Adina is a program manager at the Alliance des communautés culturelles pour l’égalité dans la santé et les services sociaux (ACCÉSSS) and offers training on: the Quebec health network, healthy housing, and gynaecological and breast cancers. She participates in research groups related to access to health services for people with a migrant background.
Alessandra Renzi is a is a member of the Park-Extension Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (https://antievictionmontreal.org) and Associate Professor of Critical Media Production in the Department of Communication Studies, Concordia University, where her research-creation explores the intersection of media, art and civic engagement.
Alexa is a PhD student in Educational Studies in the Language Acquisition Program at McGill University. She is passionate about the roles of language in education. Her experience teaching in Montréal, and more particularly in Parc-Extension schools, have led her to focus on migrant-background students’ language learning experiences and socialization in French schools. She is especially interested in these students’ ability to invest in their multilingual identity through a social justice and accessibility lens.
Alex is a Programs Coordinator for the Office of Community Engagement at Concordia University and a PhD Student at McGill University, under the supervision of Profs. Naomi Nichols and Henry Mintzberg. He is an affiliate facilitator of the Centre for Community Organizations (COCo).
Arisha is a student, recovering bureaucrat, and Vice-President of Youth in Care Canada, a national organization serving youth in/from care. She also serves on the Board at À deux mains / Head & Hands. Having spent time bouncing in and out of the system in Ontario, she is passionate about ensuring that young people are aware of their rights and engaged in the decisions that impact them.
Aron is a graduate student at McGill involved with creative writing, community gardens, and mindful movement. His research supports teachers around the social justice implications of educational reform for so-called 21st century learning.
Emanuel is a PhD candidate in sociology at Université du Québec du Montréal and a regular collaborator of the community-based action research network in Park Extension (CBAR) and the Social Equity and Diversity Education Office (SEDE) based at McGill. His research interests revolve around political sociology, violence and urban marginality, while his work with the CBAR focuses on youth homelessness and access to housing in high-poverty neighborhoods.
Violaine Jolivet is a member of the CRACH (Collective for Research Action on Housing) and associate professor in urban geography at Université de Montréal. Her research focuses on questions of transnational mobility and its impact on socio-economic changes and spatial renovations in the central districts of American cities. She is also interested in processes of exclusion and segregation as encapsulated by concepts of right to the city, gentrification and territorial stigmatization, with a particular interest for the pericentral neighbourhoods, and inner suburbs of Montreal where minority groups are concentrated.
Fatiha Bensalah graduated in education and communication from institutions in Algeria and France. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in psychosociology from the Université de Montreal, as well as a master’s degree in intercultural mediation from the Université de Sherbrooke. Her migratory experience and her academic career have led her to critical and informed positions on intercultural issues and on practices of managing cultural diversity in Quebec. She is engaged in civic involvement towards fostering social cohesion and individual well-being. Her ultimate goal in her work is the prevention and management of intercultural conflicts. She is an intercultural consultant-trainer, author, speaker and lecturer at the Université de Sherbrooke.
Mariana Alves de Souza is a master’s student in urban planning at Université de Montréal. Before undertaking her studies in Quebec, she worked as an architect and urban planner on the development of projects committed to the improvement of precarious neighborhoods, and on the construction of social housing in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. Her research interests relate to the consideration of social and environmental inequalities in urban settings.
Jen Gobby is a activist-scholar who works closely with communities and social movements to do action-research that aims for transformative change towards social and environmental justice. She is the author of the recent book More Powerful Together: Conversations with Climate Activists and Indigenous Land Defenders, organizes with Climate Justice Montreal, is a member of the steering commitee for Concordia’s SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation, and is the founder of the MudGirls Natural Building Collective. She completed her PhD at McGill as part of the Economics for the Anthropocene partnership and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Concordia’s Department of Geography, Planning and Environment.
Faiz is a licensed real estate broker and Brick by Brick’s prima donna. His vision is to nurture creative energy in the diverse communities that inspire him. Faiz shares his passion for community with his clients by encouraging them to follow their instinct while protecting their interests. Having studied development at McGill as well as real estate at Concordia, while working for 15 years in the community sector, Faiz is able to appreciate both the challenges and opportunities for decommodifying real estate and making it about people, their homes and their communities.
Horațiu is a former software developer and software development educator, and current graduate student at McGill University. There, he is looking at how technologists can be better supported in navigating the ethical and critical dimensions of their work. Horațiu is also interested in the experiences of white immigrant/settler communities in what today is Canada, particularly in how they negotiate their identities in our settler-colonial context.
Jayne is from Kapuskasing, Ontario and is a PhD Candidate at McGill University in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education. She works on issues of educational access for precariously housed and homeless youth, particularly in Montréal. She is a 2018 Pierre-Elliot Trudeau Scholar and Vanier Scholar. She is a part of the team at the McGill Faculty of Education Community Garden.
