Our Mission

To co-create a learning space that develops compassionate, reflective and responsive leadership in individuals and communities, supporting leaders to skillfully navigate emotions, conflict, power and difference grounded in a commitment to social justice, diversity and equity.

Our Vision

A world where individual and collective leadership is based on justice and sustainability for all people, communities and the Earth; leadership that is self-aware, compassionate, collaborative, courageous, empowered and accountable.

Our story.

The Inner Activist emerged in 2006 as an effort to understand the pressing concerns and needs of social and environmental justice organizations, innovators, practitioners, organizers, and activists. Co-founders Ian Curtin, Brad Jarvis, and Frank Quinby interviewed 35 individuals in the social change sector across Turtle Island to conclude that a closer look at the connection between personal growth and one’s actions for change in the world is what is needed to transform our communities.

Since these initial findings, the Inner Activist has offered retreat style courses including Conscious Use of Power and Building Personal Mastery, with the mission to co-create a learning space that develops compassionate, reflective and responsive leadership in individuals and communities. We aim to support leaders to skillfully navigate emotions, conflict, power and difference grounded in a commitment to social justice, diversity and equity.

The Inner Activist is learning alongside the communities we work with. We continue our ongoing efforts to develop methods/approaches and building relationships that reflect intersectional, anti-oppressive, and decolonial values. We do our work in hopes of a world where individual and collective leadership is based on justice and sustainability for all people, communities and the Earth; leadership that is self-aware, compassionate, collaborative, courageous, empowered and accountable.

Learn about our courses

Who we are

We are supported by our staff, faculty, and steering committee who assist in the development of our courses and help us navigate our growth as an organization. Collectively our expertise is rooted in our work as facilitators, leadership trainers, counselors, educators, community organizers, intercultural and diversity consultants, public policy researchers, environmentalists, trade unionists and more. Central to our approach is the understanding and awareness that individuals and groups working for social change do so within the context of social inequity and power difference.

Staff

  • Jorge Salazar (he/him) uses his own immigration journey, life experiences, training and education to bridge communities and facilitate positive change within the government, non-profit and for-profit organizations alike and grassroots groups. Jorge has been cultivating relationships among diverse communities in BC, Canada and the Global South for more than 20 years. He has worked with the Child and Youth Advocate Office of BC (currently the Representative for Children and Youth), Immigrant Services Society of BC, MOSAIC, the International Institute for Child Rights and Development - University of Victoria, City of Vancouver, the Ecumenical Task Force for Justice in the Americas and PeerNet BC among others.

    Jorge is a community activist, trainer and leader in the non-profit world. He currently works as the Director of the Inner Activist, a project of MakeWay Canada (http://www.inneractivist.com/). He is also involved in multiple other community initiatives to advance social justice issues in diverse communities. In 2011, Jorge co-founded Fresh Voices in partnership with immigrant and refugee youth and allies. Fresh Voices gathered a network of more than 200 migrant youth to address systemic issues and create opportunities by advocating for policy change in British Columbia. Fresh Voices was an initiative (http://freshvoices.ca/) of Vancouver Foundation where Jorge worked as a Project Manager until 2016.

    Most of the projects he is involved with are about opening spaces for inclusive facilitation and systems change while focusing on community empowerment within an anti-oppression and decolonization framework. He promotes strong community connections among diverse communities, particularly between Indigenous, immigrants and refugees among others.

  • Erica Wright (she/her) is the Programs and Operations manager for the Inner Activist.

    Prior to her role at the Inner Activist, she worked for seven years in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) research and consulting, including developing EDI and anti-racism strategies for municipalities, corporations and nonprofits. She has supported programs to support employment and entrepreneurship for newcomers, youth and marginalized groups, and supported operations and governance planning for various non-profits.

    She is grateful to live and work on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, who are part of the Anishinaabe Nation; the Haudenosaunee Confederacy; the Wendat (Wyandot); and many other Nations, recorded and unrecorded. 

