Realizing the Pledge Team

Renee Allen

Education Contributor

Renee Allen is a multi-hyphenate Jamaican-born, Toronto-based, writer-educator, with a passion for working with children and youth. She is deeply committed to work that interrogates and addresses interlocking systems of oppression. Her writing appears in Zora, THIS magazine and PREE. Renee is also a recent graduate of the Masters of Teaching program at the University of Toronto, with a book collection that keeps outgrowing her bookcase.

Brett Conway

Education Collaborator

Brett Conway is currently a pre-service teacher at Concordia University of Edmonton. He has a M.A.s in English Literature and Asian Studies from the University of Ottawa and Sejong University, South Korea. He has taught at post-secondary schools in South Korea, Ontario, and Albera. He has published on a variety of topics including trauma, gender identity, and post-modernism.

Deborah Dobbins

Education Collaborator

Deborah Dobbins is a cultural and special education consultant and a third generation African American Albertan. She is the President and CEO of Shiloh Centre for Multicultural Roots (SCMR), a not-for-profit society founded in 2010 that is grounded in a mosaic of rich, inclusive African American Canadian heritage. She has recently retired from a 34+ year teaching and administration career in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Katherine England

Education Collaborator

Katherine is a Registered Early Childhood Educator, holds a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and recently completed her Masters of Science in Elementary Education. She has had the privilege of working with students across the Greater Toronto Area for the past decade, and each school year she learns more from her students, their families and her colleagues. Her passion is special education, and she hopes to continue supporting students in an inclusive and equitable manner. She has two children of her own, a sixteen year old son and an eight year old daughter. In her free time, she loves spending time outdoors with her family and hiking some of Toronto’s city trails.

Leah Judd

Education Collaborator

Leah Judd has a passion for teaching Social Studies.  Working in Sechelt, BC, Leah has been lucky to work with students who embrace inquiry learning and created locker museum displays during the pandemic to share their curated stories with the school community.  Leah shares her enthusiasm for Social Studies as editor of Salon, an online quarterly publication from the Social Studies Educators Network of Canada @ssencressc

Pamela MacIsaac

Education Collaborator

Pamela MacIsaac is a writer, researcher, and educator who divides her time between the Bay of Quinte and rural Algoma. She has taught at every level from elementary school to university, including her current role at Trent University Durham, and has served as a vice-principal, academic coach, and consultant in the independent school sector. She has published in both the literary and academic fields and is currently writing a novel and conducting research into the impact of class-based reactions to the use of AI on the relationship between writing teachers and students.

Leticia Nadler

Education Collaborator

Leticia lives in Edmonton, Alberta. She has worked as a K-12 French Immersion teacher and also as a curriculum consultant for Alberta Education. She now teaches college and university students while pursuing her doctoral studies in educational leadership at the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta. She has experience in developing learning materials that enhance students’ critical thinking skills.

Doriane Ossene

Education Collaborator

Doriane’s background includes education in France and learning a lot about Canada through her studies at York University in International Studies and Canadian studies, which she will be graduating from in 2023. She is passionate about stories people don’t know about and loves making them known. Her dream is to work in a field that supports underrepresented communities, in Canada and around the world.

Sara Wheaton

Education Collaborator

Sara Wheaton is a certified geography and history teacher in Ontario. For the past decade she has been working as the Manager of Education Programs for The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, designing engaging and inclusive programs for Canadian Teachers. She is also an occasional teacher for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. She resides in Ottawa on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Nation.

Natalie Zacharewski

Education Contributor

Natalie is a museum education professional based in Edmonton, Alberta. She has a passion for creating learning opportunities for students of all ages through immersive, inquiry-based experiences. She has worked in museums and heritage institutions across Canada and the United States such as Museums of Burlington, the Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum and Colonial Williamsburg. She has held the role of Faculty Instructor for the Public Programs course in the Certificate in Museum Studies Program with the Alberta Museums Association. She has also worked with the British Columbia Museums Association as Museum Education Consultant, assisting small museums develop educational programs. Natalie holds a Master of Arts in History from the University of Ottawa, specializing in Canadian, American and gender history.

Brad St. Croix

Historical Contributor

Brad St. Croix is a freelance historian and researcher. He earned his PhD in history from the University of Ottawa. His dissertation examined the legacy of the Battle of Hong Kong in Canada. He has also written numerous articles for the Juno Beach Centre and the Canadian Military History Journal. He has worked on public history projects with several organizations including the RCAF Foundation, the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum, the Canadian War Museum, and Project 44. He runs the OTD Military History social media accounts and YouTube channel.

