Destination Canada

Marsha Walden, President & CEO

Accessibility Leadership

Marsha Walden is the President and CEO of Destination Canada. Her career spans leadership roles in strategy and organizational renewal, marketing and communications, corporate social responsibility, operations management, and business innovation.

She joined Destination Canada in 2020 from Destination British Columbia where she served as the President and CEO since 2013.

Our Organization

Who We Are

Destination Canada (“DC”) is Canada’s national tourism organization and a Crown Corporation of the federal government.

DC supports the Canadian tourism industry by: sustaining a vibrant and profitable Canadian tourism industry; marketing Canada as a desirable tourist destination; supporting a cooperative relationship between the private sector and the governments of Canada, the provinces and the territories with respect to Canadian tourism;  and providing information about Canadian tourism to the private sector and to the governments of Canada, the provinces and the territories.

Destination Canada champions a thriving visitor economy by sustaining the tourism sector, which supports Canadians, communities and businesses. Our mission is anchored on industry-leading research, insight-driven marketing strategies and compelling traveller-centric storytelling, all delivered in collaboration with our industry and government partners.

Our raw material is the natural and built environment, the peoples, the entrepreneurial spirit and cultures of Canada from coast to coast to coast and everywhere in between. We rely most directly on our employees and our partners for their energy, creativity and intellect.

The world is our playing field. It is a competitive one and, by pulling together, can be richly rewarding for the country.

We believe in the transformative power of tourism and believe that Canada’s diversity, its greatest asset, is what touches the hearts of travellers most deeply.

To that end, we are committed to inclusive leadership within our workforce, workplace, and interactions with partners and travellers alike.

Why We Are Involved

Destination Canada recognizes that a diversified workforce, embracing multiple viewpoints and cultures, drives innovation, improves decision-making, increases employee engagement and retention, and leads to better results.

Leading research indicates that teams of diverse abilities and backgrounds lead to greater innovation, creativity, and job satisfaction.

At Destination Canada, we are consciously supporting a workplace and workforce where justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are the anchors of organizational culture.

We believe that Presidents Group’s mission of modelling and championing inclusive employment practices is in deep alignment with Destination Canada’s values.

Distinction and Awards

• Hotelier 2018 Pinnacle Awards Supplier of the Year, for Destination Canada’s overall leadership in the tourism sector.
• 2020 IDEA Award winner: Bronze award for our custom font – Canada Bold; Silver award for our Canada, For Glowing Hearts logo; Gold award for an update to an existing brand identity.
• 2020 The Society of American Travel Writers Foundation, Gold and Silver Awards for our North Americana Podcast.

Accessibility Initiatives

• The “Access to Travel” portal on our consumer site informs travelers of accessible opportunities across Canada.
• In 2019, we launched an Employment Equity & Diversity Strategy and Action Plan.
• In 2020, we introduced an initiative to make our organization more accessible digitally. We changed our font in all of our platforms to Arial 11 as it is recognized as an accessible font for individuals with cognitive disabilities, including dyslexia.

Accessibility Highlights

• In 2020, we established a justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (J.E.D.I.) Working Group, with support from Executive Leadership.
• In 2020, we established an Employee Council for J.E.D.I., creating a safe and inclusive space for employees to shape the culture of the organization.
• We are in the process of undertaking an Organizational Review for J.E.D.I. The review will assess how our workforce and workplace along with our internal and external activities support justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. The Review will be complete by April 2021.