Prof. Nahla Abdo
Nahla Abdo is a Palestinian Canadian scholar and an anti-colonial, anti-imperialist feminist activist. She is Chancellor’s Professor of Sociology at Carleton University and received the 2025 National Medal of Excellence for Feminist Scholarship in Canada. Her books include Captive Revolution: Palestinian Women’s Anti-Colonial Struggle (2014; French translation 2019) and Women in Israel: Race, Gender and Citizenship (2011). With Nur Masalha, she co-edited An Oral History of the Palestinian Nakba (2018), published in Arabic in 2025. She also co-edited Violence in the Name of Honour (2004). She served on the Palestinian Content Advisory Network for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Rana Abdulla, CPA
Rana Abdulla is a Palestinian Canadian community leader, chartered professional accountant, entrepreneur and human rights defender based in Winnipeg. Born in Kuwait, she received the 2014 Manitoba Human Rights Award for her work in refugee sponsorship, advocacy and community leadership. Since 2009, she has worked to secure recognition of the Nakba at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, mobilizing Nakba survivors and bringing forward historical research and personal testimonies. As a member of the Palestinian Content Advisory Network, she played a leading role in the efforts that led to Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present, which includes her grandparents’ house keys and a bridal dress from Deir al-Balah. She founded Yafa Café and the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba, and curated The Land Remembers… at Canadian Mennonite University and the upcoming Palestinian Resilience section at the Manitoba Museum.
Dr. Diana Abouali
Diana Abouali is director of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Since joining the museum in 2019, she has led its institutional transformation: enhancing its digital capabilities, updating exhibitions, expanding research and outreach, growing its artist-in-residence program and strengthening ties to the Arab American community. Her career spans higher education, museums and cultural heritage in the United States, Palestine and Jordan, including roles as assistant professor of Middle Eastern studies at Dartmouth College, head of research and collections at the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, and director of education at the Petra National Trust in Amman. Palestinian, born in Toronto and raised in Kuwait, she holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. She served on the Palestinian Content Advisory Network.
Prof. Yasmeen Abu-Laban
Yasmeen Abu-Laban is Professor of Political Science and Canada Research Chair in the Politics of Citizenship and Human Rights at the University of Alberta, and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Her published research addresses multiculturalism and anti-racism; migration policies and politics; surveillance, artificial intelligence and border control; and human rights. She served on the Palestinian Content Advisory Network for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights from 2022 to 2026.
Prof. Abigail B. Bakan
Abigail B. Bakan is a professor in the Department of Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. She is cross-appointed to the Department of Political Science and is an affiliate of the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies. Her research addresses anti-oppression politics, including gender, race, class, political economy and citizenship. She is co-author, with Yasmeen Abu-Laban, of Israel, Palestine and the Politics of Race, and author of Ideology and Class Conflict in Jamaica. With Enakshi Dua, she co-edited Theorizing Anti-Racism. She served on the Palestinian Content Advisory Network for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights from 2022 to 2026.
Najat El-Taji El-Khairy, Artist
Najat El-Taji El-Khairy is a Palestinian Canadian artist, researcher and advocate for Palestinian art and heritage, based in Montreal. She was born in Egypt in 1948, after her family was displaced from Ramla during the Nakba, and moved to Canada in 1988. In 2003, drawing on four decades of artistic experience, she combined traditional Palestinian embroidery with porcelain painting to create a new art form: Palestinian tatreez on porcelain tiles, with hand-painted cross-stitch motifs and patterns. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the United Nations in New York. In 2018, she curated Palestinian Heritage… Worth Celebrating!, the first exhibition in Montreal to feature Palestine in its title. She served on the Palestinian Content Advisory Network for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Her motto: “Painting her way home, one stitch at a time.”
Draft for review by the honourees. Biographies are based on material provided by each honouree.