Fellows

2026-2027

Raihaana Adira is a Muslim Zionist content creator with more than 40,000 followers, an undergraduate student at McGill University, and an emerging voice in Canada’s national conversation on antisemitism, extremism, and coexistence.

As an Ismaili Muslim and unapologetic Zionist, Raihaana brings a perspective that challenges prevailing narratives and reshapes conversations around identity, allyship, and the Middle East. Her views were shaped in part by her academic exchange at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she experienced Israeli society firsthand and developed a deeper understanding of the region’s political and cultural complexity.

Raihaana has published multiple op-eds and has been featured in national conversations addressing the rise of antisemitism on Canadian campuses. She has taken her advocacy beyond commentary—testifying before a House of Commons committee on issues of hate and safety, and pursuing legal action in response to the McGill encampment, arguing for the protection of safe and inclusive academic spaces.

Raihaana is involved with StandWithUs Canada, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, HESEG/Schwartz Reisman Foundation, CJPAC and Allied Voices for Israel. She frequently speaks on campus climate, interfaith relations, Israel and antisemitism, and the role of young leaders in shaping the future of public discourse.

Mohammed Aleqabi was born in Iraq and raised in a Shia Muslim community, but his understanding of faith changed dramatically during his journey to Canada. Forced to flee violence in his home country, he spent time in Turkey as a refugee, where he first encountered the Bible and began asking questions that would reshape his life. Drawn by the story of Jesus and His teachings, Mohammed embraced Christianity and began a lifelong pursuit of understanding God more deeply.

The experience of displacement, uncertainty, and rebuilding a life in a new country taught him to take faith, family, and community seriously. Today, he calls Canada home, though his heart remains closely connected to the Middle East and the family he left behind. His spiritual journey has also influenced those closest to him; several members of his family began exploring Christianity alongside him, including his mother, who later became a minister.

Mohammed is passionate about sharing hope with others, supporting newcomers, and living out his faith through service, compassion, and meaningful relationships. His life continues to be shaped by the conviction that God meets people wherever they are and calls them toward something greater.

Ebube Anachebe grew up in a Christian household where she was constantly reminded about the Jewishness of Jesus and God’s eternal covenant with the Jewish people. In Grade 12, she wrote two research papers on the development of modern political antisemitism. Through her research, she developed a greater appreciation for the Jewish people, their beautiful, yet complicated history, and further realized God’s unending love.

In university, Ebube encountered a group called Students Supporting Israel (SSI) that was running a Holocaust education campaign through distributing books. Recounting her research in high school, she joined the SSI board at the University of Calgary.

This was her introduction to the Jewish experience on campus and in the broader community. Following this involvement, Ebube became a Christian Outreach Emerson Fellow with StandWithUs. This led to her first visit to Israel in May 2024 as part of a non-Jewish delegation with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. Her advocacy continued as a Campus Fellow with Passages Israel from 2024-2026, where she subsequently travelled to Israel two more times.

With a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, Ebube outside of her technical work, is passionate about building bridges between the Jewish and Christian communities.

Dimpee Brar is a writer and political commentator whose work appears in the American Spectator, The Federalist, the Daily Wire, and the Western Standard. She appears frequently on radio programs and podcasts in both Canada and the United States. Her concern is the crisis of the West, which she understands above all as the crisis of relativism.

She first discovered Judaism through the study of Torah and the writings of Leo Strauss. Never will she turn from that experience. In time, she came to see that Western Civilization rests upon two twin roots: Jerusalem and Athens. Their fates are inextricably linked. Naturally, then, an attack on Jerusalem – the biblical half of our unique inheritance – is ultimately an attack against the West itself.

She is currently pursuing a BA (Honours) in Jewish Philosophy with a Minor in Classics at the University of Toronto while also serving as the Director of Engagement for Allies for a Strong Canada.

Religious freedom is personally important to Dimpee because it is the only condition under which a woman born of Sikhs might, without fear of reprisal or death, freely choose to become, live, and die as a Jew.

Uriel Presman Chikiar was born in Argentina and later moved to Vancouver, where he grew up in a Jewish community that shaped his understanding of identity, responsibility, and belonging. Moving between countries at a young age made him reflect early on about what it means to feel at home somewhere, and what people owe to the communities of which they are a part.

He is now a Political Studies student at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Alongside his studies, he is involved in student leadership, journalism, and public affairs. He also works in municipal government, supporting the Office of the Mayor of Kingston, which has given him a closer look at how decisions made at City Hall actually affect people’s everyday lives.

