Featured Guest
You’ll find this guest among our growing roll of Urban Champions.
Rebecca Alty
Mayor of Yellowknife
Pamela Goulden-McLeod
Director Emergency Management, Saskatoon Fire Department
Michael Redhead Champagne
Ininew helper, host, speaker, and author
Markus Chambers
Winnipeg Deputy Mayor
Christopher Clacio
Activist, Inter Civics Commons
5 Key
Takeaways
A roundup of the most compelling ideas, themes and quotes from this candid conversation
1. This pandemic has proved how necessary civic engagement is.
Whether it be by offering community-based resources or holding lawmakers accountable, people in cities across Canada must be actively involved in the governance process. Christoper Clacio and Mark Head engage with this notion on a daily basis through their work with Inter Civics; however, this has been made difficult by the impossibility of face-to-face interaction. Communities can make their needs clear by engaging with other organizations and with those in positions of authority.
2. Creative thinking and innovative solutions are needed now more than ever.
Lawmakers, businesses, and communities alike have demonstrated immense creativity over the past 100 days, and this momentum must continue. Rebecca Alty, the mayor of Yellowknife, offers examples of this creativity in Yellowknife’s decisions to stagger landfill openings in order to preserve salvaging culture, and how local spas have begun offering digital facials by mailing their clients materials.
3. Long-term planning, both financial and urban, must factor into continuity and risk management.
The past 100 days of the COVID pandemic have proved that the unknown is absolutely a possibility. More importantly, however, is how this pandemic has revealed what planners, builders, and lawmakers are truly capable of. It is more sustainable to adapt thought-out support measures than to indefinitely extend emergency response measures. This way, even the most vulnerable are protected no matter the circumstance. That said, when things remain uncertain, Pamela Goulden-McLeod highlighted the necessity to “build back better.”
4. We are all in this together: municipalities should find ways to collaborate.
Whether it be expanding the boundaries for urban policy practice or engaging in collaborative city building across regions, now is the time for collective innovations. Pamela Goulden-McLeod emphasized how the pandemic has revealed the long-term necessity of establishing relationships across networks and agencies so that no one must fend for themselves. This need for collaboration is stressed further in “For The Benefit of All”, a 2019 report by Dr. Robert Murray which examines the need for collaboration in the Winnipeg Metro Region municipalities.
5. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the powerful role of mental health and wellbeing.
Many of our panelists stressed the mental toll caused by distancing regulations, the pandemic, and a financial crisis. People are unable to seek assistance and grieve collectively in ways previously available. Adjusting to the “new normal” from the confines of your own home is deeply isolating. As cities look ahead to empowering their communities, they must consider how to help those whose mental wellbeing are at stake.
Additional Reading & Resources
For the Benefit of All: Regional Competitiveness and Collaboration in the Winnipeg Metro Region
Full Panel
Transcript
Note to readers: This video session was transcribed using auto-transcribing software. Manual editing was undertaken in an effort to improve readability and clarity. Questions or concerns with the transcription can be directed to events@canurb.org with “transcription” in the subject line.
Full Audience
Chatroom Transcript
Note to reader: Chat comments have been edited for ease of readability. The text has not been edited for spelling or grammar. For questions or concerns, please contact events@canurb.org with “Chat Comments” in the subject line.00:15:57 Canadian Urban Institute: Folks, please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
00:16:52 Emily Wall, CUI Staff: Please visit https://covid100.ca to read the full report COVID Signpost 100 and to see details on the rest of today’s panels.
00:17:20 Emily Wall, CUI Staff: We’ve compiled 100 Actions pulled from our CityTalk series – check them out on https://covid100.ca
00:17:40 Emily Wall, CUI Staff: #covid100
00:17:48 Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
00:17:50 Emily Wall, CUI Staff: Today’s panel:
Michael Redhead Champagne – https://twitter.com/northendmc
Rebecca Alty – https://www.yellowknife.ca/en/city-government/mayor.asp
Markus Chambers – https://twitter.com/MarkusAChambers
Christopher Clacio – https://twitter.com/chrisclaciowpg
Pamela Goulden-McLeod – https://twitter.com/EMODirectorGM
Mark Head – https://www.facebook.com/mark.head.88
00:19:35 Canadian Urban Institute: Keep the conversation going #covid100 @canurb
00:23:08 Kate Graham: Hello from London ON … but I do love the Prairies & the North <3
00:24:18 Canadian Urban Institute: Folks, please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
00:24:48 J. Scott: Hello again to everyone from Tkaranto!
00:25:33 Dana Kripki: Hello from Saskatoon!
00:26:09 Trina Gust: Hello from Saskatoon.
00:26:23 Chiedza Pasipanodya: Hello from Tkaronto!
00:30:30 Zoë Mager: Hi from Winnipeg! So glad to see some experiences of the Prairies and North shared in this dicussion.
00:39:41 Todd Mitchell: Hello from Treaty 4 territory (Regina, SK)
00:43:45 Chiedza Pasipanodya: Great rant!
00:43:47 J. Scott: If governments are so nimble and apparently well-funded why haven’t they acted on the existing system deficiencies?
00:44:04 k kerr: WELL SAID MICHAEL.
00:44:13 J. Scott: YES!!!!!
00:45:41 J. Scott: Yes Pamela!
00:49:33 Emily Wall, CUI Staff: Please help CUI improve its CityTalk programming with a short survey – https://bit.ly/2UXXsFS
00:54:31 k kerr: its true, so different from the other webinars, loving this perspective.
00:55:29 Pamela Goulden-McLeod: Business Continuity Management is so essential and COVID has emphasized how important it is
00:57:39 J. Scott: Mayor Alty has just shown us the value of the media!
00:58:19 Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
01:00:30 J. Scott: The federal government needs to step up. Big Time. In fact, one easy way for the Federal Government to access funds for the recovery (water clean up on reserves, health and housing just for a start!) and to reduce the huge hidden emissions of the military, would be the immediate scrapping of contributions to NATO that total $32.7 billion — and counting — as described in the 2017 defence policy p. 43: https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/mdn-dnd/D2-386-2017-eng.pdf (this will go up with supplementary estimates every year. It states that a gob smacking $553B will be spent on the military over the next 20 years but this will actually be much higher with supplementary estimates.) This expenditure seems particularly egregious given the long-standing and enormous level of long unfunded needs still to be met within Canada itself.
01:03:46 Canadian Urban Institute: Keep the conversation going #covid100 @canurb
01:04:43 Todd Mitchell: Markus touched on the detrimental effects to peoples mental health due to the covid epidemic–which I believe is an overlooked aspect of this situation. Just wondering what panelists/attendees think are some strategies city officials, planners, and community organizers could employ into their daily work life which would work to help the feelings of isolation, fatigue, and anxiety that are so closely associated with the covid pandemic.
01:08:09 J. Scott: Yes, Chris! People should also be able to make deputations at their municipality level when budgets are being discussed.
01:09:58 J. Scott: I’d never have been able to meet with all you wonderful people if not for COVID zoom calls.
01:12:05 Christopher Clacio: https://winnipegmetroregion.ca/assets/docs/Murray-For_the_Benefit_of_All.pdf
01:12:23 Canadian Urban Institute: CUI extends a big thank you to our host Michael Redhead Champagne and our entire panel for an exceptional discussion today. Thank you to our attendees too for your keen attention and participation!
01:12:52 Christopher Clacio: Here is a link to the Winnipeg metro region up above
01:13:24 J. Scott: Social media was tyrannical pre-COVID!
01:13:56 J. Scott: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
01:14:00 Debra Nyczai: Thank you!
