Our Team

2022-2023 Board of Directors

Alain Mootoo is the Chief Operating Officer of the CAMH Foundation. Alain is responsible for governance, strategy, risk management, business performance, human resources, development research, prospect management, customer service, operations and administration of the Foundation. Alain has over 20 years of leadership experience in the non-profit and for-profit sectors with organizations like Lumenus Community Services, Surrey Place, March of Dimes, Corus Entertainment, Ernst and Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Alain has leveraged his lived experience as an immigrant to Canada, a foreign-trained professional and a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community to launch award-winning, innovative programs and events for marginalized populations in 140 communities across Canada. He has served as a Board Treasurer and a Board member with organizations like COTA, the Sherbourne Health Centre and Dancing Classrooms (Canada). Alain is a CPA, CGA, a Fellow of the Association of Certified Professional Accountants (ACCA) and holds a Master of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MMIE) from the Smith School of Business at Queens University. Based in Toronto, Alain has served on Dignity Network Canada’s Finance Committee since 2021 and is currently Finance Chair and Treasurer on the Board. (Term 2022-24)

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Dr. Chamindra Weerawardhana is an intersectional feminist human rights defender, academic and political analyst. An alumna of Université de Tours, France, she completed her PhD (international politics) at Queen’s University Belfast. An experienced political lobbyist, Chamindra has developed extensive international dialogues on SOGIESC rights with political parties and leaders in the 

UK/Ireland, Canada and Sri Lanka. She is the founder of the Consortium for Intersectional Justice, a human rights-focused political lobbying initiative. She is the Secretary to the Governance Board of the Asia-Pacific Transgender Network. She held a fellowship at the Chair in Transgender Studies at the University of Victoria in 2019-2020. As a Senior Consultant at ILGA World, Chamindra provides thought leadership to the Trans Rights and Sport and Human Rights portfolios. She has been a fundraiser to several trans-competent and feminist initiatives in Sri Lanka and abroad. An experienced grant writer and evaluator, Chamindra is a member of the Grant-Making Panel of the International Trans Fund.  An active participant in the Francophonie, Chamindra began her academic career in France, notably at the Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, INALCO, and Lille, and continues to contribute to the Université Laval’s Université féministe d’été, the Société québécoise de science politique, and Women and Gender Studies/Recherches féministes. She is also a regular lecturer at numerous Canadian and Quebec universities. Also involved in the francophone human rights sector, she regularly collaborates with organizations such as Égides, the Réseau québécois en études féministes, and the Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale. Currently residing in Lekwungen Territory, Chamindra is the author of the monograph Decolonising Peacebuilding, and many peer-reviewed publications. (Term 2022-24)

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Luis Agusto Nobre (he/him, il/lui) is a communications and social impact professional with almost two decades of experience in the corporate sector at multinational companies and non-profit organizations. He has led and managed initiatives in Communications, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Social Impact. Luis specializes in strategic communications management, social inclusion/impact, and project management. Originally from Brazil, Luis is skilled in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and professional-level French. Currently, he works for Pride at Work Canada/Fierté au travail Canada as its Senior Communications Coordinator. Over the past years, he has been leading all bilingual communications activities to ensure the promotion and reputation of the organization, including strategic communications, content creation/curation, copywriting, and crisis management. Passionate and devoted, Luis also advocates for human rights protection and volunteers to support minority communities, such as Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+, Black and People of Colour, and immigrant communities.

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Debbie Owusu-Akeeyah is a first-generation Ghanaian-Canadian cisgender queer woman who is dedicated to the liberation of all her communities. She is currently the Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity and based in Ottawa. Debbie has deep roots in program and project management, gender-based analysis, feminist foreign policy and international affairs. She completed her graduate school studies in International Affairs, specializing in International Development Policy at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (Carlton University). She has worked at Global Affairs Canada as a policy analyst responsible for strategic advice on child protection, gender equality and broader sexual and gender-based violence issues, with a particular focus on adolescent girls and the girl child. Prior to CCGSD, she was Campaign and Outreach Officer at Oxfam Canada, responsible for developing public engagement strategies. She has also been a Board member and Chair of several organizations, including the new Venus Envy Access Fund and Harmony House Women’s Shelter. Debbie is currently Co-Chair of Dignity Network Canada’s Advocacy and Government Relations Working Group and she is also involved in assisting coordination globally around opposition to the anti-LGBTIQ bill in the Ghanaian parliament. Debbie is nominated to the DNC Board by CCGSD.

