Meet Tim Ellis
Tim has been a resident of South Etobicoke since moving to Canada 14 years ago. He lives in Mimico with his wife, Liz, their two year old son Orion, and newborn baby Flora.
A passionate community builder, you may have encountered him in his long-running role as volunteer coordinator for the Grilled Cheese Challenge festival in Lakeshore Village, helping put on events for the Mimico Residents Association, handling promotional outreach for the Etobicoke Lakeshore Interfaith Festival, or doing sound and stage management for the Fall Celtic Festival or the Toronto March for Science.
Tim has extensive experience in non-profit board governance, having served on the boards of:
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Mimico Residents Association (7 years)
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South Etobicoke Community Legal Services (5 years)
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Mimico Lakeshore Community Network (3 years)
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LAMP Community Health Centre (2 years)
Tim is an energetic and capable leader with a track record of success and a passion for community. He is a consensus builder who works hard to find common ground while making evidence-based decisions. He finds joy in community events, music, and his family.
Tim is running for Trustee because he believes that this moment calls for an adaptable, capable community organizer who can unite parents, students, and educators to address the many challenges facing public education in Toronto today: the fast pace of technological change, funding shortfalls and inadequate support from higher levels of government, and public health and safety concerns, to name a few. Etobicoke deserves a Trustee who knows how to mobilize people and get results - and that's exactly who Tim is.
A Brief(ish) Overview of Tim's Background
Tim's eclectic career path has equipped him with a uniquely diverse set of skills and accomplishments. Growing up in poverty, he was cleaning greenhouses for 5 bucks an hour at a nearby family farm by the age of 14. He continued with a wide array of retail, customer service, and manual labour jobs, attempting to work his way through university; however, caught in the middle of a financial dispute between his divorced parents, he was left homeless in his second year, and dropped out to join the Army Reserves and get back on his feet.
After basic training and AIT, he worked for several years as a municipal bond market analyst before finding success as a musician and freelance writer in his late 20s. His written work has appeared in publications such as Huffington Post, Inc.com, Spindle Magazine, The Monitor, and the Toronto Guardian, among many others. Meanwhile, his work as a rave DJ took him touring across North America and Europe - but there was nowhere he loved more than Toronto, where for the past 20 years he has hosted events and concerts of his own and, ultimately, moved to South Etobicoke from upstate New York in 2012.
In 2016, his path diverged again, as he returned Stateside to take on a staff position with the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. The experience, which took him to half a dozen states, inspired him to turn to advocacy work full time, and he brought his expertise with music and events to the cause as tour lead for Fight For the Future's "Rock Against the TPP" international concert series, managing logistics for concerts in cities across the US and Canada as well as stage managing (and performing alongside) artists such as Tom Morello, Evangeline Lilly, Talib Kweli, Jello Biafra, Flobots, and Eric Andre.
Returning home to Canada after the tour, Tim took on a role as a campaigner and organizer with Leadnow, a nationwide advocacy organization. His work there included campaigns that achieved stronger climate legislation, supported national Pharmacare, and challenged public health disinformation during the start of the COVID pandemic. He stayed with Leadnow until 2023, stepping away shortly before his first child, Orion, was born to focus on his new family life. He took on a variety of consulting and educational roles until the election of Donald Trump in November of 2024, a result which unleased a wave of bigotry and extremism that he knew would quickly spill over into Canada. Feeling a responsibility to do his part, he took on a contract as campaigns manager with Queer Momentum, working to protect core Canadian values of inclusivity, human rights, and freedom in the 2025 federal election and to restore full funding and status to the WAGE Ministry. Having recently completed that contract - and after welcoming his second child, Flora, in February of this year - he is now focused on his dad duties and the municipal election.
Believe it or not, this is the short version - many other short term gigs, contract positions, and volunteer roles have been left off for the sake of brevity. It's not your typical career path, but these are not your typical times. And despite the diversity of experiences, there are common threads woven throughout. Adaptability; creativity; making the most of scarce resources; thoughtful leadership; seeking and building consensus; responsible stewardship; and perhaps most important, a keen sense for finding joy no matter the adversity.
None of these achievements would have been possible without the firm foundation of public education. Public schools gave Tim the skills and knowledge he needed to reach equal footing with kids who had far more support and resources from their families.
Now, as his own children prepare to enter our public school system, Tim is looking to bring his skills, dedication, and energy to helping shepherd public education through this challenging and disruptive time, paying back the gift he received by securing those same opportunities for the next generation. Challenging times call for capable hands - and Tim is a proven leader who thrives on finding democratic solutions for the biggest challenges of our time.
Personal note: we will not be sharing photos of Tim's children online, as we are cautious about the risks, particularly in this era of deepfakes and "AI" generated CSAM. If you are interested in meeting Tim's two favourite people, they will surely join him for campaign events from time to time.