Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Avi Lewis is a passionate advocate for economic, social, and climate justice
Naomi Klein & Avi Lewis | 2013 Lannan Symposium | America from the Outside: How the World Sees US from Lannan Center on Vimeo.
Avi Lewis addresses current challenges and opportunities in an era of new leadership both in Canada and the United States, with considerations for tariffs, the rise of disinformation, climate change, The Shock Doctrine, food prices, the need for education and workplace organization, and more.
Avi Lewis is a climate activist, educator, and filmmaker. He is also an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. Avi has spent his entire career advocating for economic, social, and climate justice.
In 2025, Avi Lewis shares: “Canada has an absolutely golden opportunity to say, “Look at the world that free trade has brought us,” and actually chart a completely different pathway. We need local, clean manufacturing to make goods in Canada closer to where they’re consumed — for reasons of economic sovereignty, and also to cut down on the climate-bashing emissions of transportation.”
See this interview with Avi Lewis’ insights into tariffs, the rise of disinformation, climate change, The Shock Doctrine, food prices, and more.
From Journalism to Climate Justice
Avi spent 25 years as a journalist, telling powerful stories of people engaged in social justice movements around the world. He co-hosted the landmark music show “The New Music” on City TV and was MuchMusic’s first Political Specialist in Canada. As the host of counterSpin on CBC Newsworld, Avi presided over 500 televised debates. Avi also produced and directed two critically acclaimed documentaries, The Take and This Changes Everything. As a speaker, Avi delivers keynotes at conferences across North America and is currently an Associate Professor at UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice.
Leap Manifesto to the Race for Office
In 2015, Avi co-authored the Leap Manifesto, which upended the climate conversation in that year’s federal elections, gaining over 50,000 signatures. In 2021, Avi continued his advocacy for climate justice by running for office with Canada’s New Democrats.
In September 2024, Lewis was acclaimed as the NDP candidate in Vancouver Centre for the next Canadian federal election, expected in 2025.
In May 2021, Lewis was nominated as the NDP’s candidate for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, British Columbia for the 2021 Canadian federal election. Lewis’ run for federal parliament was endorsed by environmentalist David Suzuki, actress Jane Fonda, playwright Eve Ensler, folk singer and activist Billy Bragg, and biologist Alexandra Morton.
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Avi Lewis is the director and co-producer of the feature documentary This Changes Everything, inspired by the New York Times bestselling book of the same name by Naomi Klein. Filmed in nine countries and five continents over four years, the film asks a provocative question: what if confronting the climate crisis is the best chance we’ll ever get to build a better world? This Changes Everything premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically worldwide; it has since been shown in more than 1300 community screenings around the world and has been translated into 20 languages to date.
His first documentary, The Take (2004), followed Argentina’s legendary movement of worker-run businesses. It premiered at the Venice Biennale and was released theatrically in Canada, the U.S., and across Europe. It won the International Jury prize at the American Film Institute festival in Los Angeles. It has also been shown in worker-occupied factories from Thessaloniki to Johannesburg, Chicago to Cairo.
In 2008, Avi Lewis co-created and became the longtime host of Fault Lines, an acclaimed weekly documentary series on Al Jazeera English Television.
He also hosted a series of current affairs and political talk shows on CBC Television and hosted City TV’s landmark syndicated music journalism show “The New Music.” At the same time, he was MuchMusic’s Political Specialist, pioneering political “uncoverage” for a youth audience in Canada.
His roles have also included that of Strategic Director and Co-Founder of the Leap, an organization launched to upend our collective response to the crises of climate, inequality and racism.
His grandfather, David Lewis, founder of the NDP, and his father, Stephen Lewis, former leader of the Ontario NDP, instilled in him a left-wing political tradition, which Avi has carried on.
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