WOW & OLIP Chairs

Chair, Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP)

Dominique Dennery

Born in Haiti, Dominique came to Ottawa at the age of three. A Black Canadian fluently bilingual in both official languages, she grew up immersed in immigrant communities in the city, where she has lived, aside from a few years overseas, for sixty years. 

Dominique Dennery

Born in Haiti, Dominique came to Ottawa at the age of three. A Black Canadian fluently bilingual in both official languages, she grew up immersed in immigrant communities in the city, where she has lived, aside from a few years overseas, for sixty years. 

She has 25 years of experience working with groups and organizations to help them reach their goals and potential.  Her work in recent years included leading high-level consultations across the country on topics such as immigration, housing, gender-based violence, and racism. Dominique holds degrees and diplomas in French literature, management, leadership coaching, change management and facilitation. Her commitment to meaningful equity and anti-oppression work spans her entire career. 

In addition to her work as a facilitator and coach, Dominique is a sculptor, and her work has appeared in places like Gatineau City Hall, Parc Toussaint Louverture in Montreal, and private collections in Canada and overseas. As a former board member of the Ottawa Art Gallery, she worked to explore the intersection of artmaking and a sense of community, particularly in marginalized communities. 

Well recognized for both her art and her mediation, facilitation, and coaching work, Dominique is the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including the Key to the City of Montreal, the Gold Facilitation Impact Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Regroupement Affaires Femmes, and a Mosaique Intercultural Award for her work as a trailblazer. In 2018 she was selected as one of the 100 Accomplished Black Women in Canada.

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Chair, Welcoming Ottawa Week (WOW)

Sarah Onyango

Radio and television host and producer

Sarah Onyango

A translator by trade, Kenyan-born Sarah Onyango is a well-known fixture on Ottawa’s community media scene. She hosts the monthly African cultural program Fontonfrom, on Rogers TV Cable 22 – Ottawa as well as the weekly radio programs, Black on Black and Afrika Revisited on CHUO 89.1FM (University of Ottawa community radio).

Sarah is very active in the Black community in Ottawa, and has done a great deal to promote its people, organizations, causes and events. To make it easier for the Black community to stay connected, Sarah created a website called BlackOttawa411 which has become a virtual community “hub” of sorts.

In addition to volunteering as a radio and television host and producer, Sarah has emceed and helped organize various community events as well as diplomatic functions. Sarah is also a board member of Black History Ottawa, where she is responsible for public relations and outreach activities. Since 2008, Sarah has also been a member of the United Way/Centraide Ottawa Community Builder Award Recognition team. She has co-chaired OLIP’s Welcoming Ottawa Week for the last four years.

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