Ward 5 — York South-Weston

Ana Barajas is a Toronto-based artist and the Director of YYZ Artists’ Outlet, a non-profit artist-run centre. She holds a BFA from OCAD University in Sculpture and Installation. She has managed over 100 exhibitions to date and curated projects in Toronto, Chatham-Kent, and New York.

Relina D’Amico previously ran in the 2018 election for the Ward 5 trustee position. She placed third out of six candidates.

On his website, Lanny Ferreira says he is a constituent assistant for York South-Weston MPP Faisal Hassan, who has door-knocked with Ferreira during his campaign. Ferreira has worked as the president of the Ontario NDP’s York South-Weston riding association. He is also the co-founder of the Keelesdale Neighborhood Group, a community group hosted on Facebook that coordinates neighbourhood initiatives including local clean-ups. If elected, Ferreira wants to ensure equitable funding among schools, low class sizes and increased investments to upgrade what he describes as “crumbling infrastructure.” He has been endorsed by Progress Toronto.

Liban Hassan is a public policy professional with a Master of Public Policy and Administration from York University. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, currently working in the area of Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing and previously worked as a Senior Policy Analyst for the National Housing Council. While in school and working as a Payment Service Officer for Employment and Social Development Canada, he wrote an article about diversity and inclusion in the federal government, which was published in Canadian Government Executive magazine. Hassan says on his campaign website that if elected, he plans to advocate for mental health awareness and wellbeing programs, an enhanced budget for upgrades and repairs of schools, and create inclusive and safe schools, among other priorities. He says he will also ensure community engagement in decision-making for Ward 6.

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

George Stevens previously ran in the 2014 municipal elections as a city councillor candidate for Davenport. He placed fourth out of four candidates. There was limited information online regarding Stevens’ current campaign at the time of publication. As part of his campaign in 2014, he said he wanted to see the city council become a more cohesive, effective team, and committed to protecting vulnerable workers, expanding transit, and creating more jobs.

Suleiman Sualim was part of the Centennial College’s cross country team. His platform includes reducing class sizes, increasing one-on-one time between students and instructors, and enhancing student mental health services.

Daniel Di Giorgio has been the TCDSB trustee for Ward 10 since 2018. He is an associate at Sherpa Venture Studio. Di Giorgio previously served on the board of directors of the Angel Foundation for Learning. In April 2022, he was investigated by an integrity commissioner for allegedly making disparaging statements about fellow trustees in an Italian-language newspaper, for which the commissioner produced a report and found him in breach of conduct (the integrity commissioner quit soon after due to what they called a violation by trustees who moved discussion to a private session, which is in contravention of the board’s complaints process and the Education Act). Di Giorgio maintained he did not breach the code of conduct. In August 2022, the Toronto Catholic School Board voted and cleared Di Giorgio of any breach in conduct. Di Giorgio has voted in favour of the motions to recognize Pride month and fly the Pride flag, and include terms like gender identity and expression in the code of conduct.

Elisabeth Garcia’s website describes her as director of Rosary Apostolate, an organization dedicated to teaching students to pray the rosary in schools. She also describes herself as an executive member of the Catholic Women’s League, though The Local was not able to find her name on the executive committees of the national, provincial or local branch websites. According to her campaign platform, Elisabeth states that if elected, she will promote the Catholic faith and gospel teachings, provide additional support to students and teachers and promote extracurricular activities.

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

Geneviève Oger is the incumbent trustee for Conseil scolaire Viamonde Ward 4 – Ouest. She was elected in 2018 and has won the election by acclamation for the coming term, given she is running unopposed. Oger is the acting Senior Policy & Issues Advisor to the Deputy Minister’s Office at the Ontario Ministry of Francophone Affairs. She was the former media spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, and was formerly a journalist. She is also vice chair of the Conseil Scolaire Viamonde – Ouest board and sits on the board of directors for Association des Conseils Scolaires des écoles publiques de l’Ontario. As part of her 2018 campaign, Oger said she prioritizes inclusivity in schools, providing support for multicultural, multilingual families to pass on their language and culture to the next generation, and ensuring the engagement and consultation of parents in decision-making.

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.