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Reverend ISRAEL ALVARAN

The Reverend Israel Alvaran, a minister of The United Methodist Church (UMC) from the Philippines, serves as Interfaith Organizer for Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice of California (CLUE-CA) and the hotel and restaurant workers union UNITE HERE Local 2 in San Francisco, CA. He is a Doctor of Ministry cadidate at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, and also holds a Master of Theology degree from South East Asian Graduate School of Theology. He finished his Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary of the Philippines where he taught courses in Social Ethics, and Doing Ministry with Workers. He served as campus chaplain and taught religion and ethics courses at Wesleyan University Philippines.
His D.Min. dissertation is on faith-rooted organizing around socio-economic justice issues, with a specific focus on a critical comparative analysis of self-interest and intimate solidarity as core principles in community and labor organizing. Rev. Alvaran is a Board Member of the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, and has served as member of the UMC's Concern for Workers Task Force, and Person-in-Mission for labor and social justice advocacy of the Manila Episcopal Area of the UMC.
 
Rev. Alvaran's work with CLUE-California and UNITE HERE Local 2 provides interfaith support to the union's external organizing campaign, and intersects economic justice with current immigration concerns in the United States. With organizers of the New Sanctuary Movement (NSM) and the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (ICIR), he co-chairs the San Francisco cluster of faith and community groups that advocate immigrant/workers rights, provide pastoral and sanctuary support to undocumented individuals and families, and coordinate with city officials and other community groups on emergency response to immigration-related raids that may lead to family separation and human rights violations. The New Sanctuary Movement, built on the sanctuary movement of the '80s that supported political refugees from Latin America, is a distinct contribution of the faith community. This has inspired a number of cities, like San Francisco, to declare themselves as sanctuary cities for global economic and political refugees and immigrants.
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JAI BIRDI

Jai Birdi, a Surrey, B.C. resident, is a community activist with key interests in social inclusion, economic empowerment, and human rights. His professional background is in social work, community development, and management. As a community activist, Birdi takes keen interest in advancing and internationalizing the agenda of Dalits- India's marginalized communities. His achievements include coordinating a first Dalit international conference held in Vancouver in 2003; organizing a seminar on casteism and racism at the World Peace Forum held in 2006 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver; installing bronze Bust of Dr. Ambekdar, referred to as the champion of human rights in India, at the Simon Fraser University; organizing Dalit centenary in Canada; installing portrait of Dr. Ambedkar at the Consulate General of India in Vancouver; and organizing a first Dalit community parade March 15 in Burnaby.

Birdi was one of the founders of Chetna Association of Canada, a non-profit community group and now serves as a vice president of this organization. He is also a board member of South Asian Film Education Society, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, and is a member of Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha of Vancouver.
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LYDIA CACHO

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro is one of Mexico’s leading defenders of children’s and women’s rights. An investigative journalist and a specialist on gender-based violence, Ms. Cacho founded and directs the Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres (CIAM) in Cancún, a crisis center and shelter for victims of sex crimes, gender-based violence, and trafficking. CIAM provides free services to anyone seeking assistance and protection. Many of these women and girls who seek shelter are often fleeing from violent criminals. Consequently, protecting them endangers Ms. Cacho’s own life on a daily basis. Throughout the course of her advocacy work, Ms. Cacho has received numerous death threats, and in 1999, was raped in an attempt to intimidate her. This particular incident emboldened her even further to protect and advance the rights of women and children in a country where impunity is widespread and commonly accepted as a part of daily life.

Tourist destinations such as Cancún become popular destinations for child sex tourism. To expose these crimes against children, Ms. Cacho published a book in 2004 entitled Los Demonios del Eden: El poder detrás de la pornografía infantil (The Demons of Eden: The power behind child pornography). Her work has resulted in repeated threats against her life and judicial harassment to silence her effort to give voice to the victims. In response to these intimidating tactics, Ms. Cacho filed an unsuccessful counter-suit for corruption and for violation of her human rights. In this regard, Ms. Cacho is the first woman in Mexico who has ever filed a federal suit against a Governor, a District Attorney, and a judge for corruption and attempted rape in prison. Furthermore, she is the first woman in Mexican history to take a woman’s rights case to the Mexican Supreme Court.

Ms. Cacho believes in a holistic approach to addressing the violations against society’s most vulnerable populations. In addition to advocacy work and direct service for victims, she also believes that educational endeavors are important for healing and building a more peaceful society. In this regard, Ms. Cacho also initiated an innovative educational project to help children and young women deal with the emotional and psychological impacts of abuse. The Center for Women’s Assistance, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Oasis Foundation, and others established Escuelas para la Paz (Schools for Peace), which is a series of schools throughout Mexico dedicated to promoting non-violent conflict resolution methodologies to help stop the cycle of violence in society. Ms. Cacho has put her life on the line on behalf of children and women in Mexico. As a consequence of her unwavering defense of human rights and journalistic freedom, her own life is repeatedly threatened. Despite these dangers, she continues to champion the advancement of human rights for all children and women because she believes that every single person deserves to live a life of dignity.

