Vitalité Health Network honoured by one of our own attending 15th Forum on Minority Issues
Vitalité Health Network, Friday, December 2, 2022 – Thanks to an initiative by Phylomène Zangio, a manager with Vitalité Health Network, New Brunswick’s black Francophone minority will have a voice at the United Nations during the 15th Forum on Minority Issues.
Phylomène Zangio, manager with Vitalité Health Network, who is attending the 15th session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva, Switzerland
Ms. Zangio is in Geneva on December 1 and 2 to attend this annual meeting for the first time, taking place under the theme “Review. Rethink. Reform: 30th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Minority Rights.” The Forum identifies and analyzes issues and best practices to strengthen the “Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.”
Ms. Zangio points out the need to reflect on Francophone racial minorities, here in New Brunswick as well as elsewhere in the country. “The Forum is an opportunity to bring this issue forward,” she declared, stressing the “importance of bringing to the collective consciousness the challenges faced by racial minorities living in minority language situations.” It is this dual minority status that she highlights, suggesting that related issues no longer be discussed in a vacuum but instead together with Canada’s other minorities and even internationally.
She underlines that only two years remain in the “International Decade for People of African Descent,” which the UN General Assembly proclaimed in December 2014, and that it is crucial for New Brunswick’s achievements to be part of the mix. “It’s important to show how we do things in New Brunswick,” she added. Thanks to her attending the Forum, the voice of the province’s minorities will be heard internationally.
The fact that Ms. Zangio earned a place at this Forum comes as no surprise to New Brunswick’s Francophone community. Ms. Zangio is a member of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission as well as the first black member of the Judicial Council. The path she has taken attests to her strong community engagement. Dr. France Desrosiers, President and CEO of Vitalité Health Network, in fact describes her as a “model of citizen engagement.” Minority issues are important to Dr. Desrosiers and the Network as a whole; the Network indeed hires many Francophone health professionals having immigrated to Canada. With them, New Brunswick’s racial minority continues to grow within a linguistic minority that is already well established in the province; both groups are remarkably supported by Ms. Zangio and her many commitments. For Dr. Desrosiers, it is very important for the Network to have a nuanced understanding of the issues that these minorities face.
As a courageous leader committed to her community, Ms. Zangio is moving the cause of blacks, minorities and women forward; she was in fact named one of the “100 Black Women to Watch in Canada in 2022.” Vitalité Health Network and New Brunswick as a whole can only benefit from her many efforts and her participation in the 15th Forum on Minority Issues.
