Candidate: Dennis Stark

Arthur DENNIS Stark is a 44-year-old Pottawatomi-Ojibwe Aboriginal living in the Beaches area. He has served on the Board of Directors of New Frontiers Aboriginal Residential Corporation, as well as the independent Toronto Metis Council, a pan-Aboriginal service delivery agency.

At New Frontiers, Dennis helped to turn a $60,000 bad debt write-off into an $83,000 surplus within 15 months by ensuring rules were followed and seeing contracts were negotiated with the different service providers to a non-profit.
Dennis has been involved in the Urban Aboriginal Strategy in Toronto, meant to help reduce the gap in life chances between urban Aboriginal people and mainstream Canadians. His participation included sitting on the National Urban Aboriginal Strategy All-Cities Caucus.

As the publisher of TANSI, Toronto's independent Aboriginal Newspaper, a monthly publication for the Toronto Aboriginal community, Dennis makes the community aware of issues of importance affecting the daily lives of its members.

Dennis has dabbled in mainstream politics in the last municipal election, provincial campaign and two federal election campaigns at the local level as a volunteer. A strong proponent of transparent and accountable government, Dennis enjoys tremendous grassroots support from Aboriginal community members.

City Idol would allow Dennis the opportunity to bring the concerns of Toronto's 60,000 plus Aboriginals into the spotlight for all to see. Hiis biggest concern is that mainstream Canadians and fellow Torontonians have a lack of knowledge and understanding in dealing with Aboriginal people. As a City Idol candidate, Dennis could bring his wealth of experience to running a tight budget to City Hall.

As a City Councillor, Dennis would continue building the city skywards to ensure living space for more Torontonians, press for more greener, environmental initiatives, improved public transit, and more than just lip services for urban Aboriginals.

We need new leaders.