Books published: “Los demonios del eden: el poder detras de la pornografia infantil” (Demons in Eden: the power behind child pornography); “Muerdele el Corazon” (Eating at the Heart); “Esta Boca es Mia” (This mouth is Mine); “Memorias de una infamia” (Memories of an outrage). Awards: State Journalism Award 2000; Don Sergio Mendez Arceo National Human Rights Prize; Ginetta Sagan award for Women’s and Children’s Rights from Amnesty International; International Women Media Foundation Courage Award 2007, OXFAM Human Rights Award."
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LOUISE CLEARY

Louise is a Brigidine Sister from Melbourne, Australia, who has worked in the education sector K through 12 as a teacher and administrator and in teacher professional development. She has been involved in social justice and advocacy with marginalized groups in Australia, particularly with refugee and immigrant communities.

Louise was Congregational Leader of the Brigidine Sisters (2001-2007) who have a strong commitment to education, social justice and systemic change in the countries where they have worked: Australia, England, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, United States, New Zealand and Wales.

She has been a Board Member of UNANIMA International, a coalition of 16 congregations of women religious and their partners in mission working as an NGO (Non-Government Organisation) at the United Nations, and is currently working in the New York office of UNANIMA International. One of the areas of action of UNANIMA International is a new campaign to “Stop the Demand for Trafficking in Women and Children.”

Louise was the founding chairperson of Australian Catholic Religious Against Human Trafficking. She contributed to the development of the Shadow Report to the Convention to eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2006, focusing on Article 6 which addresses human trafficking
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BILL CHU

Bill Chu is the founder of Canadians For Reconciliation, a peaceful non-partisan grassroots movement committed to developing a new relationship with Aboriginal people, one that signifies a deep apology for past injustice, a willingness to honor truth now and a resolve to embrace each other in the new millennium. That role may surprise even himself since he is a first generation immigrant from Hong Kong arriving with no idea of what happened between the Indigenous nations and Canada. Over the years he is responsible for listening to many Aboriginals, for founding CFR in 2001, for taking approximately 1500 non-Aboriginals to Mt. Currie, for inviting natives to participate in the Chinese New Year parade for the last 13 years, for writing or responding to some Aboriginal issues and for initiating the 2004 historic banquet attended by 600 aboriginals, Chinese and Canadians. In 2006, Bill was one of the three representing Vancouver in a Toronto meeting with the Harper Government representatives which resulted in the Chinese Head Tax settlement.
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ANGELA CONTRERAS-CHÁVEZ

Angela Contreras-Chávez has done extensive work in academic, non-governmental, governmental, and religious contexts in projects committed to peace, religious freedom, the elimination of poverty, and the promotion of justice and human rights. Between 1987 and 1993 in Guatemala she worked at numerous applied anthropology projects linked to promoting respect to the dignity of the Maya and understanding their cosmovision and history. She was a research assistant to Dr. Myrna Mack, with Guatemala’s Association for the Advancement of Social Sciences, during her research on forced migration and political violence. In 1992 Angela and a small group of colleagues co-founded the Forensic Anthropology Team of Guatemala, which provided independently collected evidence on human rights abuses perpetrated against civilians during the country’s counterinsurgency war. Upon earning her B.A. in cultural anthropology from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Angela went to work at the Apostolic Vicariate of El Petén-Guatemala monitoring human rights of the Maya-Kekchi internally displaced by the war.

In Canada, Angela earned her Maîtrise en Sciences de la Mission from Université Saint-paul and Université d’Ottawa. Her thesis documented and analyzed the contributions of the Catholic Church to the truth, justice and reconciliation processes in Guatemala especially among the Maya.  She moved to Vancouver, in 1997 to pursue her Ph.D. in Criminology at Simon Fraser University. Angela’s doctoral dissertation analyzed the influence of the Mayan cosmovision on the victims’ rights movement and the fight against impunity in Guatemala’s criminal justice system. Angela has also studied human rights, peacekeeping, victims’ rights and international justice at the Pearson Peace Centre in Halifax, at the Institute of Human Rights at University of Galway, and at the International Institute of International Crime Investigators in The Hague.In 2006 Angela founded VeraPax, a collective of women located in the Americas, Asia and Africa that provides investigation and analysis, program evaluation, and project management services to socially conscious organizations and individuals working locally or globally.
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LAUREL DYKSTRA

