Integration

Deadline Extended to March 10th, 2010. Hurry and signup your school!

The Civics Education Network's longest running program, Integration is all about bringing the experience to the students. The core mission of the Integration Program is to create a dialogue between students and local the people who make politica happen. As a result great things can and do happen, local issues are dealt with and it's the students themselves who made it happen.

Every year we ask schools throughout Toronto to join the program. Then we at CEN contact local politicians on the school's behalf to convince them to visit the school and interact with the students. We provide all of the logistics, all that the teacher needs to do is talk to their administration and ensure that when they day comes they have a space to host the visitor. Think of the program as a political matchmaking service!

This year we are expanding Integration beyond just politicians. We have put together a roster of community activists who are willing to visit schools and talk with students. Any school may request an activist from the roster and again, just like with the politicians, we will handle all of the logistics of the visit. In this case however, we are asking that each school contribute an honorarium of $50 to help cover costs incurred by the visiting activist and in recognition of his or her time. CEN will match this with a $50 contribution of our own.

If you are interested in the program the form to sign up your school is below! Once we have received your information, we will begin matching your school. As part of the process you may request eith one politican, one activist, or one of both. Bios for the activists are included below the form to help you make your decision. For more information, freel free to email contact@civicsnetwork.ca.

Currently we regret that the Integration Program is only available within the borders of the City of Toronto - public, private and Catholic schools included. We are actively looking for people who can help coordinate integration outside of Toronto. If you are interested in helping out, email us, we would be excited to talk to you.

Biographies of Participating Community Activists

Yvonne Bambrick

Yvonne Bambrick is a life-long, year round cyclist who has spent the past seven years using her education (Communications (MA) / Physical Geography (BA)) to help Toronto become a more pedestrian and cycle-friendly city through activism, community initiatives, municipal politics, and most recently, as the first Executive Director of the Toronto Cyclists Union. With an ear to the ground and her eye in a camera lens, Yvonne has a deep understanding of urban issues and is the person to see about all things Kensington Market. She is also a photographer and fluent in French.

Devon Ostrom

Devon Ostrom holds an MA in curating from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and has graduated from programs in Non-profit as well as Human Resource management from Ryerson University. His career as an organizer started at fourteen when coordinating a street art contest at the Central Canadian Exhibition in Ottawa. From the Art Gallery of Ontario to a mural and research project at Kingston Penitentiary, he has since gone on to organize countless installations and exhibitions. His exhibition record includes the highly acclaimed Streetscape programming for Luminato 2008 at Regent Park and the Parliament St. Slip / Former Tent City. Other highlights include “Housepaint, Phase 2: Shelter” at the Royal Ontario Museum. As a community organizer Devon was a founder of them.ca (Canada’s largest organization of street artists) and serves as the Visual Arts Director of Manifesto Community Projects. Devon’s advocacy work includes founding BeautifulCity.ca – an alliance of over 60 organizations that recently defeated the world’s dominant media conglomerates in a 29/11 council decision to put a new tax on billboards. (The dedication of funding to art in the public sphere will happen in the budget cycle.) He is also a member of the Toronto City Summit Alliance’s Emerging Leaders Network and was selected as one of Ryerson Alumni’s Top 30 Under 30.

Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler

Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler, 25, is an award-winning community activist, writer and communications professional. Adam chairs the board of Wychwood Opend Door, a drop-in center serving homeless and socially isolated people, and is a director on the Toronto Public Library Board. Most recently, Adam organized the government relations strategy for the BeautifulCity.ca campaign at City Hall. The campaign won a billboard tax to fund public art.

Erin Wood

Erin Wood is an experienced public speaker who's coordinated community campaigns for the Toronto Public Space Committee (TPSC) for five years and facilitated energy conservation campaigns across the city. During her time with the TPSC she spent two years coordinating the Guerilla Gardeners and five organizing Human River. The Guerilla Gardeners, transform abandoned spaces into community gardens and Human River is a series of community events that raises awareness about the buried Garrison Creek (www.humanriver.ca). She's also worked as an environmental educator with the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative, teaching youth about the importance of energy conservation through workshops and the facilitation of student-led energy conservation campaigns.

Camille Labchuk

Camille Labchuk is a 25-year-old political and community activist in Toronto. She ran for the Green Party in the 2006 federal election, worked as Green Party leader Elizabeth May's press secretary in Ottawa for several years, and currently represents the province of Ontario on the party's governing council. Camille has worked on numerous civic issues, including democratic reform, youth civic engagement, stronger environmental legislation, social justice and animal welfare issues. Camille has an BA Hon. in Psychology from Mount Allison University, and is currently studying law at the University of Toronto.

Dave Meslin

Dave Meslin is a Toronto-based artist and organiser who has instigated a variety of urban projects including Reclaim the Streets, Toronto Public Space Committee, Spacing Magazine, City Idol, Human River, Toronto Cyclists Union, Dandyhorse Magazine and Better Ballots. Multi-partisan and fiercely optimistic, Dave embraces ideas and projects that cut across traditional boundaries between grassroots politics, electoral politics and the arts community. In his work, he attempts to weave elements of these communities together.

Cathy Crowe

Cathy Crowe is a Street Nurse and has worked in the area of homelessness for over 20 years. She is an activist first and foremost but also an author (Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out) and filmmaker (Home Safe Calgary, Home Safe Toronto). She has worked to influence policy at the municipal, provincial and federal levels of government. In 1998 she co-founded the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee which issued the national declaration that homelessness was a national disaster in Canada.

Linda Varekamp

Linda Varekamp currently coordinates the renewable energy education program at the Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative (TREC), where she enjoys teaching students and members of the public alike about renewable energy and how they can get involved in this rapidly expanding field! Linda's interest in environmental issues began while she was designing recycled clothes for the not-for-profit clothing store Planet Aid, where she had the opportunity to spend a summer volunteering in Zambia. She later decided to study environmental policy at the University of Toronto and has been working in the environmental not-for-profit sector for several years. Linda spends her spare time writing about environmental issues, continuing to make crafts with recycled items, and volunteering for various cycling groups in Toronto.

Jonathan Goldsbie

Jonathan Goldsbie is a campaigner with the Toronto Public Space Committee who fights against the corporatization of the city's public realm, with a particular focus on outdoor advertising. He has also written about and done advocacy work around a variety municipal issues, including public surveillance, corporate lobbyists, civic democracy, and pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. He has covered urban affairs for a variety of print and online publications, including Spacing Toronto, Eye Weekly, and Torontoist, and is presently the progressive voice in the National Post's Toronto section.

Desmond Cole

Desmond Cole is project coordinator of the I Vote Toronto campaign, an effort to extend the municipal vote to permanent residents. Desmond has worked extensively with youth, as an outreach worker, teacher and tutor. He was also one of the winners of City Idol, an open competition to pick candidates for the 2006 municipal election.

Shamez Amlani

Born in Nairobi, Kenya to parents of East Indian decent, Shamez moved to Canada at the age of 5. After traveling and living abroad for many years, he returned home to open a small French bistro in Toronto's vibrant Kensington Market. There he formed activist group Streets are for People! whose mandate it is to use art and humour to "liberate the commons from the mundane rule of that deadly beast, the automobile". Shamez is a fierce advocate for public space and car-free living and has spoken extensively on the subject in the media and at conferences.