2025 Board of Directors Candidate Profiles

 

 

Here are the Candidate Profiles for the four nominees for the OPIRG Guelph Board of Directors.

The election will happen at our Annual General Meeting, on February 26th at 6:30pm (online). There are more than enough vacant seats, so you will be asked to vote Yes or No for each candidate.

In order to be able to vote in the Board election, you must:

  1. Be a member in good standing of OPIRG Guelph.  If you are a graduate student or a full-time undergraduate student at the University of Guelph, and have not received a levy refund this academic year, you are a member.  If you’re not a U of G student, or if you’re a part-time undergrad, you need to make sure your membership is current before February 19th at 6pm. If you’re not sure if you’re a member in good standing, please reach out to mandy at organizational@opirgguelph.org.
  2. Register for the AGM before Friday February 21st at noon. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/AGM-2025-Registration

 

2025 Board of Directors Candidate Profiles

 

Enna Marks-Grant

Are you running as a student or community member? 

Community Member 

What kind of skills and experience (volunteer, work, life) would you bring to the OPIRG Board? 

This is my second time running to be a community board member for the OPIRG Board. I believe that my area of skills and experience have grown due to OPIRG in the past two years. OPIRG has taught me how to genuinely be a part of a team and has taught me that the behind the scenes work for any event takes a lot to get to the final product. 

In terms of experience I have received a graduate certificate in International Development in the past year which has changed the ways in which I use my roles in meetings, I feel more confident. 

Why are you interested in becoming a Board member? 

I am interested in becoming a board member because for the past two years I have really enjoyed my time on the board. I enjoy the interactiveness between us all, I now enjoy facilitating, I almost enjoy public speaking and I am getting better at it. I feel myself growing and I do thank OPIRG for being a part of my growth. I know that there is so much more time that I can give to OPIRG and I am enthusiastic to do that for the next two years. 

List three goals that you would like to see accomplished by the OPIRG Board. 

  • This year, my first goal would be to not be behind in terms of the symposium. I think for our anniversary we do have many good ideas and I’d be very happy to begin immediately for next year’s symposium. 
  • The second goal would be to have 1 absolutely mandatory meeting a month that no one can miss, it is always difficult to coordinate peoples schedules but I feel like staying updated is important to the work that we do and updates work better in meetings than they do when you read through the meeting minutes. 
  • The third goal is for at least half the board to understand the finances of OPIRG. I believe it is a lot to ask staff members to know everything and to do everything so if we could find a way to spread out the work by getting board members knowledgeable about the bigger tasks that make staff exhausted would be excellent. 

OPIRG is continuing to work on issues of anti-oppression, which include, but are not limited to, racism, heterosexism, classism, sexism, ableism, and ageism. 

What are some of the ways that you think oppression can affect our work on social and environmental justice? 

This year I have begun working at a bar restaurant where pretty much all individuals are a part of a not heteronormative collective, it is very interesting to see how this type of openness between staff members add to the openness of the space to the point where customers understand that to enter this space is to be an open individual. I think that anti-oppressive work begins in the space and sets the tone for the individuals that enter it. Individuals that are heterosexist or classist can feel uncomfortable in these spaces and perhaps second guess themselves (eventually) to later be more open in the future. 

Do you have any experience(s) or ideas that you can contribute to our work on anti-oppression? 

I walk through my life with an anti-oppressive lens. I think that constantly there can be ideas that make me think or question my stances. I believe that I do go through life with a very understanding lens to oppression and understanding that some people just don’t yet understand how to expand their brains to all components of anti-oppression. I sometimes think that my presence can add kind of a bridge from hardcore anti-oppressors to accidental oppressors, in a way that hopefully helps all individuals to find a point of connectivity.

 

Calista Allison 

Are you running as a student or community member? 

Community Member 

What kind of skills and experience (volunteer, work, life) would you bring to the OPIRG Board?

  • My educational background is in television/film production – including but not limited to digital media as well. This means I have extensive knowledge with adobe suite applications as well as am very confident voicing ideas on how to design and/or promote an event. I am also extremely comfortable approaching “strangers” (ie. people, organizations, businesses, etc.) to contribute in however way they’re capable – this could be putting signs up in their businesses, contributing donations, etc. Example of this is when I volunteered for Wyndham House’s first Gift of Home event where I secured 7 auction items & sponsorships – which ranged from $50-$2500 within a matter of days. 
  • I also have a lot of experience in knowing how to “advertise” and/or what is going to encourage folks to participate in events/sessions 
  • I have a unique perspective that I have gained through volunteering with elders in long term care, as well as folks of a variety of ages who are living with an acute brain injury 
  • Through volunteering with, and being a sister of Grandmother’s Voice, I have witnessed incredible turnout for events that are completely advertised by community members. They rely heavily on community support and operate within what it means to take ACTION and live in real Truth and Reconciliation. 

