Dave Meslin, named one of Toronto Star's Top 12 to Watch in 2012, is an activist, journalist, community organizer and professional rabble-rouser with a focus on public space, voting reform and providing an antidote to apathy.

With one foot planted firmly in the world of mainstream politics and the other foot dancing in the more vibrant universe of grassroots activism, Meslin has found ways to bring them both together and turn energy into action.

Meslin's activism started with guerilla-style street antics. Painting bike lanes directly onto the street, altering billboards, and hanging pictures of Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton over “Post no Bills” signs were all part of his repertoire.

He was named one of the Top 12 to Watch in 2012 by the Toronto Star for his actions to “make it easier for citizens to be energetic participants in city government, not just frustrated observers.” Recent projects include: the Ranked Ballot Initiative ('11), which may influence the future of voting in Toronto and curating the Fourth Wall exhibit about transforming local politics in Toronto.

In November 2010, Coach House books published Local Motion: The Art of Civic Engagement in Toronto co-edited by Dave, Alana Wilcox and Christina Palassio. In 2011, his TEDx video The Antidote to Apathy earned him a spot on the home page of TED.com and over 3/4 of a million views. Multi-partisan, fiercely optimistic and delusionally utopian, 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.

Chosen as one of the Top Ten Activists of the year by NOW Magazine in 2000, Meslin went on to form the Toronto Public Space Committee. During the following five years the TPSC grew to become one of the most effective unfunded non-profits in Toronto, and was chosen in 2005 as the “Best Activist Group” by both EYE Weekly and NOW magazines.

Meslin's City Idol project was filmed and turned into a full-length film that now airs frequently on the Documentary Channel. It came from coordinating a project called Who Runs This Town?; a campaign aimed at injecting some fun and creativity into the 2006 municipal elections in Toronto. The highlight of the project was City Idol, an attempt to get alienated citizens to explore and share their political ideas by competing for a spot on City Council in front of a live audience.

Meslin's political adventures have taken him in many directions. On the inside, Meslin has been flown to Bogota to represent Toronto at a United Nations conference about Car-Free Cities, he's been appointed to Toronto's Cycling Committee and Pedestrian Committee, and has worked as an executive assistant at both Queen's Park and City Hall. On the outside, Meslin's rabble rousing had him labeled by the Globe and Mail as a “constant thorn” in City Council's side. He's encouraged hundreds of people to get involved in local activism, he's successfully derailed two major projects at City Hall that threatened public spaces and he's also landed himself in jail.

When he's not deeply immersed in urban politics or electoral reform, Dave tours with The Hidden Cameras. Future projects could possibly include a transit riders' union, a bike store, a reality TV show, and hopefully another book.

• TED Talk: Antidote to Apathy
  www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Knz100ldLM
• Book: Local Motion
  www.chbooks.com/catalogue/local-motion
• 12 People to Watch in 2012
  www.thestar.com/news/article/1112659--12-people-to-watch-in-2012-dave-meslin

Heather Jarvis is a queer feminist activist.

With experience in gender studies, social work and community activism she has spent several years supporting and initiating projects around sexuality, gender, education, stigma and health, anti-violence efforts and creating safer spaces for support. As a survivor, Jarvis was infuriated upon hearing a slut-shaming and victim-blaming comment made by a representative of the Toronto Police force when discussing safety. Having had enough, she co- founded SlutWalk in early 2011 - a small idea that began in Toronto to fight sexual violence and has since spread across the world.

Identifying with sex- and body-positive politics Jarvis constantly aims to shed shame around sex, sexuality and the bodies we have. She has a fascination with language and identities and strives to utilize language to interrogate ideas and blend important conversations across oppression, privilege, desire and expression. Through her politics and her work she has become a speaker, advocate and educator. Described as an eternal optimist by some who know her, Jarvis refuses to believe things cannot change. She is determined to continuously work on improving this world through increased respect, consent, understanding and acceptance.

• SlutWalk Toronto
  www.slutwalktoronto.com/about/who
• TEDxToronto 2012 Talk
  www.tedxtoronto.com/talks/tedxtoronto-2012-talk-heather-jarvis-sonya-jf-barnett/

Brigette DePape is an activist and writer.

