— Meenakshi is a settler living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples since 2006. Her parents are both immigrants to Canada, and she was born and raised on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples, on land protected by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum agreement and territory included in the Upper Canada Treaties, colonially-known as small town Ontario. This relationship to host nations and Indigenous people across so-called Canada demands accountability and interrogations of social justice work and praxis.

In her role at Pivot, Meenakshi works alongside her colleagues to envision intersectional approaches to ending the harms of policing and criminalization. She values Pivot’s uncompromising commitment to the expertise and vision of people with lived and living experience. Her work relates to the impact of policing on all aspects of Pivot’s campaigns. Meenakshi’s work includes producing  public legal education materials, policy analysis, community engagement, and speaking engagements.

Prior to taking on the role of Criminalization and Policing Campaigner she worked as the manager of community education. Meenakshi has held a variety of frontline and administrative positions at legal and social service agencies in Vancouver. Meenakshi is a graduate of the UBC School of Social Work (MSW, 2019) and Registered Social Worker. She is currently a board member for the Community Radio Education Society, programmer at Vancouver Coop Radio (Stark Raven), and member of the Vancouver Prison Justice Day Committee and Defund 604 Network. She’s survived the slow churn of bureaucracy with humour and moments of solidarity shared with clients, comrades, and coworkers. She took an improv class in 2018 and that helped too.