Ontario Public Interest Research Group – Brock

Founded in 1988, OPIRG Brock is the Niagara-based chapter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group.

We work with students, service providers, community members, labour unions, artists and activists to build collaboration, connections, and communities of abundance.

Land & labour ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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OPIRG Brock connects people to campus and community activism and services through our projects and advocacy.

Our mandate is to create and support programming that responds to the needs of the Niagara Region, foster partnership between various sectors advocating for social justice, and increase opportunities and safer spaces for BIPGM and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.

All of our work is guided by our Safer Space Policy.

We are a chapter member of the OPIRG Provincial Network. The Provincial network provides opportunities for PIRG Boards, staff, members, and volunteers to meet, learn, and collaborate. There are 10 Public Interest Research Groups at universities across the province that work together through the network. Click here to learn more about PIRG chapters across Ontario!

Group of people posing for a photo at the 2024 OPIRG Board Training School.
Folks from PIRG’s across the province pose for a group photo at OPIRG Board Training
School in Tkaronto. May 5, 2024.

“OPIRG Brock is important to the Niagara community because of their unwavering commitments to bridging knowledge, people, and resources together.”

– Leigh Mcleod, Founder/Director, The Willow Arts Community

Meet the team

The volunteer Board of Directors is the governing body of OPIRG Brock. There is a maximum of 7 Board members at any given time, who are elected for two year terms (for a maximum of four years) at our Annual General Meeting.

We currently have 2 staff members – 1 unionized, part-time Volunteer, Training & Planning Coordinator and 1 contract bookkeeper.

Our ability to operate and pay our staff comes from community support in the form of memberships, donations, and volunteers! To help us keep this work going, please consider supporting us! (link to support page)

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Ana Maria Granda Ospina (she/her)

Human Resources
Originally from Colombia, Ana Maria has been in Canada for over a year and is a current Business Administration-Marketing student at Niagara College.
Ana’s first approach with the community here in Niagara was the Niagara Free Store, where she has been a volunteer since 2021, where she continues to volunteer and hopes to get to know different ways to help the community!
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Jules (she/they)

Finances
Bio coming soon!
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Kostyn (he/they)

Board Facilitator
Kostyn is a white settler who lives and grew up on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Chonnonton, and Wendat Peoples in Niagara.

Kostyn writes all kinds of things from songs, to poetry, to weird eco-philosophy/literary criticism, and is particularly interested in the intersections between ecology, anarchism, queerness, and anti/post/de-colonialism.

Kostyn has a B.A. and an M.A. in English from Brock, and is always looking for ways to make sure “decolonization is not a metaphor” in, out, and beyond academe.
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Dani (they/them)

Volunteer & Partnerships Liaison
Bio coming soon!

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Qianyin (she/her)

Communications & Media Relations
Bio coming soon!

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Vanessa (she/her)

Contract Bookkeeper

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Kerry (they/them)

Volunteer, Training & Planning Coordinator
Kerry is a community-educated queer and disabled family caregiver, with an academic background. Kerry is a white settler who grew up on the traditional lands of the Saugeen First Nation (Thornbury, ON), and lived for many years on unceded and unsurrended Algonquin territory (Ottawa, ON). While working on their undergrad, they worked with a range of campus and community activist groups, primarily focused on disability justice, affordable post-secondary education, labour rights, and climate justice.

Residing in Niagara since 2014, Kerry is most well known for working at Mahtay Cafe and OPIRG Brock, as well as being a contributor to The Sound. Kerry was also recently working on OUTniagara’s region-wide project, Informed, Inclusive, Indivisible: Collectively Advancing 2SLGBTQ+ Equality in Niagara+, and has been collecting and selling used books and zines through their online bookshop Dusk+Dawn Books!
Kerry is a community-educated queer and disabled family caregiver, with an academic background. Kerry is a white settler who grew up on the traditional lands of the Saugeen First Nation (Thornbury, ON), and lived for many years on unceded and unsurrended Algonquin territory (Ottawa, ON). While working on their undergrad, they worked with a range of campus and community activist groups, primarily focused on disability justice, affordable post-secondary education, labour rights, and climate justice.

Residing in Niagara since 2014, Kerry is most well known for working at Mahtay Cafe and OPIRG Brock, as well as being a contributor to The Sound. Kerry was also recently working on OUTniagara’s region-wide project, Informed, Inclusive, Indivisible: Collectively Advancing 2SLGBTQ+ Equality in Niagara+, and has been collecting and selling used books and zines through their online bookshop Dusk+Dawn Books!

Important Documents