OUR PEOPLE
OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS
AGIR Montreal is a non-profit community organization whose mission is to protect and defend the legal, social, and economic rights of migrants (asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants, and those with undetermined status) from lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQIA+) communities through support services to support their settlement into communities and group and social activities to overcome social exclusion.
OUR TEAM MEMBERS
Hajjra Abdulle
Bio
Hajjra comes from a refugee family, and her experiences have enabled her to acquire understanding of forced displacement and the severe long-term effects that the journey creates. Her experience working with Midaynta’s Gun violence project (project Real Talk), enabled her to serve as an advocate for individuals facing deportation, especially Africans.
Maral Aguilera-Moradipour
Bio
Maral Aguilera-Moradipour recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus, and is now an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on critical refugee studies, anticolonial and Indigenous thought, as well as the digital humanities. Maral holds a PhD from Western University (2020) and has taught at King’s University College and the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), which provides education to marginalized students in Iran.
Maral Aguilera-Moradipour a récemment terminé un postdoctorat à l’Université de Toronto, campus de Scarborough, et est maintenant professeure adjointe à l’Université Simon Fraser. Ses recherches portent sur les études critiques sur les réfugiés, la pensée anticoloniale et autochtone, ainsi que les humanités numériques. Maral est titulaire d’un doctorat de l’Université Western (2020) et a enseigné au King’s University College ainsi qu’à l’Institut Bahá’í pour l’enseignement supérieur (BIHE), qui offre une éducation aux étudiants marginalisés en Iran.
Fahran Ali
Bio
Fahran is 19 years old, and just has just finished high school. He is from Somalia and speaks Somali fluently. Farhan works at Midaynta with kids and families during my summer breaks in summer camps to facilitate and prepare activities. He likes to participate in Midaynta’s community gatherings where he meets newcomers.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Muna-Ubdi Ali
Bio
Muna-Udbi Ali (she/her), is an Assistant Professor at York University. She researches Black studies, critical race studies, postcolonial studies, transnational feminism, queer/sexuality studies, environmental justice, and public policy. Her work focuses on gender, race, class, and citizenship for Black refugee communities. She is also a community worker, curriculum consultant, and anti-oppression educator.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Sabrin Ali
Bio
Sabrin is a third-year student at University of Toronto in psychology and minor history and African studies. In 2020 she worked with Midaynta as a youth coordinator and as a youth researcher with a focus oncommunity-based research. She has also volunteered for many years.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Osvaldo Arias
Bio
Osvaldo Arias serves as the Activities Coordinator at AGIR Montreal. In this role, he creates and develops activities for integrating 2SLGBTQ+ immigrants and refugees in Montreal. His passion for helping led him to volunteer in various 2SLGBTQ+ projects and leave his cancer research job at McGill to work full-time for AGIR.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Negin Dahya
Bio
Negin Dahya is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s ICCIT, where she researches feminist and postcolonial theories in science and technology studies. Using qualitative methods like interviews and visual analysis, she focuses on critical media and refugee education. Negin adapts methods for digital data collection in challenging settings, including refugee camps.
Negin Dahya est professeure agrégée à l’ICICT de l’Université de Toronto, où elle mène des recherches sur les théories féministes et postcoloniales dans les études en science et technologie. Utilisant des méthodes qualitatives telles que les entretiens et l’analyse visuelle, elle se concentre sur les médias critiques et l’éducation des réfugiés. Negin adapte des méthodes de collecte de données numériques à des contextes difficiles, y compris dans les camps de réfugiés.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Helen French
Bio
Helen is a University of Toronto student in ethics, society, law and African studies and religion as a minor. She was originally a refugee from Sierra Leone in 2018 when she first came to Canada, by way of Texas. Helen has experience in community-based work when she lived in Texas.
Ladan Gure
Bio
Ladan is a student at the University of Toronto with a major in GIS with a double minor in history and political science. Her parents fled Somalia when the civil war broke out in the 1990s and came to Canada as refugees. Ladan volunteers in her community, and in Muslim and Black spaces.
Ahmed Hamila
Bio
Ahmed Hamila is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the Université de Montréal. Trained in law, political science, sociology and social work, he conducts his research in an interdisciplinary manner focusing on the actors, the cognitive frameworks they mobilize and the institutional contexts in which they evolve. His current work focuses on (1) the assessment of asylum claims related to sexual orientation and gender identity by asylum authorities in Canada and Europe, (2) intersectoral collaboration to improve access to healthcare for racialized and migrant LGBTQI+ people, and (3) transnational queer solidarities between Southern and Northern countries.
