Team

We are a small but diverse collective situated in and
around the Mississauga area. Our group comes
together over weekly Zoom meetings to plan our
ongoing and future initiatives, and arrange seasonal
in-person socials.

Greg Dias (President)

Greg is an MBA graduate, former engineer, and author. After a successful 39-year career, Greg’s way of accomplishing a work-life balance is to advocate for social justice. His interest in supporting the marginalized began 37 years ago when several years after one of the world’s worst industrial accidents in Bhopal, India he set up the Global Aid Committee, focused on supporting impoverished women and children in India, Kenya, and Uganda. Greg is the President of Help U Grow Charity for Uganda, supporting families of children who suffer from “Nodding Syndrome,” a rare neurological disease. Greg had a latent awareness of benefitting from a country built off Indigenous subjugation through the documentary “First Contact” on APTN. In creating MAIAA and by working in solidarity with Indigenous communities, he has begun his journey of allyship.

Cyann Dias (Director)

Cyann is currently completing the Teacher Education program for Intermediate and Senior Math and Science. She has been a music educator to children and adults for over ten years and continues to help her students build confidence and think beyond themselves, spreading into other areas of their lives. Cyann has worked with Greg, her uncle, on a variety of initiatives for the Global Aid Committee by combining her love of music and comunity through concert fundraisers.

Cyann is eager to continue to learn how to be a better ally and advocate. Cyann is passionate about advocacy and hopes to bring the learnings and perspectives from being a part of MAIAA to her current and future students.

Donna Tai (Director)

Fluent in English and French and conversant in Spanish, Donna is a self-described culture vulture with a perpetual wanderlust and a keen interest in discovering and learning from the myriad cultures of the world. Donna also has an inherent inclination and motivation to help others, and to be of service with all her gifts and talents. Currently a missionary, she has spent time in Guyana, South America, and Kenya, working with the poor and the marginalized, especially children and old people. The history and inequitable circumstances of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples have always been of interest, which was further intensified in recent years with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites. This was a “call to arms” for Donna, and through MAIAA, she hopes to answer that call.

Karen Siyanbola-Ellington (Director)

Karen is a Caribbean-born, Canadian-trained educator and artist. With over twenty years of experience, certified in Visual Arts, Primary, Junior, Intermediate Education, First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education and Special Education, her professional experience consists of teaching at the elementary and secondary levels, including living and teaching at a Federal, Pikangikum First Nation school in northwestern Ontario for over a year and working internationally as a visual artist/art educator, special education consultant and administrator. Being a member of MAIAA allows her to facilitate inclusion and equity through support and time for collaboration with Indigenous families and their communities. She believes that sharing leadership, creating a shared vision and trusting relationships will ensure successful outcomes.

Natalie Su (Treasurer)

Natalie is a third-year student at the University of Toronto, where she is pursuing majors in Indigenous Studies and Environmental Ethics. A Canadian citizen her whole life, she possesses an immense love for this land, and the life and relations it supports. However, she cannot turn a blind eye to the structures in place that continue to deprive Indigenous Peoples of their sovereignty and human rights. Natalie feels it is imperative that she and others Settlers use their voice and privilege as non-indigenous individuals to fight alongside Indigenous peoples for large-scale change. She enjoys taking part in the needed, uncomfortable conversation among her peers and above all wants to be a vessel for good, substantive action. In her off time, Natalie loves reading diverse literatures, watching documentaries, and training for her next triathlon.