Parminder Nizher is a 28-year-old community organizer. As a second-generation South Asian woman born and raised in the suburbs of Greater Vancouver, personal experiences have shown Parminder that social justice for marginalized immigrant youth is unique. She graduated as a social worker from the University of British Columbia three years ago. Since then, she has split her time as an outreach worker in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and coordinating a participatory action research project at Battered Women’s Support Services. Her dream is to do grassroots work with young woman in the South Asian community, and she’s still figuring out her exact niche.
Parminder’s secret dream is to be an organic farmer and have her own homestead. Her passions are living in harmony with Mother Earth, growing and eating food, exploring old stories and mythology, decolonization, spirituality and her loved ones. She tries to truly be the changes she fights for in the world – an arduous, interesting and fruitful journey!
Participating in the Youth Commission is an honour for Parminder. She’s curious to hear what youth from her generation and younger think about social justice and the barriers to social justice. She thinks creating anti-oppressive, just and inclusive communities starts from the grassroots. Going to youth, listening to them and then shaping our community initiatives based on what they tell us is why she’s excited to participate in the LEAF Youth Commission. For Parminder, social justice is inseparable from living in harmony with our environment and planet.
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Mandavni is 21 years old and a self-described, “hairy and hungry feminist.” She was born in Richmond, BC, and grew up under the guidance of her grandmothers, mother, father and sister. Mandavni learned about animism from her maternal grandmother, justice from her mother and feminism from her sister. She spent her childhood and adolescence playing in the garden, riding her bicycle, eating gummy candies, jumping on trampolines and playing with Barbies.
After high school, Mandavni studied sociology for two years at the University of Toronto. She transferred to Simon Fraser University and is currently pursuing a double major in women’s studies and sociology. When Mandavni grows up, she wants to become a lawyer and work in the area of criminal defence law and prisoners’ justice.
Mandavni’s favourite things to do on rainy days include curling up under a blanket with a cup of chai and watching Hindi soap operas. She likes to spend her spare time eating chocolate, hanging out at the SFU Women’s Centre and volunteering with social justice organizations, including Elizabeth Fry and West Coast LEAF. She is an avid reader, artist and creative writer, as well as a social justice activist. She is especially passionate about prisoners’ justice and social justice issues pertaining to disability. As a Youth Commissioner, Mandavni would like to further explore these social justice issues through poetry and paint.
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Derek Warwick, 22, writes daily. He is an Edmonton-based troublemaker in his final year at the University of Alberta, with a major in women’s studies and a minor in creative writing, and attributes his desire for social action to being raised in rural Alberta. Métis and queer, Derek embraced a feminist politic with his first women’s studies course in 2007. Since then, his work has come to focus primarily on gendered violence and sexual health, and is currently the Program Coordinator for LEAF’s No Means No in Edmonton. In the past, he’s worked with the Pride Centre of Edmonton, Options Sexual Health Association, and the university’s Peer Health Educators.
With the help of his friends, Derek led the Samarasekera Response Team last fall in response to U of A President Indira Samarasekera’s comments on the increasing enrolment of women in university. The SRT provoked national media coverage with their satirical posters recruiting white men to campus and were eventually threatened to be charged by Campus Security Services under the Code of Student Behaviour.
Within the past year, Derek has taken up spoken word and can often be seen at the Blue Chair Café’s monthly storytelling event. He was also a part of Exposure Festival’s performance event, Queerly I Am Nothing New and was the guest speaker for the U of A Sexual Assault Centre’s Night of Expression.
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Diane Leclerc, age 28, was born and raised in Montreal and is of French-Canadian and Polish descent. From 2001-2005, she attended Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she earned her B.A. in International Development Studies and Political Science. She wrote her honours thesis on tourism development and terrorism. Diane also holds a certificate in Public Relations Management from McGill and a graduate diploma (DESS) in Community Economic Development from Concordia’s School of Public and Community Affairs.
Diane has done extensive research on topics in international and local development, including community mapping of resources for young single mothers in Montreal. She has written communications plans for public relations campaigns and has studied the development of the social economy in Quebec and Canada. Living in different regions of Canada has deepened her appreciation for Canadian cultural diversity.
Diane has worked in the public and private sectors. She spent the last year on a fundraising team for a rehabilitation centre that serves people with physical impairments. Diane wants to apply her knowledge and skills to advocate for human rights and security. She volunteered her communications skills at the Girls Action Foundation in 2006 and has been working to build her toolkit of skills in community and political organizing. She is currently teaching herself how to play the piano.
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Meghan Menzies is currently enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba and has an undergraduate degree in International Development Studies from the University of Winnipeg.
