Ward 12 — Toronto-St. Paul’s

Information about this candidate could not be found at time of publication.

Information about this candidate could not be found at time of publication.

Information about this candidate could not be found at the time of publication.

Shelley Laskin is the incumbent TDSB Trustee for Ward 8, holding office since 2018. Prior to ward boundary changes, she was elected TDSB Trustee for Ward 11 in 2014 and 2010. From 1997 to 2003, she also served two terms as Trustee for the same ward. Laskin has a background in public service working with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and was on the Legal Aid board of directors in 2004. Currently, she is on the Policy Development Work Group representing Toronto, Central East for the Ontario Public School Board Association, where she was previously a vice president on the executive council. In her TDSB bio, Laskin writes that she is proud of her work on the board’s Multi-Year Strategic Plan which aims to address equity in student access to opportunities and the wellbeing of staff and students. She also points to her work advocating for regulation changes for the Board to receive Education Development Charges (EDCs) in a contributed 2018 election profile. Laskin’s priorities for the current election include equity in the TDSB’s Pandemic Recovery Plan, improving allocation of funding to remove barriers for traditionally underserved students, increasing climate crisis and anti-hate education, and increasing education workers and staff. She also wants to ensure effective school infrastructure planning, more community and parent engagement, and a systematic review of policies.

Dewitt Lee was previously a Liberal MPP nominee for Scarborough- Rouge River. He also previously ran in the 2010 and 2014 mayoral elections placing twelfth out of forty candidates and twentieth out of seventy-five candidates respectively. He is also the founder of Emancipation Month, a Toronto-based not-for-profit and awareness campaign that aims to improve the circumstances faced by those of African descent and those who have been affected by colonialism. While he doesn’t have detailed information about his trustee campaign available, Lee shares that he wants to ensure every student has a quality education experience and gets to and from school safely.

John Vassal previously ran for TDSB trustee for Ward 8 in the 2010, 2014, and 2018 municipal elections, having placed second out of three candidates, fifth out of five candidates and fifth out of seven candidates respectively. He is a self-described political and social activist. During his candidacy in the 2014 election, Vassal reportedly signed the Students First Pledge, an integrity pledge made by candidates following a string of controversies within the TDSB, including conflicts between trustees and staff, and allegations of misspending and lack of transparency. He also wrote about inappropriate spending and conflicts of interest within the TDSB in 2015. During his 2018 trustee campaign, John promised to stand up against all forms of hate and prejudice and tweeted his support for students who marched in support of the new sex ed curriculum. He also pledged to use his “full authority as trustee to stand up for and defend any educator who will teach sex ed” via another 2018 tweet.

Neel Venugopal is the Vice President of Kolt & Keller Williams Real Estate Associates and a registered real estate broker in Ontario. He describes himself as an avid volunteer for school events and a former coach for the North Toronto Soccer Club. Venugopal was also on the commercial committee of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board from 2018 to 2020. His interests include improving student transportation and adding more physical education and newer technologies to curriculums. He also says schools lack basic amenities for lunches, which he wants to change.

Rosina Bonavota previously ran for city councillor in Ward 21 in the 2014 election, placing fourth out of four candidates and she ran for Ward 5 trustee in the 2010 municipal election, placing third out of ten candidates. She also ran for Ward 18 trustee in the 2006 election, placing third out of seven candidates. Details of her campaign are not available online.

Renato Fallico is a Technology Support Technician at Tommy Douglas Secondary School.

Information about this candidate could not be found at time of publication.

Stephen Mensah serves as the Executive Director of the Toronto Youth Cabinet, the official youth advisory board to the city, and is on the board of directors of the For Youth Initiative, a local non-profit supporting black, racialized and newcomer youth since 1995. He is pursuing a double major in criminology and politics and governance at the Toronto Metropolitan University. Mensah has been endorsed by outgoing Ward 9 trustee Norm di Pasquale.

Through the Toronto Youth Cabinet, Mensah advocated for free menstrual products on university campuses, as well as mental health support for post-secondary students. He also helped develop a partnership between the City and the Toronto Youth Cabinet to encourage young people to get vaccinated. According to his campaign website, his priorities include advocating for an expansion of student nutrition programs to address pandemic-related food insecurity, more mental health support staff for students, and additional per-child funding.

Cameron Miranda-Radbord is an ex-officio member of the Board of Regents of Victoria College at the University of Toronto. According to his website, he is also a community healthcare outreach worker and a volunteer in the community. Miranda-Radbord has been the Chair of the City Youth Council of Toronto since 2018, and was a board director and policy chair with the Toronto–St. Paul’s Federal Liberal Association. He is a founding member of the TCDSB’s 2SLGBTQ+ Community Advisory Committee, and an administrator of the  Toronto Catholic School Parent Facebook group. As part of his campaign, Miranda-Radbord wants to ensure construction on St. Raymond school is finished and a new school is built at 12 Regent Street to address overcrowding. If elected, he will advocate for an early-start gifted program, French education that starts in earlier grades, access to the Toronto Island Natural Science School, and 2SLGBTQ+ rights for Ward 9 students. He says he supports continued uniform policies, and converting the Bond Place Hotel into  permanent affordable housing to support student safety. Miranda-Radbord has been endorsed by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council.

Kevin Morrison previously ran in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 municipal elections for the TCDSB Ward 11 trustee position and in Ward 8 in 2012. He finished second each year except in 2012 when he placed sixth out of ten candidates. In 2012, days before the Ward 8 election, Morrison advocated publicly for the reversal of a motion that mandated the Canadian anthem be sung a cappella each day. According to several news outlets, Morrison filed a case with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, arguing the motion was discriminatory because it forces students in the Catholic school board to sing a cappella while other schools have music.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Edith Pearson has been a debt collections analyst for over a decade. Pearson prevously ran for Ward 10 trustee in the 2014 election and Ward 6 trustee in the 2018 election, placing second out of three candidates both times. In 2014, Pearson’s campaign focused on school principals having the final decision on extracurricular activities, full support and inclusion for children with disabilities, and collaborating with teachers and the ministry to improve learning in mathematics. Details of her current campaign are unavailable.

The City Clerk has voided the election for the Viamonde school board in this ward. The election will not take place on October 24 and a by-election will be held at a later date. Read the full story.

The City Clerk has voided the election for the Viamonde school board in this ward. The election will not take place on October 24 and a by-election will be held at a later date. Read the full story.

Nathalie Dufour Séguin is the incumbent trustee for MonAvenir Ward 3 – Toronto Ouest and has been re-elected by acclamation for the 2022 term as she is running unopposed. She was first elected trustee by ballot vote in 2006 and received acclamation in 2010. In 2014, she decided to step down to pursue other projects and was re-elected by ballot vote in 2018. Outside of the TCDSB, Dufour Séguin is an Education Community Relationship Manager for Groupe Média TFO, a media company that generates educational and cultural content for the Ontario Francophone community. She is also a former board member and former president of Toronto Francophone Women’s Shelter La Maison d’hébergement francophone de Toronto.

Dufour Séguin is on the MonAvenir School Council, having originally joined in 2006 when she became trustee (when the school was named Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud). After serving as vice president for two years, she was elected president in 2012, a role she held until 2014. In 2013, under Dufour Séguin’s leadership, the school council launched a discrimination action against the province as a means of forcing the Ministry of Education to replace one of their Hamilton-based schools with a new, larger building for the expanded student population. An issue Dufour Séguin said people have been advocating for since the 1990’s, the council invoked charter rights by arguing the Francophone school was not being resourced adequately and therefore access to education was not equal to those in Anglophone schools.