Brendan Campisi

Brendan Campisi is a student, researcher, and occasional writer living on Anishinaabe and Lenni Lenape land in London, Ontario. He has a BA in History from the University of Guelph and is currently studying at Huron University College. He is interested in the histories of labour and left-wing politics in Canada and internationally, and in understanding Canadian history as part of the histories of the British Empire and settler colonialism globally.

Coleen Birkett

Historical/Educational Contributor

Coleen Birkett is an educator with over twenty years of classroom experience. In addition to teaching, Coleen has, as a freelance writer, written many articles for community publications. She has also co-authored the textbook Black History: Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas, which is in use in school boards throughout the GTA, Nova Scotia and Bermuda. She has been involved with the Ontario Black History Society as a curriculum writer and consultant. Additionally, Coleen is instrumental in providing leadership in the development, organization and facilitation of very successful educational forums for youth during Black Heritage month.

Coleen’s experience as an educator is quite diverse as she has taught in Central America, Toronto and Bermuda in both public and private schools. She has developed and presented workshops to educators in West Africa and Bermuda. Additionally, Coleen was selected to be a member of an evaluation team to assess the eligibility of a private school in New York for accreditation. In 2009, she was a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Teaching for her work in Bermuda. Miss Birkett has also worked as an Instructional Coach for the Toronto District School Board’s Literacy and Numeracy initiative. Coleen is a co-developer and co-presenter of See Us, Learn Us: Teaching the Black Canadian Experience, a nation-wide webinar for educators in partnership with Nelson Education. She has also served as a CRRP Reviewer for Nelson’s Grade 9 Destreamed Math online resources and student textbook. Coleen is currently involved in writing resources for Nelson Education based on the material presented in the See Us, Learn Us Webinar as well as for literacy. Additionally, Coleen works with school boards in Canada sharing innovative resources and strategies for incorporating the Black Canadian experience across the curriculum from Kindergarten through grade 12.

Eric Murphy

Historical Contributor

Eric Murphy earned his combined honours degree in journalism and history at Carleton University in 2014. Since then, he has worn a variety of hats as a journalist, copyeditor, and non-profit communications writer. These days, Eric mostly writes about climate change and the paths to best solve this looming crisis. He is currently writing a monthly newsletter with Climate Legacy – feel free to visit their site to find more of his work.

When he’s not writing, Eric loves to explore new places on foot or by bike, and is dedicated to preserving our natural environment so it can be enjoyed by everyone.

Gillian Kerr

Historical Contributor

Gillian Kerr is a marketing and communications professional with over 25 years of experience as a senior communication leader. Now as the owner of IdeaStove, and independent communications consultancy, she helps organizations, artists, project leaders and entrepreneurs tell stories and bring ideas to life. Though research, creative writing, coaching, and problem solving, Gillian widens and celebrates community and illuminates the new, the good, the curious and the bold.

Greg Birkett

Historical/Educational Contributor

Greg Birkett is a published co-author (Black History: Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas – Emond Montgomery Publications, The Great Black North Poetry Anthology-Frontenac House Poetry) and a recognized educator (Governor-General Award for Teaching Excellence Finalist, 2011, A.H.E.N. Excellence in Teaching Award winner, 2016). Greg has written curriculum for the Ontario Ministry of Education and has served as a curriculum consultant for the OBHS (Ontario Black History Society). He is also the co-developer and co-presenter of See Us, Learn Us: Teaching the Black Canadian Experience, a nationwide webinar for educators and education stakeholders in partnership with Nelson Education. He has and continues to create material and resources for Nelson’s digital learning eco-base Edwin, some of which correspond with the topics presented in the See Us, Learn Us webinar. Greg has also worked as Senior Writer for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Kids website and has also written freelance for the Toronto Star. Greg is a poet and playwright: Two plays that Greg wrote, Do You Remember Me and Pieces of a Black Woman’s Soul, were performed at the Toronto Fringe Festival, Toronto’s largest theatre and performance festival, and for sold-out audiences at the Sandbox Theatre in downtown Toronto respectively.

Greg is the founder of G.I.A. Productions, a youth-focused organization that uses the artistic mediums of spoken word, drama, dance, and music to stage original productions that promote education, history, and positivity in the community. He has appeared on CityTV News and Breakfast Television, Global News, CTV News to discuss issues pertaining to anti-Black racism, its impact on the education system, and strategies to address these ongoing challenges. He has also been featured in articles in the Globe and Mail, the National Observer, The Toronto Star, CBC News and Saltwire highlighting his leadership in the development of resources that promote inclusive education.

Howard Akler

Historical Contributor

Howard Akler a writer and the author of two novels, The City Man and Splitsville, and Men of Action, a memoir.

