CityTalk: Civic Institutions – Maximizing Possibilities

Full Panel Transcript

Note to readers: This video session was transcribed using auto-transcribing software.  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

11:34:01 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Welcome everyone! We invite you to say hello in the chat before we get started. Tell us where you’re watching from! 11:34:28 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Please change your chat settings to “Everyone” so that everyone can read your comments. 11:34:41 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Amplify the conversation on social media! @canurb #citytalk 11:36:48 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: We are recording today’s session and will share it online next week at canurb.org/citytalk-canada/ 11:36:55 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: We have closed captioning enabled for today’s session. If you would like to turn it off, please click on the button at the bottom of your screen and disable 11:37:28 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: We hope this session is as interactive as possible, so please feel free to share comments, references, links or questions in the chat. 11:37:48 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Welcome everyone! We invite you to say hello in the chat and tell us where you’re watching from! 11:38:10 From Robert Sauvey To Everyone: Hello from Tkoronto/Toronto 11:38:24 From Kimberley Nelson To All Panelists: Hello and good morning from Calgary! 11:38:25 From Ken O’Brien To Everyone: Hi from St. John’s, NL. 11:38:28 From Barbara Sutherland To Everyone: Thank you for offering this webinar. Barbara from Downtown Brantford BIA 11:38:29 From Jane Talbot To Everyone: Hi from Vancouver, BC 11:38:38 From Aline Rahbany To Everyone: Hi from Toronto 11:38:43 From Anne Finlay-Stewart To All Panelists: Owen Sound Ontario 11:38:45 From Mark Garner To Everyone: Hello from Downtown Calgary 11:38:47 From Leslie Gash To Everyone: Hello from Toronto 11:38:47 From Nilanee Koneswaran To All Panelists: Hi from Toronto! 11:38:48 From Jerrica Gilbert To Everyone: Hello from Ottawa 11:38:57 From Andrea Betty To Everyone: Hello from Penetanguishene! 11:38:59 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: Hello from London, Ontario – fellow librarian. Looking forward to this presentation! 11:39:06 From Kim Sare To Everyone: Hi from Regina, everyone! 11:39:08 From Michelle Wilson To All Panelists: Good afternoon from Sydney Nova Scotia – Cape Breton – Unama’ki 11:39:10 From Veronique Martin To Everyone: Bonjour tout le monde! De Gatineau ! 11:39:11 From Dolu Gonzalez Molina To Everyone: Good morning all from Olds, AB 11:39:18 From Karanpreet Kaur To Everyone: Hello from Kingston. 11:39:19 From Tara Painchaud To Everyone: Hello from Whitby Ontario! 11:39:27 From Colm Holmes To Everyone: Hello from Windsor ON 11:39:32 From Anna Jones To Everyone: Hello from Winnipeg! 11:39:37 From Madia Sidiky To All Panelists: Hello from Mississauga Ontario 11:39:40 From Brent Kalinowski To Everyone: Good morning everyone, Hello from North Bay, ON. 11:39:59 From Abiral Homagain To Everyone: Hello from Toronto! Looking forward to the session! 11:40:03 From Berta Kaisr To All Panelists: Morning from Montreal! 11:40:33 From Sherry Heinze To Everyone: Hi from Calgary 11:40:54 From Ken O’Brien To Everyone: These things happen. 11:40:56 From Barb Maly To All Panelists: Hello from London ON 11:41:06 From Kelsey Longmoore To Everyone: Good morning from Regina, SK 11:41:14 From Sherry Heschuk To All Panelists: Hello from Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton Beaverhills House 11:41:19 From Wesley Andreas To Everyone: Good morning from Edmonton, in Treaty 6 territory and Métis Nation Region IV. 11:41:33 From Jaime Rogers To Everyone: Hello from Medicine Hat, AB! Treaty 7 lands, neighbour to Treaty 4 and Metis Region 2 11:41:46 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Sorry everyone, there was a momentary crossfeed with the live Art of City Building Event. 11:42:03 From Nicholas Luck To Everyone: Good morning from Sault Ste. Marie, ON 11:42:07 From Emma Cochrane To Everyone: Hello from Ottawa 11:42:08 From Erika Rolston To Everyone: Good afternoon from Digby, NS. 11:42:20 From Paisley Woods To All Panelists: Hello from Carleton Place 11:42:21 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Bill Moore – Executive Director of Community Safety at Halifax Regional Municipality (Halifax, NS) 11:42:26 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Bill Moore has 30 + years of experience within policing as an officer, supervisor, Deputy Chief of Police (Halifax) and Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and is now the Executive Director of Community Safety for the Halifax Regional Municipality. Throughout his career Bill has acted as a leader and change agent as a senior executive in the criminal justice system at the municipal, provincial, national, and international level. His experience in human resources, strategic planning, change management, mental health, organizational design, technology, community response and applied police research have garnered him a reputation as a trusted and principled individual who believes in leading by example and holding executives to a high level of accountability. Bill received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, was invested in the Order of Merit of Police Forces as an Officer in 2013 and named as a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2014. 