Ms. Bell’s specific areas of expertise include:

• Race relations  
• Anti-racism
• Equity & diversity
• Mediation & ADR
• Community activism
• Team-building
• Inclusion
• Anti-harassment  
• Child welfare  
• Conflict resolution  
• Consensus-building
• Capacity building  
• Education
• Youth matters
• Disability & accessibility issues
• Change management
• Motivational speaking  
• Transformative justice

The following indicate some of the specific tasks that Sandi Bell engages in through EMPOWWORD Inc.

Mediation: 

Provides Mediation Services privately and as an OMMP Roster Mediator in Toronto and Ottawa and the Hydro One mediation roster (certified ADR mediator);

Mediates a wide range of civil and workplace conflicts, including inter personal, intra and inter group;

Mediates family and child welfare matters;

Mediates delicate Aboriginal & First Nations issues;

Mediates highly sensitive matters, including issues of race, culture, religion, gender and disability; 

Mediates workplace conflict, in public and private sectors, including both intra and inter office relations, harassment, wrongful dismissal, and discrimination;

Operated as an Associate of EMI mediation services in Ottawa;

Assists survivors of various forms of abuse to develop problem-solving skills; Develops course material, teaches and coaches;

Assists parties to resolve sensitive issues in the Somali and other Moslem communities;

Provides coaching services for mediator trainees in all three levels of Windsor Law School's mediation programme, that is provided by Stitt Feld Handy Group;

Mediates in schools and school communities (often highly volatile situations);

Presents mediation training to educators, including top administrators in Newfoundland;

 Assists corporations, both public and private, to resolve problems associated with implementation of Equal Opportunity;

Provides workshops pertaining to effective School Councils, including resolving conflicts;

Develops approaches to incorporating traditional Aboriginal and First Nations ways with current dispute resolution techniques;

Provides Crisis Intervention to schools to diffuse violent and dangerous situations.

Training & Development:

Taught and enhanced Interpersonal Conflict Resolution Skills for Victoria University in Labrador and Frontier College in Toronto;     

Develops material and trains mediators in Sensitivity to Diversity Issues, privately and as a guest lecturer for educational institutions, including Osgoode Hall Law School Intensive Mediation Programme;

 Develops and presents a variety of learning experiences dealing with anti-oppression, anti-discrimination, and anti-racism;  Developed a comprehensive literacy program for Black youth;

Developed and facilitated Immigration/Refugee training for CAS workers; Authors, edits and publishes books and manuals;    

Creates training manuals for both public and private organizations;   Developed a course and provides private coaching of communication skills;

Develops material to enhance broader community to understand and respect traditional problem solving techniques of aboriginal and First Nations people;

Assists not-for-profit organizations with governance, including running effective meetings, intra group communications and chairing;

 Provides a variety of workshops and seminars dealing with communication skills, leadership skills, problem solving, personal growth, team building, board development, and management skills.

The following presents selected career highlight with particular relevance to Ms. Bell’s mediation expertise.  Sandi Bell has been mediating for 30 years, initially because individual and community groups saw a natural skill and later as a properly trained and certified mediator.

Human Rights

The vast majority of the activities in which Sandi Bell has been engaged over the past 30 years have included significant human rights, equity and fairness components. Some of these activities include:

Chair of ARCH, a legal aid service for persons with disabilities that addresses only precedent setting cases, many in the human rights sphere.  

 Subject-matter expert to companies that were either about to face or had faced human rights grievances, to provide them with assistance and tools to ensure they operate within the code.

Coach to senior executives on how to make their organization more welcoming from an equity, diversity and human rights perspective.

 As a Member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, heard arguments, made decisions based on law and H & C grounds and wrote reasons for decision, including submissions from lawyers based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Made presentations across the country on equity, diversity, accessibility, inclusion and human rights issues.

Developed material and taught immigration law at York University in its intensive law programme. 

