Today we’d like to introduce you to Walied Khogali Ali.
Hi Walied, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story begins with family, community, and the experience of starting over.
I came to Canada from Sudan with my family in 2002 as the eldest of six children. I watched my parents rebuild their lives from the ground up, and that experience shaped my understanding of how difficult it can be for families to navigate systems that are supposed to support them. It also taught me that when those systems do not work, people have to organize, advocate, and fight to make them better.
For the past twenty years, Toronto Centre has been my home. I have lived, worked, organized, and built relationships across this ward from Regent Park and St. James Town to Moss Park, Cabbagetown, Church-Wellesley, Corktown, the Garden District, St. Lawrence, and the Distillery. These are not just neighbourhoods to me. They are communities I know through years of walking the blocks, knocking on doors, attending meetings, supporting tenants, mentoring youth, and showing up when residents need help.
My path into public service started through community organizing. I co-founded TTCriders, helped launch the GTA’s first U-Pass as a student at the University of Toronto, and later served in leadership roles with organizations including the Toronto Environmental Alliance, the Canadian Arab Federation, the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, and United Way. After the Quebec City mosque attack and the rise of Islamophobia and white supremacy in 2017, I also helped co-found the Coalition Against White Supremacy and Islamophobia, which brought together more than 170 organizations for a national day of action.
Over the years, my work has focused on housing, transit, tenant rights, youth opportunity, community safety, food security, and making sure residents have a real voice in decisions that affect their lives. In Regent Park and across Toronto Centre, I have worked alongside tenants, youth, small businesses, neighbourhood associations, BIAs, and community organizations to push for tangible improvements. That includes fighting to keep affordable housing tied to what people actually earn, not simply what the market charges, and supporting community-led approaches to safety, development, and social investment.
Where I am today is the result of those experiences. I am running for City Councillor in Ward 13 because I believe our communities deserve a representative who understands them, respects them, and shows up consistently not only during elections, but before, during, and after decisions are made.
The values guiding my campaign are simple: respect, investment, and building together. Respect means listening first and showing up for everyone, not just the loudest or most powerful voices. Investment means public dollars should serve people, housing, transit, youth, small businesses, and community well-being. Building together means no neighbour is left behind, and that the best solutions come from organizing block by block with the people most affected.
My story is really a story about community. I got here because people opened doors, shared their struggles, trusted me with their concerns, and worked together to make change possible. That is the same spirit I hope to bring to City Hall.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not always been a smooth road.
Like many families who come to Canada, my family had to rebuild our lives while learning how to navigate systems that were often difficult, confusing, and not always designed with newcomers in mind. As the eldest of six children, I saw firsthand the sacrifices my parents made and the pressure many families face when trying to build stability, find opportunity, and create a better future for the next generation.
I have also experienced what many people in our communities experience: the feeling that decisions are often made about us, without us. Whether it is housing, transit, development, public safety, or access to community space, residents are too often asked to accept decisions after they have already been made instead of being meaningfully included from the beginning.
That has been one of the biggest challenges in my organizing work, pushing institutions to take community voices seriously, especially the voices of tenants, low-income residents, newcomers, Black and racialized communities, youth, seniors, and people who are directly affected by policy decisions.
There have also been moments when advocacy has meant standing up in difficult rooms, asking uncomfortable questions, and challenging powerful systems. That is never easy. But I have learned that change rarely happens because someone gives it to you. Change happens when people organize, build relationships, stay consistent, and refuse to give up on one another.
In Regent Park, St. James Town, Moss Park, and across Toronto Centre, I have seen residents face displacement, food insecurity, unsafe conditions, underfunded services, and development pressures that do not always respect the communities already living here. These struggles have shaped my sense of responsibility. They remind me that public service is not about titles, it is about whether people can live with dignity, whether they are heard, and whether government shows up when it matters.
The road has had obstacles, but those obstacles have also clarified my purpose. They have taught me patience, humility, resilience, and the importance of collective action. Most importantly, they have reminded me that our communities are not lacking ideas, leadership, or solutions. What they often lack is the power, investment, and respect needed to make those solutions real.
That is why I continue to do this work.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work has always been rooted in community – listening to people, organizing with residents, and helping turn lived experience into collective action.
I specialize in community organizing, tenant advocacy, public policy, coalition building, and helping communities influence decisions that affect their lives. Much of my work has focused on affordable housing, tenant rights, transit, youth opportunity, food security, climate justice, anti-racism, and community-led development.
I am known for showing up consistently. Whether it is knocking on doors, supporting tenants facing eviction, organizing around transit affordability, advocating for community benefits, or working with residents to strengthen the Regent Park Social Development Plan, I try to bring people together around practical solutions. My approach is not just to speak about community, but to work with community, block by block, building by building, and issue by issue.
I am most proud of the trust I have built with residents over many years. In Regent Park and across Toronto Centre, I have had the privilege of working alongside tenants, youth, seniors, newcomers, workers, small businesses, and community organizations to push for housing people can afford, safer communities, access to space, and real investment in neighbourhoods that are too often overlooked.
One of the things I am proudest of is helping to advance community-led approaches to development and social investment. Regent Park has shown that residents are not just stakeholders, they are experts in their own lives and their own neighbourhoods. When communities are organized, respected, and properly resourced, they can shape better outcomes for everyone.
What sets me apart is that my work is grounded in lived experience, long-term relationships, and a deep commitment to showing up. I am not entering this work from the outside. I have lived the realities many families face, and I have spent years working alongside people who are fighting for dignity, stability, and a better future.
I believe leadership is not about being the loudest person in the room. It is about listening carefully, building trust, doing the work, and making sure people who are often ignored have the power to be heard. That is what I have tried to do throughout my career, and it is what continues to guide me today.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The best way people can work with me is by being part of the work.
I believe change happens when residents, workers, small businesses, tenants, students, seniors, parents, artists, faith communities, labour, and community organizations come together around a shared vision. No one person can build a better city alone. The strongest communities are built through relationships, trust, and collective action.
People can collaborate with me by sharing their ideas, raising the issues they are seeing in their buildings and neighbourhoods, hosting conversations, connecting neighbours, volunteering, organizing, and helping shape solutions that reflect the real needs of the community.
For this campaign, people can support by knocking on doors, making phone calls, putting up a lawn or window sign, sharing our message online, donating, joining events, and encouraging friends and neighbours in Ward 13 to get involved. Every conversation matters, and every act of support helps us build a campaign that is rooted in people.
I am especially interested in working with residents and organizations who care about affordable housing, food security, youth employment, community safety, climate justice, access to space, small business, and making sure development benefits the people already living in our communities.
At the heart of my work is a simple belief: communities already have the knowledge, leadership, and solutions we need. My role is to listen, organize, advocate, and help bring people together so those solutions can become real.
Anyone who wants to support or collaborate can connect with the campaign through our website at votewalied.ca, follow us on social media at @votewalied, or reach out directly to get involved. Whether someone has one hour to volunteer, a story to share, a policy idea, or a network they can connect us with, there is a place for them in this movement.
This campaign is about respect and respect means building with people, not for them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.votewalied.ca/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/votewalied
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/votewalied
- Twitter: https://x.com/VoteWalied
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@votewalied