Uriel’s interest in religious freedom stems from his belief that people can disagree yet find ways to understand one another. He was raised with the Jewish teaching, “If not now, when? If not you, then who?”, which continues to guide how he approaches responsibility and action.

Tersha De Koning was born in Sri Lanka amidst civil war but escaped to Canada with her family as a child. In Canada, her previously nominal faith became her own through connecting with other Christians who were also in difficult diasporic circumstances. This gave Tersha an experience of godly community–and of God–for the first time. Twenty-five years later, she is a committed Christian: she sings on the worship team and teaches in several ministries at her church, is an alumna of the Cardus NextGEN Fellowship, and serves in Christian Legal Fellowship programming.

Tersha graduated with a BA (Honours) with highest distinction in philosophy and psychology (Toronto), a JD with honours (Queen’s), and a fully funded LLM with highest distinction in criminal, constitutional, and Charter law (Toronto).

Tersha’s work focuses on human rights and human dignity in the sentencing law context. She has worked in Ontario’s trial and appellate courts and at Innocence Canada, assisting in reviewing and litigating homicide cases that were post-appeal, sometimes from the Supreme Court of Canada. She now works as a legal researcher at Level, an organization advancing human rights through education and advocacy. Her writing has appeared in the Supreme Court Law Review and elsewhere.

John Paul Gamage was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Growing up, John Paul was very intelligent and interested in abstract thinking, but he was also very rebellious, which led to several suspensions from school. His parents raised John Paul and his younger sister as Buddhists.

After a spiritual experience at 18, John Paul converted to Christianity. He became Catholic after experiencing the Traditional Latin Mass in Kelowna, British Columbia, and reading Dante, Russell Kirk, and C.S. Lewis.

John Paul was a candidate in the Dominican Order until he fell in love and proposed to his wife, Anika. The two got married when they were 21 at a large—but very low budget—wedding at the Latin Mass in Kelowna, B.C. John Paul and Anika had their first son, Augustine, when they were 22. Anika baptized Augustine during a life-threatening event at 8 days old.

The Gamage family now lives in the Glebe neighbourhood of Ottawa, ON, and attends an Ordinariate parish.

Tiauna Lodewyk is a second generation Canadian whose worldview has been shaped by her family’s history and her faith. With all four of her grandparents having immigrated from the Netherlands following World War II, and with her relatives having been actively involved in the Dutch resistance movement, she grew up with an awareness of antisemitism and the privilege of growing up in a democratic society.

Tiauna is a Bible-believing evangelical Christian and has always loved and supported Israel and the Jewish people believing that God has not forgotten His eternal promises to them.

Tiauna has spent many months in Israel and eventually became a representative with the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry working with churches and Jewish communities in Canada. She recently began writing as a means to bring awareness to antisemitism and Christian values through Harbinger’s Daily news media.

She is currently completing her degree in Business, specializing in law, at Western University and interning at a news and television studio in Jerusalem, Israel over the summer.

Benjamin Mast was deeply impacted by a 2016 trip to Israel with Passages, which opened his eyes to the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, the reality of antisemitism, and the Christian obligation to stand with the Jewish people.

Born in the small community of Fort Frances, Ontario, and raised in nearby Rainy River, Ben’s passion continued to deepen during his six years at Moody Bible Institute (Chicago), where he received his BA and MA in Biblical and Theological Studies.

Ben returned home to Canada in 2021 and serves as Lead Pastor of the Rainy River ECC and Spiritual Life Director at Cornerstone Christian School. He remains active in Jewish advocacy, returning to Israel with Passages to learn and volunteer following the October 7 attacks, conducting interviews with Holocaust survivors, and participating in the March of the Living in Poland.

It was there that Ben developed a special connection with 98-year-old Holocaust survivor Nate Leipciger, discovering his ties to Northwestern Ontario as an electrical engineer – including for the hospital where Ben was born – and leading Ben to organize a well-attended speaking tour for Mr. Leipciger in October of 2025, in coordination with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Born in Barcelona, Spain, Dimas’s early life was defined by a spirit of adventure and service. At the age of three, with two younger siblings, his parents answered a call to missionary work, and the family moved to Montreal with nothing but their reliance on providence to serve the Church.

Eight years afterward, and with six younger siblings now in the family, they embarked on a new journey to Whitehorse to once again aid the Church and be of service. In Whitehorse, Dimas spent his teenage years and developed a deep appreciation for the rugged wilderness and the tight-knit northern community. After graduating from high school, he completed a year of biological sciences at Yukon University.

Today, as a member of a Catholic missionary family and the eldest of nine, he attributes his stability and drive entirely to the faith passed down from his parents, which keeps him grounded amidst the struggles and challenges the world places in front of him.