Laurel is an urban theologian and community-based scripture and justice educator. She is a resource person for helping Christians talk about prostitution theologically and pastorally. Laurel has worked for more than ten years in various capacities with women and transgender individuals involved in inner city street-level sex commerce. She has studied prostitution in the Hebrew and Christian Bible as well as feminist theological writing on the topic. She designed and taught the course “By the Roadside: Prostitution in the Bible and on the Street” (Atlanta, GA, 2007). Laurel has an MA in Feminist Liberation Theology from Episcopal Divinity School where she received the Alison Cheek Prize for Feminist Theologies and the Winslow Prize for Bible and Archaeology. She is the author of Set Them Free: The Other Side of Exodus (Orbis, 2002) and her writing has appeared in numerous publications including Sojourners Magazine, The Other Side, Anglican Theological Review, Bulletin for Contextual Theology in Africa, Hip Mama and Mouth Magazine. She works for VANDU, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver as the community research facilitator on a participatory action project on the primary health care experiences of women who use drugs.
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LORENA FONTAINE

Lorena Sekwan Fontaine B.A., LL.B., LL.M. is Cree and Anishnabe from the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba.  She is a member of the wolf clan and the Three Fires Midewiwin Society.  Currently she is a Doctoral Candidate at Osgood, York University, researching Aboriginal language rights in Canada and teaches part-time in the School of Public Policy Graduate Program at Queens University.  Prior to this Lorena was an Assistant Professor for the First Nations University of Canada. She has worked with Aboriginal political organizations for the past 19 years.

For the past five years Lorena has advocated for Aboriginal Residential School Survivors as well as Children of Residential School Survivors. Lorena has spoken nationally and has authored articles in Australia and Canada on Residential School issues. In 2003 Lorena was a task force member and contributor to the Assembly of First Nation's Report on Canada's Dispute Resolution Plan to compensate for Abuses in Indian Residential Schools. Lorena has also acted as a legal consultant to the Toronto law firm Thomson, Rogers for the plaintiffs and their counsel in the Baxter National Residential School Class Action as well as to Mother of Red Nations Women’s Council in Manitoba on cultural harm issues. Currently, Lorena is organizing a group of Children of Residential School Survivors across Canada to facilitate their input in the Residential School Truth and Reconciliation process. Both Lorena’s parents and grandparents are Residential School Survivors.

Internationally, Lorena has worked with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States as a legal intern, and has assisted in land rights cases for Indigenous peoples in Belize, and the United States.
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LARRY GRANT

Larry Grant, Musqueam Elder. Born and raised in Musqueam traditional territory by a traditional Musqueam family. Grew up between Musqueam Reserve and Vancouver City. Became a certified  automotive Machinist after high school graduation then into the Longshore industry as a Heavy Duty mechanic. Retired after four decades in the work force then enrolled in Musqueam/UBC First Nations Languages Program in 1998. Relearning our language and what it means to self identity, kinship, culture, and history prior to European contact.
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ERIN GRAHAM

Erin Graham is presently a PhD student at the University of British Columbia in the department of Educational Studies. She is a storyteller, burgeoning accordionist, radical feminist,former powerlifter and stand-up comic (not necessarily in that order).Erin's work presumes that prostitution is not inevitable, and that both women and men will benefit from an end to the sex industry. Her research focuses on critiquing "harm reduction" as well as investigating anti-male-violence feminist organizing over the last four decades. For many years, Erin worked as a mental health worker, outreach worker, and advocate. In addition, she was a rape crisis and transition house worker, where she provided front-line crisis services to women, and organized with them and with other feminists to resist individual and systemic male violence against women. This summer, she's going on a road trip to Saskatchewan with her sainted mother. She will play her accordion while her mother drives. She understands that she may have to do this in the trunk of the car.
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JU HUI JUDY HAN

Ju Hui Judy Han is an immigrant Korean/American currently living in Vancouver, Canada. She is a comic book artist, a PhD candidate in geography at UC Berkeley, and an activist with nearly 20 years of experience in progressive, feminist, and queer activism. She was a founding board member (1996-1999) of Californians for Justice, a grassroots organization working for racial justice with a commitment of community action, solidarity, and human rights. She also helped build the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (1996- present), a multi-chapter, multi-issue women's organization in the US, and Korea Solidarity Committee (2001-2005), a progressive collective in Oakland, California, that mobilized community action and public education projects on militarism, peace, and international solidarity. She currently serves on the advisory committee of Dari project, a grassroots group working to develop resources to increase awareness and acceptance of LGBTQ people in Korean American communities, particularly by building bridges among families, social networks, institutions and faith communities.

