Board Biography

Zanana Akande

Ms Akande holds a B.A. and M.Ed. from the University of Toronto.

Ms. Akande has had an outstanding career as a teacher and administrator in all levels of education, and as a lecturer in university. As a consultant, she designed and coordinated programs for pupils with special needs, including gifted students and immigrant children to the Canadian system. As principal, she has been responsible for the redirection of large inner city schools with culturally diverse populations. Now retired, she continues to work as a speaker and lecturer on topics of equity, effective communication, feminism, social change, community development and conflict.

In addition to her roles in education, Ms. Akande’s work experience includes interviewer and panelist for MTV; co-founder of Tiger Lily, a magazine giving voice to the perspectives of visible minority women, and member of provincial parliament from 1990 to 1994, representing the riding of St. Andrew/St. Patrick.

During her term in government, Ms. Akande served as the Minister of Community and Social Services and as parliamentary assistant to the Premier. She was responsible for the design and implementation of the jobs Ontario Youth program, which created over 5000 jobs for youth across the province during the summers of 1991 to 1994. She was an active participant on many ministerial committees including the ministerial Committee on Youth Employment, focusing on effective wider access for all youth to jobs.

Ms. Akande’s community activities have included participating as a Board member of the United Way of Greater Toronto, the Family Service Association of Toronto, the Elizabeth Fry Society, Doctors Hospital, and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. She has also served as the president of the Canadian Alliance of Black Educators, the Toronto Child Abuse Centre, the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and Harbourfront Centre. Some of her current community involvements include serving as a Governor of Centennial College, Board member of Toronto Community Foundation and a Board member of Factory Theatre.

Ms. Akande has received many awards recognizing her contributions to education and community. Some of these awards are the African Canadian Achievement Award for Education; The Onyx Award for Exemplary Service to Community; Black History Makers Award; the Arbor Award from the University of Toronto; the Award of Distinction from the Congress of Black Women, the Human Rights Activist Award from the Centennial Foundation and the City of Toronto’s Constance E. Hamilton Award, named after the first woman elected to a municipal council in Toronto.