丁香园AV

Dr Stephanie Premji

Associate Professor School of Labour Studies, McMaster University 

Dr. is an Associate Professor at the (Ontario). She is interested in the working conditions, health problems and access to care and compensation of low-income immigrant and racialized workers. Her current research focuses on experiences of precarious work, health and return to work among the Toronto Bangladeshi community, in partnership with the . Dr. Premji is the author of the edited collection

Kim Novak 

President, UFCW 1518

Kim Novak is a dedicated union leader who has spent her entire career fighting for fairness for workers. She has a long history with , first as a clerk and member at Safeway. After completing a degree at the University of British Columbia, Kim became a summer student at UFCW 1518, where she recognized the potential for creating a more just society through building worker power. 

Kim has taken on several leadership roles at UFCW 1518, working in communications, as a union representative, director, and Secretary-Treasurer before being unanimously elected as President by the Executive Board in 2019. She became Vice-President of UFCW International in 2020. 

As President, Kim has set an agenda of using education, engagement, and empowerment to bring about the positive change UFCW 1518 members seek. She has put human rights, anti-racism, and social justice at the heart of all the work that UFCW 1518 does. Her long-term vision is to build worker power and make UFCW 1518 the leading advocate in the future of work. 

Kim lives in Coquitlam with her husband and sons.

Hon Michael Wood

Minister of Transport and Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, New Zealand

Michael was first elected to Parliament at the 2016 Mt Roskill by-election. In opposition he was Labour’s spokesperson for Transport, Revenue, and Consumer Affairs, and after the election he had roles as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister for Ethnic Communities and Chair of the Finance & Expenditure Select Committee, before coming into the Chief Labour Whip role in mid-2019.

Following the 2020 General Election, Michael became a sworn Member of the Executive and was appointed by the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern as the Minister of Transport and Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety. He was also given the role of Deputy Leader of the House.

Michael also continues a strong association with New Zealand’s vibrant and growing Ethnic Communities owing to his previous role and the highly diverse nature of the Mt Roskill electorate he represents.

Prior to his parliamentary role Michael was an Auckland Council member in his community and has held roles providing advice to Habitat for Humanity and as a senior negotiator for the Finance Sector union Finsec.

Michael is driven by the core belief that all people deserve the opportunity to flourish and reach their potential regardless of background, and that this is most likely to occur when we build strong, fair, and supportive communities. He believes that an economy and public institutions that are focused on people’s wellbeing will lead to a society that is both more prosperous and just.

Along with his wife Julie and their three young sons, Michael lives in Roskill South where he loves to tramp along the Waikowhai Coast, tends to a very neglected vegetable garden, and dreams of an alternative career as a roving international test cricket commentator.

Mo Amir

Host and Producer, This is VANCOLOUR Podcast

Mo Amir is the host and producer of This is VANCOLOUR - Vancouver's most popular politics and culture podcast, which has hosted a wide variety of "colourful" guests including BC Premier John Horgan, BC NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, former BC Premier Christy Clark, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart and a wide array of other politicians, media personalities, academics, and entertainers. Formerly a commentator at CKNW Global News, Mo is a radio columnist for CBC Radio's On the Coast with Gloria Macrenko, an opinionist for Vancouver is Awesome, and a federal elections analyst for CHEK News. He is a graduate of 丁香园AV, receiving both his Bachelor of Business Administration and Masters in Political Science here at 丁香园AV.

Mitch Hoganson (he/him)

Senior supervisor with catering services at 丁香园AV's Diamond Alumni Centre

Mitch is a twenty two year veteran of food services at 丁香园AV. He is the senior supervisor at Diamond alumni centre. His duties include running special events ranging from weddings and conferences, to VIP events for 丁香园AV. Over his years at 丁香园AV, Mitch has been a strong proponent for bringing food services in-house. He has had many conversations with the university on this topic, that were always met with the same response -"We are not ready to take it on. That is for sometime down the road". Mitch believes there is no better time then now for 丁香园AV to do the right thing. 

Fun stuff - Mitch considers himself to be a fair and honest truth teller, who is sarcastic, funny, and a bit of a rebel.