Her current work is on the cultural and political geography of evangelical missions, involving research conducted in China, South Korea, Uganda, and Tanzania. As a UC Berkeley Human Rights Center fellow in 2006, she undertook research on North Korean women migrants and refugees in China and South Korea, focusing on the dynamics between the North Korean women and evangelical missionaries from South Korea and the US. Based on this research, she is currently writing about the ethics and politics of religious faith, migration, and mobility, especially addressing the issues of "rescuing" or "saving" women from trafficking.
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BONNIE HANUSE

Bonni Hanuse is Mamalilikala of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation and Coast Salish of the Lummi and Musqueam Nations.She has worked on reserve and in the Urban communities for 20 years. In her work she has combined Ayurveda, Polarity body therapy, herbs, aromatherapy, and Spiritual teachings with individuals and groups. She is currently Outreach/Community Development at the Aboriginal Wellness Program Mental Health and Addictions at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
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SARAH HUNT

Sarah Hunt is a community-based researcher and consultant who has worked on issues of violence and exploitation in Aboriginal communities for the past ten years. Sarah’s work is grounded in her mixed-race Kwakwaka’wakw heritage and her desire to bridge Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. Her research has focused on gendered and racialized violence, sex work, sexual exploitation, service provision in rural Aboriginal communities, and building community capacity for change. She uses an intersectional approach to addressing the current challenges for Aboriginal communities stemming from colonization and the resulting intergenerational trauma. Additionally, Sarah has experience working as a youth outreach worker and program coordinator, and recently completed an interdisciplinary master’s degree at the University of Victoria. She currently works with the McCreary Centre Society and the Justice Institute of BC.
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ROSALYN ING, Phd

Rosalyn Ing, Phd, is a Cree Elder from Manitoba. Her goal in life is seeking social justice and healing for First Nations. Although she attended residential school for eleven years of her childhood, Dr. Ing still values education as an equalizer for society's opportunities. She taught for several years at the Native Education Centre (NEC) in Vancouver, moved to UBC as Coordinator of the First Nations Health Careers in 1994, and retired in 2003. She earned a Bachelor of Social Work degree, a Master of Education, and a Ph.D., all from the University of British Columbia. She was a winner of the 2000 Canadian Policy Research Graduate Award for her Ph. D. research on residential schools.
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DEBORAH ISAACS

Deborah was born and grew up in Montreal and moved to Vancouver with her family right after high school. She is a Sister of the Good Shepherd and her ministry is with refugees and victims of trafficking and in particular separated children. She has been in this ministry since the 1990s when she started working at Refuge Juan Moreno and emergency shelter in Montreal for women and children refugee claimants. While working there she also started coming into contact with women victims of human trafficking.

In Vancouver she is project coordinator of SCION Project for separated children. This is a joint project of MOSAIC, a Vancouver settlement Agency and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Deborah was co-chair of the Inland Protection Working Group of Canadian Council for Refugees for 4 years (2004-2007) and is currently a member of its executive. On behalf of the CCR she organized in 2003 one of the first conferences on the issue of human trafficking.

She participated in the National Round Table on separated children. She has also participated and has been a speaker at several conferences on human trafficking including the Pacific Northwest International Conference against Human Trafficking, the U.S. Bishop’s conference against Trafficking in persons and in 2007 she was selected by the Canadian Religious Conference to represent Canadian Women Religious at an international working seminar against human trafficking. She is also part of the NGO working in collaboration with the Provincial Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
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ROBERT JENSEN

Robert Jensen has been a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin since 1992. He worked as a professional journalist for a decade before earning a Ph.D. in media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota.  In his research, Jensen draws on a variety of critical approaches to media and power. Much of his work has focused on pornography and the radical feminist critique of sexuality and men’s violence. In more recent work, he has addressed questions of race through a critique of white privilege and institutionalized racism.  In addition to teaching and research, Jensen writes for popular media and is a frequent speaker on college campuses and for activist groups. In July 2007 Jensen gave a series of lectures on politics, religion, and media at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Jensen’s current project is a book manuscript, tentatively titled A New Communion: Theological Roots for Radical Politics, scheduled for publication in fall 2008. In that work, Jensen argues for a revisioning of Christianity in the context of the social and ecological crises facing the world.  Jensen is the author of Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007); The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (City Lights, 2005); Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (City Lights, 2004); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang, 2002); co-author with Gail Dines and Ann Russo of Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality (Routledge, 1998); and co-editor with David S. Allen of Freeing the First Amendment: Critical Perspectives on Freedom of Expression (New York University Press, 1995).  Jensen can be reached at rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu and his articles can be found online at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html.
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CHIEF ROBERT JOSEPH
(Kwun Kwun Wha Lee Gei Gee, Big Thunderbird)