Faculty

  • Aslam is a new settler on Coast Salish territories from South Africa. He has worked around the world as an educator, specialising in communication across cultures. He has a background in arts activism, dialogue, facilitation and planning. He currently works on community and youth engagement initiatives around Vancouver through numerous roles including Community Engagement Coordinator for SFU's Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies. He is constantly looking for ways to live the multiple perspectives on decoloniality he embodies.

  • Ian (he/him) is a core faculty member at the Haven, a Canadian residential training centre on the leading edge of personal and professional development. He is also President of IC Possibilities Consulting Inc., a Victoria based company specializing in facilitating organizational dialogues. He offers the right combination of understanding and meeting organizational requirements, balancing the needs and priorities of multiple stakeholders, and deftly navigating the group dynamics that are an integral part of any human initiative. He loves people and brings his compassion for his own frailties and those of others to every situation.

  • Jess Bolduc is a community member of Batchewana First Nation and lives, works and plays in Baawating (Sault Ste. Marie), the traditional territory of her Ojibway ancestors. Jess comes from a mixed family of Anishinaabe, French & Irish people who love the outdoors, music, dancing, plants and animals and is an auntie to many niblings. As the Executive Director of the 4Rs Youth Movement, she has travelled across Turtle Island and internationally, in order to learn about the conditions that might be necessary for communities to shift and transform complex systems through dialogue and strategic action. The work of 4Rs is about centering the needs and role Indigenous young people play in moving forward reconciliation between individuals, communities & systems in Canada. Through her experiences with 4Rs, she has built up a community of mentors throughout inclusion, racial justice, social innovation and facilitation networks. As her work on reconciliation is ever evolving, she is currently pouring her heart and spirit into the Wasanay Mnising Land Back initiative, which seeks to rematriate a sacred Anishinaabek island in the middle of cottage country. When she is home Jess can most often be found next to the water or in the bush, building a house, tending to her garden, hanging with her cats Beans and Biizhiw, and harvesting from the land with her friends and relatives.

  • Kris is a Secwepemc and Seme7 woman from the Ts’qescen First Nation. In her own words: “My lived experiences as a mixed blood woman, mother and community member informs my desire for inclusion, accessibility, and justice”. Archie is the Executive Director of The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, an open network to promote giving, sharing, and philanthropy in Aboriginal communities across the country. Kris works to transform philanthropy and contribute to positive change by creating spaces of learning, relationship-building and activation.

  • Camille (she/her), RCC, QMed, helps people and organizations find the meaning and gifts in conflict.  Actually conflict itself is the great teacher- but I work with you and your group to ride the waves towards greater clarity and stronger relationships. With over 20 years of experience as a facilitator, mediator, and conflict coach, Camille supports teams to face difficulty with integrity and allow the insight, connection, and change hidden in tension to emerge. Their work cultivates an embodied sense of group life that feels integrated and humane. A space where we can experience both belonging and difference, while talking freely and precisely about things that matter to us. Of Indo-Caribbean and Irish descent, Camille lives on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

    Camille holds an MA in Conflict Facilitation, MEd Counselling Psychology, MEd Adult Education, is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with BCACC,  Qualified Mediator with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of BC,  is a CINERGY trained Conflict Coach and a Certified Level 1-4 Lewis Deep Democracy Instructor.

  • Jackie (she/her) has been a social justice activist for 40 years in the women's, labour and political action movements. In recent years she integrated a deep ecological perspective into her work. For nine years, Jackie has co-facilitated (with Maggie Zeigler) "Reconnecting to Life/The Work That Reconnects" Workshops which help us to explore our deepest feelings about our troubled world, to rediscover our capacity for joy and to re-create our human ecological relationship with all of life. In 2006, she left her 13-year job as Education Coordinator for the BC Nurses Union and continues to design and facilitate leadership development, strategic planning, facilitation skills and other courses. She works primarily with unions, community groups and in the health care sector.

  • Jean-Pierre (he/him) was mentored under Learning as Leadership’s founder Claire Nuer for 25 years. As a founding member and pillar in the organization since its inception, he has been an executive coach with LaL since 1999, moving from Paris, France, to the United States, to help expand LAL's work. Jean-Pierre's clients have ranged from organizations like NASA, NAVAIR, Shell Oil, as well as individuals, families and couples. He has a passion for building sustainable environments, whether it’s in addressing people’s relationships or with our planet's sustainability issues. He received his diploma from Université René Descartes (1983) and his certification from the Ministry of National Education (1995). He taught Education Nationale in Paris from 1986 - 1999.

