domains and sectors – private, public, parapublic, and non-profit.

Our 2021 Mentors support the leadership development of Scholars as they embark on a three-year journey rooted in the Foundation’s leadership curriculum, Building Brave Spaces: The Path to Engaged Leadership, based on the Foundation’s six key leadership concepts tailored to nurturing public intellectuals. Mentors will help Scholars to become leaders of self, others, and systems through unique expertise invaluable to future Engaged Leaders – in communication and public engagement, team and project management, financial and entrepreneurial skills, social innovation, negotiation, networking, creative and design thinking, and resilience in the face of adversity. Mentors will also contribute to the Foundation’s Brave Spaces, which privilege robust debate and the celebration of difference, critical to meaningful engagement with communities across the country and to building progress around a plurality of perspectives. Recognizing that these can be challenging and sometimes uncomfortable discussions, they are supported by a safety net of mutual respect, strong policy, and the Foundation’s Code of Community Engagement. 

Our Mentors  

Our 2021 Mentors are leaders in their fields and offer a wide range of expertise:  

Karine  Asselin 

Karine Asselin is a seasoned diplomat who has served in multiple capacities at Global Affairs Canada for more than two decades. She served at the Privy Council Office, in the Machinery of Government Secretariat, she was posted to Vienna at Canada's Delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and was Minister-Counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in Brasilia. Ms. Asselin served as Canada's Ambassador to the Republic of Panama from 2015 to 2018. Recently, she has held senior management positions in the Multilateral Organizations Bureau and, currently, in the Consular Policy Bureau. 

Julius  Grey

Julius Grey is a renowned lawyer with more than 40 years of experience and practice in several areas of law, notably in human rights and freedom and in language rights. He taught at McGill University, Université de Montréal, and the Canadian Human Rights School in Charlottetown. A president of the Canadian Human Rights Foundation from 1985 to 1988, he continues to publish on topics of law and general interest. In 2004, Me Grey received the Barreau du Québec Medal for his career accomplishments. Julius Grey has pleaded the second most cases in the Supreme Court of Canada. He has gone to the highest court in the country more than 50 times!  

Emmanuel  Kattan 

A philosopher and novelist, Emmanuel Kattan is Director of the Alliance Program, an innovative academic joint venture of Columbia University and three major French Higher Education Institutions. He was previously Director of the British Council in New York, where he oversaw academic collaboration programs, and Senior Adviser at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Dr. Kattan is a Doctor of Philosophy and Politics and a former Rhodes Scholar whose novels focus on the intersection of identities. Dr. Kattan has always worked to create and foster collaborations between academic communities and institutions.   

Aldéa  Landry 

The Honourable Aldéa Landry is a former politician, a business owner, a volunteer and an advocate for numerous causes. Her expertise and impressive network with respect to Acadian and Francophone communities are highly relevant to the scientific theme Language, Culture, and Identity. As one of the Women’s Executive Network (2009 and 2010) Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, she has always been a strong proponent for the advancement of women in leadership roles. She is the former Chancellor of the Université Sainte-Anne (Nova Scotia).   

Gabrielle  Scrimshaw  Sagalov

Gabrielle Scrimshaw Sagalov is an Indigenous professional with a passion for creating social impact. She has an MBA from Stanford and is a Gleitsman Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University. Ms. Scrimshaw Sagalov is the founder of The Scrimshaw Group, a consultancy with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and Indigenous economic development. A proud citizen of the Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation, she is the co-founder of the Indigenous Professional Association of Canada.    

Azola  Zuma  Mayekiso 

Azola Zuma Mayekiso is co-Chairman of the Lulalab Foundation and a deputy Chairman of the Human Resources Development Council of South Africa. She was previously CEO of Sanlam Investment Management (SIM), one of South Africa’s most reputable investment management companies, and the executive director and head of Business Development for the Vunani Group. She holds an MBA in International Business and Management from the Hanze University in the Netherlands.  

The leadership program follows a three-year cycle. In their first year, Mentors will participate in designing and delivering content for our Institute of Engaged Leadership in Moncton, N.B., followed in their second year by another Institute in South Africa. In both instances, Mentors will make use of experiential learning opportunities whenever possible, to ensure the Foundation’s activities are rooted in the cities and communities where the Institutes take place. Starting in the second year  and all through their third year, Mentors will take on an advisory and supporting role for Scholars as they create and hold the Impact Conference, a public conference and engagement whose objective is to disseminate and democratize knowledge on the 2021-2024 Scientific theme Language, Culture and Identity.  

We increasingly see the need for a new kind of Leader who is committed to deep listening, who accepts to be challenged and take risks, who perseveres, and who has the courage to confront the global challenges of our time. Through their unique sets of experience and knowledge, our 2021 Mentors have made significant contributions to our institutions, communities, and society. These trailblazers will hand down an extraordinary toolbox to our Scholars, supporting them in becoming community-focused Engaged Leaders.