Chief Robert Joseph has worked with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society since 1999. He is a hereditary chief of the Gwa wa enuk First Nation. He is also an Indian Residential School Survivor who spent 10 years at St. Michael’s Indian Residential School at Alert Bay on the central coast of British Colombia. He has worked for provincial organizations in BC including the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Native Brotherhood of BC, and the First Nations Summit. He has also worked for Tribal Councils like the Nuu-Chah-nulth, Kwakiulth District Council, and Musgamagw Tribal Council. In addition, he has worked for large and small Bands as Band Manager. Recently Robert was awarded with an Honourary Doctorate of Law Degree from the University of British Columbia for his distinguished achievements in serving BC and Canada through the Indian Residential School Survivors Society and for preserving the traditions and cultures of the First Nations of BC.
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Dr ROBERT KULL

My earliest memory is of sitting alone on a rock one hot dusty morning, watching the clouds and buzzards drift across the southern California sky. Since then I’ve spent years on the road, wandering the byways of North and South America, working at a variety of jobs, and performing as a storyteller.

In my late twenties I went alone into the British Columbia wilderness for three months. Unprepared psychologically and spiritually for what would happen to me, I almost didn’t make it back. But beyond the terror, I awoke to a world of peace and joy and wonder. The experience changed my life in profound ways.

I began undergraduate study in psychology and biology at McGill University at the age of forty, and continued on earn a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of British Columbia in 2005. My dissertation explored the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual effects of deep wilderness solitude from a first person perspective. For my fieldwork I lived alone for a year in southern Chile’s Patagonian wilderness.
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Dr ANNALEE LEPP

Dr. Annalee Lepp is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of

Women’s Studies at the University Victoria, Canada. She co-founded the

Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) Canada in 1996, a member organization of GAATW international. Since then, she has participated in various collaborative research projects, which examine Canadian state policies and practices as they relate to trafficking in persons and irregular cross-border movements TOP

MADELEINE MACIVOR

Madeleine is Associate Director of First Nations House of Learning, University of British Columbia. She has worked for the University of British Columbia since 1989 as Coordinator of Student Services for First Nations House of Learning, First Nations Coordinator for the Faculty of Forestry, and now as Associate Director for First Nations House of Learning. Madeleine is a graduate of the Native Indian Teacher Education Program (BEd, Elementary) and Ts'`kel Graduate Studies (MA, Science Education). She has a strong background in student services and a deep commitment to ensuring that Aboriginal people have access to quality post-secondary education opportunities that meet their needs and aspirations. Madeleine is currently working on her doctoral research which looks at the development of Aboriginal post-secondary education policy in British Columbia.

Madeleine is a Métis woman whose family comes from the historic Métis community of Lac Ste Anne in northern Alberta. She is the mother of three adult children and 11 grandchildren. Ceremonial practices are an important part of her life.
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JIM MANLY

Jim Manly is a retired United Church minister who served at Kitamaat Village (Haisla) from 1959 to 1963 and worked with off- reserve people at Prince Rupert from 1967 to 71. From 1980-88 he was Member of Parliament for Cowichan-Malahat-the Islands and for six of those years was Aboriginal Affairs critic for the NDP. During this time he served on the Constitution Committee and also on the Special Committee on Indian Self Government. He is currently writing a book about the West Coast Mission of the Presbyterian Church which includes the beginnings of the Alberni Indian Residential School and the Ahousaht Residential School. He is married to Eva, who directed(and co- produced, with Paul Manly), "The Awakening of Elizabeth Shaw," a film about a Methodist woman who spoke out about residential school abuse in Port Simpson in 1898.
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TOM McCALLUM

Tom McCallum, White Standing Buffalo, is of Cree/Metis ancestry born in the northern Metis community of Isle A La Crosse, Saskatchewan. He currently resides in Maple Ridge, BC. Tom has delivered workshops to various groups including Government agencies on the Medicine Wheel Concept. He has worked with federal prisoners in the Pacific Region in five different federal Institutions.  Tom’s primary role is to provide teachings and ceremonies to groups and individuals who are seeking guidance on reconnecting or exploring the Aboriginal world-view. Tom has taken Native Studies in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan through the Gabriel Dumont Institute and the University of Saskatchewan. Tom holds a certificate in Business Management.  He has worked in the Healing field for the past 20 years doing cultural counseling and traditional healing ceremonies. He has a passion for Metis dancing and is known in the Metis circles for his ability to jig and square dance.
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NAOMI MINWALLA

Naomi Minwalla, Naomi Minwalla is a lawyer who is deeply devoted to people and to justice. She has a passion for law and for helping people in need. Naomi trained extensively at internationally renowned universities. She has two law degrees (English common law and French civil law) with distinction from McGill University, Canada. She was the recipient of a Commonwealth Scholarship at Oxford University, England where she obtained a master's degree in social anthropology. She also has a bachelor's degree with honours in economics and political science (summa cum laude) from York University, Canada. Before becoming a lawyer, Naomi emigrated to two different countries, worked in overseas refugee camps, travelled the world extensively, lived in many different countries, and volunteered in a women's shelter. She brings to her law practice a depth of first-hand experience and understanding of human relationships, cultures, and political issues from all over the world. Naomi completed her law article training with the British Columbia Ministry of Attorney General where she worked as a Crown Prosecutor before starting her own law firm that focuses exclusively on immigration, refugee, and extradition law. She represents a wide variety of people from every continent in the world, and uniquely combines solid legal skills with compassion and care for all.
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ESTHER MOMBO

Esther Mombo is Academic Dean of St. Paul's United Theological College, Limuru, Kenya, where she also teaches church history and theologies from women's perspectives. She served as a consultant at Lambeth 1998 and spoke at the Primates’ meeting in Brazil. She is a graduate of St. Paul's, Limuru; Trinity College, Dublin; and Edinburgh University, Scotland. She is a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. Her writings have been on women's issues, evangelism, HIV/AIDS , Christian-Muslim relations, and poverty in Africa.  She initiated the first Masters Program in Christian Response to HIV/AIDS at St. Paul’s and has made significant contributions to developing women’s ecclesial leadership in Africa.  In the Anglican communion she is a member of the Inter- Anglican Doctrinal and Theological Commission and most recently served on the Lambeth Commission which produced the Windsor Report.
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DENISE NADEAU

Denise Nadeau is of mixed French, Irish, English and Mi’kmaq heritage.  She is a theologian, movement therapist and popular educator and much of her recent work has focused on combining expressive art therapies and spiritual practices in the repair of sexist, racist, heterosexist and colonial violence.  She has a MLitt from Oxford University, a MDiv from Vancouver School of Theology and a DMIN from San Francisco Theological Seminary in the area of International Feminist Theologies. Her publications include Counting Our Victories: Popular Education and Organizing (Catalyst: 1996, 2001) and numerous articles on non-violence, decolonization and deconstructing whiteness in Christian practice.  She has developed and taught courses in Embodied Non-Violence in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.  She is a Research Associate with the Simon de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University and Acting Director of the Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements at Simon Fraser University.
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SAAHIILTHIT (Gerry) OLEMAN

Saahiilthit (Gerry) Oleman has worked with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society since 1998. He is from Seaton Lake and of the Stl,atl,imx Nation. He has been involved as a change agent for First Nations since 1976. His experiences include couselling for community addictions programs, providing leadership politically and administratively for his community and Nation, and worked as an independent consultant.
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SHAUNA PAULL

Shauna Paull is a feminist community advocate and educator and works in a variety of communities to promote women's equality in areas of labour and mobility rights, poverty alleviation and career continuity. Shauna serves on various working groups and networks including CCWESTT, GASAT International and GAATW-Canada with particular emphasis on advocacy for migrating women and their families. Locally, Shauna supported the BC NGO Steering Committee for Human Rights in Human Trafficking, and partnered with the Canadian Red Cross in presenting a public education series called Look Beneath the Surface, addressing global migration and human trafficking. She has been active in the Raise the Rates Campaign, and a community collaborator with the Economic Security Project of the CCPA/SFU Women's Studies. She led the BC Coalition for Equality and Human Rights campaign last fall. Shauna also teaches Creative Writing at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts and the Emily Carr Institute of Arts and Design. Her book of poetry, roughened in undercurrent, was published by Leaf Press in the spring of 2008.
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KATHRYN POETHIG

Ph.D. Religion and Society, Graduate Theological Union; M.Div. Union Theological Seminary; B.A. Anthropology, University of Chicago

Dr. Poethig has lived and worked in Southeast Asia for over twenty years. She is currently Associate Professor of Global Studies at California State University, Monterey Bay. Her area expertise includes global gender issues, particularly feminism and militarism, religious social ethics, and religion, violence, and peacemaking. Dr. Poethig supervised education for Southeast Asian refugees in the US and Asia for 15 years. Her work focuses on progressive religious citizenship in Southeast Asia, particularly in areas of complex conflict and peacemaking. She has written on the Dhammayietra, the annual peace walk in Cambodia as transnational example of engaged Buddhism. More recently, she has focused on Filipino feminist theologians' frameworks for "just peace" for both Communist and Muslim insurgencies in light of the US war on terrorism. She is currently writing about religious frames for sanctuary as extraterritorial space against the state.