Klein Corne Klein

Historical Contributor

Klein Corne Klein is an independent researcher working at the intersections of visual culture, gender and sexuality studies, and coalitional social justice movements. They are interested in work that engages creatively with history and archives in order to challenge and/or complicate dominant historical narratives and assumptions, with a particular focus on histories of gentrification and urban displacement, activist movements and their reactionary fallouts, affect theory, HIV/AIDS, and arts and cultural production. Klein holds a Master’s in Film and Moving Image Studies from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.

Mark Bourrie

Historical Contributor

Mark Bourrie, BA (Waterloo, History) MJ (Carleton journalism), PhD (Ottawa, History) JD (Ottawa, Common Law) wrote as a freelance correspondent for the Globe and Mail from 1978 to 1989 and for the Toronto Star from 1989 to 2004. He also contributed to other newspapers and major magazines in Canada and the United Kingdom.

He was a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery from 1994 to 2018.

In 2018, he was called to the bar and now practices law in association with former Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin.

Mark taught media history and journalism at Concordia University, history at Carleton and Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa.

Mark is the author of 13 books. The most recent, Big Men Fear Me, is a critically acclaimed biography of Globe and Mail founder George McCullagh. His 2019 book Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre Radisson, was a Canadian best-seller, winner of the $30,000 RBC Charles Taylor Prize for literary excellence, was short-listed for the Ottawa city book award, and was a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book.

Bourrie has won several major media awards, including a National Magazine Award, and has been nominated for several others. His academic writing in history and law has been published in Canada and The Second World War: Essays in Honour of Terry Copp (Geoff Hayes et al, eds, Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2012), the Global Media Journal and the Canadian Journal of Communication, The Canadian Journal of Commercial Arbitration and The Journal of Parliamentary Law.

He lives in Ottawa and is married to Marion Van de Wetering, a federal government lawyer.

Matthew Barrett

Graphic Illustrator

Matthew Barrett is an illustrator and historian who specializes in the creation of graphic histories and comics that visualize fascinating stories of the past. He received a PhD in history from Queen’s University and was a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Canadian War Museum. He is the author of Scandalous Conduct: Canadian Officer Courts Martial, 1914–45, and is the co-author and illustrator of Through Their Eyes: A Graphic History of Hill 70 and the First World War.

Patrick-Aurel Fournier

Historical Contributor

Patrick-Aurel Fournier holds degrees in both History and Criminal Justice from Nipissing University and is currently working towards his Bachelors of Education and completing his Masters Degree in History with his research titled: “Poppy Ville: The Commemorative Transformation of Welberg, Netherlands, 1945-2021”. Pat has always had a deep passion for history, more specifically in the reasons why and methods behind commemorations. In 2019, Pat was selected as 1 of 7 Canadian guides to work at the Juno Beach Center in Normandy, France; during the 75^th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Born and raised in Northern Ontario and currently living in North Bay, ON; he hopes to one day begin teaching in the area and help foster the love and curiosity for history as was sparked in him by past educators. Pat is extremely excited to be able to help DMC in sharing our country’s history and hopes to spark curiosity and passion within his readers.

Patricia Pearson

Historical Contributor

Patricia Pearson is an author and journalist whose books include Opening Heaven’s Door: What the Dying May Be Trying to Tell Us, a finalist for the BC Book Award, and A Brief History of Anxiety: Yours and Mine, which she adapted into an award-winning television documentary for the CBC.

She has contributed commentary and reporting to the New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Guardian, among many other outlets, and was a regular columnist for the National Post. She has a B.A. in history from the University of Toronto, and an MSc. in journalism from Columbia University.

Pearson is the co-founder of Bellwoods Press, which offers clients the chance to tell their stories to a sensitive journalist and to publish a book for their extended family and friends.

Ryan Goldsworthy

Contributing Historian

Ryan Goldsworthy is a published historian and material culture expert from Toronto. He is currently the Museums Manager, Collections & Research for the City of Toronto where he oversees the largest municipal museum collection in Canada. He is an experienced heritage and culture leader and was formerly the Museum Director & Curator of the Royal Canadian Military Institute (RCMI) for eight years. In his museum career, he has curated over 20 modern exhibitions and galleries, including several for the centennial and aftermath of the First World War. He has served on several museum boards and committees and has enjoyed supervising many students in his work.

William Teece-Soter

Contributing Artist

William Teece-Soter is a Toronto-based cartoonist and recent University of Toronto graduate. At UofT, he studied English, history, and creative expression, although he has been dabbling in all three of these subjects for his entire life. William has always been fascinated with storytelling and history, and loves exploring how these topics can, and often do, interweave with one another. His third great passion is drawing, which he has also done throughout his entire life (sometimes during class when he was supposed to be taking notes). Luckily for him, a medium exists which can accommodate drawing, storytelling, and history simultaneously: comics. Not only has making comics been an avenue for William to explore his interests, but it has also given him a means of sharing them with others in an accessible and (hopefully) entertaining way.