11:42:32 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/regional-community-planning/public-safety @BillMooreNS 11:43:23 From Jane Vinet To Everyone: Good morning from the unceded territories of the Snuneymuxw – Nanaimo, BC 11:43:30 From Thomas Dishlevoy To Everyone: Hi from Comox on Vancouver Island! 30 earthquakes over the weekend! So there hurricane Lee! 11:43:56 From George Milbrandt To Everyone: Watching from Old Town in Toronto. 11:45:45 From vanessa wellsch To Everyone: Good Morning, Everyone. From sunny, smoky Saskatoon, SK. 11:46:11 From Heather MacKenzie To Everyone: Hello from right here in Halifax! 11:46:20 From Reg Nalezyty To Everyone: Hello from Thunder Bay 11:46:37 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Reminder for the chat to please change your chat settings to “Everyone” so that everyone can read your comments. 11:46:44 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Please note that given the limited duration of these sessions, we are not able to answer to raised hands. Do you have specific questions for the panellists? Post them in the chat, and we’ll try to answer as many as possible. 11:47:20 From Carol-Ann Chafe To Everyone: Hello all. Carol-Ann from Access 2 Accessibility in Mississauga, Ontario 11:47:33 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Responses to questions and additional resources will be provided in the chat by CUI staff. 11:47:39 From Stephanie Chai To Everyone: Morning from Treaty 6 and Métis Nation of Alberta Region 4, and the Edmonton Metro Region. Hope everyone is recovering from the hurricane in Halifax! 11:50:34 From Sherry Heschuk To All Panelists: This currently is not on the radar for many ER clinicians and poverty is problematic and complex and strategies are needed in Edmonton to deal with the homeless or house less community members. Records have not been kept regarding reasons for death of homeless populations in Edmonton. There were an estimated 2,765 individuals in Edmonton experiencing homelessness as of April 2022. An audit of the city’s response to homelessness recommends that the city develop a corporate-wide plan to integrate and coordinate response efforts: City administration said the new plan will be developed by Dec. 31, 2023.1 1. Develop a corporate-wide homelessness plan that defines the strategy and integrates and coordinates a response to homelessness. 2. Assign accountability for the delivery of the corporate-wide homelessness plan and its activities. 3. Develop performance measures 11:50:36 From chadda neil To Everyone: City of Brampton 11:50:41 From Tom Young To Everyone: Hello from Montreal / Tiohtià:ke. 11:50:56 From dorian moore To All Panelists: Hello. Dorian Moore from Windsor/ Detroit. 11:50:58 From Anne Finlay-Stewart To Everyone: Owen sound Ontario 11:51:02 From Cassandra Alves To Everyone: Hello all. Cassandra from the Downtown Yonge BIA in Toronto 11:51:15 From Caroline Taylor To All Panelists: Hello from Windsor Ontario 11:51:34 From Erica Henry-Jackman To Everyone: Hello joining from the City of Brampton. 11:51:41 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Sue Uteck – Executive Director, Spring Garden Area Business Association (Halifax, NS) 11:51:47 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Sue Uteck has been the Executive Director of the Spring Garden Area Business Association since 2019. She brings a wealth of lived experiences as the former Abilities Coordinator with March of Dimes Canada and 13 years serving as a Municipal Councillor and Deputy Mayor with the City of Halifax. She is driven by a passion for people and the ability to cut through government red tape. 11:51:54 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: https://www.springgardenarea.com/ @SpringGardenRd 11:52:14 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Reminder for the chat to please change your chat settings to “Everyone” so that everyone can read your comments. 11:53:39 From Devon McCloskey To Everyone: Good Morning from Thunder Bay 11:53:44 From Sherry Heschuk To All Panelists: A report by a project for ECOOHEdmonton Coalition On Housing and Homelessness (ECOHH) promotes awareness, advocates, and takes action on housing issues to enhance community life is being considered and discussed. 11:54:58 From Canadian Urban Institute To Sherry Heschuk and All Panelists: Hi Sherry, Your comments only went to Hosts and Panelists – please change your settings in chat so that you are posting to Everyone. Thank you! 11:56:33 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Friendly reminder to send your chat posts to Everyone, not Hosts and Panellists. We want to encourage a lively conversation among everyone here today! 11:57:34 From adriana dossena To Everyone: Wondering if panel might speak to any ‘psychological safety’ research they are utilizing in designing new, co-created paths/systems to respond to eg. Accessibility or concerns by those with disabilities accessing nearby cooling spaces or neurodiverse-safe (ie. lighting, sound design) considerate response/services? Many thanks 11:59:46 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Åsa Kachan — Chief Librarian and CEO, Halifax Public Libraries, Halifax 11:59:49 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Åsa Kachan is the CEO and Chief Librarian for Halifax Public Libraries, an internationally recognized 14-branch library system highly regarded for its services, programs and welcoming spaces that reach diverse populations with equality and respect. Prior to her role with the Libraries, Kachan spent 16 years in senior administrative roles at universities, most recently serving as the assistant vice-president, Enrolment Management & Registrar, for Dalhousie University (2004-2014). Kachan serves on the boards of The Walrus, the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, and the Centre for Equitable Library Access, as well as the Governing Council for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). 11:59:54 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: https://www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca/ @hfxpublib 12:00:34 From Canadian Urban Institute To Janet Song and All Panelists: Hi Janet – Your comments only went to Hosts and Panelists – please change your settings in chat so that you are posting to Everyone. Thank you! 12:01:21 From Sherry Heschuk To Everyone: Interesting that the concerns for these supports which were made available in this regard to research by Jiaying Zhao, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Sustainability, scarcity isn’t just a lack of resources—it also creates psychological demands on a person. Zhao’s research has shown that scarcity can hinder cognitive function and lead individuals to make decisions that worsen their condition. A pilot was designed in Vancouver in 2021 as a randomized control trial to measure the effects that a one-time lump-sum gift had on people’s lives over the course of a year. Participants were recruited from local shelters and screened to ensure they were recently homeless and functional in their daily lives to reduce the risk of potential harm that funds might bring if they drove people deeper into addiction. https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/vancouver-gave-people-experiencing-homelessness-5800-it-changed-their-lives 12:04:34 From Janet Song To Everyone: Hello from Toronto, Ontario! How does it look like to have a streamlined approach in working on precarious housing between the city, province, and the federal government short-term and long-term? What does it look like now and how can it be better? 12:04:38 From Kimberley Nelson To Everyone: Calgary Central Library is indeed my favourite happy place 12:05:22 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Sarah Meilleur – CEO, Calgary Public Library (Calgary, AB) 12:05:25 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Sarah Meilleur is the CEO of Calgary Public Library. She is a recognized speaker at international conferences, has authored numerous journal articles, and has lectured at Harvard University on library design. She also led the design thinking, completion and launch of Calgary’s award winning new Central Library, which has seen over four million visitors since opening in November 2018. Sarah believes in supporting the community through volunteering and has served as the vice-chair for the Calgary Heritage Authority, on the Cultural Leadership Council and the Social Wellbeing Advisory Committee. She received Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 under 40 award in 2011 and was a recipient of Queen Elizabeth ll’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022 for outstanding service to family, community, and country. Sarah is passionate about how public libraries transform lives, and she works to foster curiosity, innovation, belonging, and fantastic visitor experiences. 12:05:58 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: YES! Beautiful public places and spaces are so important in so many ways. It’s not a ‘nice’ extra – it’s a core part of city-building. As is attractive community housing, etc. 12:06:19 From Sherry Heschuk To Everyone: EPL and Edmonton Public Libraries have been working to support evacuees who were homeless and some Community Leagues. Drayton Valley was evacuated in May and Hay River NT in the last evacuations from August. 12:06:26 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: https://calgarylibrary.ca/ @calgarylibrary 12:08:54 From Mark Garner To Everyone: Hello Sarah and thanks for the shout out 12:12:05 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: As always, the The CityTalk chat is thoughtful, provocative and dynamic! Amplify the conversation on social media! @canurb #citytalk 12:12:42 From dorian moore To Everyone: Excellent point! Housing, institutions, and public space are all drivers of successful cities! 12:13:42 From Sherry Heschuk To Everyone: In the city of Edmonton a document was compiled from responses received through the survey and engagement and to access the report visit https://engaged.edmonton.ca/PublicSpacesBylaw. Key themes heard from Edmontonians include safety, enforcement, support for Edmontonians in vulnerable circumstances, disruption or prevention from using public spaces, and maintenance and cleanliness of public spaces. Some concerns listed by these surveys ● Concerns about gentrification and pushing unwanted behavior to other places in the city. ○ Residents and business owners are worried about being located in areas where panhandling, drug use, lingering and night use are more common ● Balance public feelings of safety when providing space for those in vulnerable circumstances ● Transit is not an appropriate place for these types of activities, but recognize that a safe space is needed ● Concerns related to these activities include aggression from those engaging in this behaviour and obstructing others’ use of those spaces 12:16:19 From Janet Song To Everyone: Great conversation about different perspective of what housing means at the Evergreen Brickworks conference: The Evergreen Conference https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-evergreen-conference-tickets-637479778177?