Staff Directory

Leah has worked with faith-based and social justice organizations in Canada, Haiti, Jamaica and Nepal, including serving as executive minister for Mennonite Church Eastern Canada. She is the author of the nonfiction book Tending Tomorrow: Courageous Change for People and Planet (forthcoming, Herald Press, 2024). Leah holds an MA in Development Studies from York University, and a BA in Political Science and Peace & Conflict Studies from University of Waterloo.

Shona Fulcher believes activated communities can change the world and has spent the last 13 years proving it. Currently as Kairos Director of Operations and prior to that as the Chief Community Officer for the Centre for Social Innovation Toronto. She has long had a fascination for the power of people, who when faced with a problem that needs attention, quietly pull up their socks and change the world.
Shona came to the social change sector from a background in the world of Not for Profit associations and also private sector finance, bringing the knowledge and experience of both sectors to the challenge of facilitating significant change by creating strong diverse teams and communities that can catalyze impact and who can support each other as the drive their missions forward.
She believes that smooth operations are part of the strong foundations organizations and their teams need to thrive.

When she’s not working Shona likes to hang with her partner and dog, paddle and travel.

In April 2023 Liz joined KAIROS as Executive Office and Administration Specialist, her main focus is to provide support between the KAIROS Executive Director and the Steering Committee members. In March 2021, Liz joined the Indigenous Ministries and Justice Program Assistant to support the IMJ Unit within the GCO of the United Church of Canada. On daily basics, she provided administrative support to all Communities of Faith, National Indigenous Council (NIC), National Indigenous Elders Council (NIEC), Mission and Service Working Group, Real Property Capital Plan, Keewatin and Ontario & Quebec Circle. Therefore, Liz was the communication support between Indigenous Membership with the Community Capacity Development Coordinators (CCDCs) and the Executive Minister.

Liz holds a Lawyer Degree in her home country Venezuela. From 2009 to 2014, she worked as an Articling and as a Lawyer, which led her to gain experience in employment, intellectual property and taxes law, along with administrative experience. Between 2010 and 2013, she provided legal services to people who were in financial need, as her personal volunteering within the Venezuelan society.

Liz moved on her own to Canada in 2014. She graduated of Hospitality Management program at Humber College in Toronto in 2016. She strongly believes on an equal and fair justice, that’s why she is passionate about listening and helping others. Fun fact about Liz: she used to practice pole dance to stay fit before becoming mom on December 2023, and also is a huge animal lover, one day she wishes to have big farm surrounded of all kind of animals, especially doggies and birds.

Liz’s biggest dream is bringing her family to Canada, and her biggest achievement in this land was obtaining her Permanent Resident after 5 years of working and studying hard by herself in Toronto. After enduring that long road along with the Immigration complexity process, she became humbler, and I never hesitate to help newcomers to make their journey a better day in Canada.

A member of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, Connor has worked with First Nation Chiefs, council, staff and Tribal Councils to assist with building capacity, employment and training within their respective communities.

Over his career, Connor has been employed in the non-profit and private sectors for corporations and Indigenous businesses in various areas from sales, employment and training, to tourism, graphic design and marketing. Connor has almost 30 years in account management, facilitation and is also known for his passion as an Algonquin artist that has led to several art shows across Ontario.

Another passion Connor holds close to his heart is his continuation to reclaim his culture to honour the sacrifices his grandparents made. They fled their home, family and community and lived off the land in hiding in order to save their own children from being taken away to residential school.

Connor is grateful to be a part of bringing awareness and understanding of his ancestors to light.

Rachel is currently partnerships manager at KAIROS. She has been working with global partners, including women’s organizations and movements, Indigenous groups, churches and human rights organizations on issues of social and ecological justice, human rights, gender justice and corporate accountability for almost 30 years. For several years, she coordinated the gender justice and Latin America partnerships and gender justice programming at KAIROS. Together with partners, she helped develop the women of courage program.

Rachel holds an honours degree in International Development Studies from the University of Toronto, and a graduate certificate in Gender and Peacebuilding from the University of Peace of the United Nations in Costa Rica.

Finally, but most importantly to her, she is the mother of two beautiful, wise, compassionate and independent young women.

Alfredo Barahona, originally from Cuzcatlan, a Maya – Pipil territory part of what is now known as El Salvador, moved to Canada as refugee in the mid-eighties. He has worked with refugee and migrant communities through Toronto-based settlement agencies and now with KAIROS Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives.

Currently Alfredo is working on Indigenous Rights issues focusing on the development of meaningful relationships and solidarity between Indigenous peoples and newcomers to Canada.

Alfredo has facilitated the KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) extensively in English and Spanish through all of Canada including training KBE facilitators. Alfredo is responsible for the international work related to the KAIROS Blanket Exercise.

