Aleksandra Szaflarska

Aleksandra Szaflarska assisted L3 during its first year of operation up until the end of August 2020. Aleksandra's academic research focuses on participatory governance models. She is currently working toward her doctorate at Wilfrid Laurier University, examining collaborative and inclusive governance based on co-operative principles in Canadian conservation land trusts. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Toronto, and a Masters in Forest Conservation focusing on ecological commodification from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Forestry. She is also active in community building across the Kitchener-Waterloo region. Alex is a founding member and director of: worker-owned local craft brewery Together We’re Bitter Co-operative Brewery; Ontario’s first community real estate co-operative, Union; and local environmental non-profit Hold the Line. Alex has ten years of experience working in the nongovernmental sector in Canada and Poland, focusing on community engagement and project implementation, as well as eight years of experience in the banking sector.