Two Ottawa companies support systemic white supremacy and anti-Black racism…by working with a Black owned company

Normally, when we claim white-led companies are supporting systemic white supremacy and anti-Black racism it’s because they’re not hiring or partnering with Black companies even though those Black companies are highly competent. However, another way companies support systemic anti-Black racism is by hiring incompetent Black firms, apparently with the goal of having them fail.

A growing body of evidence indicates this is what two Ottawa companies may have apparently done.

On May 30, the Ottawa Police Services Board gave the Ottawa office of global executive search company Odgers Berndtson the green light to award Black-led Hefid Solutions a $76,500 contract to assist with the design and implementation of the community engagement process for recruiting Ottawa’s new police chief. The Board did this despite community groups publicly exposing weeks earlier that Crime Prevention Ottawa (CPO) had awarded a $50,000 contract to Hefid for the development of a new street violence and gun violence strategy in Ottawa despite Hefid having no apparent experience in street violence. 

The Board also did this despite having been previously informed of several things on Hefid’s website which raise questions about Hefid’s competence and credibility, including:

• The website has no information on who owns or works for, or with, Hefid.
• It says, “Founded in 2008, Hefid corporation has grown to become trusted (sic) management consultancy with millions of assets under management.”
• It says “220+ happy clients from largest corporations” (sic).
• Under Values on the About Us page, it lists Transparency as a key value stating, “There is nothing frustrating than trying to cover up something when it should not be so. Hefid Solution prides itself as ridiculously transparent. We are an open book. This has ensured the public trust us and our clients adore us.” (sic)
• The website had quotes (since deleted) endorsing Hefid, and at least one Hefid staff member, that appeared to be fake as they appear on multiple websites. 
• The site plagiarizes an entire 2017 CEO Magazine article, Teams are a reflection of the leader, posting it as a 2019 Hefid blog post. 
• There are no details on any specific projects Hefid has done related to either street violence or community engagement.

Furthermore, a leaked presentation Hefid did for CPO identifies the African Canadian Association of Ottawa (ACAO) as the sole “community partner” on the street violence project and six of the eight individuals listed as members of the “Engagement Team” are either current or former ACAO executives, directors or members. This is particularly concerning as, after being asked several times who owns Hefid, CPO executive director Nancy Worsfold finally admitted that ACAO founder and executive member Hector Addison owns it – which makes the central role of ACAO in the proposed street violence strategy a direct conflict of interest. All six members of Hefid’s engagement team for the chief recruitment project are ACAO members – with five being directors or officers.

Finally, Hefid owner Hector Addison is a long time member of the Ottawa Police Service Community Equity Council (CEC) which the OPS funds and acting Ottawa Police Service chief Steve Bell co-chairs. 

The Board hired Odgers Berndtson Ottawa to run the police chief recruitment and Odgers recommended hiring Hefid to run the community engagement. Odgers has, therefore, hired the same person who is a member of the group created, run and funded by the OPS, and chaired by acting chief Bell, to run the community consultations to hire the new chief. There could be no clearer conflict of interest.

Hefid’s presentation to CPO indicates they’re partnering with CTLabs on the street violence project. CTLabs is part of Lansdowne Technologies that lists the Ottawa Police Service as one of its clients.

Why would Odgers Berndtson Ottawa and CTLabs, both highly respected, highly competent firms, hire and partner with a firm with such clearly questionable competence? This could not have been a mistake. We wrote to both companies for an explanation and neither replied. We must, therefore, assume they hired Hefid with the intent for Hefid to fail and to maintain the status quo of systemic white supremacy and anti-Black racism.

If this is the case, it would be very similar to what we have argued Steve Bell has been doing for years with the CEC which Bell has co-chaired since its creation in 2018. 

The stated goal of the CEC is, “To improve relationships between Indigenous, racialized and faith-based communities and the Ottawa Police Service.” However, according to the April 2022 report, Troubling Encounters: Ottawa Residents’ Experience of Policing, the CEC has helped do exactly the opposite as the report shows that racialized and low income Ottawa residents have extremely low levels of trust in the Ottawa police. In fact, the report states, “In short, for many people in this city, police do not contribute to individual or community safety, in fact, they appear to do the very opposite.” This is directly related to the CEC having no measurable success criteria as confirmed by former CEC vice-chair, Gerard Etienne who, in summer 2021, replied to the 613-819 Black Hub’s request for the CEC’s success criteria by saying, “It has yet to be defined.” Bell has, and continues to, enable the CEC’s ineffectiveness and, by doing so, continues supporting systemic white supremacy and anti-Black racism.

Any community engagement to recruit the new chief or street violence strategy led by Hefid will have no credibility with the community. But that doesn’t seem to matter as the aim clearly appears to be to crown Steve Bell as Ottawa’s new police chief and create a street violence strategy that does nothing to reduce street violence – and Odgers Berndtson Ottawa and CTLabs appear to be fully on board for both.