Meghan is 23 years old and from a small town in Southern Manitoba. She has always enjoyed expressing herself through creative mediums such as music and sewing.
Community involvement and action have always been Meghan’s passions. She’s worked and volunteered with groups focused on education, gardening, body image issues and landmine awareness.
Over the past year, Meghan has become increasingly involved in organizations that incorporate a legal focus in their work. These groups include the Feminist Legal Forum, Pro Bono Students Canada and LEAF. Her work with LEAF has been primarily with their No Means No campaign, which involved giving interactive presentations to high school students on the issue of consent. Not only has this experience been both personally educative and eye-opening, but it has also been extremely inspiring for Meghan to hear ideas on rights and responsibilities from the perspectives of youth in her city.
As a Youth Commissioner for LEAF, Meghan is excited to spend the summer facilitating platforms for the opinions, thoughts and ideas of youth in her community. There are many social injustices that exist within society today, and it has been her experience that some of the most innovative and bright ideas on these topics often come from the ingenious minds of youth. Meghan looks forward to spending the summer exploring the concerns of the people in her community, while collectively creating channels for expression so all voices and opinions can be heard.
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Danna Joy is a 21-year-old from Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. She is of M’kmaq descent has been actively involved in non-political cultural activities and events. She enjoys music and participates in native singing, drumming and dancing. Danna loves to network and share knowledge. She is open-minded, creative and loves working with youth. Danna enjoys learning about different cultures and hearing different points of view.
Danna has just accepted a job as Violence Prevention Coordinator with one of the local M’kmaq Bands. Her job involves gathering resources and networks to promote violence prevention, while incorporating the traditional teachings and knowledge of the M’kmaq people. She’s putting this information onto a website so everyone can have access to violence prevention methods from a M’kmaq perspective. Before Danna started this job, she worked with Communities In Schools, an organization that places volunteer coordinators into local schools to help students get involved in the community. She worked with middle school kids and really enjoyed the experience.
Danna was drawn to the Youth Commission because she believes youth have a voice that needs to be heard. What better way to get heard than to take action and show the community what needs to be done? Danna feels connected to this initiative because she is a youth and believes youth are stereotyped and misunderstood by the general population. There is a huge gap between youth and the rest of the population. Danna feels that for anything positive to be achieved, there needs to be a means of effective communication between youth and adults. Danna’s goal as a Youth Commissioner is to bridge the gap and open those lines of communication.
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LaMeia Reddick is a 19-year-old from Nova Scotia. Although she lived in Dartmouth for the majority of her life, her heart lives in the community of North Preston, one of the largest black communities in the province.
LaMeia is currently a second year student at Dalhousie University, where she studies sociology and English. She works for the Community Justice Society as a Community Enhancement Coordinator and volunteers for organizations regularly. LaMeia’s passion for doing grassroots community development inspires her to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. When she heard about LEAF’s Youth Commissioner position through her mentors, she knew she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to represent the voice of Nova Scotian youth.
LaMeia is a visionary leader with a passion for change and building relationships. She always asks, “How can we, as individuals, work better together to improve some of the crises we face on a day-to-day basis?”She has dedicated her life to trying to ensure every youth has an opportunity to reach their maximum potential. She continually works towards breaking down barriers that hold youth down.
When LaMeia is not working or volunteering, she enjoys spending time with family and friends. She has a passion for art, including visual art, multimedia, film, poetry and spoken word. She also loves to travel and takes three-to-four trips a year.
LaMeia is motivated to give back to her community. She works to bring about change in this world because she knows change is possible. All it takes is a little hard work from everyone and a willingness to try new things and trust one another.
LaMeia is honoured to be a part of this initiative and values the hard work and dedication that has kept LEAF functioning for 25 years. She is very thankful for this opportunity.
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Saron Gebresellassi is a 23-year-old doctoral candidate at York University, where she teaches in the Department of Humanities. Saron completed a Masters in Education at the University of Toronto and holds a Bachelors in Radio and Television Arts. She will start law school this September.
Saron is a linguist, translator, published author, musician, artist and academic. She speaks five languages and is studying two more. Saron is active in the labour movement as a proud member of CUPE3903. She has advocated for accessible post-secondary education, immigrant and refugee justice, international solidarity and social equality. Saron was a founding member of the Reparations Committee at the University of Toronto, the CUPE3903 Democratic Membership Committee at York University, the Anti-Racism Coalition at Ryerson University and Students in Support of CUPE3902 at the University of Toronto. She has played an active role in the student, labour, feminist and anti-racist movements in Toronto since 2003.
