Diane Roussin, Al Etmanski and Imandeep Kaur guide us through a comprehensive discussion on why changing our systems’ “software” - our mindsets, values and principles - is more important than changing our systems’ “hardware” of processes and protocols. Through a wealth of experience garnered over many years as campaigners and innovators, each with their own lived experience to bring to bear, Al, Diane and Immy demonstrate that we have to start by putting a different set of assumptions, values and principles at the heart of what we do to transform systems.

Listen to their fascinating webinar as they take us through what their experience has taught them and how important it is to shift societal attitudes that disregard human potential.

Interview: Diane Roussin

Diane Roussin is a leading First Nations Innovator and the director of the Winnipeg Boldness Project, an ambitious initiative seeking to create large-scale systems change for children and families in Winnipeg. The underlying principles of Diane’s work stem from the way that indigenous communities provide care. First Nations communities see people as part of circles of relationships and emphasise their interdependence; modern systems break things down into needs and conditions, which professionals then set out to service. In that systemic process, families are often categorised in terms of the needs they present rather than the capabilities or aspirations they have. In order to create better systems for the future, Diane makes an impassioned call for a cultural shift which will allow us to return to an authentic way of treating fellow human beings, a way that is more holistic, relational and interconnected. Through her social innovation lab in Winnipeg, she is re-shaping modern systems with the insight and wisdom of indigenous culture.

Interview: Al Etmanski

Al Etmanski is a life-long campaigner, advocate and innovator for people with disabilities. As he puts it in his new bestselling book The Power of Disability, “The time has come to recognize people with disabilities for who they really are: authoritative sources on creativity, resilience, love, resistance, dealing with adversity, and living a good life.” Al’s journey started with his own remarkable daughter, Liz, born with Down syndrome. He helped to create a first-of-its-kind savings plan for people with disability which has attracted more than four billion Canadian dollars; set up one of the first Family Support Institutes in the world for parents of children with disabilities and brought about far-reaching legal change for caring relationships to be given a formal legal status. Yet for all his achievements, Al would say the most important changes are intangible: shifts in our mindsets, to see the person and not the disability, and to understand why they want the right to live their own version of a happy, fulfilled life.

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