The League of Canadian Poets is always interested in conversations with volunteers who would be a great fit for the work that we do. Reach out to [email protected] if you are interested in volunteer opportunities not listed!
Any open positions; salary, contract or volunteer; will be posted to this page. If no positions are posted, then we are not actively seeking candidates.
We want to remove barriers that may limit you from joining our team. Email us at [email protected] to let us know how we can provide you with reasonable accommodations through our application process.
Executive Assistant
The League of Canadian Poets seeks an experienced Executive Assistant for a 6-month contract from January 15 to June 15, 2026.
- Remote, part-time
- 20 hours per week
- 6 month contract
- $12,000 salary
This role is perfect for a mid-level practitioner looking for part-time work, or an entry-level arts and cultural management worker looking to grow their experience. Preference will be given to candidates who have worked in non-profit membership organizations. An Arts and Cultural Management Diploma or Degree would be an asset.
Deadline: January 3, 2026
Summary
As a key member of our team, the Executive Assistant will provide essential operational and administrative support to ensure the smooth functioning of the organization. This role supports the Board of Directors and League committees, manages day-to-day communications, and supports important administrative processes related to programming and governance.
Key Responsibilities
Board & Committee Support
- Coordinate bi-monthly Board and community committee meeting logistics, including scheduling, preparing agendas, and distributing meeting materials.
- Take, prepare, and distribute accurate minutes in a timely manner.
- Track action items and follow up as required.
Communications & Inquiries
- Serve as the first point of contact for general email inquiries, responding or redirecting as appropriate.
- Maintain a professional, timely, and welcoming tone in all communications.
Financial & Program Administration
- Process poet and artist payment requests, ensuring accuracy, proper documentation, and timely delivery.
- Maintain organized financial records of payments and liaise with Executive or finance personnel as needed.
Governance & Event Support
- Provide administrative support for the Annual General Meeting, including preparing materials, managing registrations, and assisting with reporting requirements.
- Assist with other organizational events and activities as required.
Qualifications
- Experience in administrative or coordination roles, preferably in the non-profit or arts sector.
- Experience working with a board of directors, ideally in a membership association context.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Able to impart information effectively and have productive discussions with groups who may have differing viewpoints.
- A detail-oriented self-starter who can do their work with minimal oversight, following directions and learning new processes and skills as needed.
- A reliable team player with excellent organizational and time-management skills, as well as the ability to manage multiple priorities.
- Proficiency with email platforms, cloud-based document systems, and basic bookkeeping processes.
- Comfortable using technology and learning more as needed. The successful candidate must be adept at using Office 365, QuickBooks Online, Zoom, Google products, and others.
- Equipped with a dedicated home-work space with a quiet, private area to take calls and participate in meetings. The candidate must provide their own computer and phone.
- Legally eligible to work in Canada. This is a remote role, and the successful candidate can live anywhere in Canada.
If you do not have all the experience and skills listed here but feel you could do an amazing job in this role, we invite you to apply! We are a small team that works closely, learning from one another and providing support as needed.
Our Commitment to Equity
We value equitable and inclusive hiring practices and strongly encourage applications from individuals who identify as part of historically underrepresented, marginalized, or equity-denied communities.
Employment Details
This role will pay $12,000 ($2000 per month for 6 months) for a 20-hour per week role.
This role offers remote flexibility. We support a flexible schedule outside of required meetings.
How to Apply
Please submit your cover letter and resume as one PDF document, along with your contact information, to [email protected] before January 3, 2026. The role will begin on January 15, 2026.
Call for volunteers: Board of Directors
The League of Canadian Poets Board of Directors is pleased to share a call for nominees for the 2026 – 2027 Board of Directors term.
Board positions to be filled:
- Chair, Membership Committee
- Chair, Regional Representative
Board positions open for nominations:
- President
- Board nominee: Jaclyn Desforges
- Chair, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee
- Board nominee (incumbent): Stuart Ian McKay
Board members are not eligible for any paid League programming, including receiving funding through our event funding streams or other microgrant programs (eg. Workshop and Consultation Fund, PK Page Mentorship Program, awards and contests, etc.). We are so grateful to the members who set aside these membership benefits, often for years at a time, in order to volunteer their time, energy, and expertise to the governance of the organization!
Board members of the League of Canadian Poets will learn a unique set of skills in policy, governance, and finance, as well as other industry tools that provide insight into funding, program development, and community organizing. Contributing to the League of Canadian Poets with a term on the Board of Directors is an incredible community service for which we are tremendously grateful.
