ABOUT US
Our Story
Our Story
We are building a Canada where Indigenous and diverse job seekers have the same employment opportunities as all other Canadians.
Since 2014, Our Children's Medicine has worked with community organizations, innovative technology builders and business leaders to rethink how to connect Indigenous job seekers with employment opportunities nation wide.
Incubated under the umbrella of a charity in Toronto, Our Children's Medicine was created with the seemingly simple mandate of connecting Indigenous job seekers with employment opportunities at Canadian businesses.
Through consultation with community and business leaders it became clear that the ‘simple’ undertaking OCM had embarked on was considerably more complex, as the ‘idea’ of connecting job seekers with open opportunities wasn’t enough to drive business to action and make lasting, systemic change.
In 2017 OCM became its own charity and has taken on the mandate of increasing Indigenous representation amongst the Canadian labour force by enacting innovative sourcing technology, heartfelt community development and thoughtful corporate systems change to advance Indigenous and barriered job seekers into the Canadian workforce.
A key component to OCM’s work is to reduce unconscious bias and Indigenize corporate culture in order to attract and retain amazing Indigenous talent.
OCM has developed tools (or bundle as we call it) to amplify the voice and talents of Indigenous job seekers during the application, interview and onboarding process. In addition our bundle contains the key components to enact corporate systems change which will lead to employers sourcing, hiring and retaining remarkable First Nations, Metis and Inuit employees!
As the Indigenous community is roughly 5% of the Canadian population, we believe that every major company in Canada should have at least 5% of their employees identify as First Nations, Metis or Inuit; and OCM can help you achieve that goal!
OCM prides itself on holding business accountable as we work towards achieving a workforce brimming with incredible Indigenous talent, and together putting reconciliation into action.
Since 2017 OCM has helped more than 1,100 Indigenous job seekers achieve employment at over 75 companies across the country. We have a Talent Pool of more than 21,000 job seekers still searching for the perfect job.
OCM was founded by Josh Hellyer and Birch Hill Equity Partners. Birch Hill is OCM's founding national employer partner, sponsor and provides governance and oversight of OCM.
Meet the Team
Meet The Team
Kelly Hashemi
Executive Director, Traditional Knowledge Keeper
Krislyn Jagt
Community & Corporate Partnerships Coordinator
Krystal DiMarca
Manager, Partnerships & Opportunities
Candace Saxon
Partnerships Coordinator
Rebekah Clause
Manager of Community Engagement & Programming
Justine Hains
Executive Administrator
Josh Hellyer
OCM Founder & Board Member
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Taunya Paquette
Director, Indigenous Education Office | Ministry of Education (Chair)
Taunya is the Director of Indigenous Education for the Ontario Ministry of Education, where she leads the policy work and inter-governmental relations to support academic achievement and well- being for all Indigenous students and to ensure the next generation of Ontario students and teachers are educated in the true histories and contemporary contributions of our First People.
Michael Masse
Experienced senior leader combining strategic vision and the ability to deliver solid results in large complex organizations in an intensively competitive market. Extensive experience within real-estate management, hospitality, and service industries. Excels at building and maintaining great teams through to the front line. Powerful customer skills, known for ability to build lasting account relationships with high account retention. Brings a unique entrepreneurial mind-set to create business plans that drive customer retention, growth while consistently delivering budget objectives.
Michael lives in Aurora with his wife and two daughters. He has served on several non-for-profit boards and recently was made an honorary board member at the TCRC (Toronto Christian Resource Centre). He currently serves on the board of OCM (Our Children's Medicine) and is also a member of the following organizations; PEO (Presidents of Enterprising Organizations), CCHL (Canadian College of Health Leaders), CAMSC (Canadian Aboriginal Minority Supplier Council, and CCAB (Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business).
Michael is also very proud to be part of the indigenous community and recently received his Certificate of Aboriginal Status from the Ontario Metis Family Center Inc., Painted Feather Woodland Metis Tribe.
John MacIntyre
Founding Partner, Birch Hill Equity Partners
John is a Partner at Birch Hill Equity Partners. He co-founded Birch Hill in 2005 and prior to that co-founded the Canadian mid-market Private Equity Group within TD Capital, Birch Hill’s predecessor organization. John is Chairman of CCM Hockey and HomeEquity Bank. He has served on the Boards of ACE Bakery, Bluewave Energy, COM DEV International, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Nealanders International, Persona Communications Corp. and Vector Intermediaries.