Why are you interested in becoming a Board member? 

My commitment and passion for volunteering stretches beyond just showing up for my shift. I am deeply passionate about the spaces I volunteer in and I ensure I am always spreading the word of events to my own social media, and or other community groups. I think OPIRG is an incredible organization that allows folks from all walks of life and circumstances to be an advocate in their own right – whether that’s with just one cause or many. OPIRG makes being an advocate accessible and I believe there is so much more OPIRG can do for Guelph as a city and I’m excited to see how I can contribute to that. 

List three goals that you would like to see accomplished by the OPIRG Board.

  • Be more visible in the community (eg. via advertising events, etc.) 
  • Push for more businesses in the Guelph community to sponsor events/collab with them (when it makes sense) 
  • I’d like to see more of a push towards the city to recognize Red Dress Day, Truth and Reconciliation, MMIWG2S+ 

OPIRG is continuing to work on issues of anti-oppression, which include, but are not limited to, racism, heterosexism, classism, sexism, ableism, and ageism. 

What are some of the ways that you think oppression can affect our work on social and environmental justice? 

Everything is connected when you live within the confines of a society that is built on the pillars of patriarchy, racism, and white supremacy. It is a guarantee that your work, (as a relatively small organization) in dismantling those ideologies and systems are going to be affected. I’m sure a lot of what is affected is funding, convincing people to give a damn about others (what a wild thing to even say.. “convincing”..) is becoming increasingly more difficult especially when you see a lot of what is happening politically. [white] People as a whole don’t want to address anything that “doesn’t affect them” so arguably the people who SHOULD BE, and who NEED TO BE doing the work, aren’t. This keeps these systems upheld and makes it difficult for those fighting for, and alongside, social and environmental justice. The fact that there are so many social/environmental justice causes that have been fought for, for decades – that alone tells you how oppression is still so prevalent in affecting the work. 

Do you have any experience(s) or ideas that you can contribute to our work on anti-oppression?

I think what I mentioned above about Truth & Reconciliation – learning and offering more resources on Indigenous ways of being/living – allow the knowledge of our Indigenous kin to take the lead.

 

Paul Costello

Are you running as a student or community member?

I am running for re-election as a Community Member of the Board.

What kind of skills and experience (volunteer, work, life) would you bring to the OPIRG Board?

I spent much of my life in sales and food distribution.

In 1998 I decided to spend my last few years (12) in the working world, owning and operating two taxis in Guelph. It was something that I did from time to time on a part time basis over the years and eventually decided that it was something that I would enjoy on a full time basis.

Sitting in the taxi, I got to talk with a lot of people who were courageously fighting their way through some daunting but ordinary challenges. Someday, I said, I would get out of the taxi and try to help.

I spent over three years volunteering at the Guelph Bank, three plus days a week for the first year of the pandemic two days or most of the next two years. Rachel’s Saturday Table began over two years ago and I have been part of that every Saturday with work and donations. After Ed Pickersgill died, Erin Fichette took over the Bench. I have helped her with  work, food and donations from the beginning. I have also been working at least one shift a week at Royal City Mission and will resume working two shifts a week when fund raising and other RCM activities take less of my time. “More than Meals” is the community based fund raising tool for RCM and I am on the steering committee.

The hands on volunteering came after years of political activity:

  • Wellington Water Watchers since 2009
  • Council of Canadians since 2011, (Board member since 2011)
  • Guelph Against Pipelines (GAP) since 2012
  • Fossil Free Guelph while it was in existence                                                                                                                                                    
  • Guelph Wellington Coalition for Social Justice since 2015
  • Hamilton350.org since 2017 
  • Extinction  Rebellion Guelph 2018-19

Why are you interested in becoming a Board member?

I’ve already served almost three terms on the Board and have been active in OPIRG action groups since 2012. I was even part of Symposium cooking crews before becoming a Board  member. You could say that I’ve worked my way up from the slop pail. I sit on the Programming and Funding Committee and have sat on Hiring committees as needed.  I’m currently a signing authority for the organization.  I’d like to remain on the Board because I have a lot of connections with an older, off-campus demographic and I have a lot of time and energy to give to OPIRG.  As a long-term Board member I can also provide some continuity and mentorship. 

List three goals that you would like to see accomplished by the OPIRG Board.

Our main goal from here is to understand that a post pandemic OPIRG will be, like similar organizations that survive, a reinvented OPIRG. It will be easy for a well funded organization to think it’s doing fine because the lights are on and the door isn’t locked. Finding a way to be visibly more radical without breaking from funding criteria will be a challenge, while we toil under this extremely oppressive provincial regime. Building blocks and new goals will appear, while we move the goal posts without apologies. By definition, a Community Board Member’s task is to maintain and improve OPIRG’s relationships with other people and organizations who will be in the same thralls of post pandemic reinvention.

OPIRG is continuing to work on issues of anti-oppression, which include, but are not limited to, racism, heterosexism, classism, sexism, ableism, and ageism.

What are some of the ways that you think oppression can affect our work on social and environmental justice?

This extremely oppressive provincial government must face the wrath of action groups like others that have been inspired and nurtured by OPIRG in the past. 

Do you have any experience(s) or ideas that you can contribute to our work on anti-oppression?

In the past few (4-5) years, I have developed mobility issues that make ableism a personal issue. I could add ageism to that.

 

Gracy Go

Are you running as a student or community member?

Student member

What kind of skills and experience (volunteer, work, life) would you bring to the OPIRG Board?

I have been involved with OPIRG Guelph for a few years now, and a lot of my experience and skills have been built through this involvement. Coming from a strong passion of feminist ethics in my academic work and research, I understand the importance of intersectionality, the necessity for community, and ultimately, compassion.  

While these values did stem from my work as a student, OPIRG Guelph has only strengthened them. Since 2021 I have been involved with OPIRG in some capacity, and as a board member I sat on the library committee. As an aspiring historian I find it imperative that we have the resources available for those to educate and learn about social justice and environmental justice. In many ways, knowledge can be power. My overall skills in informing, and a personal drive to be more informed of injustices, is ultimately rooted in the shifting of rigid hypermasculine, heteronormative systems that denigrate the experiences of women, people of colour, 2SLGBTQIA+ and other marginalized groups. 

The intersectional approach that shapes not just my research, but also how I view the world, is a skill that I offer: the willingness to know and be aware of the injustices around me, and how we can help those experiencing these injustices. As a queer woman of colour, I know there are systems of oppression that are against me succeeding in the world, so I hope to dismantle that through education and ensuring we all amplify the voices of those who are pushed to the margins of society.

Why are you interested in becoming a Board member?

Being part of OPIRG for so many years has helped me connect with likeminded individuals, passionate activists, and educators. I am running for a second term because I love what OPIRG stands for as an organization and I want to be a part of a group that helps those who need it most.

List three goals that you would like to see accomplished by the OPIRG Board.

These are three based on our visioning session and what we want to focus on: student power, housing and food insecurity, and climate change

  • Get student involvement up: and by this I do not mean pushing students to be on the frontlines of a protest right away, because that can be intimidating (speaking from personal experience). As part of an organization on campus, OPIRG Guelph has been a proponent of student power, being our focus for 2025’s Rebel Knowledge Symposium, one that is very empowering for me as a student. I’ve witnessed younger generations become more radicalized as we watch oppressive systems impacting others we are not directly tied to; to care about other people because we should. To know this is true gives me hope and I would love to have more students on board with us, and for students to kno
  • Be able to bridge the gap between campus and community: we are increasingly seeing both students and community alike finding it difficult to find consistent access to food or shelter – the university has let students down by a lack of housing and also oversight of this availability. Allowing students to be admitted and promised on-campus living, then not having enough rooms in residence is unacceptable, and we need to make that abundantly clear. Housing costs are unmanageable – and it’s the same for the Guelph community at large. These are basic necessities that everyone should have. Even though students are members of OPIRG, we have those in the community that are members as well. We should make that clearer – OPIRG Guelph and our support for those who need it most – goes beyond the University of Guelph.
  • Climate change – overall, I think our involvement in environmental justice seems to be heavily overshadowed by our involvement in social justice issues – though they are inherently connected in so many ways, we could have more events that focus on environmental justice – what is it that students and community members want for the Earth we inhabit? I feel like there could be more education in that regard.

OPIRG is continuing to work on issues of anti-oppression, which include, but are not limited to, racism, heterosexism, classism, sexism, ableism, and ageism.

What are some of the ways that you think oppression can affect our work on social and environmental justice?

As mentioned, these things are inherently tied to one another. We need to consider every system of oppression in this work, and who is most vulnerable to oppression in any given context. Sometimes our own privilege or our individual lived experiences of being oppressed can blind us from being allies – activism should never be transactional, and we should stand in solidarity with those who are ultimately at risk due to oppressive systems that are also at play in the realm of social and environmental injustices.

Do you have any experience(s) or ideas that you can contribute to our work on anti-oppression?

My lived experiences have and continue to shape my goals – how I want to live and how I want to collaborate with others is through cultivating community – not to ignore differences but to embrace them and recognize when and where it is our place to speak. I hope to continue building through collaborative work, which would also help bridge that gap I mentioned earlier between campus and community.