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Meet Changemakers in Our Community
Meet Changemakers in Our Community
Justine Abigail Yu
Justine Abigail Yu
Justine Abigail Yu (she/her) is the Founder of Living Hyphen, a community and multimedia platform that explores what it means to live in between cultures as a hyphenated Canadian – that is, an individual who calls Canada home but who has roots elsewhere.She is an award-winning writing workshop facilitator whose work with Living Hyphen has been featured on international, national, and local media outlets including the Globe & Mail, CTV National News, and the CBC. She was also named a “Changemaker” by the Toronto Star in October 2021.Justine Abigail is a fierce advocate for equity and anti-oppression. Her mission is to stir the conscience and spur social change. Learn more at www.justineabigail.com and www.livinghyphen.ca.
Louroz Mercader
Louroz Mercader
Louroz is an experienced city builder and communications professional with a progressive career in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.
He is currently the Manager of the York Eglinton Business Improvement Area and is focused on supporting small businesses to recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As an active member of the community, he is a volunteer board member for several organizations.
He is also the co-founder of RISE Tribe; a Filipino youth networking, mentorship and leadership foundation.
Louroz is a recipient of the Ontario Medal for Young Volunteers awarded by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, a 2009 Diverse City Fellow with CivicAction, and is a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum.
Myka Jaymalin
Myka Jaymalin
Myka Jaymalin is an activist, writer, researcher, and newcomer. She is the chairperson of Anakbayan Canada, an organization of Filipino youth with chapters in over seven cities across the country, that advocates for decent jobs and wages, education, and social services. Myka brings attention to Filipino community issues through her writing and interviews in publications such as CBC News and The Philippine Reporter. In her free time, she loves to read, make art and take photographs, and go on walks with her child–I mean, dog. Myka believes in the collective power of community members themselves, especially Filipino youth, to bring about real social change.
Nina Lee Aquino
Nina Lee Aquino
With a string of firsts in Asian Canadian theatre, Nina Lee Aquino was the founding Artistic Director of fu-GEN Asian Canadian theatre company, organized the first Asian Canadian theatre conference, edited the first (2-volume) Asian Canadian play anthology, and co-edited the first (award-winning) book on Asian Canadian theatre.
She became Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre, currently holds the same position at Factory Theatre and is the incoming Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre English Theatre. Nina is also serves as the President of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres.
She has directed at theatres across the country and has won the Ken McDougall Award, the John Hirsch Prize, the Toronto Theatre Critics Awards for Best Director, and three Dora Awards for Outstanding Direction.
Nina co-wrote Miss Orient(ed) and her monologues have been published in Beyond the Pale and She Speaks (Playwrights Canada Press). Nina has taught and directed at educational institutions in the city and was recently appointed Adjunct Professor at York University’s Department of Theatre. She is the 2019 winner of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Margo Bindhart and Rita Davies Cultural Leadership Award.
Veronica Javier
Veronica Javier
Veronica Javier is a Registered Social Worker with a Masters in Social Work and a specialty in Nephrology. Veronica has over a decade of community-based social work experience, including in youth-led organizations, faith-based community and a clinical healthcare setting.
Veronica’s clinical work includes being the Clinical Lead involved in the development of the Conservative Management pathway for end-stage renal disease patients preparing for their end-of-life stage at the Scarborough Health Network, General Hospital, Nephrology Program.
Veronica is also currently an Adjunct Professor at York University School of Social Work working as a Faculty Advisor, and has acted as Field Placement Instructor.
Veronica is a founding member of the Filipino/a/x-Canadian Social and Community Workers Network. She also mentors Filipino/a/x Canadian Youth, and has acted as an advisor to various Filipino-Canadian organizations such as Filipino Youth Fellowship, Filipinas Speak Out and Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture.
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