KINBRACE - Key Persons
Adriana joined the Kinbrace staff team in 2006. Her main role is to welcome new residents into the community by providing orientation, advocacy, and accompaniment. She lives in Port Moody with her husband Paco and their two adult children, Marcelo and Sofia. Adriana's whole family has been part of the Kinbrace community since 2004.
Job Titles:
- Employment Coordinator / Refugee Protection Navigator
Chantel joined the Kinbrace team in September 2021 to lead the development of new public legal education and information resources for refugee claimants. She also works alongside Kinbrace residents in navigating the refugee claim process. Chantel has a passion to help refugee claimants understand the refugee determination system in Canada, to ensure they are welcomed with open arms, and to celebrate their resilience. She completed her MA in Immigration and Settlement Studies and is a PhD Candidate in Immigration Policy at Ryerson University in Toronto. When she is not working, Chantel enjoys skateboarding, reading, painting, and hiking with her dog.
Chris is a technology entrepreneur with 25+ years experience at the intersection of business, technology and innovation. He is currently Vice President, Business Innovation and Partnerships for GeoSim Systems, Ltd, a Tel Aviv-based company creating high-precision, high-resolution, 3D digital replicas of cities. He has served as Innovation Lead at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in initiatives involving identity management, privacy and the border and immigration security domain; VP of Business Development at Visiphor Corporation; and Account Executive at Electronic Data Systems (now HP). He is an Advisor to CloudMask, Corp.
Chris' commitment to the refugee cause originates in his gratitude and appreciation for personal acquaintances with direct experience of political imprisonment, exile, and asylum.
Chris holds a BA (History/Economics) and MA (History) from the University of British Columbia.
Derek joined the Kinbrace team in 2019 after finishing his MA in Theological Studies at Regent College and MBA at Simon Fraser University. Derek brings a business and non-profit background to his role at Kinbrace, providing strategic oversight to the organization's housing, wellness, employment, and community programs, as well as its administration and finances. He is most excited about getting to know and building relationships with Kinbrace's residents.
Ebenezer has been a part of the Kinbrace community since May 2019. He serves as the administrator, providing support in the areas of finance, human resources, and records management. Ebenezer has degrees in business and theology. He also has several years of experience working with various organizations. He is currently pursuing an advanced master's degree at Regent College. When he is not at Kinbrace, he and his wife are hanging out together doing fun activities in Vancouver.
Dr. Erin Goheen Glanville researches and teaches in the area of refugee representation and narrative theory. She is drawn to Kinbrace as a social innovation which is creating transcultural community amidst refugee support work, and has loved the people she has met there at weekly dinners. She is grateful for Kinbrace's core value of ‘trust,' as a prophetic witness for North American culture.
Erin received her PhD at McMaster University in 2012 and holds a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. As of 2019, she also teaches global citizenship at the University of British Columbia. Erin has also run community workshops with hundreds of participants on popular representations of refugees and a contextualized understanding of forced migration. Her current work is a knowledge mobilization project on the public discourse of contemporary asylum dialogues in Canada. Erin is the editor of Countering Displacements, a multi-author volume centring the creativity of indigenous and refugee-ed communities, and she regularly publishes and presents her research internationally.
Rev. Jaylynn Byassee serves as a pastor on the North Shore of Vancouver at North Lonsdale United Church. She has worked to help local congregations across the Lower Mainland grow in their efforts to walk alongside refugees in welcome and friendship.
She has studied ministries abroad, traveling to Beirut and the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, and most recently in Northern England. She has learned from others who have actively and lovingly received refugee claimants into their midst, and how vibrant life can be for all when community is formed.
Jaylynn loves to engage in people's lives, consistently making connections. As she's lived and served in countries that are not her homeland, she is mindful that "home" has many different meanings-and she works to help others create home where they currently live, so that life can be lived more fully and with greater hope.
Julie is currently on maternity leave! Julie joined the Kinbrace team in 2020. As the Community Coordinator she has the joy of creating opportunities for Kinbrace residents to develop friendships with other residents, volunteers, neighbours, and staff members. Julie spent many years living intentionally in community in Ontario before moving to the Vancouver area with her husband Darren and two young kids. She loves being near the ocean, gardening, hosting people in her home, and baking bread.
Laura joined the Kinbrace team in 2019 as our Resource Developer. She brings extensive fundraising experience specializing in Major Gifts and Community Fundraising. Laura lives locally with her family in East Vancouver and is passionate about this community. She enjoys baking, building new relationships, travels and spending time outdoors.
Loren is one of the co-founders of Kinbrace and lived with his family in the transitional housing community from 1998-2017. In his role as Director of Engagement, Loren provides oversight to the Beyond Refuge and Accessing Refugee Protection programs and works with the Board of Directors to promote the values and strategic vision of Kinbrace while resourcing its mission to support refugee claimants regionally and nationally. Loren lives with his partner Tama and their two young-adult children Abigail and Oliver in New Westminster.
Maria has been a practicing physiotherapist for 34 years, with a special interest in Temporomandibular (TMJ) Disorders and Orofacial pain. She has been appointed as adjunct professor in the department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine at UBC. Maria has owned and operated physiotherapy clinics since 1994 and sold her last practice in 2019. She continues with clinical work and teaching within her area of expertise.
