We organize so you can UNITE
SEIZE uses a sectoral approach to build collective capacity, power and specialized resources across five core sectors. This approach aims to unite both social and labour movements to organize, enabling them to seize opportunities and respond to collective challenges effectively, driving transformative economic change.
Building Power, One Sector at a Time
At SEIZE, we focus on specific sectors like food systems, housing, and technology to build real power in our communities. By working together within these areas, we can address the unique challenges and opportunities within each sector, leading to more effective collective solutions. Join us in shaping a better future!
Meet the newly appointed Sectoral Chairs!
Are you a grassroots organizer, community builder, or sector specialist looking to deepen your impact? Reach out to our sectoral chairs to learn how to get involved!
Jessica Cabana
Jessica Cabana serves as the Housing Sectorial Chair, bringing hands-on leadership from Montreal's Milton Park community. As President of l'Escale Housing Cooperative of Montreal and Chair of the Major Renovations Committee, Jessica manages complex capital projects, member relations, and long-term building preservation within a unique mixed-ownership model: the Syndicate of Co-proprietorship of Milton Park—the only structure of its kind, uniting cooperatives and nonprofits as co-proprietors of the land they share.
Jessica also serves on the board of the Society for Community Development, the nonprofit that manages Milton Park's commercial spaces, ensuring local businesses and community services remain rooted in the neighborhood. Additionally, Jessica is an active member of the Verdun Collective, a newly emerging Community Land Trust (CLT) working to establish permanently affordable, community-controlled housing solutions that could be modeled in different neighborhoods. She represents the Verdun CLT at the Canadian Network for Community Land Trusts (CNCLT).
Through this cross-sector experience—cooperative governance, major renovations, mixed-ownership syndicates, commercial nonprofit management, and land trust development—Jessica offers a practice-based, on-the-ground perspective. Her work focuses on locally scaling community ownership models and solutions to Montreal's community-led housing ecosystem.
Get in touch:
housing.sector@solidarityeconomy.ca
Gabriela Lopes
Gabriela Lopes has been passionate about food systems since high school, and first got involved with the Concordia Food Coalition (CFC) as an undergrad in 2014 to participate in the work of food justice and systemic transformation. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Law to publish original research on the storytelling underpinnings of systemic transformation.
After serving as Secretary and Chair of the CFC Board, she’s now the General Coordinator. She has also been actively involved in the creation of the McGill Food Coalition, and has been a leader in building community networks such as the National Campus Food Coalition to broaden the reach of independent initiatives.
Get in touch below:
food.sector@solidarityeconomy.ca
Tina Salameh
Tina Salameh (she/they) is a Libano-Canadian designer and activist focused on solidarity and collective liberation. She has worked at the intersection of digital human rights, open-source technology, and social justice. She previously led UX for SecureDrop at Freedom of the Press Foundation and contributed to censorship-circumvention tools to make complex security systems accessible to journalists, whistleblowers, and at-risk communities. Her practice challenges neoliberal models and builds systems that serve the wellbeing of people and the planet.
Get in touch:
tech.sector@solidarityeconomy.ca
Marcus Peters
Marcus is the chair of New Roots Worker Co-operative, BC’s only worker co-operative treeplanting company, where he has worked for the past 7 years. Having been drawn to activism through the environmental movement, his work in silviculture gave him a first-hand perspective on the unsustainable conventions of the forestry industry, the impact it has on local communities, and how the legacy of colonial extraction continuously adapts to undermine Indigenous sovereignty.
Get in touch:
land.sector@solidarityeconomy.ca
Andre Goulet
Andre Goulet is the executive director at the Harbinger Media Network, the community coordinator at Unrigged Media, podcast producer for The Breach, Pivot and others and is the host of the nationally syndicated Harbinger Showcase radio show. --- André Goulet est directeur général du Harbinger Media Network, coordonnateur communautaire à Unrigged Media, producteur de balados pour The Breach et Pivot et il est l’animateur de l’émission radiophonique Harbinger Showcase syndiquée à l’échelle nationale
Get in touch:
media.sector@solidarityeconomy.ca
Get involved: SEIZE Sectoral Working Groups
Ready to roll up your sleeves and build the solidarity economy from the ground up? SEIZE’s Sectoral Working Groups are where the magic happens. It's a space to dream big, organize boldly, and co-create change across our five core sectors.
Whether you’re a long-time organizer or just getting started, our sectoral working groups are open spaces to learn, build relationships, and take action together.
Each group is focused on a specific sector of the solidarity economy and helps shape the priorities and strategies that move our work forward.
You’ll collaborate with other SEIZE members, organizers, and community partners in regular meetings to advance sectoral goals and help co-create the movement infrastructure we need.
As a Sectoral Working Group member, you’ll:
- Help shape the goals and priorities for your sector
- Collaborate on campaigns, events, research and projects
- Connect with fellow members who share your passions
- Learn, build power, and make real-world impact together
These groups are open, experimental, and deeply rooted in solidarity, care and collective action.
Come bring your energy, ideas, and your whole self!