Investigator
Laura Bisaillon
Laura Bisaillon is a sociologist and associate professor of health and society. Screening Out: HIV Testing and the Canadian Immigration Experience is the title of her narrative-driven book of political sociology that will appear in 2022 with the University of British Columbia Press. She is the lead on this project.
Team members
Kenneth Monteith
Kenneth Monteith is the executive director of the COCQ-SIDA (la Coalition des organismes communautaires québécois de lutte contre le sida). This is the umbrella group for AIDS service organizations in Quebec. The organization serves its members and the public via direct legal services, and also engages in legal research, education, and reform. He has more than 25 years experience in HIV prevention and supporting the quality of life of people with HIV.
Felipe Montoya
Felipe Montoya is an anthropologist and founding member of “Disability Positive”: an epistemic community working on policy-related issues of concern to people with disabilities. In a 2016 Canadian court decision, his family was denied Canadian permanent residency status because Nico, their son, lives with Down syndrome. He and his family live in Costa Rica.
Waleed Nassar
Waleed Nassar was born in Egypt and currently lives in Toronto. He is a small business coach and cross-cultural communications facilitator. In 2017, he (and his family of four) were almost denied permanent residency status. This near refusal was based on the potential future costs for caring for their son, Seif, who lives with autism. In the end, they were granted permanent residency, which they credit to advocacy efforts by their son’s teachers and involvement of community members.
Léa Pelletier-Marcotte
Léa Pelletier-Marcotte is a lawyer with the COCQ-SIDA, where she leads the organization’s Human Rights and HIV program. In this project, she provides guidance on legal dimensions of Canadian immigration law.She oversaw the creation of the resource “HIV and Immigration in Canada: Am I Admissible?”, as seen here http://www.immigrationvih.ca
Student trainees
Sara-Marni Hubbard
Sara-Marni Hubbard is a historian and doctoral candidate in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto St. George. In her dissertation, she is analysing medical files housed in Ontario provincial archives. Her aim is to connect medical inadmissibility and disability studies in the context of immigration in early twentieth century Toronto.
Ujwal Mantha
Ujwal Mantha graduated from the University of Toronto Scarborough with degrees in studio art and sociology. His artwork is centred on storytelling. He makes the theoretical beautiful and accessible through a technique he calls “Frankenstein.” Knitting metaphor and narrative, his work echoes how Victor Frankenstein assembled his monster in the Mary Shelley novel.
Tania Montoya
Tania Montoya is an illustrator and graduate of the digital animation program at the Universidad Creativa in Costa Rica. As a teenager, she lived in Canada where she completed high school. To her regret, her family was unable to remain in Canada on the grounds that they were medically inadmissible. She currently lives in Costa Rica with her family.
Aida Radoncic
Aida Radoncic graduated from the University of Toronto St. George with a Bachelor of Arts in art history and anthropology. Interested in academic study and research, she also dabbles in experimental photography. Through her photos, she explores ideas of light, shadow, form, and motion, and uses others and herself as subjects.
Ze Yi (Jessica) Ye
Ze Yi (Jessica) Ye earned a Bachelor of Arts (history, anthropology, and sexual diversity studies) from the University of Toronto St. George. As a queer person whose parents were born outside of Canada, she values being involved in work documenting people’s experiences with marginality. Through her creative work, she bridges scholarly and lay knowledge about public history.
Zihan Yi
Zihan Yi earned a Bachelor of Arts in art history from the University of Toronto St.George. She has a strong interest in video making, and takes an unconventional approach to storytelling. To show the lingering presence of an ‘Alien Planet’, she mobilizes everyday objects in her creative process.
Ke Er (Amy) Zhang
Ke Er (Amy) Zhang is a digital illustrator interested in human-centred design and research. She works to make biomedical concepts and experiences visible, promoting understanding between experts and non-experts. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto St. George. She is pursuing graduate studies in Biomedical Communications.