Board of Directors

Jillian Siskind – CLAIHR President

Jillian Siskind is Counsel for Tarion Warranty Corporation and formerly was a Senior Advisor to both Ontario’s Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the Attorney General. Previously, Jillian worked as Crown Counsel for Ontario’s Ministry of Labour and for Canada’s Department of Justice on criminal and immigration matters. She also worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia where she was involved with appeals concerning both the Yugoslav conflict and Rwandan genocide and participated in the drafting of the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic. Jillian has a B.A. from Simon Fraser University, an LL.B from the University of Ottawa, and an LL.M from the University of Toronto where she completed a dissertation that proposed an internationally acceptable definition for terrorism. Jillian has published in the area of international criminal law and terrorism.

William Chan – Student Coordinator

William is a lawyer with Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto, Canada and London, England, where his practice focuses on assisting Canadian and international companies doing business or accessing capital in Canada or abroad. He has past volunteering experience working with various legal clinics and non-profit organizations dealing with criminal, family and immigration matters. He has been a member of the Board since 2010 and had previously served as the treasurer. Currently he is a Co-Chair of the long term planning committee.

Florence Au -Treasurer

Florence Au joined CLAIHR in the Fall of 2010 as the Treasurer. She is currently an analyst at Northland Power Inc. a clean energy developer based in Toronto. In that capacity she helps to evaluate the economic feasibility of power projects and eventually securing the capital needed for each transaction. Previously she interned at the United Nations Institute of Training and Research and with Asia Catalyst,a non-profit based in New York City. Florence studied Finance at the University of Toronto and graduated with a Master of Science from New York University in Environment and Energy. She is also a CFA Charterholder.

David Andrews

David Andrews joined CLAIHR’s board in December 2009. David is a technology and marketing consultant who runs Ryatta Group, a company specializing in the online marketing of luxury goods. He holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. David will assume responsibility for improving CLAIHR’s marketing, website and social media offerings.

Diana Sarosi

Diana Sarosi works for the Nobel Women’s Initiative as their Manager of Policy and Advocacy where she develops and implements the women Nobel Laureates’ advocacy strategies. Previously, she lived in Thailand for 5 years supporting human rights defenders in the region in developing their advocacy strategies and organizing protection for them. This led her to establish the Working Group on Justice for Peace, a human rights advocacy organization promoting political rights and access to justice in the conflict region of Southern Thailand. As a passionate human rights activist, she has been engaged in global efforts to stop disappearances and campaigns to control arms. She has also conducted extensive research on small arms proliferation in conflict areas, the impact of conflict on women’s security and the nonviolence movement in Burma. Diana holds a MA in Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford with a research focus in women, peace and security.

Antoinette Issa

Antoinette Issa joined CLAIHR’s board in September 2009. She has worked as both a trial and appeals counsel for the office of the prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”). Notably, she worked extensively on the notorious Srebrenica case, which was found to be the only genocide committed in the Former Yugoslavia and in Europe since World War II. She presently works for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada as a federal crown. Her interest lies in the International Criminal Law and International Humanitarian Law fields.

Niru Kumar

Niru Kumar is a common and civil law lawyer with a long-standing commitment to social justice issues and community service. Abroad, Niru served as an intern with a Supreme Court lawyer in Delhi and with the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In Ontario, she has provided legal services to the Walkerton Inquiry, the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services and the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. Niru is a current member of the Board of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto where she is on the Ad Hoc Real Estate and the Audit & Risk Committees, is on the Diversity & Community Outreach Committee of the Ontario Health Study, and previously served on the Board of the Manor Road Cooperative Nursery School as Publicity/Fundraising Chair. Niru is a featured blogger on South Asian issues, a media entrepreneur and the mother of two young children. She is a commerce and law graduate of McGill university. Niru has been on the Board since 2006.

Jana Marečková

Jana Marečková joined CLAIHR’s board in January 2010. Jana started her career as a human rights lawyer working for the Office of the Czech Government. As a project coordinator of the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre, she led a coalition of thirteen non-governmental organizations involved in law reform related to legal capacity and guardianship of persons with mental disabilities in the Czech Republic. Jana holds master’s degrees in Czech law and in International and Comparative Public Law from the University of Exeter. She currently works for a community employment centre in Kingston, ON.

Anu Sandhu

Anu Sandhu is an associate at Hayward Sheppard in Vancouver, British Columbia. Anu was previously an associate at a litigation boutique firm with a broad-based litigation practice including commercial matters (product liability claims) and securities litigation. Anu has experience working on large-scale litigation matters and has also previously worked in the areas of criminal and human rights law. Anu currently practices in the areas of family and administrative law. In addition to her work with CLAIHR, Anu volunteers with the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association . Anu has a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Alberta in Philosophy and Political Science and an LL.B. from Dalhousie University.

Rikin Morzaria

David Israelson

David Israelson is a communications expert – a writer, editor and manager with extensive experience in the corporate, public policy, not-for profit and media sectors. A non-practising lawyer who became an award-winning journalist and advisor, he founded Eon Communications and Research after more than a decade as a senior executive at one of Canada’s largest independent public relations firms. Throughout his career he has worked extensively, across the country, on environment/sustainability and energy conservation issues, with First Nations and in many other policy and issues management areas. He is author of the critically acclaimed book, Silent Earth, on environmental politics, co-author (with Dr. Angela Mailis-Gagnon) of Beyond Pain, published in 2003, and an academic paper on Alberta’s oil sands, published in 2008. David also enjoyed a successful career as a journalist, mostly with the Toronto Star, where he was an editorial writer, foreign bureau chief, and the paper’s environment, housing and business reporter. In 2011 he joined the office of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty as a Senior Writer.