About Farrah
Farrah Khan is an award-winning human rights and gender equity advocate. She is dedicated to advancing progressive policies on access to abortion, reproductive rights, stigma-free healthcare, 2SLGBTQIA rights, sexual harassment and inclusive sex education in Canada and globally. Her lifelong work demonstrates her commitment to systemic change rooted in joy, equity and community care.
Leader
A change-maker who has worked for over two decades in gender justice movements, Farrah has worked as a frontline worker, trauma counsellor, educator, policy advisor and consultant. She is a trusted advisor to organizations, institutions and governments. Farrah has shaped policy at all levels of government, including as the co-chair of the Ontario Provincial Roundtable on Violence Against Women. In 2018, she was appointed to the Gender Equality Advisory Council for the G7 Summit, where she insisted, before an audience of world leaders, that concrete action on gender equity is necessary to create a thriving, sustainable and peaceful world.
Due to her subject matter knowledge and collaborative approach, Farrah has been in leadership positions including but not limited to:
Executive Director Action Canada, Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights 2023
CEO of Possibility Seeds, leading the groundbreaking five-year project Courage to Act, building the first national framework to address and prevent gender-based violence in post-secondary institutions.
Co-chair of Ontario’s first permanent provincial roundtable on Violence Against Women from 2015 - 2018.
Board Member Girl Guides of Canada 2019 - 2021.
Member of the Gender Equality Advisory Council for the G7 co-chair, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment working group in 2018.
Member of the Community Advisory Group for the Ontario Human Rights Commission since 2017.
Member of the Government of Canada's Advisory Council on the Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence 2016 - 2021
CBC The National “The lasting impact of #MeToo in the workplace”
Innovator
Farrah addresses complex problems by creating innovative, community-based solutions. She established one of Canada’s first stand-alone campus sexual violence support and education offices, Consent Comes First, at Toronto Metropolitan University. In that role, she supported community members affected by sexual violence, created educational programming and aided in shaping campus policy and procedures. She developed innovative educational tools there, including a bystander intervention program and a colouring and activity book for survivors and allies entitled We Believe You. The colouring book has been used and adapted by sexual assault crisis centres, universities and governments, including the government of Nova Scotia.
Farrah co-created Use The Right Words, a suite of media guides for journalists reporting on gender-based violence used by newsrooms and journalism programs across the country, and the Healing Comes in Waves podcast, now a go-to resource for young people affected by sexual violence in Canada.
As the CEO of Possibility Seeds, she led Courage to Act, a groundbreaking national collaborative project addressing gender-based violence at Canadian post-secondary institutions. The project has engaged 3,500 stakeholders and will have produced 82 accessible resources by the end of 2023. Farrah created the B.R.A.V.E model©, used worldwide to facilitate trust, equity, and care during hard conversations
Subject Matter Expert
A sought-after voice in national media, Farrah has appeared on the CBC’s flagship programs, The National and The Current, and quoted in Maclean’s, Chatelaine, and VICE. Her writing has appeared in Refinery 29, the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail.
Mentor
Farrah uses her platform to create space to mentor and amplify young feminist groups to engage with mainstream media and advocate with policymakers. She supports survivors’ leadership by helping them engage with mainstream media, lobby policymakers, and build campaigns. Farrah has mentored young feminist groups, including High School Too, We Give Consent, Drop the Mic, and Project Slut.
Artist and Author
Farrah uses art to explore inclusion, healing and justice. Since 2007, she has created award-winning programming for Muslim women to create, conspire and connect, including Our Collective Dreams, AQSAzine and Outburst! Young Muslim Women Project. Farrah’s work with Outburst was chronicled in the award-winning 2016 documentary called Listen To Me.
As an author, Farrah wrote Caring for Yourself is a Radical Act, an illustrative self-care guide for youth working in a community that explores trauma, institutional betrayal and community care. She also edited Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project, a graphic novella, and co-wrote the play based on the book about healing from family violence as a young South Asian woman. In 2014, the IZZAT Project joined the Tahirih Justice Centre for "Honouring Our Heartbeats: A Tour to End Forced Marriage," which went to six cities in the United States.
As an artist, her short films about being queer and Muslim have been exhibited at A Space Gallery, screened at the Art Gallery of Ontario, as well as at the Mix Festival New York and the British Film Institute (BFI) annual London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.
Awards and Honours
Credit: Sgt Mathieu St-Amour,, Rideau Hall, OSGG
Copyright: Office of the Secretary to the Governor General
Nominated Best Organization of the Year, Possibility Seeds, Women in Music Canada 2024
Health Hero 2023, Best Health Magazine
Girl Guides of Canada, Gold Maple Leaf Award, 2021
Centennial Award, Zonta Club of Toronto 2019
Honorary Degree, Humber College Board of Governors 2017
Choice Award, Planned Parenthood Toronto, 2017
J.S. Woodsworth Woman of Distinction Award, Ontario NDP 2017
Prix d’Excellence Gold for Best Marketing / Communications Initiative, Consent Comes First, The Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education
Ten Favourite Feminist Role Models, Fashion Magazine 2017
Community Educator Award, Harmony Movement 2016
Michele Landsberg Award with Outburst! Young Muslim Women's Project, Canadian Women's Foundation, 2013
Vital People Award Toronto Community Foundation, 2011
Top Ten People to Watch Toronto Star, 2011
Urban Alliance on Race Relations Community Award 2010
Women Who Inspire Award, Canadian Council of Muslim Women 2010
10 in 10 Urban Health Award, Wellesley Institute, 2008
“Without community, there is no liberation...but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.”
Femtorship
The only way I get to do my work is because of the community I am surrounded by. These are a few of the individuals and organizations that I love.
Gillian Goerz for Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario