The public is a resource.
Since 2007, we have worked with hundreds of public sector clients to find new and inventive ways to bring more people to the table and bridge the distance between citizens and governments.
MASS LBP is an organization founded on the radical proposition that the next stage of democracy is not only one where people can have their say, but where everyone has the opportunity and responsibility to exercise public judgement and act as stewards of the greater common good.
MASS is internationally recognized for its work to popularize deliberative processes and has led more than 40 Reference Panels and Citizens’ Assemblies contributing approximately 55,000 volunteer hours to policy-making in Canada.
Check out the nine ideas that shape our work
Explore the OECD report on the Deliberative Wave
Our team
Peter MacLeod (he/him) is the founder and principal of MASS LBP, and one of Canada’s leading experts in public engagement and deliberative democracy. Since its founding in 2007, MASS has completed more than 200 major policy projects for governments and public agencies across Canada while popularizing the use of Civic Lotteries and Citizens’ Assemblies, and earning international recognition for its work.
Peter frequently writes and speaks about the citizen’s experience of the state, the importance of public imagination, and the future of responsible government.
A graduate of the University of Toronto and Queen’s University, he is an Action Canada fellow (2003) and a recipient of the Public Policy Forum’s Emerging Leaders Award (2008). In 2013, he launched Wagemark, the first international wage certification standard aimed at reducing workplace pay disparities while promoting corporate competitiveness. He was also appointed to serve on the Ontario government’s open government task force. Between 2020 and 2022, he chaired the Canadian Citizens’ Assemblies on Democratic Expression. He is the past chair of Toronto’s Wellesley Institute for Urban Health and currently serves on the boards of the Environics Institute and the YMCA of Greater Toronto. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
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Chim Alao (he/him) is responsible for participant outreach, logistics, and project management. He ensures that all project components are successfully executed on time and on budget, working closely with the rest of the project team so that clients and participants are supported with the resources they need.
Chim joined MASS with extensive experience in student governance and social justice advocacy, having spent his undergraduate studies extensively involved in campus leadership. He has served on the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) — representing over 50,000 students on the St. George and Mississauga campuses — as a Board Director, and as its Vice-President Equity from 2017-2018. His work focussed on ameliorating the status of marginalized students on campus and ensuring their representation in the governance of the campus community. He holds a Bachelors’s degree in Political Science and History from the University of Toronto.
Chris Ellis (he/him) is a long-time Director at MASS where he has developed and professionalized the use of sortition, or in MASS parlance, Civic Lotteries. The Civic Lottery is a tried, tested and true approach to convening groups of randomly-selected residents. Under his stewardship, more than 1,500 Canadians have been selected and enjoyed the opportunity to provide insights to government. Chris is also responsible for the development of the Civic Lottery guidebook, which is based on his experience managing 40+ Lotteries. Chris is the former Director of Circulation and Marketing for The Walrus magazine, Canada's premiere magazine of ideas and culture. He holds a Master’s degree in Publishing from Simon Fraser University, and an Honour’s degree in History and General Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University. He is a long-time volunteer in Toronto, serving several local organizations.
Emily Jin (she/her) has worked as public servant with both the Canadian federal government and the Ontario provincial government. She has also worked as a policy and research consultant focussing on environmental issues and housing policy. At MASS LBP, Emily applies her skills in policy analysis, research, communication, and event planning to advance deliberative democracy in Canada.
Emily is deeply involved with her community and supports various groups including those with developmental disabilities, formerly incarcerated individuals, gender-based violence survivors, and isolated seniors. She is committed to applying an intersectional lens in all aspects of the policy process, believing that amplifying and including voices of marginalized communities is critical to preventing harms and ensuring greater equity.
