Ed Bianchi (Ottawa)
Retired in January 2023 after more than three decades working with Indigenous peoples and allies on education and advocacy initiatives for the recognition and implementation of Indigenous peoples’ rights.
Javier Garate
US Policy Advisor for the Land and Environmental Defenders Campaign at Global Witness; former North America Representative for PBI-Colombia. Active in the Latin American Antimilitarist Network. Studied social anthropology in Chile.
Philip Henderson (London)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Carleton University’s Institute of Political Economy and instructor in Canadian Studies. Specialises in Canadian settler imperialism and theories of anti-imperialist internationalism.
Ellen Kaas (Toronto)
Chartered Accountant with 30 years of management and accounting experience in the charity sector, supporting peace, environmental, homelessness, prison, and youth initiatives. Treasurer of PBI-Canada.
Meera Karunananthan (Ottawa)
Director of the Blue Planet Project advancing global water justice. Co-creator of the Blue Communities Project. Recipient of UNANIMA’s Women of Courage Award (2016). Currently a PhD candidate researching water justice struggles among racialized women in Cape Town.
Union organizer and former National Action Coordinator for Amnesty International Canada. More than a decade of community organizing experience. Holds a master’s degree in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation and has participated in post-conflict work in Canada and Guatemala.
Heather Neun
Non-practicing member of the Law Society of B.C., specialised in human rights and labour law. Former PBI Guatemala accompanier (1987–88). Extensive advocacy experience within the Inter-American human rights system, and delegate on PBI international missions supporting at-risk Colombian lawyers.
Mélisande Séguin (Victoria)
PhD student in Law and Society at the University of Victoria studying Indigenous women’s resistance to extractivism in Guatemala. Former PBI Guatemala accompanier and member of the project committee since 2021.
Marianna Tzabiras (Toronto)
Former PBI volunteer in Guatemala and North America, and representative on the PBI International Council. Wide experience with IFEX defending freedom of expression, and past roles with FCJ Refugee Centre and Toronto Human Rights Film Festival.
Julia Weder (Haida Gwaii)
Community organizer, grant-writer, and youth worker active in food and energy sovereignty initiatives. Holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Studies from Queen’s University and completing a master’s thesis on Indigenous solidarity activism on Haida Gwaii.