Maria has been volunteering with Kinbrace since 2017. Her decision to assist individuals seeking refuge was inspired by her personal background (her parents immigrated to Canada in 1950). Learning of the many challenges they faced as newcomers without benefit of the language, culture or support of family or community motivated her to assist others. Her awareness of the growing numbers of displaced people throughout the world impelled her to join an organization that shares her belief in supporting those seeking refuge.
Maria holds a BSc (physiotherapy) and BSc (psychology) from Dalhousie University. She is board certified as a Certified Cervical and Temporomandibular Therapist and is a diplomate of the Physical Therapy Board of Craniofacial and Cervical Therapeutics (US).
Masi joined the Kinbrace team in January 2022 to ensure refugee claimants in BC and across western Canada are prepared for their refugee hearings. She does this by coordinating and facilitating the Ready Tours and the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) Information Sessions in collaboration with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Since 2014, Masi has been working passionately for the wellbeing of refugee claimants and their access to services. She has a BA and MA in language and cultural studies. She loves cooking, reading books, watching movies, and spending time with her family.
Job Titles:
- Achieving Financial Mobility Project Coordinator
With his refugee claimant background, Mohammed has been advocating for refugee claimants' right to work, settle and more with different organizations and institutions including his internship position with the Multi Agency Partnership (MAP BC). Seeing the challenges people around the world face on a daily basis, Mohammed has directed his educational and professional experience towards easing and solving life's difficulties and ending violence. He is excited to bring that passion to his role at Kinbrace helping refugee claimants find home.
Randall is a lawyer at Edelmann & Co. Law Offices in Vancouver, where he practices Canadian and US immigration law, focusing primarily on Canadian refugee and immigration enforcement issues. A (very privileged) immigrant himself, he previously worked as a public defender in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He has had the honor of contributing to the legal defence of water protectors at Standing Rock and Black Lives Matter activists fighting for police reform, and of providing advice and representation to asylum seekers held in detention at the border between the United States and Mexico. He is a proud member of the National Lawyers Guild, and a recipient of the 2017 Paul Marino People's Lawyer Award from the Guild's Minnesota chapter.
Before becoming a lawyer, Randall worked in a variety of outreach and advocacy roles for organizations that provide services to the homeless and precariously housed. He has also worked as a union organizer, a university instructor, a solar panel installer, and a bartender.
Randall earned his JD in a part-time evening program at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has a master's degree in International Relations from San Francisco State University, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from New York University.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Professional Engineer
Ray is a professional engineer and has held roles in local government for more than 25 years. Recently retired from his position as Director, Engineering & Transportation for the District of West Vancouver, Ray was responsible for functions related to roads and transportation; water and sewer; garbage and recycling; GIS and mapping; and transit.
His involvement with Kinbrace began with a desire to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis in 2016 by raising funds through the Ride for Refuge. In the past, Ray also worked in various consulting engineering firms, and from 1999 to 2002, he served as an international development manager in China with Mennonite Central Committee.
Ray holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (1987) and Master of Engineering (1996) from the University of British Columbia. He is also a director of the Sightline Institute, a sustainability think tank based out of Seattle, Washington and an elder at Hillside Baptist Church. Ray lives in North Vancouver with his wife and has two children studying in university.
Rosemary has a long history with Kinbrace, going back to the beginning, when Kinbrace was initially established under Salsbury Community Society and she was the Society's first Chairperson. Over the many years, she's been happily involved as a volunteer and keen supporter. Rosemary is grateful to be able to return to serve on the Board, sharing her skills to contribute to the work at Kinbrace supporting refugee claimants arriving here in Vancouver. Additionally, she brings the lived experience of intentional community life that has shaped her vision for mutual transformation & welcome. Rosemary is a busy volunteer in the Grandview Woodlands neighbourhood.
Her Ride for Refuge team is Dragons on Fire for Kinbrace and she hopes to recruit more team-members every year!
Sadiq Mohibi is a human rights activist with a focus on disability rights. He has been engaged in disability rights and issues for over a decade in Afghanistan. Also, he was involved in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) activities in Afghanistan and in the Asia Pacific region.
Sadiq studied prosthetics and orthotics in Cambodian School of Prosthetic and Orthotics. He was not only focusing on physical rehabilitation aspect of disability, but more importantly, he was approaching human rights and social model toward disability inclusion in society.
Sadiq came to Canada in 2017 as a refugee claimant. He stayed nine months at Kinbrace Community Society where he came to know more about the outstanding community support for the newly arrived refugees in Canada. Given his experience in the peer to peer support, he has been supporting the refugee communities by utilizing his peer modelling expertise as well as sharing his journey.
Job Titles:
- Accessing Refugee Protection Coordinator - Currently on Leave
Sophia joined the Kinbrace team in 2020, having recently returned to her home base of East Vancouver from the UK where she worked on issues of immigration detention. Her role is to coordinate the READY Tours and promote refugee hearing preparedness. Sophia is passionate about access to justice. She holds a BA in International Studies and an MSc in Human Rights. When she is not working, you can often find Sophia sitting somewhere on Commercial Drive with a coffee and a book, or out for a neighbourhood walk with her family.
Job Titles:
- Beyond Refuge Coordinator
Wilfred joined the team in 2021 and is no stranger to Kinbrace, having lived in the community at the start of his journey through Canada's refugee determination system. His diverse background assisting displaced people, supporting handicraft producers, empowering those forced to live in slums, and consulting with the African Union and the United Nations positions him well for this role. Wilfred holds a Master's degree in International Development from Middlesex University, UK, and a Bachelor of Education Degree from Kenyatta University, Kenya.