Ahmed Hamila, est professeur adjoint de sociologie à l’Université de Montréal. Il mène des recherches interdisciplinaires sur les demandes d’asile liées à l’orientation sexuelle et à l’identité de genre, la collaboration intersectorielle pour l’accès aux soins de santé des personnes LGBTQI+ racisées et migrantes, et les solidarités queer transnationales entre les pays du Sud et du Nord.
Abdullahi Nur Hersi Siyad
Bio
Abdullahi Nur Hersi Siyad is Somali who is based in Toronto. He was a refugee for 9 years. He has a MA in economics, in addition to that he is a data analyst and intermediate data scientist and he is a social worker. Presently, he works as an on-call resettlement counselor. He speaks Somali, Arabic, and English. He writes poetry and believes in the power of poetry. He is interested in creativity. He has a YouTube channel, gives tutorials to community members. The Refugee States project resonates deeply with him. He feels he is intimately connected to it, and he is excited about it. The position aligns with his refugee experience as he has lived as a refugee many years. He has held various roles in refugee assistance.
Abdullahi Nur est Somali, basé à Toronto. Il a été réfugié pendant 9 ans. Il détient une maîtrise en économie et travaille également en tant qu’analyste de données et scientifique de données intermédiaire. De plus, il est travailleur social et actuellement conseiller en réinstallation sur appel. Il parle somali, arabe et anglais et a occupé divers rôles dans l’assistance aux réfugié.
Fatmina Khanyare
Bio
Fatmina Khanyare is originally from Somalia, she has lived experience as a refugee and has a lot of stories. She has a nursing background. She is interested in the Refugee States project, the values of the story-sharing element. She also wants to contribute to the research. Fatmina works with refugees, newcomers and in the community since 2020 first as outreach and then in administration. She is connected with many organizations in the GTA. She has lots of ground-level experience with some of the marginalized members of the community, especially people suffering from mental health issues. She also has language skills.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Edward Ou Jin Lee
Bio
Edward Ou Jin Lee, is a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Université de Montréal, where his work focuses on sexualities, gender, and migration, especially health care access and advocacy for racialized and migrant LGBTQI+ people. Using critical, participatory, visual, and community-based research, he explores anti-oppressive, anti-racist, reflexive, and decolonial social work education and practice.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Laura Madokoro
Bio
Laura Madokoro is a historian and Associate Professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, located on the traditional territory of the Algonquin nation. She is interested in questions of sanctuary, settler colonialism, and responsibility in the past and present.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Gada Mahrouse
Bio
Gada Mahrouse is an Associate Professor at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Montreal, where she focuses on critical race studies, cultural studies, and postcolonial theories. She authored Conflicted Commitments: Race, Privilege and Power in Transnational Solidarity Activism and has co-edited special issues on critical race scholarship, refugees, migration and mobility justice for such journals as CJWL, Refuge, and Acme.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Anh Ngo
Bio
Anh Ngo is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Work, where her research focuses on immigrants and refugees in Canada. Her work examines both individual and community experiences. Additionally, she investigates social policy as knowledge production and its impact on people’s lives. Anh is also interested in critical multiculturalism within settler societies like Canada. Her research approach is informed by her social work practice with individuals and communities.
Anh Ngo est professeure agrégée à la Faculté de travail social, où ses recherches portent sur les immigrants et les réfugiés au Canada. Son travail examine à la fois les expériences individuelles et communautaires. Elle s’intéresse également à la politique sociale en tant que production de savoir et à son impact sur la vie des gens. Anh s’intéresse en outre au multiculturalisme critique dans les sociétés coloniales de peuplement comme le Canada. Son approche de recherche est guidée par sa pratique en travail social auprès des individus et des communautés.
Vinh Nguyen
Bio
Vinh Nguyen is an Associate Professor of English at Renison University College, University of Waterloo. He is author of Lived Refuge: Gratitude, Resentment, Resilience and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Refugee Narratives and Refugee States: Critical Refugee Studies in Canada. Vinh also curates “Scatterings,” a series on refugee, migrant, and diasporic writing for The New Quarterly.
