Our Team

Our Staff.

  • National Director

    Alisa is passionate about social, economic, and environmental justice and working collaboratively to dismantle systems of oppression. Alisa is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with a master's degree in International Community Development from the University of Calgary. She has nearly 20 years of experience as a community developer in Calgary co-creating and managing local and international projects in project design, implementation and evaluation. With a focus on social justice and human rights, Alisa has worked in the fields of homelessness and poverty reduction, gender-based violence, and most notably counter-human trafficking.

    "The work of the End FGM Canada Network is to strengthen and support systems that protect women and girls from FGM/C. This can only be done when people recognize this act as a human rights violation and crime within Canada. We must continue to work together to end all types of gender-based violence."

  • National Network Coordinator

    Warda is a long-time community advocate passionate about working with diverse populations in capacity and community-building roles. Warda's experience involves supporting and advocating for people on both an individual and group level to navigate complex systems. She believes in leveraging her education, as well as lived experience to improve the practical living conditions of racialized and underserved populations in Canada. She brings a decade of community development in the settlement sector to the role, supporting newcomers to thrive in their new country. As the End FGM Canada National Network Coordinator, she is looking forward to continuing the important work of growing and expanding the reach of The Network within Canada.

    “FGM/C should have been a horrific practice of the past that we look at with disdain. Unfortunately, it is not. It is gender-based violence, a human rights violation, and child abuse. The conversation around FGM/C needs to operate from that lens, and as Canadians, it is well past the time to be coy around this topic. I joined the Network to centre the voices and experiences of survivors and to bring to the table stakeholders from Canadian institutions and impacted community members."

Our Board.

  • Co-Chair

    Giselle Portenier is a journalist and filmmaker with a passion for human rights, especially the human rights of children and women. Her ground-breaking documentaries have helped change minds, hearts, and even laws. Her most recent award-winning film is In The Name Of Your Daughter. This documentary is about the brave Tanzanian girls who risk their lives to escape from female genital mutilation and child marriage. Portenier has written about FGM in the global and the Canadian contexts. Through In The Name Of Your Daughter she connected with three other women concerned about the lack of Canadian action. Together they co-founded the End FGM Canada Network.

    “I helped found this network because I believe that female genital mutilation/cutting is a Canadian issue too. FGM/C is the worst systematic abuse of girls’ and women’s human rights in the world today. And it's, perpetrated by the very people who are supposed to protect them from harm. FGM/C is not an ‘over there’ issue. It’s an issue right here in Canada, where we have thousands of survivors and girls at risk. And yet little is being done to support survivors or to protect girls. Our goal is to change that.”

  • Tesfaye Tufa is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa College of Health Science. He is currently serving as a research consultant at the World Health Organization. He completed his post-doc research fellowship at the World Health Organization in 2019 and has been part of the evidence synthesis team in the 2022 WHO abortion care guideline. He has more than eleven years of experience in Ethiopia and globally in the area of reproductive health, with a special interest in research, policy, and programmatic works. Beyond his years of clinical service for women and girls of Ethiopia, he has been a strong advocate of sexual and reproductive health, including bringing an end to female genital mutilation and increasing access to safe abortion care and contraception services.

    “As a healthcare professional with extensive experience working in a country hugely affected by FGM, I have personally witnessed the devastating physical, mental, and psychological repercussions of this deeply entrenched issue. This has solidified my commitment to actively contribute to the crucial movement aimed at ending FGM in Canada and playing an integral role in eradicating this harmful practice from our society.”

  • Co-Chair

    Alia Rahman calls herself a "lifetime activist." From early on, her mother taught Alia about the injustices committed against girls and women around the world. The first book Alia borrowed from her local library's adult section in 1997 was about FGM/C. She was only 11. And that's how her activism started. Her passion to bring about holistic change in this arena has continued for more than two decades. The concept of "My Issue Too" has been at the core of all her social work, whether it's animal rights and environmental justice or the rights of women and girls. Alia is an entrepreneur and engineer. She works on high-impact technological solutions that tackle some of the biggest challenges that face us today.

