[Reporter] With his appointment to the CFL
Orridge became the first Black commissioner of a major sports league in North America.
We were thinking about how do we showcase our product and our brand even better
and it goes along with my strategic plan in terms of stars, stories and big events.
[Reporter] But the Canadian Football League is just a small part of his impressive resume.
Harvard Law grad, general counsel for USA Basketball
senior roles at Reebok, the CBC, Canadian Tire
and currently, the Black North initiative
which describes itself as committed to removing anti-Black systemic barriers.
I spoke to Orridge via skype.
Jeffrey Orridge, really nice speaking with you this evening.
Oh, it's a pleasure, thank you for the invitation.
We've heard a lot of stories of people encountering police bias
and for you growing up in the United States no exception.
Tell me about Colorado Springs.
It was unfortunate.
I became the first general counsel at USA basketball which ultimately became the dream team
and in moving there from New York City
I remember the first month I was there I was stopped three times by the Colorado Springs Police Department
on my way home from work.
That behaviour really didn't stop until the head of the U.S. Olympic Committee offered to intercede
and introduced me to the Colorado Springs Police Chief to let him know who I was
and and what I was there for.
Boy for a lot of Canadians that story will seem extraordinary
but unfortunately from what we've been hearing not unusual.
You eventually come to Canada, you become the head of CBC Sports
and I remember that time because people would never refer to you as the Harvard Law guy
or the former basketball executive.
Sometimes as the American
but always as the Black guy,
What was it like at CBC and then later on at the CFL to be the Black guy?
One thing anybody really wants to be defined by the colour of their skin.
I would have rather been referred to as the really intelligent guy.
The extremely competent guy.
Maybe even the good looking guy.
But unfortunately you know that the designation of Black
typically has negative connotations in our society
and it's often seemed as being something less than
and if they were referring to me as the Black guy
because I was the only one in that environment or in that atmosphere
then that's even more of a problem, I think.
The fact that I could be designated as the Black guy.
So sometimes you try to read the subtle signs
of what does somebody actually mean by calling you the Black guy other times you don't have to read the sign so
It's explicit and you got some really disturbing emails
when you were the Commissioner of the CFL.
Well I did get hate mail
and it wasn't necessarily because of the decisions I made as commissioner of the CFL
that affected one team or another.
It was racially charged, it was racially motivated
and it was very blatant in in many respects.
And so it was everything from my Twitter account to actually receiving mail at home
which exposed the bigotry that many people had in this country
which was shocking to me because I didn't think that it existed in Canada.
We do live though in a time of optimism in the United States but I think especially in Canada
and there may be people who are watching this right now who are saying
they need to change their hiring practices I mean maybe, Jeffrey they're even saying
we need a Black guy or a Black woman?
What would your advice be to them?
My advice would be that you need to hire the best person available.
And research has shown though that by expanding your talent pool and accessing a diverse group of people
in experience and background will deliver better results.
I've been in the business of sport for over thirty years.
And every organization that I've worked for looks for a competitive advantage
and that's how you get it.
But you have to identify the talent, cultivate it, train that talent
and give them equal access and an equal opportunity to actually perform
and I think that's the crux of things right now
and once again courage is not the opposite of cowardice.
Courage is actually the opposite of conformity
and I believe that we cannot continue to do the things that we've been doing the same old way
without expecting the same old results and that's why we're having this national conversation
which is hopeful and heartening.
But you know there are some people probably listening right now who are saying
the system now chooses the best people
and if we have to go out of our way to hire people of colour that means lowering our standards?
I beg to differ.
I think that I know that there are a huge amount of unresourced
under-exploited, under-represented talent in Canada.
All that's necessary is equal access and equal opportunity.
All we want to do is level the playing field to give everybody an opportunity to contribute
because there are gems within our within our society that just are not exposed
because they're just not sourced.
15 seconds left, let me ask you this.
Are you optimistic?
I'm extraordinarily optimistic.
I moved to Canada because I believe in Canada.
I believe in this brand.
I think this is the best country on Earth
and the fact that we're having this conversation and this national dialogue
is a great first step.
And the other things like the Black North initiative to further the conversation
and and push the agenda to make sure that that those barriers of inequality and inequities are lowered
and that everybody has equal access to equal opportunity.
That initiative, of course something you're involved in.
People can look it up to find out more about it
and I got to tell you real pleasure is speaking with you tonight.
Thanks Jeffrey.
Always a pleasure, thanks for having me