Peter Nyers
Bio
Peter Nyers is Professor of the Politics of Citizenship and Intercultural Relations in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University. Peter is author of two books – Irregular Citizenship, Immigration, and Deportation and Rethinking Refugees: Beyond States of Emergency – and editor of four books on the politics of citizenship and migration. He is also a Chief Editor of the journal Citizenship Studies.
Peter Nyers est professeur en politique de la citoyenneté et des relations interculturelles au département de science politique de l’Université McMaster. Il est l’auteur de deux ouvrages – Irregular Citizenship, Immigration, and Deportation et Rethinking Refugees: Beyond States of Emergency – ainsi que le directeur de publication de quatre livres portant sur la politique de la citoyenneté et des migrations. Il est également rédacteur en chef de la revue Citizenship Studies.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Thy Phu
Bio
Thy Phu is a Distinguished Professor of Race, Diaspora and Visual Justice at UTSC. She is author of Warring Visions: Vietnam and Photography and Picturing Model Citizens: Civility in Asian American Visual Culture and co-editor of Feeling Photography and. She is also co-editor of Feeling Photography, Refugee States: Critical Refugee Studies in Canada, and Cold War Camera.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Moska Rokay
Bio
Moska Rokay is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, where her interdisciplinary focuses on archives, critical refugee studies, media studies, and memory-making in diasporic communities affected by war and violence Moska she actively engages with the Afghan-Canadian diaspora community, and has also served as archivist for the Muslims in Canada Archives.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Shirwa Shiddo
Bio
Shirwa is a student at Toronto Metropolitan University in aerospace engineering. He used to live in Africa in Somalia and Kenya. He has experience volunteering in the Somali community on projects to empower youth.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Saaz Taher
Bio
Saaz Taher is a postdoctoral fellow in the Refugee States. She also serves as a lecturer at the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. Her work is situated at the intersection of feminist and critical race theories, decolonial and postcolonial theories, feminist epistemologies of the Global South, and critical Muslim feminist studies.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Mahad Yusuf
Bio
Mahad Yusuf has over 30 years of experience in organizational development, project management, and leadership. He serves as the Executive Director of Midaynta Community Services, a registered Canadian charity that organization provides settlement services, education programs, and support for refugees and immigrants. Mahad is also the founder of the Somali Immigrant Aid Organization (SIAO), which assists refugees and processes claims related to the Undocumented Convention Refugees Class in Canada. His contributions have been recognized with the commemorative medal for Canada’s 125th Anniversary.
Edward Ou Jin Lee
Bio
Edward Ou Jin Lee, is a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Université de Montréal, where his work focuses on sexualities, gender, and migration, especially health care access and advocacy for racialized and migrant LGBTQI+ people. Using critical, participatory, visual, and community-based research, he explores anti-oppressive, anti-racist, reflexive, and decolonial social work education and practice.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Thy Phu
Bio
Thy Phu is a Distinguished Professor of Race, Diaspora and Visual Justice at UTSC. She is author of Warring Visions: Vietnam and Photography and Picturing Model Citizens: Civility in Asian American Visual Culture and co-editor of Feeling Photography and. She is also co-editor of Feeling Photography, Refugee States: Critical Refugee Studies in Canada, and Cold War Camera.
Muna-Ubdi Ali
Bio
Muna-Udbi Ali (she/her), is an Assistant Professor at York University. She researches Black studies, critical race studies, postcolonial studies, transnational feminism, queer/sexuality studies, environmental justice, and public policy. Her work focuses on gender, race, class, and citizenship for Black refugee communities. She is also a community worker, curriculum consultant, and anti-oppression educator.Gada Mahrouse is an Associate Professor at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Montreal, where she focuses on critical race studies, cultural studies, and postcolonial theories. She authored Conflicted Commitments: Race, Privilege and Power in Transnational Solidarity Activism and has co-edited special issues on critical race scholarship, refugees, migration and mobility justice for such journals as CJWL, Refuge, and Acme.
Muna-Udbi Abdulkadir Ali est professeure adjointe à la Faculté de l’environnement et du changement urbain de l’Université York. Formée en tant que chercheuse interdisciplinaire, ses principaux centres d’intérêt de recherche incluent les études noires, les études critiques de la race, les études postcoloniales, le féminisme transnational, les études queer/sur la sexualité, la justice environnementale, la pédagogie publique et les politiques publiques (en particulier les politiques sur l’immigration, les réfugiés et l’aide sociale). Les recherches d’Ali examinent les questions de genre, de race, de classe, de criminalité, de surveillance et de citoyenneté, telles qu’elles se manifestent au sein des communautés de réfugiés noirs. En dehors du milieu académique, elle est travailleuse communautaire, consultante en élaboration de programmes et de politiques, et éducatrice contre l’oppression. Ali a travaillé dans l’éducation et l’élaboration de programmes au Canada, aux États-Unis, au Kenya et en Somalie.