Nomination process: Full members in good standing are eligible for nomination to any of the open positions, details of each of which are provided below. A Full member may be nominated for an open seat by two additional Full members in good standing. Full members interested in standing for election should complete the form below by March 23, 2026.
This form will require you to upload your CV and expression of interest as a .doc, .docx, or PDF file.
About the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the League of Canadian Poets is responsible for overseeing organization programming and finances, human resources, the annual audit, Executive Director and overall direction of the League of Canadian Poets. This oversight and guidance is intended to ensure the League is operating in line with its mission, mandate, vision, and values.
Mission: The League of Canadian Poets supports Canadian poets and poetry in Canada.
Mandate: The League of Canadian Poets’ mandate is to enhance the status of poets and foster professional poetry communities. The League works to enlarge the audience for poetry by encouraging publication, performance, education, and recognition of Canadian poetry locally, nationally, and internationally, and supports equitable and inclusive freedom of expression in Canada.
Vision: A representative and thriving culture of poets and poetry lovers.
Values: Inclusiveness, representation, accessibility, innovation, and professionalism.
The Board of Directors meets several times per year over Zoom to address organizational business and receive reports on membership, finance, and programming from the Executive Director. Additionally, Board members are encouraged to attend Poets Advisory Council meetings where possible to join in discussion with the Chairs of LCP Community Committees.
It is important to note that the League Board is a governance board: the oversight and leadership provided by the Board is largely in relation to policy, compliance, and long-term strategic planning. Board members do not become closely involved in programming.
Responsibilities include:
- Approving policy documents and the strategic plan
- Monitoring the League’s compliance with policies and reviews policies as needed
- Participating fully in meetings and e-mail discussions while respecting the time and opinions of their fellow Board members
- Supporting connection with the poetry community through the Poets Advisory Committee
Board members are welcome to join committees should they wish to be involved in a more specific area of League business or community.
Chair, Membership Committee
The role of Membership Committee Chair is a demanding volunteer role that is of utmost importance to the League. The member in this role should expect to commit 1-2 hours per week to the responsibilities of the Membership Committee in addition to their responsibilities as a Board member.
The Membership Committee Chair must attend at least 4 Board of Directors meetings per year, in addition to the Annual General Meeting, as well as at least 2 Membership Committee meetings. Additionally, the Membership Committee Chair would ideally attend all 4 Poets Advisory Committee meetings.
- Board meetings are typically held on a weekday between 11am and 2pm EST, and last 60-90 minutes, in the months of October, January, March, May, and June
- Poets Advisory Council meetings are typically held on a weekday between 11am and 2pm EST in February, June, August, and December, and last 90-120 minutes
- Membership Committee meetings can take place on a day and time suitable for the committee
The Membership Committee Chair should be prepared to commit to the following:
- Meeting attendance (1-2 meetings in a month, most months of the year except April, September, and December)
- Reasonable e-mail response times (3-6 days)
- 1-2 hours per week for reviewing membership applications
- Chairing two Membership Committee meetings per year, with support from LCP staff
- Moderate additional training in the areas of governance, equity, finance, and accessibility
Although an orientation will be provided and LCP staff provide a great deal of support to the volunteer in this role, from administrative support to support for meetings (eg. Preparing agendas, reports, materials, etc.), some Board and/or committee experience is recommended for this role.
The role of Membership Committee Chair is a two-year term, starting in June 2026, and open to re-election for up to two additional terms.
This role is open to Full members only.
Chair, Regional Representatives Committee
The role of the Regional Representatives Committee is to ensure the League’s national membership is equally represented to the Board, regardless of geography. Committee members may bring news, concerns, issues, or proposals that relate specifically to the area of Canada that they are representing. The Regional Representatives Committee:
- Assists League staff in reaching targeted communities for research and program development
- Brings news and issues from poets across Canada to the attention of LCP staff and BOD
- Assists the League is planning and hosting geographically diverse and inclusive events and programs
- Suggests projects or initiatives to reach diverse geographic areas of Canada
The Regional Representatives Committee Chair must attend at least 4 Board of Directors meetings per year, in addition to the Annual General Meeting, as well as at least 2 Regional Representative Committee meetings. Additionally, the Chair would ideally attend all 4 Poets Advisory Committee meetings.