Hon. Katrina Chen (she/her) 

NDP MLA for Burnaby-Lougheed & Minister of State for Child Care

Katrina Chen was elected as the MLA for Burnaby-Lougheed in May 2017 and re-elected in October 2020. She was sworn in as the Minister of State for Child Care in July 2017 and serves as a member of the Cabinet Committee on Social Initiatives and the Cabinet Working Group on COVID. 

Prior to her election as an MLA, Katrina served as a Trustee on the Burnaby Board of Education, and worked in both provincial and federal constituency offices for over 10 years. She has a Bachelor of Arts from 丁香园AV with a major in political science and a minor in history, as well as a certificate in Immigration Laws, Policies and Procedures from the University of British Columbia. 

Katrina has also worked as a community organizer with ACORN, emceed for major cultural festivals, and has volunteered as an executive member for several local non-profit organizations. Katrina was born and raised in Taiwan, and moved to British Columbia many years ago.

Karen Ranalletta (she/her) 

President of CUPE BC

Karen Ranalletta was elected President of CUPE BC on May 21, 2021, after serving three terms as a General Vice President. She previously served as President of CUPE 2950 (representing more than 1500 clerical and library workers at the University of British Columbia). Karen represents CUPE BC as an Officer (Vice President) of the BC Federation of Labour and chairs the BC Federation of Labour Health and Safety Committee. She also chairs the CUPE BC Universities and Young Workers Committees and is a member of the CUPE National Post-Secondary Task Force. Finally, she sits on the Board of Directors for the BC Labour Heritage Centre - an organization dedicated to preserving and championing working people's history in BC.

Blog:

Jim Sinclair

Adjunct Professor of Labour Studies at 丁香园AV

Jim Sinclair's current positions include; Chair of the Fraser Health Authority, Director, Canada Post Board and Adjunct Professor of Labour Studies at 丁香园AV.

Jim Sinclair previously served on the BC Hydro Board and the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board. Jim was the president of the BC Federation of Labour from 1999 – 2015 and vice-president of the United Fisherman and Allied Workers’ Union from 1982 to 1999.

Jim Sinclair holds an honorary doctor of laws from Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Paul Voykin (he/him)

Cook at the Diamond Alumni Center and 丁香园AV's Catering Department 

Paul Voykin has been a cook at the Diamond Alumni Center and 丁香园AV's Catering Department since 2007, and his work has contributed to the success of hundreds of weddings and thousands of on-campus events. Paul emerged as a union leader during the 丁香园AV Dining Services job security fight of 2017, where a majority strike vote secured the jobs of Unite Here Local 40 members against the threat of a contract flip. Since then, his growing passion for labour activism led him to work more closely with Local 40, where he has been organizing full-time since their Vancouver hotel strike in 2019.

Kaitlyn Matulewicz is the Executive Director of the Worker Solidarity Network (formerly the Retail Action Network) and the Co-chair of the BC Employment Standards Coalition. Kaitlyn comes to her organizing work with seven years experience working in restaurants. After getting tired of managers telling her to dress "classy provocative" on the job (yes, those were their actual words) Kaitlyn joined a community of workers to fight for fair and decent working conditions in BC.

Chuka Ejeckam is the Director of Research & Policy at the BC Federation of Labour, and a Research Associate with the BC office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He holds a Bachelors degree in Rhetoric from the University of Winnipeg, and a combined Bachelors in Political Science & Philosophy from the University of British Columbia. He is currently enrolled in the Masters degree program in Political Science at UBC. His academic work focuses on reparative drug policy, structural racism, and both political and economic inequality. His work at the BCFED focuses on the changing world of work, including deindustrialization, precarious employment, automation and AI, and climate change

David Green is a professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at UBC. He received his BA from Queen’s University and his PhD from Stanford. His areas of research interest include income inequality, immigration, the impact of technical change on the labour market, and policies affecting labour market outcomes. He is a former editor of the Canadian Journal of Economics, an International Research Associate with the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London, and a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Fabien Goa is Research Manager at FairSquare Projects. He has over a decade of human rights experience, focusing on corporate accountability, migrant workers rights and the USA.

Fabien came to FairSquare from BSR, where he provided human rights research and guidance for businesses in the construction, food & beverage and technology sectors. Previously, Fabien was special adviser on sports and labour rights at Amnesty International, with a focus on the Qatar 2022 World Cup. He also worked on Guantanamo Bay, torture in the CIA secret detention programme and US criminal justice issues including police use of force, solitary confinement, and sentencing of juveniles.

