Authors

Hugh Stephens has more than 35 years of government and business experience in the Asia Pacific region. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Canadian Committee on Pacific Economic Cooperation (CANCPEC), Executive Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, Principal of TransPacific Connections, and a Distinguished Fellow with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. In addition, he teaches in the MBA program at Royal Roads University as an Associate Faculty member.

Before returning to Canada in December 2009, Hugh was Senior Vice President (Public Policy) for Asia Pacific for Time Warner for almost a decade, located at the company’s regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

Jamie Cin Yee Leung is a Post-Graduate Research Scholar at APF Canada. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, she conducted her master’s degree research on Chinese cyberliterature at the University of B.C. Her research interests include East Asian popular culture, youth movements, and online fandoms of women’s subcultures.

Saima Islam is a Junior Research Scholar with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Monash University where she double-majored in International Relations and Communications with a minor in Gender Studies. Her research interests include environmental governance, international organizations, and labour issues. Outside of research, she enjoys painting, literature, gardening, and exploring different cuisines.

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. 

Limuy Asien is an Atayal Indigenous filmmaker currently pursuing an MFA degree in film/video at the California Institute of the Arts. Prior to this, she completed a master’s thesis on the films of Laha Mebow, the first Indigenous female director in Taiwan. Limuy’s short film, Not Your Tropical Girl, was selected by the U.K.’s Emerging Filmmakers Night Film Festival and won the Best Actress Award at France’s 16th Mobile Film Festival in 2020. Her short film Q&A was screened at Italy’s 2022 La Guarimba International Film Festival – Taiwan Focus. Her latest film is Amerika.

Mikaere Berryman-Kamp (Te Arawa whānui, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāti Mānawa, Te Whānau a Apanui, Tūhoe, Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāti Hauā) is passionate about supporting young Māori to reconnect with their culture and reclaim traditional practices in a way that suits them and the 21st century. Following a stint working for New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries, he is now travelling through Canada to connect and learn from the Indigenous peoples. 

Dr. Kiri Dell is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland’s Business School, Management and International Business, New Zealand. She is a Ngāti Porou woman living in her tribal territory of Ruatōria. Her main passion is working with whānau and activating their aspirations for whenua Māori. She holds various director, trustee, and board roles across a number of organizations, and is a chair of the Indigenous Caucus of the Academy of Management. She has a lively and large whānau, which enables her to play the many roles of mum, aunty, daughter, sister, cousin, and niece. 

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.

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.