CO-FOUNDER & LEAD RESEARCHER

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Karen-Marie Elah Perry, PhD is an Applied Anthropologist with a focus on social justice and the ways inequalities shape access to services. They have done applied research in policy, practice and law for over two decades. This has included work with the Justice Institute of BC, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Hospital Employees’ Union, the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI Study), BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, the Canadian HIV Trials Network, and the Te'mexw Treaty Association, among others. Their experiences as a community organizer in Southern and Northern BC powerfully inform their approach to research. Karen-Marie is the recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Doctoral Scholarship and has worked as an educator at the University of Victoria.

CO-FOUNDER & RESEARCHER

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Shila Avissa, MSW, RSW is a Social Worker who focuses her practice at the intersection of health equity, critical social policy, and facilitation. Her breadth of experience includes working as a Clinical Educator and HIV/AIDS Social Worker with Vancouver Coastal Health, as a political organizer in the Lower Mainland, in housing with the Elizabeth Fry Society, and in research and policy at BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner. A committed volunteer, she has served as Vice Chair of Megaphone Magazine Board of Directors and as a member of the Community Action Initiative’s Community Counseling Grant Advisory Committee. Her graduate research focused on inequities in Covid-19 economic recovery plans and was awarded the 2021 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Master’s Scholarship.