  • Kelly Foxcroft Poirier (Chii-ilth-uum-qua) is from the Gallic family of the Tseshaht Tribe, one of 16 nations that comprises Nuu-chah-nulth. She is a spirited artist expressing her gifts in many forms, she is a graphic recorder and a talented host and facilitator. In the last several years Kelly has a growing passion for being a Tseshaht langauge learner and champion of language revitalization, alongside a teacher, trainer of facilitation methodology, and passionate disability advocate. She has accrued over a decade of experience bringing high quality-engagement, facilitation, and communications services to NGOs, all levels of governments First Nations communities, and arts and culture organizations. She is the co-founder of White Raven Consulting.

  • Kim Haxton (Potowatomi) is from the Wasauksing First Nation in Ontario. She has worked across Turtle Island and abroad in various capacities but always with a focus on local leadership.

    Her deep understanding of the need for genuine restoration has far-reaching implications as leaders seek vision and all people seek direction to address the mounting pressure of a system incongruous with the values of the natural world. Kim has developed and facilitated programs in land-based education, ceremonies and leadership for the past 30 years, including as co-founder of Indigeneyez

    She takes her place among thought leaders in the area of decolonization, particularly as it applies to language, art, economics and gender. She encourages the “lateral liberation” of consciousness by drawing from the embodied knowledge of Indigenous peoples. In multi-day workshops, she moves people through a personal process of questioning what is the truth and what is simply constructed – effectively rupturing what we “know.” True expression of respect, harmony, inclusion, equity can come from this place.

  • Nada

  • Chris Corrigan is a facilitator and complexity practitioner who lives on Nexwlélexwm (Bowen Island).  For thirty years he has worked with organizations across Canada and elsewhere in the world on issues of engaging in complexity with highly participatory facilitation and sense-making methods.  He teaches the Art of Hosting and is a global steward of theta community of practice.  He writes extensively at his blog, Parking Lot, and his website hosts facilitation tools, papers, videos and other resources related to participatory planning and hosting. 

  • Tanya Birl-Torres is a leader and teacher who believes in telling stories that move us towards curiosity and connection. She has a passion and a vision to use her artistry to reach a diverse crowd and blur the lines between performer and audience, recognizing that we are all creative by nature of being born. She works at the intersection of art, justice, and systemic change. 

    Birl-Torres is a New York City–based creative director/choreographer, movement director, systems change facilitator, and mother. In addition to her decadelong Broadway performance career, she has served as the choreographer/movement director on productions, such as the world premiere of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil(Goodman Theater), How I Learned What I Learned (OSF), Twelfth Night (The Public Theater), The Red Letter Plays (The Signature Theater), Comedy of Errors(Classic Stage company), As You Like It(The Guthrie Theater), and Peter and the Starcatcher (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). As a systems change facilitator, she has worked closely with the National Arts Strategies, Illuminate Network, and Systems Sanctuary through her own company SoHumanity to bring embodied liberatory practice into the world of social innovation, bridging conversations across differences. She has created workshops with world-renowned educator Chris Emdin on Reality Pedagogy as Presencing and co-teaches Creativity and Communication at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Birl-Torres is currently the Social Practice Artist in residence at the Shed in NYC with her work ‘The Zora Project’ a creative and cultural platform dedicated to the legacy of Zora Neale Hurston. She is the recipient of the 2024 MAP Fund Grant, Hi-Arts Critical Breaks Residency, and NoMAA Grantee. She served as the artistic director of the Washington Heights Womanist Arts Festival and the 2023 recipient of the NewYorker 4 NewYork Award from the Citizens Committee for New York City, named as a “woman breaking ceilings in NYC and beyond.” Birl-Torres serves as guest professor in residence at the University of Michigan in fall 2025, and was lead embodiment facilitator for National Arts Strategies’ The Project 2024 – 25. @sohumanity