Saron is the recipient of several public accolades including the 2010 BBPA Harry Jerome Award, YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, African-Canadian Women’s Achievement Award, OMNI Television Multilingual Award and was named in Chatelaine Magazine’s “Top 80 Women to Watch” feature.
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Rabia Sheikh is an Edmontonian and 24-year-old Muslim woman. She completed her Bachelors in Business Management at the University of Lethbridge. Rabia currently attends the University of Alberta and is pursuing her Masters in Educational Policy Studies specializing in theoretical, cultural and international studies.
Rabia has volunteered for the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, the Racism Free Edmonton youth working group, UNESCO’s youth advisory group, the Edmonton Muslim Leadership Forum and the Aboriginal Youth Proposal Review Committee. Her aspiration is to work in policy development for the NGO sector with a focus on human rights, social justice and diversity issues.
In her free time, Rabia enjoys travelling, reading and exploring different things. She is currently developing a Jewish and Muslim documentary with a colleague and hopes to launch this initiative in May as the first step in building understanding between the communities. Rabia is also collaborating with Pakistani filmmakers to start a grassroots media movement in Pakistan that promotes a multidimensional perspective of the country’s art, cultural and media development. She looks forward to engaging youth in dialogue about social justice and human rights because she feels youth are often underestimated in the valuable insight they bring to the forefront.
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Onyé (Buchi) Nnadi is a 25 year old Manitoban residing in Winnipeg. As a young Nigerian-Canadian, and avid traveler, she imagines herself a citizen of the world. Brought up in the suburbs of Winnipeg, Manitoba, she quickly noticed that location plays a large part on who one becomes and how one is viewed, understood or misunderstood. Through her travels, she has realised that as her surrounding changes, reactions to her change and she inevitably changes. Her experiences lead to her interest in identity politics, economic development, environment and African studies. She received a degree in Environmental and Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg.
She has worked with many government agencies, community groups and outreach organizations. Praised for her work in community development and social organising, she received the 2005 YMCA/WA Young Woman of Distinction Award. She is also a past winner of the City of Winnipeg Citizen’s Award, The Black History Committee Award and various others.
To Onye, Working for Women’s Rights means working for community rights. She believes in the necessity of education, conversation and collaboration, which is what drew her to the work of LEAF Manitoba. She has volunteered with LEAF, in various capacities, for the past five years, most notably, in the planning and execution of their annual youth conference. Working with youth provides her, with not only personal satisfaction but confidence in the abilities of her generation and those to come.
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Perhaps the best way to describe Lauren’s investment in social justice work would be to say that she was born into it. Lauren is the daughter of a working-class British immigrant mother, and a Ukrainian-Canadian father descended from socialist immigrants and labour movement activists. Values of equity, justice, and compassion were instilled in her from a young age, and have always been the most prominent cultural tradition upheld by her family. At 24, she is yet to be given a logical reason to stray from these values.
Lauren yields from the isolated northern town of Red Lake, Ontario, but has made Victoria, British Columbia her home for the past decade. As an undergraduate student at the University of Victoria, Lauren specialized in local, community-based research projects. For example, she made a documentary about a local all-female bicycle performance troupe that uses theatre, dance, and storytelling to promote cycling, and she researched renewable energy alternatives for a local low-income housing coop. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies and Environmental Studies.
Lauren has worked as a treeplanter (in her opinion, the best job ever), a feminist event coordinator, and a wedding bartender, among other things. She currently serves at Rebar, a bustling vegetarian and whole foods restaurant. Lauren loves her tight-knit and diverse team of coworkers; working in an environment that celebrates food; supporting local farmers; and analyzing how food service workers are gendered and sexualized.
Lauren enjoys riding her bike, playing the accordion, listening to her favorite radio shows and podcasts, and rocking out to her female music icons during long runs. She is mildly infatuated with Dolly Parton, and is on a seemingly life-long quest to find the perfect dill pickle.
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My name is Priscilla and I am a Youth Leader with the LEAF. I am in my mid-twenties and excited about this opportunity to work within my community. I have a great passion for empowering youth with the tools needed to succeed. I was born and raised in North York, but now live in Ottawa.
I started my post- secondary education at Ryerson University where I received my first degree in Nursing. I’ve worked with the Public Health Department as a Public Health Nurse for several years. I am currently a full-time student the University of Ottawa’s Law School. I have a particular interest in health law, social justice and technology law. I became involved with LEAF as a volunteer at the Ottawa Chapter.
I volunteered with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto as a Big Sister for four years. This was a great experience, which allowed me to maintain a special relationship with a mentee. In my free time, I enjoy playing volleyball, softball and ultimate-frisbee. I also enjoy various forms of Latin dance.