- Board meetings are typically held on a weekday between 11am and 2pm EST, and last 60-90 minutes, in the months of October, January, March, May, and June
- Poets Advisory Council meetings are typically held on a weekday between 11am and 2pm EST in February, June, August, and December, and last 90-120 minutes
- Membership Committee meetings can take place on a day and time suitable for the committee
The Membership Committee Chair should be prepared to commit to the following:
- Meeting attendance (1-2 meetings in a month, most months of the year except April, September, and December)
- Reasonable e-mail response times (3-6 days)
- Chairing two Regional Representatives Committee meetings per year, with support from LCP staff
- Moderate additional training in the areas of governance, equity, finance, and accessibility
Although an orientation will be provided and LCP staff provide a great deal of support to the volunteer in this role, from administrative support to support for meetings (eg. Preparing agendas, reports, materials, etc.), some Board and/or committee experience is recommended for this role.
The role of Regional Representatives Committee Chair is a two-year term, starting in June 2026, and open to re-election for up to two additional terms.
This role is open to Full members only; the ideal candidate for this role would be bilingual in French and English.
President
The President is the leadership role for the League and is responsible for implementing the League’s strategic plans and policies. Subject to the authority of the Board, the President has general supervision of the affairs of the League.
The President must attend at least four Board of Directors meetings per year, in addition to the Annual General Meeting. As a member of the Executive Committee, the President should also commit to attending meetings with the Poets Advisory Council up to four times per year, as well as with the Executive Committee as needed. Additionally, the President is expected to serve on the Finance Committee and/or the Governance Committee.
- Board meetings are typically held on a weekday between 11am and 2pm EST, and last 60-90 minutes, in the months of October, January, March, May, and June
- Poets Advisory Council meetings are typically held on a weekday between 11am and 2pm EST in February, June, August, and December, and last 90-120 minutes
- Executive, Finance, and Governance Committee meetings take place as needed, typically every 1-2 months; additional correspondence will largely take place over e-mail.
The President’s other responsibilities include:
- Assuring the integrity of the Board of Directors process, including oversight of Board member conduct
- Representing the League in media requests
- Making public statements on behalf of the League
- Maintaining regular communication with the Executive Director
- Chairing meetings of the Board and membership
- Overseeing the hiring and annual review of Executive Staff (Executive Director, Artistic Programming Director)
- Participating in the development and oversight of the League’s Strategic Plan
The President should be prepared to commit to the following:
- Meeting attendance (1-2 meetings in a month, often with a month or two between meetings)
- Reasonable e-mail response times (3-6 days)
- Moderate additional training in the areas of governance, equity, finance, and accessibility.
The role of President is a two-year term starting in June 2026, and open to re-election for up to two additional terms.
This role is open to Full members only.
Board Nominee for the position of President: Jaclyn Desforges.
Nominated by Rayanne Haines and Frances Boyle.
Jaclyn has served on the Board of Directors since June 2023, when she joined the Board in the role of Membership Committee Chair. In her term as Membership Committee Chair, Jaclyn supported the review and clarification of membership eligibility criteria, developed the League’s resource Publishing Poetry: the paths to becoming a published poet, hosted the League’s first Cozy Community Coffee Hour, and participated in intensive governance and fundraising training to support her work as a Board member.
Jaclyn Desforges is the queer and neurodivergent author of Danger Flower (Palimpsest Press/Anstruther Books), winner of the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry and one of CBC's selections for Best Canadian Poetry of 2021. Selected for the New York Times-featured Lunar Codex Project, Danger Flower travelled to the moon in March 2025. Jaclyn is also the author of Why Are You So Quiet? (Annick Press, 2020), a picture book which was shortlisted for a Chocolate Lily Award and selected for the 2023 TD Summer Reading Club.
Jaclyn is grateful to have received generous support from the Canada Council for the Arts for the creation of both her short story collection, Weird Babies (forthcoming from Porcupine's Quill Press in 2026), and Eyelash Person, her current novel-in-progress. Jaclyn is the winner of the 2018 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. Her writing has also been nominated for Best American Short Stories, Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, the Best of the Net Anthology, and the Pushcart Prize. She was a finalist for the 2024 CRAFT Novelette Print Prize, the 2024 Room Magazine Fiction Contest, the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize, and the 2023 CRAFT Short Fiction Prize. Her stories and poems have appeared in CRAFT Literary, The Fiddlehead, Contemporary Verse 2, Room Magazine, The Ex-Puritan, The Temz Review, Minola Review, THIS Magazine, and others across North America.