Kody Crowell hails from Nova Scotia and is passionate about research and its role in, as, and with activism. His educational background is in epidemiology, public health, and health and social policy. He is interested in the ethical issues surrounding data and epistemic justice. In his free time, he enjoys writing and reading.
Leonora is a PhD candidate in Psychiatry at McGill University where her research focus is maternal health and resilient outcomes in children. She believes that by supporting mothers and their families, we can offset health problems in children and build stronger societies. She is an active member of two cooperatives: Tiger Lotus Coop (TLC) a wellness project centered around reproductive health and Brick by Brick, a community-housing project in Park Ex. As a community organizer, she facilitates educational workshops and acts as a liaison between various organizations, partners and networks – with the intention of building community.
Mélanie Binette is an artist-researcher, co-founder and director of a site-specific art collective, le Milieu de Nulle Part (formerly Théâtre Nulle Part). She graduated in 2014 with a Master’s degree from Concordia University in interdisciplinary studies, and her thesis questioned the political potential of spectatorship. She got involved with community-based practice in Park-Extension in 2017, when she produced in partnership with Afrique au Féminin and Constructlab an installation of collective embroidery inviting immigrant women to come share their skills at the former Outremont railyard.
Mitchell is gardener, project manager, course lecturer and PhD candidate at McGill University. He is also sessional faculty at Bishop’s University. He serves on the executive council for the Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies and is on the editorial board of Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education. His research interests include: gender, social justice, homelessness, community-based, participatory and arts-based educational research methodologies, gardens, environmental and democratic education. To learn more about Mitchell’s work, please see https://www.mcgill.ca/garden/.
Naomi’s research illuminates the complex social and structural factors that shape how children and communities grow and develop. Because of the applied nature of her work, she spends considerable time in practice-settings – particularly schools and youth-serving organizations.
Nafija Rahman has been an engaged citizen and community unifier in her neighborhood of Little Burgundy for over a decade. In her work with Amitié Soleil, the Amal Centre for Women, and her catering business chezNafNaf, she advocates for women’s empowerment and ensures that the voices of women of color from marginalized communities are heard.
Perry is a Park-Extension lifelong resident who works as Coordinator Academic Programs and Curriculum Development at the Concordia University School of Community and Public Affairs. He is President of the Board of Directors of the Park Extension Youth Organization (PEYO) and serves on the Board of Directors of CEDEC and E.R.S. Training and Development Corporation. He is a member of the Dunrae Gardens governing board. In 2013, he was awarded The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his community engagement.
Raffaela is currently studying law at UQAM and is involved in community based action from London to Québec and now Montreal. Housing issues, gentrification and justice are issues she hopes to bring together throughout her studies and her engagement.
Rose Ngo Ndjel is passionate about community mobilization and action. Originally from Cameroon, Quebec since 2000, she is the Africa Coordinator for Women, the Centre des Femmes de Parc-Extension. Her strong commitment is to support and encourage women to take charge of their destiny through sustained efforts that can strengthen their well-being and empowerment on a daily basis. She is involved in several working committees defending women’s causes, and sits on the boards of directors of La Maison de la Coopération du Montréal Métropolitain, Micro-Recycle Corporation, Alliance des Communautés Culturelles pour l’Égalité dans la Santé et les Services Sociaux and La Table de Quartier de Parc-Extension. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting Management from HEC Montréal.
Salina is a first-generation of Eritrean and Ethiopian immigrants. She understands up to five languages and is studying for a bachelor’s degree at McGill University in Education. In her graduate research she will seek to influence educational policy to extend current Canadian and Quebecois curricula to include accurate historical attention for the Afro-descended Canadians, who continue to influence our world. By sensitizing people about Black presence she hopes to better understand the modern conditions of Black Canadians.
Born and raised in Park-Extension, Samiha is the coordinator of Montréal Populaire, a grassroots movement that encourages the youth of the multicultural neighborhood to be involved in their community and to express their thoughts on local issues that affect them. Montréal Populaire aims to promote citizen participation by hosting youth consultations in Park-Extension.
Sasha has been an active resident of Park Extension for ten years, serving on community boards and launching various initiatives with his neighbours. He is also a research nurse and currently works as the national coordinator of a major research project in pediatric neurology. He is pleased as punch that the CBAR Network will join his passion for research and his love of his neighbourhood. He has two wonderful daughters.
Sepideh Shahamati is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment at Concordia University. She has a master’s degree from Newcastle University in Architecture, Planning, and Landscape, and a BA in Urban Planning and Design. Her research focuses on humanistic approaches in planning theory and practice. She is interested in the culture of people, people’s interaction with the built environment and the tangible and intangible dimensions of cultural heritage. In her current research, she explores ways of integrating intangible assets of cities in planning and policy-making through investigating mapping methods.