Facilitating the effective and meaningful participation of affected communities in advocacy and solidarity work is a key principle in Alfredo’s work.

As a tool for social change, music within a faith ecumenical and solidarity context, is an integral part of Alfredo’s life and social justice work.

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Beth is a social and ecological justice advocate with over 10 years experience in sustainable development. She has worked with academia, civil society and government, including Global Affairs and Status of Women Canada. Her work has focused primarily on freshwater management, climate justice, gender, and urban issues in Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Beth was a Youth Council member of PWRDF and supported the work of justgeneration.ca and the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth (CLAY) National Youth Project Working Group. She has worked in social justice, camping, and youth ministry at the parish and diocesan level for the Anglican Church of Canada in Ottawa, Kingston, and Toronto. When not at work, Beth enjoys spending time by water with her family, including swimming, paddling and sailing in Ontario’s many great lakes and rivers.

Caroline Sharp graduated from Trinity College at the University of Toronto in 2018 with a Master of Divinity. Her two areas of focus were on ecotheology and faith formation. After graduating she began pursuing a Master’s of Environmental Studies in Social and Ecological Sustainability at the University of Waterloo and plans on completing her thesis in 2022. Caroline enjoyed her position as a Teacher’s Assistant at UofW. Caroline is currently one of three Chairs for Social and Ecological Justice Huron (Anglican Diocese of Huron) and is the owner of greenUNITED Vegetable and Duck Farm (previously in Hamilton).

Cheryl is a human and ecological rights activist, and a playwright and short story writer, who serves as KAIROS Canada’s communications and advocacy coordinator. She has 30 years experience working for national and grassroots arts and social justice organizations. Cheryl founded and led the Toronto chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby for several years, and continues to be an active CCL volunteer, lobbying Parliamentarians, U.S. lawmakers and the World Bank to build the political will for effective climate policies. Water Wonder, her play for young audiences, about our deep relationship with nature and one another, was professionally produced by Carousel Players. Her short stories have appeared in Hypertext and FreeFall Magazine.

John is a creative thinker and innovator, passionate about digital communication and its progressive development for teaching and communicating with a global audience. As the Digital Communications and Marketing Coordinator for Kairos Canada, he feels blessed with the opportunity to continue to fulfill his passion by allowing him to convey information, impart knowledge, and engage on subjects such as climate change, equality, social and economic justice, as well as stories of faith and courage with various audiences from around the world.

In his professional life, he has assisted businesses and organizations with their website development, social media presence, and marketing campaigns, as well as led teams in the fields of quality control, franchising, web development, graphic design, analytics, marketing, data acquisition, and technical support for over three decades.

As for his personal life, when he’s not volunteering for non-profit, religious, and youth sports organizations, he enjoys designing and creating in his workshop for 3D printing, CNC fabrication, sublimation, and woodworking.

Devora grew up in Regina where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Bachelor of Education. Since her student days, she’s been volunteering and working in the non-profit / arts and culture sector, with experience in public libraries, provincial museums, national arts organizations, local music festivals and independent print and digital media.

When Devora moved to Ottawa in 2005 she brought her organizational skills and love of spreadsheets to several grassroots initiatives, often in support of gender equality and Indigenous rights. She joined KAIROS in summer 2017 providing administrative services to the Ottawa team. When she’s not sifting through files, she’s exploring hiking trails or coffee shops in the NCC. Devora’s also passionate about fitness and teaches a bi-weekly strength-training class at her local gym.

Fahira has served in many roles within KAIROS since joining in 2002. She currently holds the position of Donor Relations Coordinator. She enjoys the challenges of fundraising and believes in social justice. Fahira currently lives in Toronto with her husband and two daughters.

Isabel has managed to juggle not only her full-time job as a mother and wife but now finds herself in the role of Finance Coordinator.  

She moved to Canada in 2014, not knowing any English. It was just her and her family and their luggage. She was able to create a name for herself in only six years. She decided that this language barrier was not a challenge for her; she started taking different courses and emerging herself in the culture and learning the language. She then started getting involved as a working member of the community.  

Her story at KAIROS started in 2018 when she was just an intern trying to earn experience for her Business Office Skills course. She was then able to make this grow into a full-time job due to her hard–working and determined personality. She has never backed down from a challenge and is open to trying new things.  

With more than ten years of experience in the Administrative area, for various companies and non-profit organizations, Isabel has brought many new additions to the KAIROS team. But her interests are diverse and go beyond work.  

Outside work, she is an amazing mother that has provided an immense amount of encouragement to her kids to continue whatever path in life they choose to. When she is not working, you can find Isabel spending her time with her family and friends. She enjoys learning various new skills from YouTube videos. She also enjoys reading, going for walks, watching movies with her daughter or playing video games with her son and husband. 

