Chiyi Tam is an urban planner and anti-displacement organizer practicing in Tkaronto’s Kensington-Chinatown neighbourhood. She is Managing Director of Toronto Chinatown Land Trust and the former Executive Director of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust, where she led the organization’s first building acquisition, securing 12-units of deeply affordable residential units from further speculation.
Ms. Tam is a founding board director of the Toronto Chinatown Land Trust, serves on the steering committee of the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts and is a member of the Union Cooperative Initiative, which incubates unionized worker cooperatives. She frequently supports groups from all corners of Turtle Island exploring community ownership and wealth-building as an anti-displacement strategy for racial and economic justice.
During her time as an Early Career Canadian Urban Leader, Chiyi’s focus will be on supporting the incorporation of the new Toronto Chinatown Land Trust; more fully participating in the inaugural business planning process for the Canadian Network of CLTs; and hosting events and public educational programming at the School of Cities.