As the CEO of International Justice Mission (IJM) Canada, a global non-profit organization, Anu George Canjanathoppil is a woman with a mission – to end human trafficking, forced labour, and slavery. Anu is a modern-day hero, tirelessly working towards ending injustices against underprivileged populations around the world. Since joining IJM in 2011, Anu has served in various capacities; including the Director of Operations, the Director of National Interventions, and the Director of Legal in South Asia. In 2019, she took the reigns as CEO of IJM Canada. The organization has grown significantly, making major contributions to the fight against slavery and the oppression of disadvantaged people. In less than a decade, Anu has helped rescue over 10,000 victims of human trafficking.
Perhaps Anu’s upbringing set the stage for a career crusading to protect those who cannot defend themselves. She was raised in South Asia by parents who welcomed a daughter at a time when sons were widely preferred. Rather than being lulled into a world where gender bias was the status quo, Anu was guided by a mother and father who challenged conventional gender norms and raised their daughter to be a strong woman. “I was born at a time and in a place when being born a girl was seen as a liability,” admits Anu, “when female infanticide was the norm. My parents desired a daughter at a time like that, and that was a stand for justice. They were the first feminists I encountered.”
Anu’s family home was starkly different from those around her in South Asia in the 1980s. Her father, a celebrated filmmaker, left his highly successful career to be a stay-at-home dad, instead working from home as a missionary writer. Though highly unusual at the time, Anu’s father took on the main child-rearing tasks so that her mother, a banker, could further her career. While she accepted the dynamics of her family as healthy and normal, as she matured, she recognized that the world outside her home was vastly different and that women were not typically positioned for successful careers and leadership roles. She felt fortunate to have parents who ignored gender biases. Still, she understood that these biases created significant injustices for women in her community and worldwide, particularly those living in poverty.
Although poverty rates in South Asia have improved over the past few decades, according to World Bank, in the 1980s, over 50% of the population lived in poverty. Women without economic means were disproportionately disadvantaged and vulnerable to exploitation and violence. “Global estimates state that women and girls account for 71% of victims of modern slavery, and research from the UN shows that violence against women disproportionately affects low and lower-middle income countries and regions.” Today, Anu emphasizes that there is much improvement to be made, stating, “in the World Economic Forum’s ‘Global Gender Gap Report,’ South Asia ranks lowest among the eight regions covered.” Closing this gap is front and center for Anu, and she admits that her role as CEO of IJM Canada is more than a leadership position – she stands as an example of what is possible. “Women like me have had to beat 197 years of this societally imposed preference for male leaders.”
Although Anu works in a world confronted by some of humanity’s darkest and most disturbing elements daily, she works hard to maintain perspective. By focusing on hope and steadfastly committing to serving those in the grips of violence and exploitation, Anu stays firmly dedicated to a vision of a better world.
By the time Anu joined IJM, it had been around for many years, initially founded in the US in 1997 by Gary Haugen, a Harvard grad and human rights lawyer driven to abolish injustices worldwide. Anu’s background positioned her as a natural leader for IJM Canada. Along with a law degree, Anu holds an MBA and a master’s degree in organizational leadership. During her youth, Anu’s interest in social justice and her ambition to make a difference appeared early. She started by bringing social issues to the public’s attention by writing and producing radio dramas and street theatre. Later, the Canadian government recognized Anu as a Sauvé Scholar, and she represented South Asia as a Youth Ambassador to Dhaka through the National Cadet Corps. However, the pursuit of her academic dreams and goals to improve humanity have sometimes been met with resistance. Asked if she has experienced pushback for being ambitious and thinking big, Anu admits that as a woman, she might contradict some people’s ideas of acceptable gender norms. “For the longest time,” Anu reveals, “I’ve been seen as being overly ambitious and aggressive,” noting that a man would not be judged the same way for doing the same things. “My passion is seen as overly emotional, or my sense of urgency has been seen as overly ambitious.”
Today, Anu lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband and two children and considers parenting her children her most outstanding achievement, alongside showing up for other people’s children. “We are going to protect 500 million people by 2030,” Anu states confidently. This conviction is no surprise for a woman raised by parents who championed her ability to lead and create change. “My family injected this crazy confidence in my head. They taught me that becoming a leader and improving the world was critical. It wasn’t just a choice or an option but a calling.”
In the future, Anu will continue her fight to free the 50 million people living in slavery today, including victims of labour trafficking and sex trafficking, as well as children sexually exploited online. “I used to be an athlete, a pretty fast one at that. For athletes like us, time is everything—every second matters. But you know when I ran fastest? When I had my perpetrators at my heels. As a survivor of violence, let me tell you, for every single person who is waiting for help, who is waiting for someone to show up, the time is NOW. For the mom or dad who is waiting for their child to return – the time is now. For us to respond, the time is NOW.”