Staff

Sandra Wisner, Director

Sandra is an international human rights lawyer with experience in nearly every region in the world. In South Africa, she appeared alongside counsel of the late Nelson Mandela at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry to secure reparations arising out of a devastating police massacre. She also worked for the UN in Cambodia prosecuting members of the Khmer Rouge regime for genocide. Most recently, she worked for five years in Haiti partnering with the country's leading human rights lawyer to secure remedies for survivors of the UN-introduced cholera epidemic and peacekeeper sexual abuse. She has been periodically called upon to observe trials around the globe to ensure compliance with international human rights law. 

She holds an advanced LL.M. from Leiden University specializing in corporate accountability, and a JD and Honours BA from the Universities of Windsor and Toronto. Her thesis explored the accountability of multinational corporations operating and sourcing from volatile areas. She regularly publishes on corporate accountability matters and speaks at various venues around the world, including Cornell, Harvard, Sorbonne, and the UN Human Rights Council. Sandra has appeared in the Guardian, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Vice News and TVO's The Agenda. After completing her JD, Sandra articled with Gowling WLG. She speaks both official languages.

Monika Hanna, Program Coordinator

Monika is a Canadian lawyer with broad national and international work experience. This includes representing refugee claimants and immigration detainees in Ontario, litigating commercial disputes in Toronto, and corporate governance work for an international non-governmental organisation. Prior to joining the IHRP, Monika worked alongside a public interest organisation in South Africa to advance a successful intervention in support of certifying a class action (representative of an estimated 140,000 Zambian women and children) against a prominent mining corporation.

Monika received her LL.B. (Hons.) degree from BPP University Law School in London, England. Throughout her studies, she was an avid leader and member of social justice organisations and pro bono initiatives. She is actively engaged in international human rights advocacy through charities and as an executive member within the Canadian Bar Association. Monika is a native Arabic speaker.

Nabila Khan, Research Associate

Nabila is a Canadian lawyer with experience in research, advocacy, and litigation on a broad range of human rights issues. Prior to joining IHRP, she practiced law at a boutique employment and human rights law firm in Toronto litigating contentious human rights cases within the Canadian context. Outside of law practice, Nabila has collaborated with NGOs in Canada, the United States, and Bangladesh to enhance international supply chain transparency and address human rights issues within the global garment supply chain. Her research has explored gender-specific concerns identified by women workers in Bangladesh following the Rana Plaza incident and, more recently, examined corporate accountability for wage theft in global supply chains. Most recently, Nabila worked with the Business and Human Rights Unit at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.  

Nabila received her Master of Laws from Columbia Law School, her J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School, and her Honours BA in Political Science and Communication Studies from McMaster University. She is currently a part-time lecturer at Lincoln Alexander School of Law and volunteers with the Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR).