Robb Johannes

Robb Johannes works in program and policy development with Fred Victor in Toronto; co-chairs the St. James Town Service Providers' Network (SJTSPN); sits on the Boards of Directors for the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) and Working for Change, Executive Committee of Health Promotions Ontario (HPO), advisory councils for the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP), and Toronto Police’s Race-Based Data Strategy; and is an Adjunct Professor at both the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto and York University’s School of Social Work. He was Executive Director of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), who spearheaded the opening of North America’s first supervised injection facility and worked on successful Supreme Court challenges affirming harm reduction practices, the safety of marginalized women in sex work, and the right of individuals without fixed addresses to vote in federal, provincial, and municipal elections. He coordinated Justice Studies at the Native Education Centre (NEC), Canada’s longest-running Indigenous post-secondary institution, and taught in the School of Criminology and Department of Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University, where he earned his Master’s Degree. For eight years, he coordinated the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), a restorative justice initiative in federal prisons. Sometimes referred to as "Toronto Bono" (as he for over ten years has been lead vocalist of the acclaimed rock band Paint and has a new musical project, “a question of when,” in development), Robb works with Bono's ONE campaign on women's rights and ending extreme poverty internationally.