Emily holds an Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Ottawa, specializing in Conflict Studies and Human Rights, and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Jasmin Kay (she/her) has spent most of her professional life in the not-for-profit sector, on the frontline of settlement agencies working with English language learners and more recently leading strategic projects at United Way Greater Toronto. She has learned to trust the wisdom that emerges when diverse perspectives are considered. At United Way, she had the great privilege to both think and learn about what it takes to make neighbourhoods stronger, and then to put this in action through the Strengthening Community Assets and Local Economies Lab and the Inclusive Local Economic Opportunities Initiative. She prefers to move forward in partnership and through collaboration, and her experience convening a table of community agencies throughout the pandemic has only strengthened her belief in trust and reciprocity as key enablers of change. Jasmin holds a Master’s degree in Geography (Human) from York University and an Honours degree in Cultural Studies from Trent University. She also holds post-graduate certificates as an English as a Second Language instructor and a research analyst.
As a Consultant at MASS LBP, Kayte McKnight (she/her) draws on her unique and varied work history to support the MASS LBP team in many different capacities.
Kayte has worked as a producer, production manager and assistant director on many short Canadian films, coordinating complex creative and practical logistics to translate ideas to text, text to set, and set to screen. Additionally, she has freelanced as a culture writer, film editor, screenwriter, story editor, and copy editor. She also spent many years serving delicious food alongside a passionate team at a small Toronto restaurant with an egalitarian management structure.
Kayte uses her film production background to develop and produce streamlined and effective project management and communication tools. She also draws from her customer service experience to build relationships with Assembly members and conduct exemplary civic concierge work.
Kayte holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production and Screenwriting from York University, specializing in production management and editing.
Sarah Yaffe has built a wide-ranging career as a manager and leader in public engagement programming in the not-for-profit sector. Her early career was dedicated to questioning the status quo and provoking reflection and dialogue through management roles in live performance art, theatre, and visual arts. Sarah went on to build a portfolio of public-facing programming directed at urban innovation and equitable community development initiatives for Future Cities Canada at Evergreen, where she brought together leading experts and under-represented voices to foster new ideas and partnerships. She has extensive experience in event management, logistics, and program development.
Sarah led the program design for the second edition of the Citizens’ Assembly on Democratic Expression. She was also the Project Director for the final Capstone Assembly on Democratic Expression and for our recent Youth Assembly on Digital Rights and Safety. She has led MASS’s strategic planning work with the Centre for Social Medicine, the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, Temerty Medicine’s Medical Education Office and was a key member of the team that developed the Toronto Public Library’s Cultural Plan for their Research and Reference tier and Special Collections.
Sarah holds an Honours BA in Philosophy and English from McGill University as well as a diploma from the National Theatre School of Canada, and continues to learn new things every day. She is a committed intersectional feminist and is the president of the board of the YWCA Toronto and is passionate about working hard to support and empower women, girls, and gender-diverse people.
As a Senior Associate at MASS, Sarah Daitch (she / her) sees collaboration as a vital tool for bringing the voices of people into decision making on challenging issues that shape their lives. Sarah is a mediator, facilitator, and dialogue process designer focussed on consensus building in social, environmental, health, energy and extractive sector issues. Recently, Sarah worked with MASS on the Ontario Nurses Association’s 2021-2025 Strategic Plan.
Originally from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Sarah is the founder and principal of a small consultancy, Daitch & Associates. Her business has delivered on mandates in Canada, the US, Europe and Latin America for sub national and national governments, for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for tribal governments, NGOs and for Canadian sports federations - resulting in wiser, better decisions for the future on pressing public issues.
Sarah is a graduate of the University of Calgary and holds an MA in Dispute Resolution from the University of Victoria; she is a Chartered Mediator with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada and a member of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada’s mediation roster. Sarah is an Action Canada Fellow (2013), and a former Canadian national team cross country skier, and currently serves on the Board of Nordiq Canada.