Osvaldo Arias
Bio
Marianne Chbat
Bio
Negin Dahya
Bio
Negin Dahya is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s ICCIT, where she researches feminist and postcolonial theories in science and technology studies. Using qualitative methods like interviews and visual analysis, she focuses on critical media and refugee education. Negin adapts methods for digital data collection in challenging settings, including refugee camps.
Negin Dahya est professeure agrégée à l’ICICT de l’Université de Toronto, où elle mène des recherches sur les théories féministes et postcoloniales dans les études en science et technologie. Utilisant des méthodes qualitatives telles que les entretiens et l’analyse visuelle, elle se concentre sur les médias critiques et l’éducation des réfugiés. Negin adapte des méthodes de collecte de données numériques à des contextes difficiles, y compris dans les camps de réfugiés.
Caroline Keisha Foray
Bio
Ahmed Hamila
Bio
Ahmed Hamila est professeur adjoint en sociologie à l’Université de Montréal. Formé en droit, en science politique, en sociologie et en travail social, il mène ses recherches de manière interdisciplinaire en se concentrant sur les acteurs, les cadres cognitifs qu’ils mobilisent et les contextes institutionnels dans lesquels ils évoluent. Ses travaux actuels portent sur : (1) l’évaluation des demandes d’asile liées à l’orientation sexuelle et à l’identité de genre par les autorités d’asile au Canada et en Europe ; (2) la collaboration intersectorielle pour améliorer l’accès aux soins de santé pour les personnes LGBTQI+ racisées et migrantes ; et (3) les solidarités queer transnationales entre les pays du Sud et du Nord
Laura Madokoro
Bio
Laura Madokoro is a historian and Associate Professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, located on the traditional territory of the Algonquin nation. She is interested in questions of sanctuary, settler colonialism, and responsibility in the past and present.
Negin Dahya is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s ICCIT, where she researches feminist and postcolonial theories in science and technology studies. Using qualitative methods like interviews and visual analysis, she focuses on critical media and refugee education. Negin adapts methods for digital data collection in challenging settings, including refugee camps.
Gada Mahrouse
Bio
Gada Mahrouse is an Associate Professor at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Montreal, where she focuses on critical race studies, cultural studies, and postcolonial theories. She authored Conflicted Commitments: Race, Privilege and Power in Transnational Solidarity Activism and has co-edited special issues on critical race scholarship, refugees, migration and mobility justice for such journals as CJWL, Refuge, and Acme.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Vinh Nguyen
Bio
Vinh Nguyen is an Associate Professor of English at Renison University College, University of Waterloo. He is author of Lived Refuge: Gratitude, Resentment, Resilience and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Refugee Narratives and Refugee States: Critical Refugee Studies in Canada. Vinh also curates “Scatterings,” a series on refugee, migrant, and diasporic writing for The New Quarterly.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Peter Nyers
Bio
Peter Nyers is Professor of the Politics of Citizenship and Intercultural Relations in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University. Peter is author of two books – Irregular Citizenship, Immigration, and Deportation and Rethinking Refugees: Beyond States of Emergency – and editor of four books on the politics of citizenship and migration. He is also a Chief Editor of the journal Citizenship Studies.
Peter Nyers est professeur en politique de la citoyenneté et des relations interculturelles au département de science politique de l’Université McMaster. Il est l’auteur de deux ouvrages – Irregular Citizenship, Immigration, and Deportation et Rethinking Refugees: Beyond States of Emergency – ainsi que le directeur de publication de quatre livres portant sur la politique de la citoyenneté et des migrations. Il est également rédacteur en chef de la revue Citizenship Studies.
Jacqueline Colting Stol
Bio
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Maral Aguilera-Moradipour
Bio
Maral Aguilera-Moradipour recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, and is now an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University. Her research interests span critical refugee studies, anticolonial and Indigenous thought, and digital humanities. Maral holds a PhD from Western University (2020) and has taught at King’s University College and the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), which serves marginalized students in Iran.
