Documentary Filmmaker, Writer, Researcher & Educator

Background & Education
Caylan Ford was born in Calgary, Canada. She pursued a strong academic foundation in history and international affairs, earning a Bachelor’s degree with honours in Chinese history from the University of Calgary. She went on to attain a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, then later completed a Master’s in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford during the period between the births of her two children. Her academic focus reflects deep interests in human rights, global politics, and the philosophical underpinnings of freedom and truth.

Career & Professional Work
Ford’s professional life has spanned documentary filmmaking, writing, research, and international policy work. She spent roughly a decade as a senior policy advisor with Canada’s foreign ministry, working intermittently while completing her graduate studies. Much of her human rights work has involved expanding access to anti-surveillance and censorship tools in highly restrictive environments such as Iran, China, and Myanmar; supporting civil rights lawyers defending political dissidents; and assisting refugees and asylum claimants. She has also conducted and published original research on the repression of religious minorities in China, and her writings appear in both academic and mainstream publications.

Documentary Films & Writing
Ford has written and co-produced at least two feature documentary films that explore themes of religious and political persecution, censorship, forced labour, scapegoating, and mass persuasion under totalitarian regimes. One notable film credit includes Letter from Masanjia (2018), which investigates forced-labour camps in China and their human rights abuses.

Her more recent documentary, When the Mob Came, focuses on her own deeply personal experience with what is commonly called “cancel culture,” chronicling how a public defamation campaign dramatically disrupted her life and political aspirations.

Political Candidacy & Defamation Litigation
In 2019, Ford ran as a candidate in Alberta’s provincial election. Her campaign was cut short amid widely reported allegations—claims she has strongly denied—that she sympathized with extremist ideologies. Ford asserts these characterizations were false and defamatory and has since become the plaintiff in a substantial defamation lawsuit (valued in the millions of dollars) against several Canadian media and political entities over the repercussions of that alleged defamation. Her litigation in Alberta has already led to recognition of a new legal claim for civil harassment.

Education Reform & Charter School Founding
In 2022, Ford founded what is described as Canada’s first tuition-free classical charter school, the Calgary Classical Academy (also referred to in some sources as part of the broader Alberta Classical Academy network). The school emphasizes traditional liberal arts education and has grown to multiple campuses, drawing considerable community interest and long waiting lists for enrollment.

Public Commentary & Thought Leadership
Beyond her films and education work, Ford writes and speaks on a range of subjects including education policy, biopolitics, culture, family policy, and philosophical questions about truth and reality. Her perspective frequently critiques aspects of contemporary progressive education and cultural orthodoxy, advocating for classical approaches rooted in objective truth, order, and moral inquiry.