An alumna of the Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Jaclyn holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia's School of Creative Writing. She served as the 2023-2024 Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer In Residence at McMaster University and Hamilton Public Library where she worked with nearly 150 new and emerging writers. Jaclyn is the Membership Committee Chair of the League of Canadian Poets, a staff writer for the Hamilton Review of Books, and serves on the organizational committee of Lit Live in Hamilton, Ontario. She lives in Hamilton with her partner and daughter and teaches poetry at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Chair, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee
The role of the EDI Committee is to guide and support programming, policy, membership, and governance initiatives to centre equity and representation within the organization. Additionally, the EDI Committee provides support and guidance when the organization must respond to urgent or specific EDI matters. The EDI Committee:
- Assists League staff in reaching targeted communities for research and program development
- Brings current EDI issues to the attention of LCP staff and BOD
- Reviews EDI initiatives for language and inclusivity
- Reviews statements of support for language and inclusivity
- Suggests projects or initiatives to support LCP EDI goals
The EDI Committee Chair must attend at least 4 Board of Directors meetings per year, in addition to the Annual General Meeting, as well as at least 2 EDI Committee meetings. Additionally, the Chair would ideally attend all 4 Poets Advisory Committee meetings.
- Board meetings are typically held on a weekday between 11am and 2pm EST, and last 60-90 minutes, in the months of October, January, March, May, and June
- Poets Advisory Council meetings are typically held on a weekday between 11am and 2pm EST in February, June, August, and December, and last 90-120 minutes
- EDI Committee meetings can take place on a day and time suitable for the committee
The EDI Committee Chair should be prepared to commit to the following:
- Meeting attendance (1-2 meetings in a month, most months of the year except April, September, and December)
- Reasonable e-mail response times (3-6 days)
- Contribution to the development of new resources and systems to support IDEA
- Chairing or co-Chairing two EDI Committee meetings per year, with support from LCP staff
- Moderate additional training in the areas of governance, equity, finance, and accessibility
The role of EDI Committee Chair is a two-year term, starting in June 2026, and open to re-election for up to two additional terms.
This role is open to Full members only; the ideal candidate will bring lived experience as a member of a systemically oppressed community or equity group, including but not limited to: Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, transgender, Two-Spirit, and LGBTQ+ poets.
Board Nominee for the position of EDI Committee Chair (incumbent): Stuart Ian McKay
Nominated by Rayanne Haines and Frances Boyle.
Stuart Ian McKay, a Board member and the incumbent in this position, has been nominated for re-election. Having served in this role for two terms, he is eligible for a third and final term.
Stuart Ian McKay has served on the Board of Directors as EDI Committee Chair since June 2022, and previously as the Alberta Representative from 2021-2022. In his time on the Board, Stuart has supported the review of the League’s inclusion, equity, diversity, and accessibility (IDEA) goals and policies, including navigating the new EDI Committee after the League’s By-Law amendments in June 2022. Stuart has participated in intensive fundraising training to support his work on the Board, and is a constant advocate for the disabled community.
Stuart Ian McKay is a Calgary/Edmonton based poet. His poetry and nonfiction have been published in many Canadian journals and anthologies. Stele of Several Ladies-a long poem and a cognate of prayer, his first two books of poetry, were published in 2005 and 2013 by Passwords Enterprises. even the idea of maya is maya, a poetry chapbook, was published by Frog Hollow Press in Victoria as part of its Dis/Ability Series in 2019. AOS Publishing in Montreal published his new book of poetry the commune of our waking in 2023. Stuart is the editor of the poetry chapbook anthology the way out is the way in, published by the League of Canadian Poets in 2022. He and fellow Calgary poet/noise and sound artist Matt Smith comprise the poetry creation and performance team “the thornlake endeavour”. Stuart serves as a member of the filling Station poetry collective. In January 2022, he was the writer in residence at the Wallace Stegner House in Eastend, Saskatchewan. In September 2023, Stuart was the Writer in Residence at the Penny Lou Cottage at the Rivendell Retreat Centre on Bowen Island, British Columbia.
Call for volunteers: membership committee
- 5 hours per month
- Review applications
- Support accessibility
- Engage community
Join the Membership Committee
The League's Membership Committee is seeking volunteers to assist in reviewing applications for full membership. This opportunity is open to League members in good standing, at any level. Committee members review applications to evaluate the extent of a poet's community involvement and professional accomplishment as a poet, in adherence with the rubric at poets.ca/join.
Interested members should email a statement of interest, including any relevant experience and a short summary of how you would approach reviewing non-traditional applicants, to [email protected].
