Twelve young, Canadian, Christian leaders have become this year’s cohort of the NextGEN Fellows Program.
NextGEN is a year-long, leadership development opportunity for those aged 25 – 34 created and run by think-tank Cardus. The NextGEN fellows will explore the relevance and resources of the Christian faith for their vocations and for public life today.
The Fellowship is designed to create a supportive learning community for intellectual and spiritual growth. Fellows will engage in discussions with leading Christian academics and practitioners, as well as receive one-on-one mentorship. Over the course of a year, fellows will participate in four weekend events, one week-long seminar in Ottawa, and monthly Zoom Connects.
Hallam is a native of Toronto, Canada currently sojourning in the UK with his wife Hannah and their cat Lewis. He is finishing reading for the BPhil in philosophy at the University of Oxford. His primary philosophical interests are in ethics and the philosophy of economics.
Hana is a soon-to-be History PhD at University of Toronto, where she worked on religious conversion in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy. Closer to home, she is particularly engaged with restorative justice work, a focus of her Masters of Divinity at Duke Divinity School (2016), and is exploring work in policy development in Ontario. A long-time fan of “The West Wing,” she looks forward to integrating her idealism about public service into conversations about faith and policy in her new home of Canada.
Hannah has a bachelor’s degree in Knowledge Integration (University of Waterloo) and has recently completed a master’s degree in Literary Studies (University of Waterloo). She writes, works as a research assistant, and organizes a community café philosophy series in Kitchener, Ontario where she lives.
Ilana studied journalism and has been a professional writer and editor since 2015. She is the editor of Love Is Moving, a national magazine for Christian young adults; she also coordinates resource development for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. She thrives on curiosity and is passionate about exploring meaning and truth through journalism and fictional storytelling. She’s particularly interested in writing about human sexuality — spiritually, psychologically, and biologically — and how these areas connect with the Christian worldview.
Jamil is President of the Canada Strong & Free Network. A graduate of Yale Law School, Jamil previously worked as a professor and policy advisor. You can find his writing at the National Post and Toronto Sun.
Jonathan practices land use planning, development, and municipal law in Ontario, Canada. He has been involved in securing approvals for a wide variety of developments, from large, community-scale redevelopments to small-scale, not-for-profit projects providing affordable and supported housing. Jonathan resides with his wife and children in Toronto, where he enjoys the experience of an evolving city.
Linda Holdbrook is a public health researcher and currently works to improve the resettlement experience for newly arrived refugees in Canada. She is passionate about working towards health equity for marginalized communities, addressing barriers across social systems, and advancing racial reconciliation. Linda holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Calgary and a Master of Public Health from Western University.
By day, Calgarian Mark Chester Dumbrique is an insurance broker, where he services complex risks in the natural resources and transportation industries. By night, he is the bass section representative of the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus, a bass section lead at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, the Chair of Liturgy and Prayer at the Saint Francis Xavier Chaplaincy, and the Alumni Committee Vice Chair at Clear Water Academy. He is alumnus of Queen’s University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and is currently an organ student at the Mount Royal University Conservatory.
Nate Gartke is a lawyer for the Government of Alberta in Edmonton. He also serves on the boards of a local food bank and a Christian camp. In his off-time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, playing music, reading classic novels and other books, learning poetry, and baking.
Peter is an in-house lawyer for a national labour union, The Christian Labour Association of Canada, headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario as well as an elder at his local church in downtown Kitchener. When not engaged in some outdoor activity or spending time with his young family, Peter can be found absorbing all things Formula 1, reading books on theology, or trying out his top-notch dad jokes on any poor soul within earshot.
Phil is a marketing and public relations consultant, author, and professor. Phil and his wife Catherine co-founded Make it Matter Media Inc. in 2013 to help organizations and people share their gifts and talents with the world in a way that is practical, professional, and compelling. He lives in Kingston with his wife and two children.
Tersha is an Ontario lawyer with an interest in criminal, constitutional, and Charter law. She graduated with a JD from Queen’s University’s law school in 2020, where she won curricular and extracurricular awards for her oral and written advocacy, both at the trial and appellate level, and was licensed in 2021 after articling at Ontario’s biggest and busiest trial court. She is currently writing an application, concentrating on freedom of religion and conscience issues, for an LLM she hopes to start in 2023. She is a member of a church in Mississauga, where she has the pleasure and privilege of serving in leadership roles in several ministries.