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Haran Vijayanathan has over 16 years of experience working in the non-profit sector. He has been working in the area of HIV sector in Community Health Centre settings and in social service organizations. He has lived and worked in many communities in Ontario and brings with him the cultural sensitivity on addressing issues around HIV, 2SLGBTQ+ issues and intersectional identities and diversity within these communities through work with Rainbow Health Ontario. He is the founder of My House: Rainbow Resources of York Region and the Executive Director of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP). ASAAP is the only AIDS Service Organization serving the South Asian community in Ontario and in Canada. In his current leadership role, Haran has most recently been a critical thought leader in national media, addressing systemic racism, homophobia and classism as it relates to missing persons and families/friends of LGBTQ community impacted by the serial killings in Toronto. Haran was a Community Advisory Group member with the Independent Review of Missing Persons, Toronto Police Service and currently sits on the implementation committee of the 151 recommendations from the report. Haran was the 2018 Grand Marshal for Toronto Pride. He resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba and works at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights as their Director, Equity and Strategic Initiatives.

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Healy Thompson is the Senior Manager of Advocacy at the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) where she leads the organization’s strategic work within international development and philanthropic communities to advance support for community-led organizations addressing the impacts of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Over the last 8 years, Healy has worked in variety of positions at the SLF including as the Senior Development Officer for Foundation Giving, as the Manager of Community Campaigns and Strategic Initiatives, and as the Manager of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. Previous to joining the SLF, Healy did graduate studies in Gender, Feminist, and Women’s Studies at York University in Toronto and worked in global HIV and AIDS advocacy movements in the United States. Healy is non-binary, queer, a former competitive athlete, a community-builder, a baker, and a pun lover. She lives in Waterloo, Ontario with her partner and two kids.

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Jane Thirikwa has extensive expertise and experience in social justice work including gender equality and women’s empowerment, women’s and LGBQ human rights, advocacy and fundraising for grassroots organizations. She has worked within Kenya’s civil society, in the U.S.A. and now in Canada. Jane is currently, the Global Partnerships Coordinator at KAIROS Canada, leading collaborative women, peace and security programs with partnering grassroots women’s organizations, women and women human rights defenders in the Global South. In Kenya, Jane worked in advocacy programs at the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), coordinating grassroots initiatives as well as building partnerships with the wider social justice movement in Kenya and east Africa. Jane also worked with and participated in the collaborative research projects that provided space in which to engage the LGBTQ community in Kenya, in particular, to challenge systems of power and structures of dominant representation of their stories and experiences. The documentation enabled the community to reflect on the knowledge produced about their contexts, and visibalize transformative actions. Jane is a Gender and Women’s Studies graduate from York University and is also an Atlas Corps and Human Rights Campaign Fellow (2014). She volunteers at Rainbow Connect, a LGBTQ+ newcomer support program at St. Stephen’s Community House, Toronto, helping newcomers to successfully settle into their new life in Canada. 

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Michael Arnaud comes from the humanitarian and international development sector. He is the current Executive Director of Égides, an international francophone alliance of civil society organizations and groups supporting and promoting LGBTQI+ rights globally. He is also Action Against Hunger’s Canada former Associate Director for gender equality and gender-based violence, providing strategic and technical direction at international level for the integration of gender issues and the prevention of gender-based violence in assistance programs. Determined promoter of a people and diversity centred approach, he has continuously advocated for a better awareness of power relations, oppression and the necessity to support the voices of the most marginalized in all the organizations he has worked for. With a Master’s degree in international humanitarian law, he has been working for the past 10 years on gender, equality, diversity and gender-based violence in various contexts, including in Burkina Faso, Haiti, Vietnam and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. He also actively supports LGBTQI+ rights through various volunteer roles in the communities.

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Nishin Nathwani is the Head of Strategy at Rainbow Railroad and a member of the Leadership Team. In this capacity, he leads strategic coordination of the organization’s research, advocacy, protection, monitoring and evaluation, and policy work. From 2021 to 2024, Nishin served as the Senior Advisor to Rainbow Railroad, advising on policy, strategy, and relations with the United Nations and governmental bodies. Previously, Nishin worked for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Switzerland, Lebanon, and Greece on the protection of gender-based violence survivors and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) refugees. In 2015, he spearheaded UNHCR’s first global project to evaluate its efforts to protect LGBTI refugees covering 106 operations worldwide. In 2022, Nishin served as the Lead Technical Expert on a six-country study commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on mapping and strengthening protection measures for LGBTI migrants. His writings on refugee protection have been published by UNHCR, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Columbia University Press, and International Peace Institute.

Nishin holds graduate degrees from Yale University in Political Science (Ph.D. with distinction; M.Phil.) and History (M.A.), as well as an undergraduate degree (B.A.) from Harvard University. He also holds a Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Yale University. His academic research focuses on international refugee law, territorial sovereignty, forced displacement, and their intersection with ecology, climate change studies, and Indigenous studies. Nishin Nathwani was recognized as a “Global Changemaker” by the British Council and was one of the six youngest delegates to the 2010 World Economic Forum in Davos. He was also recognized by Pacific Standard as one of the 2016 “Top 30 Thinkers Under 30” in the United States in economics, education, and political science. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Dignity Network Canada.