Silvia Cristina Vasquez-Olguin (she/her) graduated with a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Urban and Environmental Change at York University, and her research focused on rural and peasant studies in Latin America. Gender Justice and Extractivism resonate with her approach to food sovereignty and environmental conservation, focusing on injustices, gender-based violence and their links to extractivist industries, patriarchy, and neo-colonialism. Her interest in urban agriculture came from an urgent call for food sovereignty that peasant organizations worldwide have raised in recent years, based on food access and food production in the city as well as the commitment and participation of community in envisioning new futures for a truly equal society. Silvia is part of the APG-GOPA Steering Committee. She participates as a member of the CNCA. In the summers, she teaches Urban Gardening and Sustainability in the Maloca Community Garden of York University on Keele Campus (Toronto, Canada.) https://www.silviavasquezolguin.com/

Silvia Cristina Vásquez-Olguín se doctoró en la Facultad de Cambio Urbano y Ambiental, y su investigación se centró en los estudios rurales y campesinos en América Latina. La justicia de género y el extractivismo resuenan con su enfoque de la soberanía alimentaria y la conservación del medio ambiente, centrándose en las injusticias, la violencia de género y sus vínculos con las industrias extractivistas, el patriarcado y el neocolonialismo. Su interés por la agricultura urbana surgió del llamamiento urgente a la soberanía alimentaria que las organizaciones campesinas de todo el mundo han planteado en los últimos años, desde el acceso a los alimentos y su producción en la ciudad hasta el compromiso y la participación de la comunidad y los bienes comunes, pasando por la visión de nuevos futuros para una sociedad realmente igualitaria. Silvia es parte de APG-GOPA Comité Directivo, y en miembro activo de la CNCA. En el verano es profesora de Jardinería Urbana y Sostenibilidad en el Huerto Comunitario de Maloca de la Universidad de York, en el campus de Keele (Toronto, Canadá). https://www.silviavasquezolguin.com/

Rick hails originally from the Maritimes where he received a B.A. from Mount Allison University and an M.Div from Atlantic School of Theology. Rick worked for the Student Christian Movement of Canada as General Secretary from 1995-2000. From there he moved to work at the general council office of the United Church of Canada, where he acted as program coordinator for youth and young adult ministries.

He currently holds the position of Administrative Associate at Kairos, dealing with financial reconciliation for staff and operations of the organization. He also manages resources and other office duties. In his spare time, Rick spends time volunteering for Save My Tail dog rescue, playing Rock Band with his partner Darren, and generally pining for the East coast.

My role at KAIROS is to support the work of the grassroots across the country and to maintain the link to the churches in all the justice work.  I give workshops and develop worship resources related to all areas of KAIROS work.

When I’m not at work I enjoy exploring the city with my partner and children, especially the green spaces on my bicycle.

Danielle Kamtié is the program coordinator for Africa partnerships and Climate Justice at Kairos Canada. As a project manager and SDGs advocate, she has 5+ years of public and social sector experiences in multicultural environment both at the national and international levels, in the global North and South. She brings field-based and international level experiences in humanitarian and development related innovative programs, focusing on global and local development, climate justice, gender equality, and youth inclusion on the SDGs. She has an extensive work experience with international stakeholders/partners and policy makers for women and youth inclusion in global and inclusive development. With a masters in Humanitarian Action and International Development management, Danielle is the outgoing vice president of the World Youth Parliament for Water and the co-founder of the African Youth Parliament for Water.

Susan Bujold is a First Nations Algonquin woman with ancestral ties to Pikwàkanagàn (Golden Lake) and the Gaspe region of Quebec. Susan has been working on reclaiming her Algonquin traditions and language.

Her professional background consists of working in the non-profit and private sectors in various industries and with Indigenous organizations, as a social service worker, case manager, and administrative assistant.

Susan is a mother to 2 wonderful children, 3 grandchildren, and 2 spoiled cats. She is an avid walker, reader, and enjoys spending time outside to be connected to all of creation

I am of mixed ancestry with familial connections to Batchewana First Nation. I have been working in education for 7 years in secondary and adult education. I have worked with newcomers, refugees, and international students and am a strong advocate for equal access to education. My experience has allowed me to work in many provinces in Canada and countries around the world.
In 2023 I graduated with a M.Ed. and a B.A., to complement my first B.A. My graduate degree focused on inequalities and gaps in education systems. My most recent B.A. was in an interdisciplinary program that focused on human rights, sociology and Indigenous studies which allowed me to investigate past and existing legislation at federal, provincial, and territorial levels that contribute to discriminatory treatment against Indigenous people in Canada.
I found that this was aligned with my first B.A degree, which had a concentration in law and justice. I am grateful for my work and academic experience as it has equipped me with ongoing curiosity in these subject areas, and a drive to contribute to making a positive change however I can.