Saira Batasar-Johnie

Saira Batasar-Johnie locates herself as a brown, Indo-Caribbean Canadian cisgender woman of Indo-Caribbean/ South Asian Indian descent and first generation settler in T’karonto/ Toronto, Ontario situated on the territory of the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas of the New Credit and Haudenosaunee Peoples, with recognition to “The Dish With One Spoon” wampum and Treaty 13. Batasar-Johnie’s parents were immigrants escaping violence, oppression and poverty in Guyana and Trinidad. 

She is an author, child and youth care practitioner and registered social worker, who currently works in post-secondary education. She is currently the student affairs coordinator at TMU’s School of Child and Youth Care and a part-time professor across the GTA. She is also a mom, wife, daughter, sister and friend. 

Batasar-Johnie is passionate about bringing the history of Indo-Caribbeans to the newest diaspora of young people. She hopes to educate young people with her words; her book Dear Divya is the first of many, which she hopes will inspire them to continue their journey of understanding themselves in this world.