Dr. Poethig is on the Working Committee of the People's Forum on Peace for Life, a Global South-based interfaith initiative resisting militarized globalization and creating life-enhancing alternatives. She has also served on the Board of Center for Women and Religion and has led delegations investigating the intersection of religion and politics to Cambodia/Vietnam, to China for the NGO Forum of the 4th U.N. Conference on Women, and to the Philippines.
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KARENJOT BHANGOO RHANDAWA

Karenjot Bhangoo Rhandawa is Director of Mediation, Training and Education at the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Karenjot holds a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and an M.A in Sociology and Dispute Resolution from the University of Victoria. She was an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia in 2006 and at George Mason University in 2002-2003. As a practitioner, researcher and facilitator in the field of Conflict Resolution, she has dealt with highly emotional conflicts and facilitated related cross-cultural discussions and dialogues on issues related to immigration, economic development and the environment. She has designed and delivered trainings in community and academic settings, and has facilitated intercultural dialogues in the U.S. and Canada. She also has experience working in Japan, China and Georgia. Although her core area of focus is cross-cultural conflict resolution, other related topics have taken her to India to explore the relationship of religion in conflict and civil society.

As an educator, Karen has served as a trainer in numerous workshops and taught courses such as "Negotiating Across Cultures" at the University of British Columbia, "Interpersonal and Small Group Conflict" at George Mason University and recently has published as a co-author in "Conflict Across Cultures: A Unique Bridging Experience." (Intercultural Press, 2006). Forthcoming publications include "Intercultural Challenges of Globalization" in Asia Pacific Dispute Resolution.
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SIMA ELIZABETH SHEFRIN

Sima Elizabeth Shefrin is a Jewish artist and activist who has been researching and practicing political stitchery for 30 years. She is the artist-coordinator of the Middle East Peace Quilt which has been touring North America since 1999. In addition, she has been the facilitator for many community quilts including the Art of Living Together in which she worked with members of eight community and cultural centres in Vancouver, using fabric to build bridges between diverse communities.

She is also the illustrator of the multi award-nominated book, Abby’s Birds, written by Ellen Schwartz (Tradewind Books) and of Latkes, written by Bob Bossin (Nick Books).

Elizabeth loves creating art with people who have not yet realized they are artists, and especially enjoys working with diverse communities. Whether she’s teaching in the lobby of the local community centre, or in a conflict resolution centre in Bethlehem, or collecting components of a community art piece by mail, she ensures that the participants have an opportunity to speak visually about what is important to each of them, and to have fun doing it.

Elizabeth has worked for 18 years teaching and participating in peer counselling and listening projects. She is a member of the Palestinian/Jewish women for peace dialogue group. To see her art, or for more information on her community projects please visit her website at www.stitchingforsocialchange.ca.
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ANGELA STERRITT

Angela Sterritt is a grassroots organizer, youth advocate, artist and writer ,who belongs to the Gitxsan Nation of the Gitanmaax band. She critiques the oppression inherent in colonial capitalist society and works to chronicle the struggles of her family back home and in the city through art and writing. Sterritt is also an Indigenous girls’ advocate and in 2006 took the issue of violence against girls and women on the Highway of Tears to the United Nations in Geneva with Justice for Girls. She continues to challenge systemic violence against women and girls and works at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Center as an auxiliary peer support staff and also works with an Indigenous anti-2010 Olympics group in the city. She most recently had her analysis "Indigenous Women, the Indian Act and Systemic Oppression: Reasons for Resistance" published through the Racialization of Poverty Project at the Vancouver Status of Women.
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SITARA THOBANI

Sitara Thobani began training in the Odissi style of Indian Classical dance in 1995 under the tutelage of Dr. Ratna Roy. She has also undertaken intensive study with renowned choreographers in Bangalore and Bhubaneswar, India. Sitara is completing her Masters in Sociology and Equity Studies at OISE/UT. Her research interests are informed by her experiences as a trained Odissi dancer and include Indian classical dance, nationalism and the South Asian diaspora. She received her BA from the University of British Columbia in 2007, with a Major in Anthropology and a Minor in Asian Studies. A recipient of a Canada Arts Council grant for Emerging Dance Professionals (2005), an Indo-Canadian Shastri Institute Fellowship for dance training in India (2006) and a BC Arts Council grant for dance production (2007), Sitara has performed at various arts and cultural events in Canada, the United States, India, Tanzania and London, England. She has also been invited to present her academic and artistic work at the Decolonising Affect Theory Colloquium at UBC in 2006 and the Margaret L. Benston lecture at Simon Fraser University in 2008.
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ALANNAH EARL YOUNG

