Janaya Khan

Khan was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario to a Trinidadian father and a British Jamaican mother who emigrated to Canada.[7] Khan received a Bachelor of Arts from York University, graduating with an honours degree in English language and literature. Khan currently resides in Los Angeles serving as program director for Color Of Change and as a speaker with Keppler Speakers Bureau.[8] Khan is married to Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors. Khan is an author and competitive amateur boxer.[9]

Khan believes that the sole responsibility of the police is to manufacture criminals and that the police do not keep people safe. They (Khan) would rather have "rapid response justice teams" in the place of police.[10]

In a 2016 interview with Maclean's magazine, they recalled the difficulty of growing up with an intersectional identity in a society with limited resources and knowledge on intersectionality and transfeminism. Khan states that actions like carding (a Canadian police policy where people are stopped and questioned not in relation to a specific offence) made them realize how normalized their community had been to a heavy police presence accompanied by biased questioning. Incidences like this initiated their path into activism and the ultimate inception of Black Lives Matter Toronto.[11]

In October 2014, Khan and Hudson organized an action of solidarity following the death of 33-year-old Jermaine Carby,[12] who was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in Brampton, Ontario, on September 24, 2014. This incident occurred a month after the August 9 shooting of Michael Brown in the United States. After announcing the protest, around 4,000 people gathered to demonstrate in solidarity outside the US Consulate. Wanting to build on this momentum, they decided to meet with Los Angeles-based Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. This meeting launched the foundations for Black Lives Matter to become an international movement rather than one based only in the United States.[13] Khan founded the Toronto chapter alongside Sandy Hudson and Yusra Khogali in November 2014,[14] being the first to be established in Canada.[15]

Khan has led a number of demonstrations and events in Toronto, mainly based on instances of police brutality in the United States and Canada. In July 2016, they helped organize a sit-in during Pride Toronto, where protesters came prepared with a list of demands including more representation of minority groups and no uniformed police presence during Pride.[16]

The New York Post reported on January 29, 2022, that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation transferred $6 million to a Canadian charity run by Khan in order to purchase a large home.[17] M4BJ, a Toronto-based non-profit set up by Khan and other Canadian activists, purchased the 10,000-square foot historic property for $6.3 million in July 2021.[18] Khan resigned from the group in 2021 and vigorously denied that BLM donations were used to buy the homes.[19]

Khan has presented across Canada at a number of institutions, including the University of Toronto and York University. They have also given talks at many campuses in the United States, including Bryn Mawr College[20] and Emerson College.[21] In 2016, they were joined by Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi to speak at Smith College's "When and Where I Enter" symposium.[22]

Khan is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2015 Bromley Armstrong Human Rights Award from the Toronto & York Region Labour Council,[23] and was named one of "Toronto's Most Influential" by Toronto Life in 2016.[24] Their work has been featured on sites such as The Root,[25] Al Jazeera,[26] and the Huffington Post.[27]