Hill Climbers
A look at Jobs and Families Minister Hajdu’s 28-member team
With two previously separate cabinet portfolios under her charge, in addition to responsibility for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, it is perhaps no surprise that Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu has assembled a sizable ministerial team, with 28 staffers currently confirmed in her office.
Under the previous Trudeau government, there were separate ministers responsible for families, children, and social development; and for employment and workforce development. That changed after Prime Minister Mark Carney took the helm in March. At the end of last year, the families office had some 17 staff on board, while the employment team was about 21-staff strong.
As reported by Hill Climbers in May, Chris Evelyn—who last ran then-families, children, and social development minister Jenna Sudds’ office—is chief of staff to Hajdu.
Sebastian Clarke has been tapped as director of policy to the minister, and is supported by two deputy directors: Crystina Dundas, who’s focused on the jobs file, and Ellen Galupo, who’s responsible for families-related policy.
Clarke previously worked on the housing file, most recently as director of intergovernmental affairs and stakeholder relations to then-minister Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, and earlier as director of operations to then-minister Sean Fraser. Clarke is also an ex-operations director to Fraser as then-minister of immigration, and has worked for then-immigration ministers Ahmed Hussen and Marco Mendicino.
Dundas is a past senior policy and labour relations adviser to then-employment minister Steven MacKinnon, and previously worked in the then-labour and seniors minister’s office, starting as a West and North regional adviser to then-minister Seamus O’Regan and later continuing as senior policy adviser to then-minister MacKinnon.
Galupo was most recently director of policy to then-citizens’ services minister Terry Beech. Between 2020 and 2023, Galupo worked for the federal families minister, beginning as an Ontario adviser under then-minister Hussen, and later as senior policy adviser to then-minister Karina Gould. She’s also an ex-special assistant to then-heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez.
Tyler Freeman, Juan David Gonzalez Camacho, and Miles Wu are senior policy advisers in Hajdu’s shop.
Freeman is a former senior policy adviser to MacKinnon as then-employment minister. He previously worked as a senior adviser for Ontario regional affairs to then-tourism and associate finance minister Randy Boissonnault; when Boissonnault was shuffled to the employment file in July 2023, Freeman followed as a policy adviser. He’s also worked for Gould as then-democratic institutions minister, and for then-public services and procurement minister Anita Anand.
Gonzalez Camacho previously worked for then-minister Kamal Khera. Originally hired as a Quebec adviser in her office as then-seniors minister in 2023, he soon after followed Khera to the diversity and inclusion portfolio, becoming a policy, Quebec, and Atlantic adviser to the minister. He later dropped his regional responsibilities, and became a senior policy and communications adviser to Khera at the beginning of this year. His CV also includes time working for a Senator, and for then-sport minister Pascale St-Onge.
Wu is an ex-senior policy and Ontario regional adviser to then-sport minister Carla Qualtrough. For roughly a year and a half leading up to the July 2023 cabinet shuffle that saw Qualtrough put in charge of the sport file, Wu tackled policy in her office as then-employment minister. He’s also a former researcher with the C.D. Howe Institute, among other past jobs.
Four staffers currently carry the title of policy adviser in Hajdu’s office: Nima Mehrtash, Amen Ben Ahmouda, Tenzin Chogkyi, and Reem Al-Ameri.
Mehrtash is another ex-Senate staffer and a past communications adviser and executive assistant in Beech’s office as then-citizens’ services minister.
Ben Ahmouda comes from the Prime Minister’s Office where she spent the last almost two years as a public appointments assistant. Her online resumé includes a summer 2022 internship at Global Affairs Canada, and a 2021 internship in Gould’s office as then-international development minister.
Chogkyi is another former aide to Gould as then-families minister, having first been hired as a West and North regional adviser in the summer of 2022. He later switched to be Ontario regional adviser to Gould, and more recently did the same for Beech as then-citizens’ services minister. Chogkyi is also an ex-assistant to then-Liberal MP Arif Virani.
Al-Ameri returned to the Hill this past February to join Sudds’ office as then-families minister as a parliamentary affairs and issues adviser. She previously worked in the women and gender equality minister’s office between 2021 and 2022, first as an operations assistant to then-minister Maryam Monsef, and last as an Ontario adviser to then-minister Marci Ien. Prior to her return at the start of this year, Al-Ameri was most recently an international project lead with Wisdom2Action.
Chelsea Kusnick is now director of parliamentary affairs to Hajdu, having most recently done the same for MacKinnon as then-employment minister.
A former MP assistant and special assistant in the Liberal Research Bureau (LRB), Kusnick has been working in ministers’ offices since 2020, including as an aide to then-public services ministers Anand and Filomena Tassi, communications director to Tassi as then-minister for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and a parliamentary affairs adviser to MacKinnon as then-labour and seniors minister.
