Our Purpose

Our work is driven by a simple belief: democracy isn’t something we observe—it’s something we make.

DXC creates spaces—both in-person and virtual—where people come together to examine and tackle today’s most urgent civic issues. Through summits, convenings, workshops, and policy labs, DXC connects Canadians across sectors to explore how we design trust, participation, leadership and belonging for the 21st century.

Our Story

Designing the future of democracy.

DemocracyXChange (DXC) was born in 2016 and grew out of the DemocracyKit initiative, a civic project to level the playing field in municipal politics. Participants shared a conviction that democracy needs more than elections: it needs imagination, collective design, and skills to tackle today’s most urgent civic issues.

Co-founded by Ana Serrano (then Chief Digital Officer at the Canadian Film Centre, and Board Member of the Open Democracy Project, now President & Vice-Chancellor of OCAD University), Chris Cowperthwaite (President of the Open Democracy Project and Founder of Groundforce Digital), and Karim Bardeesy (then founding Executive Director of the Ryerson Leadership Lab, renamed the Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University, now a Member of Parliament), DXC began as an experiment in civic innovation and leadership: a space where people, creators, and changemakers could come together to reimagine how democracy works in practice.

The first DemocracyXChange Summit in 2017 set the tone—a gathering that felt more like a civic lab than a conference. Artists, organizers, technologists, educators, students and leaders shared tools, stories, and strategies for renewal. What started as a one-off convening quickly became a national platform for democratic imagination.

Today, DXC is a partnership between OCAD University, the Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University, and the Open Democracy Project, uniting cultural, policy and academic institutions with cross-partisan, politics-positive, and community-driven energy across the country.

DemocracyXChange: Through the Years

Inaugural Summit

The first DemocracyXChange Summit is held in Toronto, bringing together 300+ participants from across sectors to build momentum around democratic renewal in Canada.

2017

Programming

Programs from Past Summits

Each year, the DemocracyXChange Summit is intentionally co-created to meet the moment, drawing on a broad range of insights from movement leaders, grassroots organizers, researchers, artists, policy thinkers, and funders.

The program is shaped through a collaborative effort with members of our Program Advisory Committee, whose lived experience and strategic expertise help ensure the summit is relevant, inclusive, and grounded in real-world impact.

Our programming is responsive and real-time, designed to reflect urgent issues and shifting contexts in Canada and globally. From media reform to economic justice, we curate sessions that not only explore ideas but actively support the work of coalition-building and movement-making.

Guided by a lens of pluralism, we ensure diverse voices shape every step, from concept to convening. The result is a summit that is not just a forum for discussion, but a space for civic imagination, strategic alignment, and democratic innovation, where people come to build what’s next, together.