    "I joined the network because more has to be done in Canada to tackle the issue of FGM/C. There are more than 200 million survivors in the world today. In Canada, there are no official statistics. Still, there are probably upwards of 100,000 survivors. There is a real lack of knowledge about FGM/C here. I believe it to be one of the greatest violations of human rights. At the same time, I understand that so-called cultural practices are complex to resolve. My goal with the network is two-fold: sexual pleasure is a human right, and the shame is not the survivors to carry. No one should ever have to feel alone, hidden, or silenced in the face of this issue.”

  • Ghazal Azizi is a student journalist and third-year philosophy major at McGill University. She has been involved with the End FGM Canada Network since 2019 when she first learnt about the human rights violation. She is passionate about the intersection of media and activism. Ghazal has written stories about various legal battles at McGill, such as the Montreal MK Ultra experiments and unionization efforts, and investigative pieces about donor interference on university campuses. Ghazal likes to experiment with different mediums such as film, audio, and fine arts.

    “I have seen the ignorance and reluctance to engage with Female Genital Mutilation in my communities, from women who will hesitate to say 'clitoris' to students who take issue with the word 'mutilation' for being culturally insensitive. In addition to policy and support, I believe the fight against FGM equally relies on a shift in our collective consciousness towards sexuality, especially one that empowers female pleasure. As youth, it is upon us to dismantle all systems of oppression that gender-based violence and oppression take root in."

  • Meseret Haileyesus is an intersectional feminist and a social justice advocate. She works for accessible sexual and reproductive health care and economic empowerment for women. Another priority is ending gender-based violence. Meseret is a midwife and public health practitioner. For more than a decade, she has collaborated on projects with non-profit organizations both in Canada and abroad. These initiatives focus on gender-based violence, gender equality and accessible maternal health care.

    Meseret is the Director of the Canadian Center for Women Empowerment. The centre raises awareness on economic justice. She also founded Maternity Today. She is also a member of several Canadian and international organizations focusing on gender equality

    Meseret has long been a powerful advocate for the rights of survivors of female genital mutilation. She uses her voice to fight for the end of this cruel and inhuman practice.

    "I come from a country where 90% of women are mutilated. I've seen the harmful obstetric consequences of this practice, including maternal mortality. I believe FGM is a violation of girls and women's basic human right to life, dignity, and health. Sadly, FGM is a neglected tragedy in Canada. Our girls are being taken abroad for vacation cutting. The Canadian government must undertake efforts to mitigate the impact of FGM. I joined the End FGM Canada Network to help engage policymakers. We want them to understand the magnitude of the problem. We want to help enhance the well-being of survivors in Canada."

  • Janette Lyons is a CPA with over 30 years experience in Senior Financial positions. Janette is passionate about empowering women and fostering positive change, with a strong commitment to the organization's mission, and brings a wealth of experience in financial management and strategic planning.

    “I joined “End FGM” because I want to bring about holistic change to the FGM issue. My vision is to leverage my financial acumen to optimize resource allocation, drive financial sustainability, and ensure fiscal responsibility. I am excited about collaborating with the dedicated team at “End FGM” to create lasting change and contribute to the success of the organizations goals and objectives.”

  • Kayowe Mune is a global holistic wellness advocate with many years of community development experience within Calgary and Minneapolis communities. Her mother is a well-known Canadian social worker and Somali community elder, who's the director of Somali Senior Center in downtown Minneapolis. She fostered her drive to advocate for survivors of FGM/C to access resources and more support in Canada. Kayowe also created and designed programs for intergenerational families in Calgary, with focus on bridging programs to newcomers and women's groups. She's a long time meditation and holistic wellness teacher, and understands deeply the lifelong trauma impact of FGM/C.  

    "There are not many safe spaces for survivors of FGM/C and very few informed service providers in Canada. From health workers, social workers and other systems. All need to help survivors feel safe, supported and nurtured in their journey back to wholeness. The community I'm from is more shame-focused when advocates speak up on FGM/C. Which further creates unsafe spaces for survivors to seek support. I wish to be part of End FGM Canada Network, to support the process of providing resources and knowledge to front-line workers and policymakers. Survivors need to feel safe and young Canadian girls must be protected."