Osman Omer is a parliamentary affairs adviser and assistant to Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis as one of two parliamentary secretaries to Hajdu. An ex-Quebec adviser and parliamentary secretary’s assistant to Beech as then-citizens’ services minister, Omer is also an ex-operations assistant to Anand as then-Treasury Board president.
Serving as assistant to Hajdu’s other parliamentary secretary—Liberal MP Leslie Church—is Nanki Singh. Singh worked on Church’s unsuccessful 2024 byelection and successful 2025 federal election campaigns, and is a past press secretary to Ien as then-women and gender equality minister. She’s also worked for then-public services minister Helena Jaczek, for Anand as then-defence minister and as then-public services minister, and as an assistant to Church’s Liberal riding predecessor, former MP Carolyn Bennett.
Joseph Pagani is an issues manager. He’s been on the Hill since 2024. First hired as an issues manager to O’Regan as then-labour and seniors minister, he later did the same for MacKinnon, including as then-employment minister.
Karam Chima is director of operations. Chima last did the same for Sudds as then-families minister, and is also a former special assistant for parliamentary affairs to Ien as then-women and gender equality minister. She’s also an ex-assistant to Sudds both as an MP, and during Sudds’ time as an Ottawa city councillor.
Supporting Chima is deputy director of operations Andrew Welsh, who also covers the Atlantic desk. Welsh is another ex-MacKinnon staffer, having tackled regional affairs and operations in MacKinnon’s offices as then-employment and then-labour and seniors minister. He’s also a past operations adviser to O’Regan as then-labour and seniors minister, and a former aide to then-trade minister Mary Ng.
Wendy Wu is senior Ontario regional adviser to Hajdu. Wu has covered the Ontario desk for Khera as then-diversity and inclusion minister, and is also a former LRB outreach adviser and a former assistant to Liberal MP Jean Yip and Ng as then-MP for Markham–Thornhill, Ont.
Simaloi Sikar is senior regional adviser for the West and North. She previously oversaw both regional desks for then-families ministers Sudds and Gould, and is a former constituency assistant to Manitoba Liberal MP Terry Duguid.
Covering Quebec regional affairs is adviser Michael Danzer, who is an ex-digital communications adviser to MacKinnon as then-labour and seniors minister, and as then-employment minister. He’s also worked for Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, and Quebec Liberal MNA Sona Lakhoyan Olivier, among other past jobs.
Working as a special assistant as part of Hajdu’s operations team is Tréden Roseau. Roseau also brings experience working on the employment file, having first joined then-minster Ginette Petitpas Taylor’s office as a student last year. According to his LinkedIn profile, he continued in the office part time after MacKinnon took over last December.
Turning to Hajdu’s communications team, Aïssa Diop has been tapped as director, overseeing senior communications adviser and press secretary Jennifer Kozelj, digital communications adviser Kheyi Isichei, and communications advisers Samantha Jerome and Allysa Pierre-Louis.
Diop spent the last roughly four years working for Liberal MP Marc Miller through his various cabinet roles. First hired as a communications assistant in Miller’s office as then-Indigenous services minister, she went on to be senior communications adviser and press secretary in his office as then-Crown-Indigenous relations minister, and most recently was his director of communications as then-immigration minister.
Kozelj previously held the same title in Hajdu’s office as then-Indigenous services minister, and has been working for Hajdu overall since September 2023, starting as a social media manager and communications assistant after a summer internship in then-prime minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
Isichei comes from Sudds’ old families team, which he first joined as a digital communications adviser in January 2024. Before then, he’d been a video editor and cameraman with Rogers Sports and Media in Montreal.
Jerome is a past assistant to an Ottawa city councillor and an ex-social media strategist and fitness instructor at Oxygen Yoga & Fitness, among other things, and first landed on the Hill in November 2024 when she was hired as a digital communications adviser to Petitpas Taylor as then-employment minister.
Pierre-Louis was most recently a special assistant for communications in the Prime Minister’s Office—a role she first undertook in December 2023—and is a past global communications co-ordinator with aviation company CAE. She previously interned in Petitpas Taylor’s office as then-official languages and Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency minister over the summer of 2022, after which Pierre-Louis interned with Bombardier.
Finally, capping off Hajdu’s 28-member team are office manager Salam Samara, and executive assistant to the chief of staff Fabrice Ahadi.
Samara is a former executive assistant to then-health minister Mark Holland, and a past assistant to then-Liberal MP Omar Alghabra, both on the Hill and in his constituency office.
Ahadi was formerly an operations assistant and executive assistant to the chief of staff to MacKinnon as then-employment minister (at the time Paul Moen, who now runs Industry Minister Mélanie Joly’s office).
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