HI, I'M SHAKER JAMAL.
I WANT TO MAKE DAVENPORT A FAIRER PLACE FOR EVERYONE.
LIFE IN DAVENPORT IS HARDER BY THE DAY.
As a young father, Steelworker, and immigrant to Toronto, I’ve experienced it firsthand.
I've felt the pressure of an unstable rental market and skyrocketing housing prices. I've held on for dear life commuting on my bike down Sufferin' Dufferin. I've seen beloved local haunts close up to reopen as sterile, identical weed stores. I've seen how our neighbourhood has changed, and I know it can change for the better.
I SPEND MY DAYS DEFENDING WORKERS' RIGHTS.
I help middle-class Torontonians get a fair shake on the job. As a union representative for the United Steelworkers since 2015, I help workers live and work with dignity by advocating for respectable wage increases, securing workplace pensions and ensuring their rights in the workplace are respected.
When I was concerned that the City of Toronto was not doing enough to support Toronto business and their workers, I lobbied the City of Toronto to ensure that City contracts contain “Buy Toronto” provisions.
I've worked as a public servant at various levels of government. As an Urban Fellow with the City of Toronto in 2014, I helped the City’s Housing Division develop a strategy to ensure that those living paycheque-to-paycheque had a roof over their heads. I also supported the Office of the Chief Corporate Officer to modernize service delivery.
While at Public Health Ontario in 2013, I spearheaded the development of resources designed to protect frontline healthcare workers by limiting the spread of transmissible diseases.
Before moving to Toronto, I lived in Vancouver, a city experiencing the worst housing crisis in the country. I volunteered with organizations dedicated to helping the homeless and other marginalized peoples in Canada's poorest postal code: Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
I FIGHT FOR
BETTER HEALTH
+ HOUSING.
IN MY PERSONAL LIFE.
I moved to Davenport to begin my career in 2013, after earning my master’s at The London School of Economics. I instantly fell in love with Davenport’s down-to-earth working-class charm, our vibrant art scene, and diverse restaurants and cafes.
I live with my wife, our one year old son and our rescue husky. If you spot me enjoying the amazing cafes and restaurants our neighbourhood has to offer, feel free to say hi — just be ready for a dad joke.
JOIN THE FIGHT FOR
A FAIRER DAVENPORT
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