Chiyi Tam
Toronto Chinatown Land Trust
Chiyi (she/her) is an urban planner and anti-displacement organizer practicing in Tkaronto’s Kensington-Chinatown neighbourhood. She is currently a visiting expert with the School of Cities’ as an Early Career Canadian Urban Leader. Chiyi is the managing director of the recently established Toronto Chinatown Land Trust, and her goal is to reciprocate knowledge and wealth into community ownership.
She was the first staff and executive director of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust, where she acquired the organization’s first building acquisition, securing 12-units of deeply affordable residential units from further speculation. Chiyi serves on the advisory board of Montreal Chinatown’s JIA Foundation, BC’s Union Cooperative Initiative, and the first elected board of the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts.
She leads a public course on community land trusts with the Estuary Institute. She co-developed “Planning and Designing for Community Power,” a graduate urban design course at the University of Toronto. She frequently supports groups from all corners of turtle island exploring community ownership and wealth building as an anti-displacement strategy for racial & economic justice.
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