Authors

Trau Pakaruku Sawma is a Pinuyumayan cultural and political leader. He was a signatory to the 1999 'A New Partnership Between the Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Taiwan,' signed between representatives of Indigenous leaders and then-presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian, who became president the following year.

In 2012, Trau helped found the Taiwan First Nations Party dedicated to promoting the rights of all Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan.

Raylene Whitford is a Cree-Métis finance professional with a well-established career in the international energy industry. She is a member of the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board and the founder of INDIGI-X, a global network of Indigenous changemakers. 

A former equity partner of Deloitte Canada, Raylene is the chair of TC Energy’s Indigenous Advisory Council and a Director of Canative Energy. Her previous leadership positions include directing a company listed on the London Stock Exchange and leading a C$42-billion capital efficiency project for an integrated energy company in the Middle East. Raylene is a Chartered Accountant and has an MBA from the Aberdeen Business School in the U.K. She is currently completing an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Indigenous Studies and Business at the University of Alberta. Raylene is a proud member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. 

Dr. Kanako Uzawa is an Ainu scholar, artist, and rights advocate in Japan. She is the founder of AinuToday, a global online platform that delivers living Ainu culture and people. She is an Assistant Professor for the Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity at Hokkaido University. Her most recent work engages with Ainu art exhibitions, as a guest curator in collaboration with the University of Michigan Museum of Art in the United States, as an associated researcher at the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo in Norway, and as an editorial board member of AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. 

Prerana Das is Junior Research Scholar with APF Canada's South Asia team. She is a researcher and documentary filmmaker with a particular interest in stories of migration and processes of displacement in northeast India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Her work focuses on the relationships between political ecology, ethno-nationalism, colonialism, and gendered resistance among agrarian communities.

Isabelle D. Tupas graduated from Kwantlen Polytechnic University with a BA in Asian Studies in 2021. She has completed internships focused on the intersection of culture, governance, and social justice, and has worked on projects centred around Asian Canadian history and public memory.

During her undergraduate years, her research interests included comparative studies on East Asian and North American sociopolitical systems, East Asian and Southeast Asian ethnic studies, and the exploration of East Asian transnational migration to Canada. She was born and raised in Vancouver to first-generation Filipino-Canadian immigrants.

Ryan Ngai is a graduate of the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor's in International Economics and Development. He is currently working as a consultant in the energy and renewables sector and will soon be starting his Master's in Human Rights and Democratization at the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice.

Ryan has previously worked with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism and Global Affairs Canada, spent a semester teaching Design Thinking in Vietnam, and is engaged with the Canada-China Forum, where he helped organize a dialogue on the future of Canada-China environmental diplomacy adjacent to the 2022 COP15 Montreal Biodiversity Conference.

Arnaud Nsamirizi is a recent Master of Global Affairs graduate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy from The University of Toronto. Previously funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, his research interests include African development, Japanese foreign policy, and transportation policy.

Bill Lu holds a Bachelor’s of Commerce from McGill University, a Master’s in Public Affairs from York University, a Graduate Diploma in Asian Studies from York University, and a Post-Grad Certificate in Project Management from the University of Toronto. His main research interests are Canada-China relations and the Asian diaspora in Canada.

Dr. Sreyoshi Dey is APF Canada’s senior program manager for South Asia and Public Opinion Research.

Ingrid Wong is a former data analyst at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She holds an Honours B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of Toronto.