Pride at Bota Bota

Despite Pride Month being celebrated in June, the Montreal Pride Festival takes place in August every year. The 2024 edition promises a multitude of festivities while celebrating the creativity and resilience of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities who are facing a resurgence of hatred and oppression. For the occasion, we would like to highlight our ongoing efforts to foster a healthy and inclusive work environment.

Our Corporate Values

At Bota Bota, we are committed to making members of the LGBTQ+ community feel included. For us, diversity is an asset. By creating an inclusive work environment, we ensure that each member of our crew, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, feels welcomed and supported. This approach not only allows us to foster a harmonious and respectful work environment, but also encourages innovation and creativity within our team. Diversity of perspectives directly contributes to our success and our ability to meet the diverse needs of our customers. This is why we are committed to continuing to promote inclusion and acceptance at the heart of our practices and corporate culture.

Pride Among Our Crew

We are also making a conscious effort to apply our values ​​in our daily lives. Furthermore, 50% of Bota Bota’s directors are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Among them is Annick Beauchemin, our Marketing Director of over 2 years. As mentioned in a previous, more personal article, she felt welcomed with open arms by her colleagues upon her arrival. “I was pleasantly surprised to learn that half of the management committee was made up of members of the LGBTQ+ community and that the majority of directors were in fact female directors.” Coming from a more traditional workplace, she didn’t necessarily feel comfortable being who she is at work before arriving at Bota Bota. “This diversity seems to have been created naturally over the years and reflects the open-mindedness of our captain,” she says.

“From my first day as part of the Bota Bota crew, I felt like I could be myself. This possibility of authenticity is invaluable when we think about the time we spend at work. The freedom to be able to talk about your daily life outside of work as it is is precious,” says Marie-Claude Brouillard, director of human resources. Within her HR practices, when recruiting or in the interactions she has with employees, she transmits this openness, inclusiveness and the promotion of diversity within the large crew that makes up the Bota Bota .

Our Deputy General Director, and Treatments and Optimization Director are also part of the LGBTQ+ community and contribute to fostering a healthy work environment for the entire crew.

For the Future

Bota Bota is therefore proud to align itself with Fierté Montréal’s values, an organization that amplifies the voices of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities to assure their representation, their inclusion and the recognition of their rights in society. Moving forward, Bota Bota will continue to celebrate the plurality and inclusion that we wish to continue to promote.