As an immigrant, whose father was a refugee, I care deeply about standing up for refugee and migrant rights. And I will advocate for them in the newspapers, on the radio, on television and on the global stage - every. chance. I. get.

On Here and Now Toronto, when asked why disinformation and misinformation against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers thrived during the UK Riots:

“I'm going to ask you to picture a refugee, picture an asylum seeker, picture a migrant. Most of them will come out as a non-white person. The media has forced this image of asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees as being people of colour, racialized people and unfortunately a lot of times undeserving of assistance. So when you have a situation where these people already painted so much with so much negativity, disinformation and misinformation thrives because there's already so much information that contributes to their confirmation bias. So this idea that migrants, asylum seekers or refugees cause crime, a lot of people, unfortunately will agree because of the rhetoric around it. So when you have somebody, you have a situation where that's taking place you don't stop to think ‘oh wait how do we know they're asylum seeker? Or how do we know they're Muslim or how do we know anything?’”

I have made over 150 public appearances and I do that at my own risk. Speaking up for refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and other marginalized groups have resulted in hate mail, harassment and threats to my physical safety at public events. But this is how they silence us and I will not have it.

So, I encourage everyone who can, to speak up, especially academics with critical research to share. However, please research how to reduce the risk of scholarship-based harassment and what to do if it happens.