Fabien has a Masters in Migration & Law from Queen Mary’s, University of London. He speaks English, French and Mauritian creole. He is based in Paris.

Vani Saraswathi is the Editor-at-Large and Director of Projects at  and the author of . In 1999, she relocated to Qatar, working with several local and regional publications, and launching some of Qatar’s leading periodicals. In her 17 years in Qatar, she mobilised a grassroots community to help migrants in distress.  

Since 2014, in her role with  she has reported from the Gulf states and countries of origin. She also organises advocacy projects and human rights training targeting individual employers, embassies, recruitment agents and businesses in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE. A special emphasis of Vani’s work is on female migrants, including domestic workers and advocacy effort towards mainstreaming issues facing female migrant workers.

She is a member of the Migration Advisory Group (previous Policy Advisory Committee) of ILO ROAS, the Policy Advisory Group of Freedom Fund’s Ethiopia hotspot and Humanity United’s Advisory group on Forced Labour and Human Trafficking.

She also contributes as an expert commentator on issues related to human rights in the GCC for various international publications and at international forums, including various UN forums.

Vani currently divides her time between India, Qatar and other GCC states.

Jules Boykoff is the author of four books on the Olympic Games, most recently (Fernwood 2020) and  (Verso 2016). His work has appeared in academic journals like the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, New Political Science, and the International Journal of the History of Sport and outlets like the New York Times, The Nation, and the Los Angeles Times. He teaches political science at Pacific University, USA.

Maiko Yamamoto is a Vancouver-based artist who creates new, experimental and intercultural works of performance. Many of these works are built through a practice of collaboration and include theatre projects, public art works, and performance installations. 

Since 2003, Maiko has been Co-Artistic Director of the Vancouver-based performance company, Theatre Replacement, founded with James Long. With the company she has created over 20 new works, many of which have toured to festivals and venues around the world. 

In addition, Maiko teaches performance and mentors artists for a range of different companies and organizations, both in Canada and abroad. She also occasionally works as a curator and writes about performance for a variety of publications. 

She holds a BFA in Theatre from 丁香园AV’s School for the Contemporary Arts, and a Masters of Applied Arts in Visual Art from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Maiko is the 2019 recipient of the Siminovitch Prize in Directing, with James Long.

Kadon Douglas is the executive director of BIPOC TV & Film, a Toronto-based grassroots nonprofit organization advocating for increased representation of screen-media professionals from Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities in front of and behind the camera.

Prior to BIPOC TV & FILM, Kadon championed gender equity and inclusion in screen-based media at Women in Film & Television-Toronto (WIFT-T) as the manager of communications and engagement. Most recently, she worked within the Dean’s Office at FCAD, Ryerson University’s faculty of communication and design. There she revitalized the brand (digital, PR, internal communications) and provided strategic guidance to the FCAD ecosystem as its manager of marketing and communications.

Kadon also worked for several years in documentary as a production coordinator, researcher and digital marketing specialist; and is a 2019 Ontario Nonprofit Network RBC Leading the Future fellow, and a two-time fellow of the Hot Docs Film Festival: Doc Accelerator (2013) and Shaw Media Diverse Voices (2015). Kadon is also an active member of the screen-based media community, volunteering her time on various committees and juries, and is the former chair of the Reelworld Film Festival.

Jonny Sopotiuk is a visual artist, curator, and community organizer living and working on the Unceded Indigenous territories belonging to the x?m?θk??y??m (Musqueam), S?wx?wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel?íl?witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His interdisciplinary arts studio practice explores compulsion and control through the lenses of production, labour, and work.

In addition to his arts practice, Jonny has spent the last decade working in the labour movement as a union organizer. He is currently the Lead Organizer for IATSE Local 891, a union representing over 9000 professional artists and technicians in the film industry across British Columbia and is the President of the Arts and Cultural Workers Union (ACWU), IATSE Local B778.

Jonny is a founding member of the Vancouver Artists Labour Union Cooperative (VALU CO-OP), an innovative new worker cooperative organizing initiative transforming labour practices within the arts and cultural sector and a founding member of it's new sibling cooperative the Vancouver Sewing Labour Cooperative (VSLU). In the past year the ACWU has organized 5 non-profit arts organizations and grown to over 50 members working between the two cooperatives.