I got involved to support the creation of space for Indigenous voices in conversations about democracy. Democracy is a system of powers that strives to influence all subjects of colonial states. It’s critical that this narrative be interrupted and decolonized.

Growing up on the north shore of Lake Superior exposed me to the injustices that folks experience in the near- and far-North of Ontario due to limited opportunities to be meaningfully heard from the lower rungs of trickle-down impacts of southern democratic decision-making. There’s no pinpoint for me, but this sense has driven me along many paths.

The text is fluid, but the stories I see of the resilience of Black, Indigenous, racialized, Queer and Black-allied communities that continue to take action against anti-Black racism in the context of a pandemic that’s amplifying long-existing harms have had an enormous and ongoing impact on me.

The DemocracyXChange will change anyone who attends. Certainly, those who are involved in progressive democratic change will learn a lot. Perhaps, though, those will learn the most are those of us who don’t have or otherwise take opportunities (myself included) to learn from leading thinkers on the overt and subtle influences of electing power and authority over us.