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=wsa&aff=ebdsshwebmobile 12:17:35 From chadda neil To Everyone: people need access to public services 12:17:56 From Janet Song To Everyone: https://www.evergreen.ca/whats-on/conference/ 12:20:55 From Thomas Dishlevoy To Everyone: I just pulled off my shelf a copy of Dark Age Ahead, by Jane Jacobs, 2005, plastered with sticky notes. Looks like in spite of our/her understanding, we have gotten far worse in the last 20 years. Going to re-read this week!!! 12:21:42 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: It’s not just about busting open silos and finding short term emergency solutions but understanding the many root causes of addiction and health crises, homelessness, etc. and addressing those root causes. 12:24:01 From Wendy McDonald To All Panelists: We need a hub in my community that can house & support agencies and volunteer groups…..so that it is accessible to engage community 12:24:22 From Canadian Urban Institute To Wendy McDonald and All Panelists: Hi Wendy – Your comments only went to Hosts and Panelists – please change your settings in chat so that you are posting to Everyone. Thank you! 12:24:58 From Sherry Heschuk To Everyone: Homes for all a community driven to send an open letter by ECOHH chair Nadine Chalifoux told that much of the provincial money put toward affordable housing isn’t meeting the need and existing laws fail to protect renters. https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/housing-emergency-edmonton-advocates-urge-alberta-for-action-on-housing-and-homelessness https://www.ecohh.ca/_files/ugd/169f82_0e34c7b13efd43d98aa71943dcf4fa2e.pdf?utm_source=Taproot+Edmonton&utm_campaign=ad15228a70-TAPROOTYEG_PULSE_2023_02_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ef1adf0932-ad15228a70-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=ad15228a70&mc_eid=b2b9234bee Adopt housing as a right. 12:26:29 From Wendy McDonald To Everyone: What about hubs in communities that can support agencies and volunteer groups..engaging community and helping to support all ages. It’s a step past Libraries. 12:26:34 From Linda Williams To Everyone: Agree dealing with root causes of homelessness and prevention is required. While it is wonderful libraries are undertaking these serious issues, libraries could help encourage levels of government to deal with these issues in a meaningful way – ignoring mental health issues and homelessness is not helping. 12:27:16 From marina queirolo To Everyone: Not only Libraries, it is about all the assets that create the civic commons, like Public Markets, Community Centres and religious institutions. However the big problem many times is how can community participate in delivering the solutions. Many time this institutions have so many steps that discourage innovation and community base solutions. How do we get them to say YES. 12:28:23 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: London, Ontario is currently unrolling a community hubs program to try to address our challenges. Early days… 12:28:25 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: https://getinvolved.london.ca/health-and-homelessness-in-london 12:29:45 From Thomas Dishlevoy To Everyone: “After spending billions, federal government doesn’t know if it’s reducing chronic homelessness: AG” | CBC News. 12:30:27 From Sharon Livingstone To Everyone: Numbers of homeless have tripled in one year and more older adults are homeless 12:30:51 From Samantha Staresincic (CUI) To Everyone: News Report from Thomas’ comment: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ag-report-homelessness-1.6651926 12:31:05 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: London’s Hubs Implementation Plan – “That group included more than 200 individuals representing nearly 70 local organizations in community health and social services, institutional healthcare, education, emergency services, business and economic development, land and housing development and multiple levels of government.” 12:31:16 From George Milbrandt To Everyone: One very successful silo busting example can be found in the work that Waterfront Toronto has done on the flood proofing and re-naturalization of the Don River. Three levels of government agreed on the need to solve a problem and then funded and set up an arms-length agency to deal with it. 12:32:07 From Barbara Sutherland To Everyone: Downtown Brantford Ontario is the lead partner in the Downtown Action Committee, involving BIA, Police, Health Unit, City, Grand River Health Unit, and others 12:32:36 From Barbara Sutherland To Everyone: …and Library…omission not intended 12:32:37 From Christopher Wilson To All Panelists: We have co-opeted our parks and libraries to do s job they were never designed to fulfil. 12:32:51 From Sarah Meilleur, CEO Calgary Public Library To Everyone: This has been an approach that is working and expanding. https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/findhealth/service.aspx?Id=1050105 12:32:57 From Canadian Urban Institute To Christopher Wilson and All Panelists: Hi Christopher – