This virtual event features speaker Deepan Budlakoti, who was recently released from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, and is stateless, despite being born in Canada. Deepan will speak about his experience, including both immigration and imprisonment.
The event will also feature Allison Petrozziello, PhD Candidate at Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), whose research and specialization on statelessness will complement Deepan’s talk.
About the speakers
Deepan Budlakoti was born and raised in Canada, stateless for over ten years and was held at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre for over four years. He is an advocate for the human rights of prisoners and people with precarious immigration status. Please see http://www.justicefordeepan.org/.
Allison Petrozziello is a researcher and human rights advocate focused on gender, migration, and statelessness, who is currently pursuing a PhD in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. Her doctoral research investigates the ways in which birth registration functions as a bordering practice generating a risk of statelessness for millions around the world. She connects academic research with advocacy through the International Network of Statelessness Scholarship, the Global PhDs on Statelessness network, and the global statelessness movement convened by the Institute on Statelessness & Inclusion.