(version en français)

Ellen was Toronto Centre’s Green Party candidate in the October, 2008 general election;  the riding re-nominated her in May, 2009.  Ellen serves as Peace and Security Critic in the Green Party of Canada Shadow Cabinet.  (For links to Green Party media releases Ellen has contributed to, please see below.)

Ellen is one of the original members of the WindShare co-operative, and is a member of the board of directors of the Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto. She volunteers with Green Thumbs Growing Kids, the Bleecker-Wellesley Activity Network, and the Hot Docs film festival. She washes dishes at The 519 Church Street Community Centre’s Sunday drop-in, and organizes re-donating the books unsold at the Rosedale-Moore Park Community Association’s annual Mayfair Market. She was a speaker at the 2010 Jane’s Walk in St. James Town organized by SEED (Safe Engaged Environments-Disability), and at the UMOVE (United Mothers Opposing Violence Everywhere) rally in Nathan Phillips Square. She takes minutes for the planners committee of the Toronto Heliconian Club, and is active on her apartment building’s green committee.  Ellen has been a member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada for over 20 years;  more than 100,000 words have appeared in print under her by-line.

She was a classroom teacher with the Toronto District School Board for many years, retiring in June 2006.  Ellen then spent ten months on a fellowship, working with public school teachers in Greenland, where she witnessed the effects of global warming first-hand.  She spent the month of June, 2008 in Central America, working with English teachers in Guatemala and volunteering at an NGO in Nicaragua.

She taught at Castle Frank, Northern, and Rosedale Heights Secondary Schools, at Central Technical School, and at Western Technical-Commercial School. She served as the local Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation representative from both Western Tech. and Central Tech., carrying Toronto district information back to her schools and school concerns forward.

She earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard University, and specialized in government as an undergraduate.  A member of the first Canada Corps, she served in Ukraine as an election observer for the repeat presidential election run-off in the winter of 2004.

In representing her school, working as a writer and with other writers, facilitating professional development with teachers, and knocking on doors for the Green Party, Ellen’s focus has been on building communities in which people can work together for the greater good.

Ellen has lived in Toronto Centre for more than 35 years. She and her husband treasure their time with their grandchildren, who motivate them to work for a healthy, sustainable world. Ellen sings with Toronto’s Raging Grannies.

media releases:

http://greenparty.ca/media-release/2009-10-16/ministry-peace

http://www.greenparty.ca/en/defence/2009-05-27/greens-join-call-ottawa-respect-ban-arms-shows

http://greenparty.ca/en/media-release/2009-03-30/green-party-calls-global-nuclear-disarmament

http://greenparty.ca/en/media-release/2009-02-13/green-party-supports-un-investigation-types-weapons-used-gaza

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