Elli Dehnavi

Elli is a university teacher, storyteller, and public educator, who has has been actively engaged in the community to raise awareness about interpersonal and systemic discrimination. She has developed adult education resources, coordinated training programs, and managed research and community-based projects. Elli joined CFRAC in 2017 as a Project Consultant and coordinated two main projects: Race and Respect, and Refugee Awareness Alberta. She then served as our Senior Consultant for a year and supervised the work of other researchers and consultants virksomhedens hjemmeside. Elli has designed and delivered courses and educational workshops on intercultural communication, EDI,  Implicit Bias, Creating Inclusive Communities, and gender equity. Now in her new role as the Executive Director, Elli is committed to building equitable relationships in line with CFRAC’s vision and mission.

Eugene Chok

After completing his Bachelor of Business Administration degree at the Texas Tech University, Eugene immigrated to Canada in search of the good life and an opportunity to develop his skills in the field of accountancy. From 1980 to 2000, he worked as an accountant in both industry and government organizations revia cena. Along the way, he picked up a professional Accountancy Designation with the Certified General Accountant Association of Alberta. In 2000, he accepted an offer to work as an accountant with The Alberta Lung Association and has continued working in the non-profit sector since. He admires the strong commitment that NGO workers hold toward their cause and plans to finish his career in this sector. In his spare time, he teaches Tai Chi Chuan to seniors at the Chinese Freemason Association in Edmonton.

Mansoureh Modarres

Mansoureh has been an educator and a researcher for over a decade and has worked in post-secondary sector and adult education as well as in the public sector and community engagement programs. Her academic work is focused on transnational feminisms, intersectionality, community and narrative studies, and storytelling. She has designed, developed and facilitated numerous educational programs for diverse audiences, on topics such as diversity and inclusion, writing for academic purposes, and literary studies. She joined our team in January 2020 as a Project Consultant, developing the educational resource “Gender Inclusivity in the Workplace: A Practical Guide”. Currently, she is with the Centre in the role of Senior Consultant, oversees our traning services, and also coordinates our new initiative “Challenging Discrimination through Community Conversations”. Mansoureh is committed to raising awareness about social issues and fostering inclusive practices.

Reuben is the Coordinator for our Nehiyaw Language Instruction program. Reuben has been working with Aboriginal youth and adults within Edmonton for 16 years. He has been a Cultural coordinator and Cree instructor for Edmonton Public Schools, Mother Earth Children’s Charter School, as well as the Edmonton Young Offender Center https://newzpharmacy.com/.
Reuben grew up in the residential school era and when the Blue Quills School was taken over by the Aboriginal community, there was a resurgence of language and cultural teachings. Reuben credits the late Mrs. Rosanna Houle for reviving the Nehiyaw (Cree) Cahkipeyihkanah and teaching it to all the students who had been liberated from residential school. The Nehiyaw Cahkipeyihkanah, or as some refer to it ’the Star Chart’, is a tool Reuben uses for teaching the Cree language.

Noelle Jaipaul

(she/her/hers) is a second-generation Canadian settler, born in Edmonton / amiskwaciwâskahikan. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and a Master of Arts in Public and International Affairs, and has lived and worked abroad in Kenya, Vietnam, and Tanzania. Noelle’s professional experience includes working in health programming and policy, primarily working with vulnerable populations, as well as in foreign affairs, immigration, and international development. Noelle also worked with the City of Edmonton, where she led the municipal work on the anti-racism file, helping to establish the first-ever City of Edmonton Anti-racism Advisory Committee. Noelle has extensive experience in developing and facilitating training on diversity and inclusion, intercultural communication, equity, and anti-racism. Noelle is President of the Board of John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, and is currently completing her PhD in political science at the University of Alberta.

Litzy Baeza

Litzy Litzy has a Master’s in Latin American Studies and a B.A. in Psychology. She has worked in the field of international education for the past 15 years managing a variety of projects overseas, primarily in Latin America. She started her work in the intercultural field in 2001, when working with students from Asia and Latin America and helping them adjust to Canadian society. She then moved on to independent consulting, facilitating intercultural communication seminars & workshops for a variety of clients from Edmonton. Litzy has also lived and worked abroad in Cuba, Chile and Mexico.

Litzy specializes in intercultural competency, cross-cultural intelligence and diversity & inclusion training. She also teaches an online course on Cross Cultural Intelligence at NAIT. She has received training from the Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication in Portland, Oregon and completed a Certificate in Intercultural & Diversity studies through the University of British Columbia. Besides her native English, Litzy is fluent in Spanish. Litzy was a board member for the Centre for Race and Culture in Edmonton from January 2017 to January 2019.

Merna Rachid

Merna is a recent graduate of the University of Alberta with a degree in French Language & Literature with specialization in Romance Languages and Translation Studies. She has been actively working in the Edmonton nonprofit sector for over 5 years, as well as several human rights organizations in the Middle East and internationally. Her work emphasizes post-colonial education, international human rights, and the societal effects of orientalism. Merna has joined the CFRAC team as the Communications and Administrative assistant. She is passionate about educating communities on CFRAC’s mission and create spaces to raise awareness and open discussions about systemic racism and oppression while creating vision for change.

Josh Morin is a youth leader within the Métis Nation. Born and raised in the Edmonton Area, Josh has dedicated the past 5 years to provide Indigenous led workshops to community members such as Moccasin Making, Finger weaving and Michif language classes as well as running the day to day operations at Michif Cultural Connections the Métis Cultural Centre in St. Albert. Josh is also the grandson of honourable Senator Thelma Chalifoux, the first Indigenous woman appointed to the Canadian Senate. His family has long historical roots in St. Albert and Lac St Anne dating back to the communities earliest iterations and are very proud of their strong Métis culture and history they carry in Treaty 6 territory and the Métis homeland. Currently Josh sits as an active member on Pearson’s Publishing Canada Indigenous Advisory Circle and is the newest team member to join CFRAC as the Indigenous Education Specialist.

Sahar Charradi, BA

Ian Mathieson, BA, MA

Ada Tai, MBA, CPHR, C.Mgr.