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Tanya (Toni) De Mello

Tanya (Toni) De Mello

Assistant Dean for Student Programming, Development and Equity, Lincoln Alexander School of Law (Vice-Chair)
DepartmentLincoln Alexander School of Law

Tanya (Toni) De Mello has over 20 years of experience working in the post-secondary sector in governance, student affairs, and admissions, and for the last 10 years, in human rights. She is a mediator, coach, and human rights lawyer and is considered an expert on equity and inclusion in Canada and has experience creating curricula and advising on curricular reform that embeds equity, diversity and inclusion in courses. Toni’s scholarship over the last decades has centered on discrimination and bias in hiring and retention practices in organizations and businesses in Canada. She has worked in grass-roots organizations locally and abroad, with a focus on humanitarian aid for refugees and displaced persons and work with street-involved youth and women.

With her demonstrated history of working in EDI and in her role as Vice-Chair of the committee, Toni hopes to help the committee fulfill its mandate by moving conversations beyond the basics and encouraging committee members to dig deeper into the issue at hand. She feels strongly that the university’s name should be one with which all community members are proud to identify with and aligns with her work to make Ryerson a human-rights centered campus where people feel a sense of belonging.