 

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Paula Tenaglia is Action Against Hunger Canada’s Director of Operations. She covers an international portfolio of programmes on gender equality and gender-based violence risk mitigation, safeguarding and nutrition. She engages in organizational policy work, institutional and corporate partnerships and advocacy and learning and development initiatives. Much of her work is currently focused on ensuring safe and accountable programming, advocating for and working on multisectoral gender transformative approaches at organizational and programmatic levels as well as the promotion of innovative approaches and technology for ending hunger.  Paula has worked for the Action Against Hunger International Network for 13 years in East and West Africa, Central America, USA and Canada. Prior to that, she worked with the World Food Programme. Paula holds a Master’s in Migration and Refugee Studies from the University of Sussex and a B.A.(Hons) in International Development Studies from the University of Guelph. Proudly from Northern Ontario, Paula now lives with her wife and son in Toronto and the three are avid explorers of Canada’s amazing outdoors. Paula is a passionate and dedicated advocate for global and national migration and refugee issues and supports together with the support of family and friends the sponsorship of refugees to Canada. Paula is being nominated to the DNC Board by Action Against Hunger.

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Ann Nweke is a seasoned finance professional, currently serving as a Senior Finance Officer at Rainbow Railroad, a Toronto-based organization dedicated to supporting LGBTQ2+ individuals fleeing persecution. With extensive experience in financial analysis, full-cycle accounting, and project management, Ann has made significant contributions to organizations such as Trapeze Software Group, MCL Sustainable Cleaning Solutions, and Alphaden Energy and Oilfield Ltd.
Originally from Nigeria, Ann’s journey has been marked by a profound commitment to education and social justice, during the End SARS protests in Nigeria, she actively advocated for human rights and systemic change, further solidifying her dedication to advocacy and equality. Ann is a Chartered Accountant  (CA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN).

As an MBA candidate at Ted Rogers School of Management, Ann is eager to bring her diverse skill set and passion for leadership to the Board of Directors. She looks forward to contributing to the strategic direction and success of the organization while fostering an environment of healthy dialogue and trust.

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Executive Director

Doug Kerr is originally from Edmonton, Alberta on Treaty 6 Territory and has made Toronto home since 1996.  Doug has a BA from the University of Alberta in International Relations and Chinese Studies, and an MSW from the University of Toronto. He has a certificate from the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in International Law Program from Leiden University in The Hague. Doug was Chair of the Board of Directors of Community One Foundation for six years and is one of the founders of the LGBT Giving Network, dedicated to enhancing philanthropy for LGBTQ2S & HIV/AIDS causes in Canada. In 2014, he was Chair of the International Human Rights Program for Pride Toronto.  In this role, Co-Chaired the WorldPride Human Rights Conference. Doug has also been a volunteer with InterPride, the global network of Pride organizations and was the lead on setting up its Solidarity Funding program between 2015 and 2018. In addition to running his own nonprofit management consulting practice, Doug has taught nonprofit strategy at the University of Toronto and international social justice at Centennial College. Doug served as Vice President of Fierté Canada Pride for two years. He was one of the founders of Dignity Network in 2015 and in this capacity, he was also a civil society representative on the Executive of the Equal Rights Coalition, an intergovernmental body dedicated to advancing LGBTI human rights globally. Due to his community work, he was a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and the Steinart and Ferreiro Award in 2016. He and his husband Michael are co-owners of Glad Day Bookshop, the oldest LGBTQ2S bookstore in the world and are also very proud parents of nine-year-old Malaki. Doug speaks Mandarin Chinese and is always working on his French.

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Policy and Advocacy Officer

Emmett Mark hails from Vancouver, BC, and holds a BA in International Relations from the University of British Columbia; he is in the final stages of an MA from Carleton University. With a background in advocacy campaigns spanning all levels of government, Emmett worked for several federal parliamentarians in the House of Commons and Senate before entering the international development field. Notably, he focused on the diversity, inclusion and youth portfolio during the 43rd Canadian Parliament, actively promoting LGBTQ2S and youth inclusion in politics. Before joining Dignity Network Canada, Emmett served as Executive and Project Assistant at the Parliamentary Centre, Canada’s oldest non-governmental organization dedicated to strengthening inclusive democratic institutions. In this role, he played a pivotal part in facilitating parliamentary and diplomatic engagement through innovative event programming. Additionally, he advanced pro-democracy initiatives across various external partnerships and outreach projects. Emmett also serves as Vice President of the Canadian International Council’s Young Professionals Network and is on the board of his local community foundation. In his leisure time, he enjoys scrutinizing electoral boundary delimitation, reading Russian literature, and seeking new avenues for engagement in international development as a young professional.

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Communications and Public Engagement Officer

Nelly Bassily is Dignity Network Canada’s Communications and Public Engagement Officer. She is also a queer disability justice advocate and intersectional feminist, anti-racism, and sexual rights activist and media maker and storyteller with more than 15 years of experience in the non-profit sector. Nelly has previously worked in communications and programming roles at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice, and the Disabled Women’s Network of Canada.