Public Prosecution Service Adds Equity, Diversity Strategist

Equity and diversity strategist Angela Johnson will join the Public Prosecution Service’s executive team effective Tuesday, October 3, after being seconded from the Public Service Commission (PSC).

“I am delighted to have a person as capable as Ms. Johnson take on this very important role,” said acting Director of Public Prosecutions Karen Hudson. “With her background and connection to the PSC, she will ensure the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) applies an inclusion and diversity lens on policies, program design and, indeed, all initiatives of the PPS.”

As Director of Equity and Strategic Relations, Ms. Johnson will help guide and support the PPS in growing a more diverse workforce and will be an important resource for the PPS’s Equity and Diversity Committee. Ms. Johnson will establish relationships with diverse communities to foster understanding at the PPS of the issues and concerns within those communities.

The appointment fulfills a key recommendation of the recent employment systems review of the PPS commissioned by the Public Service Commission.

Ms. Johnson graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) in 1996 with a bachelor of applied arts in broadcast communications and from St. Francis Xavier University in 2023 with a master’s degree in adult education.

After several years working as a television producer, host, associate director, reporter and researcher in film and television, she joined Communications Nova Scotia in 2004.

In 2006, Ms. Johnson was one of three people responsible for developing the strategic overview and implementation of the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs and one of its first staff members until 2010. She then worked in a senior communications capacity with various government departments.

After working with Engage Nova Scotia as director of strategic relations responsible for developing a framework to engage diverse and cultural communities in the Province’s growth, Ms. Johnson joined the PSC in 2017 to develop and lead a plan to support employee/internal communications across government, which led to her current role as the Director of Corporate Employee Communications and Strategic Relations for the provincial government.

Quick Facts:

• Ms. Johnson has been a part-time lecturer/instructor with the School of Journalism at the University of King’s College for more than 10 years
• she was a writer/editor and co-ordinator for the Black Business Initiative’s Black to Business magazine for 20 years
• among the many corporate initiatives Ms. Johnson has been involved with are the five-year strategic plan for the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs and the establishment of the government’s African Heritage Month celebration.
• she has been the Communications Chair of the Africville Heritage Trust and a founding member and former co-chair of the African Canadian Women in the Public Service, a Nova Scotia government employee network
• she is the recipient of many awards and honours, including the Premier’s Award of Excellence for her involvement in the provincial government’s diversity conference planning