Activate 2025: Beyond the Ballot

Welcome from Elder Rose & Brenda Hanson to the territory.

Get to know your fellow participants.

Relax overlooking the ocean at a beachfront campfire or head to bed for an early night. Remember to bring a flashlight!

There’s a reason one of the top things people take away from Activate is long-lasting relationships. We start each morning with facilitated time to develop leadership capacity and connect.

What Organizers Can Learn From The US Presidential Campaign

Roundtable: Where To Put Your Money with Jose Nunez

WORKSHOP #1

Rematriation and Seven Generational Planning: Foundations for Reconciliation with Hillory Tenute, Lodge Consulting

This workshop explores the pivotal role of rematriation within the context of Seven Generational Thinking and Planning—an Indigenous approach that ensures decisions made today will benefit the land, culture, and communities for generations to come. This session is designed to deepen understanding of how rematriation, extending beyond the return of lands is crucial to restoring Indigenous sovereignty and revitalizing traditional knowledge systems.

In this session participants will gain a better understanding of the principles of Seven Generational Thinking and its importance in sustainable community, sociopolitical and environmental planning.
Discuss the essential role of rematriation in the reconciliation process in Canada, addressing historical injustices and fostering a future of equity and mutual respect.

WORKSHOP #2

How to Use Generative AI To Create Effective Social Media Content with Tudor Mihailescu, Sosha

This session will focus on providing actionable insights into how to integrate Generative AI tools in the social media content creation process for progressive digital organizers and marketers. During the session, we will be discussing what specific AI tools can be beneficial to use for each step of the content creation process and distinguish between types of social media content that you can create (orgs’ own posting ads, social media toolkits etc.). We’ll also be discussing how to measure the efficiency of AI powered tools and best practices for integrating these tools into your existing workflow. To make the session easy to follow, we’ll be taking specific case studies from progressive grassroots advocacy and campaigns to illustrate how these steps can be achieved practically.

Relax overlooking the ocean at a beachfront campfire or head to bed for an early night. Remember to bring a flashlight!

There’s a reason one of the top things people take away from Activate is long-lasting relationships. We start each morning with facilitated time to develop leadership capacity and connect.

Organizing for Sustainability and Equity

Roundtable: Mobilizing For Political Change with Karine Fortin & Matthew Stella

WORKSHOP #1

Introduction to Strategic Planning with Kate Catherall, Slow Clap

This workshop will cover the why, what, and how of strategic planning. Whether you're building an organization, scaling a movement, or launching a campaign: crafting a strategic plan is a critical first step toward securing success. In this session, we'll discuss how to prepare for planning, the components of an effective strategic plan, best practices, and common pitfalls. Then participants will have time to apply what they've learned to their own work by developing strategic frameworks.

WORKSHOP #2

Election Victory Toolkit: Leveraging Action Builder and Action Network with Ryan Gillies, Canadian Labour Congress and Martha Grant, Action Network

This workshop provides an overview of Action Builder and Action Network tools, showcasing their use in election campaigns and union organizing. Participants will engage in an interactive Q&A, explore practical scenarios, and review use case studies to see these tools in action. Perfect for those looking to apply these powerful tools to drive impactful change in their organizations and in the upcoming election!

Roundtable: Addressing Tensions between Electoral Politics and Long Term Organizing hosted by Shanaaz Gokool

Take the stage and tell the story of your biggest organizing failures and what you learned. An Activate classic, you’ll be in tears of laughter or tears of cringe - the best part? Knowing you’re not alone.

Relax overlooking the ocean at a beachfront campfire or head to bed for an early night. Remember to bring a flashlight!

There’s a reason one of the top things people take away from Activate is long-lasting relationships. We start each morning with facilitated time to develop leadership capacity and connect.

Hear from a game-shaping mover & shaker, get insights, ask questions, and apply learnings to your specific context.

Gather in small groups of 5 for these interactive problem solving sessions. Each person can share a challenge and receive peer reflection and advice.

WORKSHOP #1

Winning at City Hall: A deep-dive to see how progressives are winning at Toronto City Hall with Saman Tabasinejad, Progress Toronto

After back-to-back city-wide elections, we've made real progressive change at Toronto City Council and the TDSB. With our support, 5 new councillors and 6 trustees were elected in 2022, and we played a key role in Olivia Chow's win in the mayoral by-election.

Our strategy and theory of change is simple: if we organize consistently, in and out of election seasons, we can push through a progressive agenda and change City Hall. Our recent victories prove that this approach works.

Want to know how we did it? Join our workshop. We're diving into the tactics, organizing models, and tools that brought us these wins. Learn how we combine digital strategies with grassroots efforts, stretch resources for maximum impact, and really dig into the strategy behind our campaigns. Plus, we'll show you how to take these lessons and apply them to your own goals for electoral success.

WORKSHOP #2

Effective Digital Communications: A Science and an Art with Tim Chu, Metric Strategies

What can we learn from late-night TV, a window replacement flyer and rolling paper when it comes to effective digital communications? As it turns out, a lot.

In an election year, everyone will be trying to get the attention of voters in a massive stampede of information. Learn how to cut through the noise with effective, creative and modern communication tactics. In this workshop, we'll uncover unique, unexpected and uncomfortable ways to get your message across and how we can break the monotony of our digital programs. We'll also explore the tension between digital communications being a science and an art. Join this workshop and get all of Tim's hot and controversial takes.

Meet up on the beach for barbecued oysters and ocean views.

Dance the night away with your new friends and allies.