Article by PBI-Canada
We are pleased to welcome Sylvia McAdam, Meera Karunananthan, Ailish Morgan-Welden, and Marianna Tzabiras to PBI-Canada’s Board of Directors!
Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum) is from Treaty 6 lands in what is now called Canada. She has a Juris Doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor’s degree in Human Justice from the University of Regina. Sylvia is a co-founder of the global grassroots Indigenous-led movement Idle No More. She is the author of two books, Nationhood Interrupted: Revitalizing Nêhiyaw Legal Systems and First Nations Protocols and Methodologies. She has participated in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Meera Karunananthan is the director of the Blue Planet Project, an international water justice project aimed at supporting frontline struggles against the privatization and commodification of water. In 2009, she helped create the Blue Communities Project as the national water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. The Project was a winner of the FAD Barcelona City to City Award in 2018. In 2016, Meera received UNANIMA International’s Women of Courage award for her successful campaign to have the human right to water and sanitation included in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Ottawa. Her research examines the struggles for water justice of urban racialized women in Cape Town from a feminist intersectional perspective
Ailish Morgan-Welden is the National Action Coordinator for Amnesty International Canada. She has been involved in community organizing for more than 10 years and is passionate about enabling and equipping activists to work for human rights. She has a Master’s Degree from Trinity College in Dublin, which has a cross-border campus in Belfast for students pursuing work in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation. She has also been involved in post-conflict community work in both Canada and Guatemala.
Marianna Tzabiras has been a volunteer with our field projects in Guatemala and North America. She has also been a member of our International Council as a representative for the Central America/Mexico Project. Marianna brings her experience working with the IFEX global network as a Content Management Specialist, Section Editor, and Alerts Coordinator defending freedom of expression as a human right. Previously, she was with the FCJ Refugee Centre and the Toronto Human Rights Film and Video Festival.
Sylvia, Meera, Ailish and Marianna join the PBI-Canada Board along with continuing members Ed Bianchi (chairperson), Peter Cross (treasurer), Heather Neun, Fiona Meyer Cook, Luis van Isschot, and Paul Bocking.
