The 2025 Catalyst Honours Conference brought together over 650 of Canada’s most influential business leaders and inclusion champions to discuss powerful solutions for today’s most pressing workplace challenges and define the future of inclusion. As a sponsor of this year’s conference, BNP Paribas in Canada was proud to provide tickets to community leaders and underrepresented groups to foster meaningful participation and ensure that these marginalized voices had a seat at the table.
With this year’s theme, “Inclusion by design: Breaking barriers, building belonging,” leaders were urged to embed inclusion into the very foundation of work— bridging the gap between strategy and implementation, and transforming policies into tangible outcomes. Sonja Volpe, CEO of BNP Paribas in Canada and recipient of the 2025 Catalyst Honours Champion for her transformative work accelerating workplace inclusion, shared powerful insights on how organizations can embed inclusion into their DNA, ensuring it becomes a pillar of long-term resilience and growth.
From Hiring to Belonging: Building an Inclusive Culture
The days of treating DEI solely as a recruitment exercise are over. Today, inclusion is a growth engine—directly tied to innovation, talent retention, and financial performance.
“When employees feel valued and free to be themselves, they perform better. And when people perform better, the organization performs better.”
Sonja Volpe, CEO, BNP Paribas in Canada
At BNP Paribas in Canada, this means:
- Dedicated DEI recruiters and a neurodiversity hiring program to expand access to diverse talent and build a representational workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities we operate in.
- Inclusive leadership training for all Canada managers, as well as trainings for all employees on tackling unconscious bias.
- DEI objectives for all managers to ensure accountability at every level.
- Over 60 DEI events annually, led by our very active network of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).
- Multiple mentorship and leadership programs for women to create pathways for women’s inclusivity in senior leadership and ensure that inclusion outlasts individual tenures.
Ultimately, inclusion is not a one-time initiative— it is a continuous, collective effort to dismantle barriers and cultivate a culture that embraces all differences so that each employee can be their authentic selves.
Inclusion as a Leadership Priority
For inclusion to truly take root, organizations must view DEI as every leader’s responsibility, rather than solely part of HR’s mandate.
At BNP Paribas in Canada, the DEI team reports directly to the CEO, while regular reviews with the heads of business lines track diversity metrics, benchmarks, challenges, and more— not only keeping DEI top of mind, but ensuring that inclusion is integrated into the strategic and operational planning of the Bank and regular monitoring, rather than treated as an afterthought.
The key insight? The most successful organizations embed inclusion into all aspects of their activities, from leadership and governance to services, operations, employee engagement and even benefits.
Intersectionality: Recognizing That One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Importantly, true inclusion requires an intersectional approach— acknowledging that employees bring multiple identities that can intersect and shape their unique experiences.
Organizations must foster cultures that are inclusive to employees across all their intersecting identities, and recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach to inclusion often overlooks the distinct challenges that employees from underrepresented backgrounds can face.
At BNP Paribas in Canada, we have placed a strong emphasis on intersectionality throughout all our inclusion initiatives including:
- Panels on women’s intersecting identities in the workplace.
- Trainings on visible and invisible disabilities.
- Roundtables on the diverse experiences of the Black diaspora and the Asian diaspora.
- Workshops on becoming aware of privilege, intersectionality, and more through our Pride Employee Resource Group.
The Bold Future for Inclusion: Continuous Evolution, Not a Destination
Sonja Volpe stressed that organizations must treat inclusion as a living, evolving practice—not as static achievement or trend.
At BNP Paribas in Canada, this means setting up pathways for women’s inclusivity in senior leadership through our multiple mentorship and female leadership programs. It also involves regular monitoring and benchmarking to keep inclusion efforts dynamic and responsive, as well as ensure that we constantly develop and improve our processes so that every employee is supported and empowered to thrive.
Ultimately, the 2025 Catalyst Honours Conference reaffirmed BNP Paribas in Canada’s longstanding belief that inclusion and belonging are key for our continued success. As the bank for a changing world, it is part of the way we are attracting and retaining top talent, driving innovation, and strengthening resilience for the future.
Last January 6th, BNP Paribas sponsored a panel discussion on the 2015 economic outlook organized in Toronto by the Economic Club of Canada.
This annual Economic Outlook brought together a panel of Canada’s Economists from seven of the largest financial institutions of Canada, including BNP Paribas.
Paul Mortimer-Lee, the Bank’s Chief Economist North America, presented his views on the economic outlook for 2015 and shared a European perspective on the global economy for the year ahead.
“Deflation in Europe will be a big headline in the coming weeks,” Paul said, stressing that “currency will be a big challenge for the British and Eastern Europeans.”
Later this day, Paul Mortimer-Lee was interviewed by the Financial Post on the oil price decline
BNP Paribas attended the 2015 Economic Outlook for the third consecutive year. Its presence at this event reinforces the Group’s position as key player in Canada and our commitment to the region. This annual event brings together economists to provide insight, opinions, and discussion about the upcoming economic year.
For the 5th consecutive year, BNP Paribas was a major partner of this international event
Considered as one of the main forum for discussion in North America, the international economic forum of the Americas in Montreal gathered from June 9 to 12 key 3000 actors in the business and political communities across the 5 continents. Based on the main theme “The foundation for the next era of growth”, debates dealt with economy, energy and international trade.
Many top notch players took the floor at breakfasts, plenary sessions or forum including Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of the Republic of Iceland.
To get more information on the international economic forum of the Americas, please click here
On November 2013, Thierry de Montbrial (Center of the picture), president of the French Institute of International Relations in Montreal, was keynote speaker at two conferences organised by the UQAM University and the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations. He completed his roadshow in Canada with an exclusive breakfast discussion on BNP Paribas’ premises.
Before 30 representatives of embassies, consulates and companies, Thierry de Montbrial answered various questions related to the recent free trade agreement between Europe and Canada, business intelligence or the rise of China in the international system .
This event was organized in cooperation with the “Leaders for the Next Economy”, which brings together young professional executives engaged in building the economic future of Quebec and Canada on the international scene to discuss on the latest trends in finance, natural resources, sustainable development and international trade.
About Thierry de Montbrial
Thierry de Montbrial is President of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), which he founded in 1979. He is Professor Emeritus at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. In 2008, he launched the World Policy Conference. He has been a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques of the Institut de France since 1992, and is a member of a number of foreign Academies including the Russian Academy of Sciences.
He serves on the board or advisory board of a number of international companies and institutions.
Thierry de Montbrial chaired the Department of Economics at the Ecole Polytechnique from 1974 to 1992. He was the first Chairman of the Foundation for Strategic Research (1993-2001). Entrusted with the creation of the Policy Planning Staff (Centre d’Analyse et de Prévision) at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was its first director (1973-1979).
He has authored seventeen books, several of them translated in various languages, including Action and Reaction in the World System – The Dynamics of Economic and Political Power (UBC Press, Vancouver, Toronto, 2013)
He is a Commandeur of the Légion d’honneur, Grand Officier of the ordre national du Mérite and has been awarded other state honors by the French and several foreign governments.
Thierry de Montbrial is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole des Mines, and received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.