Lucio Milanovich
VP Finance Portfolio Support, Birch Hill Equity Partners
Lucio is VP Finance, Portfolio Support at Birch Hill Equity Partners where he provides portfolio companies with board finance, governance, and accounting expertise and general finance management. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over 25 years of business experience in a variety of industries, including, chemical manufacturing and processing, financial services, engineering and project management, information systems outsourcing, telecommunication, mining, real estate, and retailing
As a member of Birch Hill Equity Partners’ ESG team supported the development its ESG framework, reporting, and now focused on climate change initiatives.
Jon Davey
Vice President, Indigenous Banking - Scotiabank
Jonathan is the Vice President of Indigenous Financial Services at Scotiabank and a proud member of the Six Nations of the Grand River (Cayuga Nation). He provides banking and wealth solutions to Indigenous nations and businesses with the intent of positively impacting future generations. Before joining the bank, he was a Federal Crown and Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs within the Department of Justice Canada. Jonathan also serves as a Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces and is an Aide de Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. He holds a master of public administration degree from Cornell University, a Juris Doctorate from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a first class honours bachelors degree from Brock University. Recently, he was named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 by PwC and Caldwell Partners.
Kelly Hashemi
Executive Director, Our Children's Medicine (Ex-Officio)
Dakota Lavery
Finance Comptroller, Hiawatha First Nation
Shirlie Hatt
Aboriginal Recruiter, Interior Health Authority
Josh Hellyer
Founder, Our Children's Medicine | Social Entrepreneur, Author and Media Producer
Josh Hellyer is an award-winning Canadian media producer, author, ‘optics advisor’ and social entrepreneur. He quickly rose to success in the television world by becoming a producer of Canada’s most watched television shows, including Canadian Idol, Canada AM and So You Think You Can Dance Canada.
Hellyer is the Founder of ‘Our Children’s Medicine’ (Kiinago Biinoogi Muskiiki in Ojibway), a registered charity with the mandate of connecting First Nations, Metis and Inuit job seekers with sustainable employment opportunities at Canada’s largest companies.
Hellyer’s first book of essays entitled Give Life a Squeeze; Juicy Observations from My Life’s First Quarter, was released in 2007 followed by Honestly It Will: Reminders for the Insta-Generation in 2015, which charted on the bestseller list for two weeks in Canada.
Hellyer is the vice-chair of the Audrey S. Hellyer Charitable Foundation. He’s also a past director of the Canadian Centre for Diversity & Inclusion and youth visual arts program, UforChange. In addition, Hellyer supports youth mental health charity Jack.org, the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Outside the March Theatre Company, Fred Victor Homeless Centre, Casey House, ENAGB: The Indigenous Youth Program and Indspire amongst many others.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What type of services do you offer?
We offer many different services that can help a business on their Reconciliation journey. We offer everything from Indigenous cultural awareness sessions, corporate training sessions, Indigenous targeted recruitment consultation, Indigenous virtual job fairs, as well as access to our hiring platform which has over 20,000 active Indigenous job seekers.
- In which regions can you provide your services?
OCM has serviced from coast to coast on Turtle Island. Because much of our work is done online and virtually, we can assist you with training, consultation or hiring needs in any part of the country.
- What is the time commitment to work with you?
This question is hard to answer without knowing your business’ specific situation, but we have training sessions as short as one hour and full partnerships that last as long as one year. Reach out to us at info@ourchildrensmedicine.ca for more information!
- How much do you charge for your services?
We are a registered charity, so our work is sustained by charging for our services as well as from the support of generous donors. Our pricing is dependant on factors such as the size of your company, hiring needs, how many people will be participating in our training sessions, how many candidates you wish to interview at a job fair, etc. Please contact us for a custom quote at info@ourchildrensmedicine.ca
- Are you able to source Indigenous candidates and have them apply on our company website?
This is a common question we get, and we want to explain why we are not able to do this! We have put a lot of time and effort into creating an application system that reduces barriers for Indigenous candidates and can easily translate their transferable skills. Our system works well and we have years worth of data and metrics we have accumulated that help us understand our Indigenous talent pool’s skill set and interests, which help us build effective strategies for the companies we work with. If you would prefer not to use our hiring platform for logistical reasons, then a virtual job fair event may be a better fit for you, where we will deliver all the applications to you in PDF form.
Our Children's Medicine
Our Children's Medicine (OCM) was founded by Josh Hellyer and Birch Hill Equity Partners. OCM is a Canadian registered charity: 790064885 RR 0001 .
Oversight and governance is provided by Birch Hill Equity Partners.