Canada's Democracy Summit

6th Edition: April 2025 in Toronto

Details coming soon

DemocracyXChange connects, celebrates and equips people who are taking action to strengthen democracy and civil society. Join us at OCAD University and TMU in Toronto, in April 2025, as we take on today’s most urgent civic issues.

Op-ed

How to show courage through this chaotic moment

Ana Serrano and Karim Bardeesy

April 12, 2024 | Toronto Star

When so many people default to picking sides without listening, oftentimes when faced with tough choices or party loyalty, it’s even more important to lift up dialogue.

Integrity of Information

How and where people get their sources of information continues to evolve. We’ll examine the latest tools that people are turning to, the ongoing policy debates and the chaos that ensues in this quickly moving space.

Democracy Futures
Workshop

The Democracy Futures Workshop invites DXC participants to consider what we might start doing today to help us move closer towards a democracy that is resilient, successful, and sustainable. Participants in 2023 and 2024 were guided through various activities and processes of strategic foresight. Small groups worked together through a series of exploratory activities to uncover new insights, connections, implications and opportunities for the future of our democracy.

*This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada.

Learn more & download the toolkit

We’re at a pivotal moment for democracy in Canada and democracies around the world. It’s time to re-connect pro-democracy voices, confront the corrosive forces that erode public trust, and reignite progress that delivers positive change for people.

Karim Bardeesy

Executive Director of the Dais at TMU

DemocracyXChange

DXC24 took place in Toronto, Canada from April 11–13, 2024. This multi-day summit spotlighted Courage Through Chaos, and engaged more than 700 people in examining pressing themes such as: trust in governance, misinformation, social and economic disparity, art as activism and polarization; with a special focus on the role of democracies in confronting the existential threat of climate change.

Co-created by OCAD University, The Open Democracy Project and the Dais at TMU, Canada’s premier democracy event kicked-off with the Wonk Prom party on Thursday night, April 11, followed by a full-day Friday program of guest speakers, performers, workshops, a powerful art-gallery tour and the first-ever partnership with the French Embassy and Alliance Française to integrate the global initiative, Night of Ideas: Fault Lines, for the DXC audience. On Saturday, April 13 the capstone summit took place, featuring provocative talks, panels and knowledge-sharing workshops that boldly tackled today’s most urgent civic issues.