Leadership Committee

  • Aftab Erfan (she/her) (Chair)  is Executive Director of the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University where she also teaches in the School of Public Policy. She is a practitioner-scholar in the areas of deliberative democracy and awareness-based facilitation, and formerly served as Chief Equity Officer for the City of Vancouver, as well as Director of Dialogue and Conflict Engagement at UBC. Aftab grew up in the youth environmental movement, spending much of her 20s alongside other activists deeply concerned with the climate crisis. She studied environmental sciences and urban planning, graduating with a PhD in Community and Regional Planning from UBC. Her experience spans 15 years and five continents. She holds numerous honours, including BC500 most influential business leaders in BC (Business in Vancouver), Research for a Better Life: The Storytellers Challenge (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council), and Best Published Paper Award Shortlist (Association of European Schools of Planning). She is a past Board Member of the Vancouver Foundation and currently serves on the Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion. A first-generation settler from Iran, Aftab lives on Coast Salish lands in the context of a large extended family. She is cautiously optimistic about the future of humanity.

  • Harpreet Ahuja is a multi-racial consultant, social justice advocate, and writer, with an immigrant father from India and an Inuk-Polish mother from Labrador. Raised in Montreal and Toronto, her cross-cultural upbringing shaped a lifelong commitment to equity and human rights. A lawyer by training, Harpreet holds a J.D. from the University of Ottawa, an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from UCLA, and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Guelph. She has investigated the deaths of children in government care in BC, presided as an independent decision-maker over disciplinary hearings in BC's correctional system. She has worked on death penalty cases in Malawi, studied genocide education in Rwanda, and Holocaust education in Poland and Germany. She provided legal assistance to migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border and resettled LGBTQI+ Syrian refugees. She serves as an Equity Advisor in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, bringing a decolonial, trauma-informed approach to institutional change. Harpreet also volunteers as an Electoral Observer for the OSCE/ODIHR and is a member of the Canadian Prison Law Association.

  • Ajay is a movement builder and social artist. He has 15 years experience in empowering communities and creating social change in the non-profit, academic, government and social innovation sectors. Mr. Puri has spoken to over 150 audiences nationally and internationally on topics dealing with social movements, social innovation, leadership, digital engagement, and healthcare transformation. He has co-founded many movements including: LeadNow, #EastVanLove, BeeVancity, RangiChangi Roots and most recently Changemakers Vancouver. He has also worked in the healthcare system for 15 years. in the fields of addictions, elder care, other marginalized communities and change management; most recently, he led the digital media and engagement team for the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council. He teaches social movement thinking at SFU RADIUS Ventures, Groundswell Social Ventures, Pearson and Bodwell Colleges. Ajay holds his Masters of Health Administration from UBC and has published five peer-reviewed articles on health research. He started his PhD but decided to put it on hold while he sits with larger systemic issues.

  • Hala Habib is a former refugee from Afghanistan, now a settler between Squamish and Lenape lands. She is an educator, academic, and collaborator who understands anthropology not as a profession but as a continuous practice — a way of moving through the world that does not switch off.

    That practice has taken her across London, New York, and Vancouver, where she has collaborated with organizers working from very different political traditions, and into Afghanistan, where she has done sustained fieldwork on memory, ancestrality, and spiritual militancy. The thread running through all of it is a single question: to what degree have our anti-colonial projects begun to absorb the contours of the logics they oppose — and what can the complicated zones of the global south teach us about this?

    She joins the Inner Activist board to bring that restless, itinerant perspective into conversation with the work of building more honest movements.

  • Brad is one of the co-founders of the Inner Activist along with having held many other roles, including Faculty member. He has a BA and MA in philosophy; most of his work was in the moral, social and political branches of that field. Brad used to work in Ottawa for a charity that researched and advocated public transportation. Brad acknowledges his privilege as a white, cis-hetero, man and his responsibility to be an ally. He has learned to use inner work processes to understand and heal from the inter-generational legacy of the holocaust which has transformed the work he does in the world.

Our community is commited to the inner work necessary for true change to flourish.

If you would like to learn more, or join our courses, send us a message.