NGARDY: My name is Ngardy Conteh George, and I’m the director, co-writer and co-producer of Mr. Jane and Finch.

ELISE: I’m Elise Whittington and I’m the Impact producer of Mr Jane & Finch.

NGARDY: The original idea behind this film was to tell the story of Winston LaRose and his passionate documentation of Black communities in Canada and internationally over the last 50 years. In a world where history has been tainted by anti-Black racism and unconscious bias, Winston’s incredible archive is testament to the beauty, strength and diversity of Black communities around the world. But as I developed the film and got to know Winston more, I was so taken by his dedication to his community, I decided THAT, was a more compelling story. Weeks prior to the start of principle photography, as if by script, he informed us that he was running for Toronto City Council and a new film emerged.

NGARDY: Filmmaking is my form of activism and showing systematically excluded communities and individuals doing the work to improve the conditions they are in is at the core of the films I make.

I made this film to highlight and honour a stallworth of our community, a hero without a cape. I wanted to show that communities are able to fix themselves, and in fact, it is only through community-lead initiatives that they will fix themselves. Community leaders are central to doing so. But the process is not always easy or linear. Systemic failures are difficult to overcome. And so, our film is also a cautionary tale of what happens when a popular leader runs for office without the kind of robust support needed to win.

ELISE: The winners of elections are far too often those with the most resources, connections and privilege. Far too often, elected officials don’t have the kinds of intimate connections or lived experiences necessary to understand a community to successfully create meaningful change. 

Across Canada, we’ve seen time and time again, Fly-in  candidates consistently prevail creating a scenario in which indigenous, Black, people of color and other systematically excluded communities feel as though they’ve lost agency and so become disenfranchised. This in turn leads to greater disillusionment and disconnection from the electoral process. 

This is also true for the neighborhood portrayed within the film. The Jane & Finch Community had the lowest voter turnout in the 2019 federal election. Further, across the board, we’ve found that neighborhoods of color continuously record low turnouts during elections. 

Our campaign hopes to address this documented lack of civic engagement in low to middle income communities of color. It will demystify electoral politics and processes, helping to get out the vote and encourage more people of colour to run for public office.

NGARDY: We want to use the film to motivate community activists, advocates, organizers and thought leaders to run for office, following the example of Mr. LaRose. The countless initiatives he took to city council shows the power of those who stand up for their communities. Our other main impact goal is to help increase voter turnout by targeting youth 18 - 24 and specifically first time voters of color. We also recognize that additional barriers exist for newcomers and immigrants and so they too will be a target audience in our campaign.

ELISE: To help meet our goals we want to partner with Community based organizations that already work closely with constituents and have the established trust and networks needed for our campaign. We will also develop relationships with  election specific advocacy organizations that have the tools and experience needed to advance our goals. In aligning our goals with there’s, we hope to foster a mutually beneficial relationship, furthering the work they are already doing.

For us, in terms of evaluating the success of our campaign, we will be focusing on action i.e. specifically we want to see actual increases to both the number of people within our target audience that have voted as well as increases in the number of people in our target audience that actively run for office in the next election. We will be collecting data through surveys and questionnaires throughout the process and should have clear metrics at the end.

NGARDY: So what do we need right now? 

• We need Help creating a coalition of organizations that have the ability to connect to our target audience 

• We need Support creating a civic engagement playbook to help voters meaningfully support community leaders in their neighborhoods as they run for office. And for community leaders to have a guide to assist them in running successful campaigns.

• We need a commitment to host screenings and in kind venues for screenings 

• As well as promotional Support, 

• Expertise and Support to conduct Research and reporting 

There are two upcoming elections in 2022 that we are targeting 

The Ontario Provincial Elections take place on June 2

And the Toronto City Council Municipal elections taking October 24, 2022 

It’s the ideal time to make a tangible impact on these elections. 

We want to work with leaders and organizations such as yourself to amplify the work you are doing already.

How beautiful it will be to see TRUE representation across the city, province and country with the actions we take together. 

ASH PEPLOW BALL - WOMEN TRANSFORMING CITIES

Will share Digital Toolkit designed for helping community groups raise issues to local government and hold those officials accountable. Will also sit down in a meeting to see how they can use their tools for helping women and people of other marginalized genders to enter and engage with local politics in the specific elections targeted in the film's impact strategies.

ayesha khan - councillor perruzza’s office, humber river-black creek

Continue working to engage communities and keep big money interests out of local politics, to fight to keep the community in the hands of the community members. Will take a conversation with the team to see if she could be a panelist at a screening.

abby brockhouse - wift-toronto

Will share screenings on social media. Will have a meeting with the team and the programming and Executive directors of WIFT to see what collaboration we can pursue going forward.

alex forgay - councillor matlow’s office - toronto-st. paul’s

Will watch the film as an office to learn and grow from the messaging of the film and will share public screenings on social media.

bronwyn underhill - parkdale queen community centre

Happy to host screenings and chat circle, will bring the film and screenings to other community partners and community members.

DANNY ANCKLE - CECIL COMMUNITY CENTRE

Will continue engaging with and helping people without a political voice at the community centre. Is also part of an election outreach network and will bring the film to that network to see how they can use it in the upcoming elections

heather deal - decoda literacy solutions

To continue her work at Decoda Literacy Solutions, and helped establish an additional part of their program for aiding people with lower literacy to get involved with local politics.

kerry bowser - eastview neighbourhood community centre

Will promote the film, help arrange community screenings, and reach out to community partners to help promote the film.

LEONARD SCHEIN - BOARD MEMBER, STORY MONEY IMPACT

$1000 to help with distribution for Mr. Jane & Finch

MICHELLE CLIFFORD - FAIR VOTE CANADA

Willing to sit down with the filmmakers to see what they can do together. Will share screenings on Toronto mailing list and possibly on National social media platforms. Will introduce the team to Fair Vote Canada offices across the country.

TRECIA MCLENNON - NDP

Will host screenings in the local region of St. Catharines and will help contact local partners to help facilitate screenings

PROGRAM FUNDERS