Alannah Young is from the Opaskwayak Cree/Peguis Anishnabe Nations in Manitoba. She is a facilitator and trainer and works as an advisor with University of British Columbia's First Nations House of Learning in Vancouver. She is trained in the expressive therapies, curriculum development and arts-based socially transformative pedagogies. She has an M.A. from the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. Alannah's current work has been developing and delivering wholistic programming that reaffirms Indigenous Leadership and Sovereignty. She is mother, an artist activist, Traditional practitioner and singer.
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MARIE ZAROWNY

Marie Zarowny is a Sister of Saint Ann currently serving as Province Leader for the Congregation's Western Canada region. In 1978, Marie started the Social Justice Office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Victoria. She worked in solidarity with First Nations on Vancouver Island to have aboriginal rights, including right to self-government and land use. In 1987, at the invitation of the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mackenzie (NWT),she traveled North to do a study on how the Church could be supportive of the aspirations of the Dene and Inuit at that moment of history. For 10 years she learned from and worked extensively with the Dene and Inuit throughout Canada's North. In the ten years working with the Dene and Inuit Marie became acutely aware of the painful tragedy brought about for many people by the Residential School system and began to explicitly learn from and work with those living with that legacy. At the same time, living and working with Church people who had given their lives to create a positive experience for the children in the schools, Marie more fully recognized the complexities and pain of the legacy. Returning to Victoria in 1998 to assume leadership with the Sisters of Saint Ann, she chaired a task group of Roman Catholic Dioceses and Religious Communities that had been involved in Residential Schools, working with First Nations and negotiating with the Federal Government to bring a just, compassionate, and timely resolution to this historic injustice. Disillusioned by the narrowness of the Federal Government's approach, Marie then chose to focus more specifically on community initiatives for healing and reconciliation.
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JARED WILL

Jared Will is a member of Solidarity Across Borders (SAB) in Montreal and is involved in a range of migrant justice work.. He has been a member of the Committee to Support for Abdelkader Belaouni since he took sanctuary in January 2006 in Saint Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Point Saint Charles; he is also Abdelkader’s lawyer.

Jared practices immigration and refugee law in Montreal and also does criminal defense, particularly for people facing political charges or folks with compounding criminal and immigration issues. He is working, as legal counsel, on Ivan Apaolaza Sancho’s case, and as a member of the Committee for Freedom for Ivan. He has worked with the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees, both as an organizer and doing legal support, from January 2004 until the present. He was one of the Commissioners at the People’s Commission on Immigration Security Measures, held in Montreal in April of 2006, and participated in writing the Commission’s report.
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JASMINE ZINE

Dr. Zine is currently an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada.  Her academic areas of interest with respect to Islamic studies are in the area of Muslim women’s studies with a special interest in Islamic feminism and the study of the Canadian Muslim diaspora with a special focus on Muslim youth, identity, gender, education and poverty.  She is presently working on a committee to develop a Muslim Studies Program at Wilfrid Laurier University.
 
Dr Zine recently received the New Scholar Award from the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (of the Harvard Divinity School) for her article entitled “Creating a Critical-Faith-Centred Space for Anti-Racist Feminism: Reflections of A Muslim Scholar-Activist.” She presently has a book manuscript under review entitled: Staying On the Straight Path: Unraveling The Politics Of Faith, Gender, Knowledge and Identity in Islamic Schools. Her recent publications include a chapter in the book War Stories and Camouflage Politics: (En)Gendering the War on Terror (recently re-published in the Muslim World Journal of Human Rights), that examines Muslim women’s responses to the war on terror. She has also published several articles on Muslims and education in Canada that have appeared in the Cambridge Journal of Education, Race, Ethnicity and Education, Equity and Excellence in Education and Anthropology and Education Quarterly. In other research, her report entitled Living on the Ragged Edges: Absolute and Hidden Homelessness Among Latin Americans and Muslims in Toronto (2002) was selected by the Canadian National Homelessness Secretariat to for presentation at the International Metropolis conference in Geneva in 2004. She also recently co-edited a special issue of the journal Intercultural Education entitled: “Contested Imaginaries Reading Muslim Women and Muslim Women Reading Back: Transnational Feminist Reading Practices, Pedagogy and Ethical Concerns” and is working with the co-editors on developing this work into an anthology. She recently received research funding to pursue a study of Muslim youth and the politics of identity post 9/11 and  is editing a book called ‘Islam in the Hinterlands: A Canadian Muslim Studies Anthology.’