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Janaya Khan is a social activist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Khan is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto as well as an international ambassador for the Black Lives Matter Network.[3][4][5] Khan identifies as black, queer, and gender-nonconforming. Much of their work analyzes intersectional topics including the Black Lives Matter movement, queer theory, Black feminism, and organized protest strategies.[6]

Personal life and education
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]

Activism
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 fellow Black Lives Matter Toronto co-founder Sandy 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 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.