Provided support to Ethno-racial Persons with Disabilities Coalition of Ontario (ERDCO) during precedent setting appeal at the Federal Court level when this group and others attempted to have the court find the section of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that refuses admission to Canada, by family class members who have a disability, infringes their rights.

Leadership and Change Management

Ms. Bell has much experience in terms of leadership and change management. Her leadership abilities are evident from her nomination to senior positions of Boards of Directors of numerous organizations (see the section on Community Involvement). In terms of specific change management initiatives, Ms. Bell boasts the following experiences:

 Appointed as a member of a Board of Directors immediately following the resignation of the entire previous Board and the Executive Director. Ms. Bell provided leadership and guidance to move forward and strengthen the Agency enabling it to surpass its previous service to clients and advocacy within the broader community.

 As a member of a provincial learning advisory committee, introduced and achieved buy-in from 79 small agencies with respect to training needs, methods of providing learning opportunities, and encouraging more participation from individuals whom had not participated in the past.   

Created a new model of school trustee while a Trustee with the Hamilton Board of Education, shifting the former role to one that fully became engaged in communities and conducted capacity building within the community to increase their understanding of the education system and providing the tools to encourage school – parent – community partnerships.

Member of a long-term steering committee developing all facets of a conference on Health, Equity and Diversity, which took place in June 2005.

Member of the guiding committee for the Festival of International Conferences on Disability, Aging and Technology. This Festival includes four important conferences that will run concurrently and share special events, and includes topics such as: Growing Older with a Disability; Technology and Aging; Advances in Neurorehabilitation; and Caring for the Caregiver.

Stakeholder Management / Forging Relationships

Ms. Bell continues to work on an ongoing basis on the front line with people of colour, persons with disabilities, Aboriginal/First Nations people, alienated youth, and other disenfranchised groups to assist them in developing skills to be their own change managers.

Ms. Bell has also been an instructor in community development at Ryerson University in the Disabilities Studies Program, with a focus on how to bring together care givers and people from disenfranchised groups and providing them with the tools to become capacity builders in their own community.

Communications / Negotiation

Sandi Bell’s communications and negotiations skills are an integral part of her profession. Specifics include:

Certification (General, Advanced and Applied) as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Mediator.

 A Roster Member of the Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program in Ottawa and Toronto. Includes participation in many types of mediation from employment to automobile accidents to insurance and wrongful dismissals.

 On the roster of Hydro One which involves management/employee issues (both union and non-union employees)

 Private mediation consultant to the Toronto Board of Education and Ontario-based social service agencies.

 Mediation in a number of different contexts including: family mediation (matrimonial cases and those involving children); Long Term Care Facilities for persons with disabilities and elderly people; various Aboriginal/First Nations reserves.

 Teaches mediation to a wide range of participants, including persons who have historically been disadvantaged.

 Teaches communications skills to students, youth, women, people new to Canada, as well as persons with disabilities, as well social service agencies, mediators, etc.

 Keynote speaker / workshop leader on issues related to human rights, diversity, inclusion and equity, for numerous conferences, workshops and events.

Team-Building / Consultation

Ms. Bell has practiced team-building both as part of her approach to business at EMPOWWORD Inc, and as a professional facilitator. 

Teaches team-building to students, educators, community groups and professionals in both private and public sectors.

 Mediates team issues by helping management/staff in conflict resolve their differences.

Models team building principles as Chair of numerous boards and committees.

Ms. Bell has engaged in community consultations on various issues related to race, human rights, workplace relations, employment equity, access and inclusion.

Business Acumen

Sandi Bell has a solid and comprehensive grasp of financial and business planning and management. Some examples include:

 Chair of the business management committee at the School Board ($250 million budget).

 Chair of a variety of boards where she monitors and advises on financial matters, grants, fundraising and setting annual budgets.

 As President of EMPOWWORD Inc. has successfully managed the corporation’s financial and business planning and ensured proper book keeping and accounting are followed, for the past 12 years.