Standing in front of a statue dripping with pink paint, Ravyn Wngz looked into a dozen television cameras and explained why Black Lives Matter activists felt they had no other choice but to turn to dramatic tactics. In a speech that quickly went viral online, she softly described her frustration. “We’ve tried many different ways to get the attention and the conversation of those in leadership roles and positions. It took us having to do this, to get you all to show up” she said, pointing at the pink statue.

It's almost Election Day in Ontario! If democratic reform is important to you, you may want to take a close look at each party's commitments on this topic.

And to make it easier for you, we've already researched and evaluated the platforms of thirteen parties (every party with more than ten candidates), based on seven unique criteria.

We had an incredible two our chat this week with Duff Conacher from Democracy Watch! Duff was the second guest in our Voices from the Movement series.

Democracy Watch is a national citizen advocacy group in Canada who have been advocating for reforms since 1993. They have won more than 180 changes to federal and provincial good government and corporate responsibility laws, many of which are world-leading.

Duff and Dave talked in detail about democratic reforms that effectively require everyone in politics and big business to be Open, Honest, Ethical and Representative.

We had an amazing two-hour conversation with Desmond Cole talking about authentic activism, advocacy tactics, intersectionalism, the limitations of electoral organising and finding room for humour in our work.

2021 was a huge year for us at Unlock Democracy Canada!

We launched the inaugural Ontario Municipal Democracy Index, expanded our coast-to-coast Local Choice campaign, held eleven Better Ballots 101 workshops and supported Canada's growing Vote16 campaign!