You may know her as the young woman who staged a peaceful protest in Parliament by holding up a Stop Harper sign. She is active in various movements, including the environmental justice movement, where she was a member of the Canadian Youth delegation to the UN climate conference, was a core organizer for PowerShift, and is currently mobilizing to defend the earth from pipelines in BC. She has published in Maclean's, the Tyee, the Toronto Star, and edited the book Power of Youth for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

• Well known as the "Rogue Page"
  www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/06/03/pol-senate-page.html
• PowerShift
  www.wearepowershift.ca

The Beehive is a swarm of educators, artists, and activists whose mission is to cross-pollinate the grassroots.

For over 10 years the Hive has been making and distributing anti-copyright artwork and has gained international recognition for its intricately illustrated portable murals, the latest being “The True Cost of Coal.” Beehive graphics are collaboratively made, highly detailed, allegorical illustrations brought to life by the Bees themselves: volunteer activists, storytellers, and educators. With images teeming with plants, insects and animals, the Bees bring audiences together around common experiences, using metaphors from the natural world to address complicated political, environmental and social issues in an accessible format.

• The Beehive Design Collective
  www.beehivecollective.org

Norah has spent a lifetime in this area; Elora, Elmira and Guelph; and lived through Hurricane Hazel and saw the need for and development of strong public protections following natural and man-made disasters.

She was involved with the Hospital for Sick Children's School of Nursing, followed by the University of Toronto for Public Health Nursing. Norah has had a career as public health nurse in Guelph and Scarborough. She joined the Council of Canadians and is devoted to raising awareness and actively working for change to support social justice and environmental protections.

Ashlee Cunsolo Willox is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Geography at McGill University.

She works collaboratively with Inuit colleagues in Northern Canada on issues related to climate change and physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. She also works and researches in capacity development, community-engaged health research, environmental philosophy and ethics, and the social justice implications of health inequality. Ashlee completed her PhD and BAH at the University of Guelph, and taught within the International Development Studies program. When not tied to her computer, Ashlee loves spending time outside gardening, hiking, exploring, and playing with her three boys.

• Website
  www.ashleecunsolowillox.ca

Sahil is a Law Graduate from the University of British Columbia, and has recently left his legal career behind to pursue his dream of being a Leadership Development Speaker and Wellness Coach.

The Potentialists is a holistic development institute founded by Sahil. With innovative workshops and in person community gatherings, the institute brings a humanistic approach to personal and leadership development by addressing gaps in the ways in which we connect, communicate, create and collaborate.

Sahil is a connector and community builder at heart, and is passionate about developing people who are fulfilled and balanced, collaborate to support one another, and create meaningful contributions to the world around them.

With leadership awards from both the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, Sahil has a wealth of leadership and community development experiences, including: participating in the NextUp youth leadership program co-hosted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, doing international development work in the Himalayas of Northern India, building a successful English Conversation Program at the University of Toronto International Student Centre, sitting on the UBC Olympics Steering committee and coordinating student engagement in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Games, and most recently, working for the David Suzuki Foundation to put together their first ever community leadership program called Camp Suzuki.

Sahil is a trained and award-winning public speaker through Toastmasters International, and has presented his dynamic, fun, and interactive workshops and keynotes at numerous events and conferences across Canada. His favourite part about facilitating is fostering an experiential learning environment that enables participants to speak vulnerably and connect, question and reflect, share and grow, vision and create, and support one another to feel empowered going forward.

• Twitter
  @sahiltdhingra
• Facebook
  www.facebook.com/sahil.dhingra.ubc
• Blog
  sahildhingra.wordpress.com

Ayanda Keith Dube is a student and advocate for refugee issues.

He is currently involved with Mapping Memories “a collaborative media project which uses personal stories and a range of media tools (video, sound walks, mapping, photography) to better understand the experiences of youth with refugee experience in Montreal” (Mapping Memories).

He has worked with the Canadian Council for Refugees on a number of campaigns which have been taken to Ottawa to lobby for the granting of permanent residence to non-status residents living in Canada for up to 10 years in limbo, while working on a BA double major in economics and political science with the hope of going to law school after completion of his undergraduate degree. Last year, he was chosen as a CBC Montrealer the Week for his work with Mapping Memories in the high schools of Montreal.

