About Us

VISION

The Canadian Centre on Statelessness envisions a society in which a sense of existence and belonging of all people, however they define themselves, is reciprocally recognized and protected.

MISSION

The Canadian Centre on Statelessness exists to defend and promote the well-being of persons with lived experiences of statelessness, in particular those within the Canadian context, through:

RESEARCH

We co-generate and foster reciprocal exchanges of knowledge created by lived experiences of statelessness, participatory research, and policy analysis.

COMMUNITY

We work together as stateless persons and allies in a community that practices and cultivates respect for the rights, choices, and belonging of persons with experiences of statelessness.

ADVOCACY

We amplify emancipatory knowledges and action, through intersectional allyship, for the purpose of influencing legislative, policy and social change.

Meet our New Board of Directors!

HEATHER ALEXANDER
Heather Alexander is an expert on refugee law, forced displacement, and statelessness at Carleton University and the research coordinator for the IDRC Research Chairs Network on Forced Displacement. Her academic work focuses on statelessness among nomadic and mobile peoples, legal identity, refugee law and climate change. She has a PhD from Tilburg University in the Netherlands, a JD from Golden Gate University School of Law, and a BA from Boston University in the United States. She was an Associate Protection Officer for UNHCR in Chad and Sri Lanka. She has served as a consultant for UNHCR, the US State Department, the University of Melbourne and the GlobalCit project at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. She is also a former US Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon and a co-founder and former board member of United Stateless, an advocacy group for stateless people in the USA.

JOCELYN KANE
Jocelyn is the founder of CCS and is a PhD candidate in Political Studies
at the University of Ottawa where she researches voluntary statelessness.

GEZY SCHUURMANS
Gezy Schuurmans is currently a PhD Candidate with the Joined-Up Justice Project at Tilburg University, conducting empirical legal research in the field of criminal law and migration law. In 2018, she began supporting the work of the Canadian Centre on Statelessness as a Research Assistant. Previously, she has worked on the topic of statelessness by interning with the Institute on Statelessness, the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the UN, and a migration law firm.

DESALE TESFAMARIAM
ABRAHA Desale Tesfamariam is pursuing a PhD at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies (GSAPS) at Waseda University in Japan. He specializes in the fields of international development and international human rights. Desale’s research interests encompass examining human rights, political economy, blockchain technology, and development, specifically focusing on underdeveloped nations. While enrolled at Waseda University, he earned a Graduate Certificate from the Institute of Human Rights (IHR).

TSERING THONSUR
Tsering is currently an advisor with the Refugee Advisory Network of Canada and has engaged in advocacy work and promoting refugee, stateless, and people with displaced rights at the local, national, and global platforms. Tsering was born in India as a stateless refugee as a result of the occupation of Tibet by China. She arrived in Canada as a refugee claimant and has many years of professional and personal experience working with refugees, Stateless, and new immigrants in Toronto. She is very passionate about advocacy for refugee and women’s issues. Tsering is active in community engagement and development and has built successful partnerships with community and service providers within the settlement sector. Tsering has volunteered in the community in various capacities, including as a board member with the Tibetan Democracy and Human Rights, South Asian Women's Centre, and Parkdale Community Health Centre. Tsering’s resume brings many years of experience in social service, grassroots activism, and leadership skills. She graduated from the University of Windsor with a Master of Social Work, a Bachelor in Social Work from TMU School of Social Work, and has a diploma and certificates in Social Service Management from George Brown College and Refugee and Migrant Issues from York University. She has a master's in political science from Mysore University in India.