Maral Aguilera-Moradipour a récemment terminé un postdoctorat à l’Université de Toronto, campus de Scarborough, et est maintenant professeure adjointe à l’Université Simon Fraser. Ses recherches portent sur les études critiques sur les réfugiés, la pensée anticoloniale et autochtone, ainsi que les humanités numériques. Maral est titulaire d’un doctorat de l’Université Western (2020) et a enseigné au King’s University College ainsi qu’à l’Institut Bahá’í pour l’enseignement supérieur (BIHE), qui offre une éducation aux étudiants marginalisés en Iran.
Edward Ou Jin Lee
Bio
Edward Ou Jin Lee, is a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Université de Montréal, where his work focuses on sexualities, gender, and migration, especially health care access and advocacy for racialized and migrant LGBTQI+ people. Using critical, participatory, visual, and community-based research, he explores anti-oppressive, anti-racist, reflexive, and decolonial social work education and practice.
Anh Ngo
Bio
Anh Ngo is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Work, where her research focuses on immigrants and refugees in Canada. Her work examines both individual and community experiences. Additionally, she investigates social policy as knowledge production and its impact on people’s lives. Anh is also interested in critical multiculturalism within settler societies like Canada. Her research approach is informed by her social work practice with individuals and communities.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
Thy Phu
Bio
Thy Phu is a Distinguished Professor of Race, Diaspora and Visual Justice at UTSC. She is author of Warring Visions: Vietnam and Photography and Picturing Model Citizens: Civility in Asian American Visual Culture and co-editor of Feeling Photography and. She is also co-editor of Feeling Photography, Refugee States: Critical Refugee Studies in Canada, and Cold War Camera.
Moska Rokay
Bio
Moska Rokay is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, where her interdisciplinary focuses on archives, critical refugee studies, media studies, and memory-making in diasporic communities affected by war and violence Moska she actively engages with the Afghan-Canadian diaspora community, and has also served as archivist for the Muslims in Canada Archives.
Hajjra Abdulle
Bio
Hajjra comes from a refugee family, and her experiences have enabled her to acquire understanding of forced displacement and the severe long-term effects that the journey creates. Her experience working with Midaynta’s Gun violence project (project Real Talk), enabled her to serve as an advocate for individuals facing deportation, especially Africans.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Fahran Ali
Bio
Fahran is 19 years old, and just has just finished high school. He is from Somalia and speaks Somali fluently. Farhan works at Midaynta with kids and families during my summer breaks in summer camps to facilitate and prepare activities. He likes to participate in Midaynta’s community gatherings where he meets newcomers.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Sabrin Ali
Bio
Sabrin is a third-year student at University of Toronto in psychology and minor history and African studies. In 2020 she worked with Midaynta as a youth coordinator and as a youth researcher with a focus oncommunity-based research. She has also volunteered for many years.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Helen French
Bio
Helen is a University of Toronto student in ethics, society, law and African studies and religion as a minor. She was originally a refugee from Sierra Leone in 2018 when she first came to Canada, by way of Texas. Helen has experience in community-based work when she lived in Texas.
Ladan Gure
Bio
Ladan is a student at the University of Toronto with a major in GIS with a double minor in history and political science. Her parents fled Somalia when the civil war broke out in the 1990s and came to Canada as refugees. Ladan volunteers in her community, and in Muslim and Black spaces.
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Mariam Mannaï
Bio
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Douglas Toledo-Beltrán
Bio
Douglas Toledo-Beltrán
M.A. (he/him) is an advocate working at the intersection of integration, health access, human rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and immigrant support. His work has also focused on research and policy analysis centered on digital transnational repression of diaspora communities in Canada, he has participated in conferences in the Parliament to highlight the problems of these communities.
Margot Flores Torre
Bio
FRENCH Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Saaz Taher
Bio
Saaz Taher is a postdoctoral fellow in the Refugee States. She also serves as a lecturer at the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. Her work is situated at the intersection of feminist and critical race theories, decolonial and postcolonial theories, feminist epistemologies of the Global South, and critical Muslim feminist studies.
Fatmina est originaire de Somalie et a une expérience vécue en tant que réfugiée. Elle travaille avec des réfugiés, des nouveaux arrivants et dans la communauté depuis 2020, d’abord en tant que chargée de sensibilisation, puis dans l’administration.