• Mapping Memories
  storytelling.concordia.ca/refugeeyouth/

Chanelle Gallant is a white working class radical femme, a writer, educator and community organizer living on the occupied lands known as Toronto. Her work includes organizing for the labour and human rights of sex workers, prison/policing abolition, transformative justice and relationship building.

Arti Mehta is a queer crip brown cis femme sequin-loving crafty working class community-making neon-pink-lipstick-obsessed burlesque performer, who works in transformative justice, organizes around relationship building and gets paid to do queer/trans health promotion.

Marty is the staff person for the Ecumenical Campus Ministry, part of the Multi Faith Resource Team here at the University of Guelph.

He is also a minister at a local Presbyterian Church. Marty has a BA from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Divinity from the Toronto School of Theology. He has a keen interest in helping others to recognize their connectedness to each other and to the earth itself. Diversity is an incredible gift and opportunity for engagment and enjoyment. Difference does not mean 'other'. Marty is married to Barb, has two wonderful daughters, a son in law and a new grandson.

• Multi Faith Resource Team: University of Guelph
  www.uoguelph.ca/faith/

Jan Sherman, is an Anishnaabe woman who has been searching for spiritual connectedness, and healing on Mother Earth most of her life.

Jan has been blessed to share spirit with Indigenous Grandmothers and Aunties from around the world, gathering their wisdom, and learning more about who she was created to BE. Jan is honoured to share what she has learned, and feels blessed to have been asked to be a part of this Circle.

Georgia Simms, a U of G alumna, is a dance artist, choreographer and facilitation specialist who is passionate about doing democracy and governance differently.

She is actively experimenting with arts-based approaches for civic engagement, and seeks to creatively animate learning processes with experiences that are physical, emotional and energetic. Her site-specific choreography, inspired by a strong desire to raise awareness about protecting water, has been presented Downtown Guelph around the St. George's fountain and in the water feature in Market Square.

While always dedicated to the dance studio, Georgia is also drawn to the academic realm and completed her degrees in International Development and Geography with a focus on environmental governance. She also worked as a Research Associate with the Water Policy and Governance Group at the University of Waterloo. Finding frustration in traditional political institutions and looking for more transformative options for promoting sustainability, she decided to put her attention into the field of art for social change and opted to study briefly at the International Centre for Art for Social Change at Simon Fraser University. These experiences, paired with her ongoing apprenticeship with accomplished and socially-conscious modern dance artists at Dancetheatre David Earle, have inspired her investigations into the intersection of social science and arts practice. Her own creative enterprise, IMAGEO artworks, is a platform for this work.

• IMAGEO artworks
  www.imageo.ca
• Dancetheatre David Earle
  www.dtde.ca
• International Centre of Art for Social Change, Simon Fraser University
  www.icasc.ca

Truth Is … A poet, a writer, a motivational speaker & an arts educator.

In addition to slams and a long list of feature performances across Canada and the U.S., Truth Is … has headlined in several conferences focused on social equity, gender equality, youth motivation and labour.

Over the past 6 years through poetry and effective communication Truth Is … has dedicated much of her time and all of herself to the betterment of community.

In the past 2 years she has become a co-director of a not for profit arts organization by the name of Guelph Spoken Word and is now the artistic director of the Guelph Youth Poetry Slam also known as Sound Off.

A great leader and powerful public speaker of our time has been noted for using thunderclap rhythm with a distinctive voice, blending ecstasy and despair. That has also been used as a description of her style. Her passion is only surpassed by her desire to explore and express the truth itself. This becomes obvious when her poetry is spoken.

Truth is … is a multiple time individual slam champion, she is on the inaugural 2012 Slamtario championship team, a 6x national & 7x regional spoken word team member; participating in well over 200 slams. She has participated in several of the TEDx series and has graced the stage of the prestigious 'When Sisters Speak' spoken word concerts 4x. She is a poet, a writer, a motivational speaker & an arts educator. In addition to Slam and a long list of feature performances across Canada and the U.S., Truth Is … has headlined in several conferences focused on social equity, gender equality, youth motivation and the labour movement. She has also recently opened up for Canadian Hip-Hop idol K-OS & legendary activist Angela Davis.

• Truth Is
  www.truthisellipsis.ca