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BLM 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. 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. 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.[ han 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.[14] The New York Post reported on January 29, 2022, that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation transferred millions to a Canadian charity run by Janaya Khan to purchase a sprawling mansion that had once served as the headquarters of the Communist Party. M4BJ, a Toronto-based non-profit set up by Khan and other Canadian activists, purchased the 10,000-square foot historic property for the equivalent of $6.3 million in cash in July 2021, according to Toronto property records viewed by the Post. Khan resigned from the group in 2021, a month after The Post revealed that they had spent $3.2 million on homes in Georgia and Los Angeles. Khan vigorously denied that BLM donations were used to buy the homes.
