Lucenia Ortiz recently retired as a planner with the City Edmonton and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Multicultural Health Brokers (MCHB) Cooperative.

Lucenia immigrated to Edmonton from the Philippines in 1994 with her family. As a newcomer with high hopes of continuing a career in urban and regional planning in Canada, she understands the difficulties of finding employment in one’s own background. It became clear to her that she must earn her niche in this new homeland so she made two big decisions: first, find another career option and second, pursue advanced education in Canada to upgrade her qualifications. It ended up as two closely linked endeavours because she became a co-executive director for the Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative while completing a PhD in Human Ecology at the University of Alberta, with a focus on health equity among immigrants and refugees.

Lucenia believes in the power of community and in inclusion, which motivated her to seek opportunities for people who are vulnerable and marginalized because of their identity, to overcome barriers and realise their potential. As a senior planner in the City of Edmonton, she has led some of the high profile and most innovative initiatives in Edmonton. She has catalyzed the development of multicultural centres across the city, coordinated the Mayor’s Task Force for the Elimination of Poverty, pilot-tested a leading edge curriculum for an Intercultural Competence Workshop Series for City staff and co-designed a culturally-responsive social lab initiative for the Bhutanese community.

Over the years, Lucenia has developed strong connections with Edmonton’s culturally diverse communities. She has demonstrated her ability to work with them with respect, empathy and encouragement and gently steering people in new directions. She was one of the founders of the Edmonton Multicultural Coalition, served on the Board of the New Canadian Health Centre and was co-chair from 2019–2021 of the first Alberta Anti-Racism Advisory Council. She is also a member of the Edmonton Public School Board’s Equity Advisory Committee.

Lucenia was awarded the Diversity and Inclusion Award from 2010–2012 and the City Manager’s Award of Excellence for Stewardship at the City of Edmonton in 2018.

Lucenia’s love for the people is rooted in her own experience of inequities and her desire to create a space and voice for those who have been historically marginalized. Thus her work has always been grounded in meaningful and authentic engagement with people most affected by an issue or opportunity.