My TEDx Talk

In June 2013 I was lucky enough to speak at the Toronto Zoo as part of TEDxRougeRiver - just a few minutes down the road from where I grew up.

This proved to be an incredible spark in my own learning, challenging me to synthesize many years of study and experimentation in promoting civic engagement through my experiences with the Mayor of Halifax, Mavericks of Social Change and playing leadership roles in the Dalhousie Student Union.

In the resulting talk I aimed to diagnose the underlying issues causing citizens to disconnect from traditional political structures, to articulate why I believed these issues matter critically, and offer views towards the future of what a more engaging democracy could look like.

A special thanks to all those who helped me in preparing the talk (Barry Kunitz, Scott Baker) and those who provided some of the inspiration for the content (Dave Meslin, Samara Canada, Mark Dance, Idil Burale, and many more)