Over the past two decades in Canada’s media and non-profit sectors Richard Johnson (he/him) has carved a diverse career as a writer, editor, facilitator, project manager, and organization-builder, with stops at the National Magazine Awards Foundation, The Walrus magazine, Reader’s Digest, The Globe and Mail, and many others. His journey began in the international development sector in the Middle East, North Africa, and India, working with local and international NGOs to build capacity and develop health and education programs for refugees, youth, and vulnerable communities. Since 2015 he has been an associate with MASS LBP, occupying various roles, from logistics to hosting, in facilitating citizen participation with complex issues ranging from transit and urban planning to supervised injection sites, municipal amalgamation to primary health care infrastructure.
Richard holds an MA in Middle Eastern Studies and Social Anthropology from Harvard University and a BSc in Finance and Economics from Trinity University, but he’s learned most of what he knows from the teams and organizations and everyday people he’s worked with ever since he left the academic world. A Toronto native, he now lives in Victoria with his wife Ashley, a podcast producer, and their two young sons.
Since joining the MASS LBP team in 2015, Émilie Hervieux (she / her) has co-hosted and facilitated multiple regional and national citizens reference panels and assemblies, including the Citizens’ Reference Panel on the Mental Health Action Plan for Canada, the Citizens’ Reference Panel on Pharmacare in Canada, the ARTM Regional Transportation Reference Panel, and the Canadian Citizens’ Assembly on Democratic Expression.
She is a graduate of the Masters’ degree program in communication marketing at Université de Sherbrooke (Quebec), and has over twelve years of experience in communication, marketing, development and fundraising on the arts and culture scene in Montreal – with a particular interest for accessibility, inclusion, creating bridges between cultural communities, as well as between the arts, the business and the philanthropic worlds. Emilie is also a yoga teacher who is passionate about humans and their well-being.
Team Photo
Former Colleagues
Throughout its history, MASS has been fortunate to work with talented and big-hearted people who have each made important contributions to the ideas and ethos that shape the organization today.
Dr. John Grant
Chi Nguyen
Morwenna Marwah
Joslyn Trowbridge
Dana Granofsky
Alex Way
Tannis Fenton
Danielle Johnston
Jon Whitzman
Rachel Magnusson
Jane Farrow
Caitlin Myles
Adam Hasham
Eva O’Brien
Joanna Massie
Laurie Drake
Katelynn Northam
Rosemary McManus
Rukhsaar Daya
Abhimanyu Singh Chaudhary
MASS LBP works with public sector, not-for-profit, and business clients to better involve the public, stakeholders, or members in difficult decisions, planning or policy-making processes. As a full-service firm, we do this by implementing well-designed engagement campaigns comprised of facilitated events, workshops, surveys, interviews, and other activities.
Our work is different because of its focus on deliberation, representation, and the strong connection between engagement and organizational strategy.
We provide deliberation services, strategies that involve stakeholders in meaningful ways, and creative projects that animate the public sphere.
Read the nine ideas that shape our work
Our Values
Audacious We approach challenges with boldness and optimism, willing to explore ambitious, inventive and unconventional ideas.
Effective We work hard and do what it takes to get things done. Our work is consequential and contributes to positive change.
Empathetic We take the time to discover and appreciate the needs and perspectives of others, be they clients, assembly members, partners or colleagues.
Intentional We take a considered approach to everything we do, ensuring that our time and resources are deployed thoughtfully and pragmatically to produce a positive impact.
Service We believe in taking action with humility to remove barriers and create opportunities for others.
Join Our Team
We are always on the look out for talented individuals who share our values and vision to make public deliberation part of Canada’s democratic culture. At MASS, you can work as a consultant or director. You need to be highly personable and comfortable working fluidly among teams and across a range of projects simultaneously. Typically, consultants have completed an undergraduate degree or equivalent and can demonstrate strong communication, project management, and research skills. Directors have a graduate degree or equivalent and play a leadership role in developing and delivering new projects directly with clients. We consider applications on a rolling basis. To apply, please email jobs@masslbp.com and include an original one page letter explaining why you think you could make an exceptional contribution to our team as well as a one page CV outlining your work and educational experience.