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Jul 30, 2026

A Heartfelt Thank You to Yazmine Laroche as She Concludes Her Tenure as the Inaugural DSO Board Chair

As of July 30, Yazmine Laroche will be stepping down as Chair of the Disability Screen Office's Board of Directors and concluding her time on the Board.

Yazmine was Canada’s first Deputy Minister for Public Service Accessibility and the first person with a visible disability to become a federal Deputy Minister. She has significant leadership experience, having delivered major initiatives in transportation, infrastructure, arts and culture, and human resources. In addition to service as the inaugural Chair of the DSO Board, she is a Director on the National Arts Centre Board of Trustees, where she chairs the HR Committee. She also serves on the Advisory Committee to the Auditor General of Canada and is a former Chair of the Board of Muscular Dystrophy Canada. In recognition of her accomplishments, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Carleton University, in 2019, and received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

Yazmine's speech at the DSO's first Strategic Planning Session - Oct 2024.

As a founding Board member, Yaz has generously shared her time, expertise, and leadership since the DSO’s earliest days, helping to build our organization from the ground up. In 2024, she guided our first strategic planning session, encouraging both the Board and staff to think boldly about the DSO’s future while ensuring our work remained grounded in the needs of the disability community. She also played a pivotal role in representing the DSO before the CRTC, providing thoughtful guidance and helping strengthen our advocacy during key moments.

Under Yazmine's leadership, the DSO evolved from a startup into an organization with four full-time staff members and a range of initiatives that are making a tangible difference in accessibility and disability inclusion across Canada's screen industry.

Sasha Boersma
DSO Board Vice-Chair

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I’d like to extend our deep and heartfelt gratitude to Yazmine Laroche. Yazmine was the inaugural Chair of the Disability Screen Office and the anchor among the founding board members. She generously devoted countless hours and her extensive expertise to help establish the DSO as a credible voice for disabled creatives in the screen industry. Under her stewardship, we built out our foundation and grew the organization. In her three years as Chair Yazmine helped us establish a framework to improve accessibility and disabled representation beyond legislated requirements.

Yaz and her motorized chair will leave a space that will be impossible to fill. But the structures she built and the culture she cultivated for the DSO position us strongly for years to come. Thank you, Yaz, for everything."

DSO Executive Director Winnie Luk and Yazmine Laroche

CRTC hearing - November 2023

Strategic Planning Session - Oct 2024

CRTC Hearing - May 2025

    Yaz, we are deeply grateful for everything you have contributed over the years. We couldn’t have asked for a better Board Chair. Thank you for your wisdom, your encouragement, and your friendship. It has been a true privilege to work alongside you, and we wish you all the very best!

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