Active Learning Club
We are so excited to announce this year’s curated Active Learning Club (ALC) meeting series as part of our Righting History project! ALC meetings are spaces to unlearn and learn together about climate and social justice in a safe, brave, and accountable environment. Each session in this year’s curated series is free and open to everyone - no prior knowledge needed. Whether you join one meeting or the whole series, you’ll find a supportive community ready to explore this year’s chosen topics alongside you. This year’s theme is: Shifting Paradigms: Reimagining Climate Solutions Through a Justice Lens. After reviewing a plethora of strong proposals, we are thrilled to announce the selection we’ve curated for you all this year! ​​
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Climate Justice and the Local: How addressing Urban Issues of Housing, Affordability, and Transportation Uplift Marginalized Communities Facing the Brunt of the Climate Crisis
Facilitator: Naisha Khan (she/her)
Explore how urban planning, housing, transportation, and city services intersect with climate issues, and how neoliberal policies shape city life. Includes discussion, brainstorming on local climate challenges, a visioning exercise for equitable and resilient cities, and insights from Climate Recentered’s work. Participants will also explore the history and effectiveness of mutual aid.
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What You’ll Learn:
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Understand how neoliberalism shaped municipal planning, placing growing systemic burdens on local communities.
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Recognize how marginalized communities are disproportionately affected in cities and how this impacts climate action.
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Understand that healthy communities are the basis for climate action, as a resilient community is a climate resilient community.
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Envision how urban planning principles can improve communities.
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Understand how essential and effective mutual aid is in the fight for climate justice, looking at case studies from the GTA region.
Date & Time: Saturday December 6th at 5:30pm EST​​​​​ via Zoom
Disability and Climate Justice: Why Disability Justice is Fundamental to Climate Advocacy
Facilitator: Grace (they/she)
Learn how disability shapes social justice advocacy and uncover subtle, internalized ableism affecting work, collaboration, and goal-setting. Discuss surviving capitalism while organizing in community, explore impacts on climate justice approaches, break down misconceptions, and gain tools for healthier, more inclusive organizing.​
What You’ll Learn:
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Understand, identify and address common forms of ableism in our work culture.
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Reframe understanding of disability and access in relationships by deconstructing internalized ableist beliefs.
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Implement disability justice frameworks when approaching climate justice advocacy.
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Discover Toronto based organizations, community leaders and groups committed to disability justice in their advocacy.
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Date & Time: Sunday December 7th at 3pm EST via Zoom
Indigenous Icons of Canada: Reclaiming the Brilliance and Resistance of our Ancestors
Facilitator: Atreyu Lewis (they/he)
Learn about the achievements, struggles and contributions of First Nations historical figures (1900-1950), how they shaped, influenced and contributed to the city of Old Toronto and how their histories are relevant to the Toronto experience today. Examine 3–5 historical figures’ lives, contributions, and visions for future generations. Connect these stories to current climate and healing justice struggles. The workshop is lecture-based and interactive, emphasizing understanding Indigenous worldviews to learn how to practice authentic reconciliation as Torontonian residents.
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What You’ll Learn:
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Understand the relevance and historical significance of early 20th-century First Nations figures, their lives and careers in Old Toronto and why it’s vital to bring their stories into public consciousness.
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Explore how language, stories, and culture survived through education, grassroots organizing, and politics linking to real historical examples of Toronto grassroots organizations, GTA based advocates and campaigns.
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Recognize ongoing patterns of colonial oppression across time through GTA Institutional treatment and how they persist today in different social fields.
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Reflect on the importance of sharing these histories within Indigenous urban Toronto community and what it means to strive for true reconciliation and justice as both urban Indigenous people and settler allies.
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Connect Indigenous Canadian history to the modern climate justice movement, understanding why we must learn from community leaders, Elders, and activists.
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Date & Time: Saturday December 13th at 5:30pm EST via Zoom