Bousfield Lecture Presented by Dominique Russell

On October 19, 2023, the Department of Geography and Planning proudly welcomed attendees to the Bousfield Lecture Series held at University College. The captivating event featured Professor of Practice, Dominique Russell, who delivered a thought-provoking presentation titled A History of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust: Community Activism, Displacement, and the Potential of Trust. 

For those who missed this event or wish to relive the experience, we invite you to watch the full lecture by clicking here. 

View event photos here!

About Dominique Russell

Dominique Russell is a community organizer, housing activist, teacher and writer. 

She founded Friends of Kensington Market in 2013, mounting a successful city-wide campaign to stop a Walmart on the edge of the market. Under her leadership, FOKM intervened on development files, offered de-escalation and naloxone training, helped organize and support tenants facing displacement and campaigned against ghost hotels. In 2015, Dominique led a working group that set the parameters to establish a community land trust and was Kensington Market Community Land Trust’s founding board chair. She is the KMCLT’s current co-chair, along with Kevin Barrett. She also serves on the board of directors for the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts. 

She has given numerous talks, workshops and tours on the subjects of development, gentrification and activism in Kensington Market. 

She holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies from the University of Toronto and has taught at York, U of T, Western and more recently, Brock University. Her publications include Rape in Art Cinema (Bloomsbury, 2012, 2010), Instructions for Dreamers (Swimmers Group, 2018) and Kensington, I Remember (Russell Creek Press, 2023; 2017; 2013).

Lecture Abstract 

This talk will present the history of the KMCLT from the initial stages to its acquisition of 54-56 Kensington Avenue, focusing specifically on the community activism from which it originates. Taking a personal perspective, I will tell the story of the challenges of organizing a community land trust, from the period when nothing seemed to be happening to the lightning-quick acquisition of our first building. 

Every CLT comes together in a particular way, but there are broad lessons to be shared in what paved the way for success and what obstacles and pitfalls lie ahead. 

This is a case study, a story of an eccentric and complicated community fighting to stay itself.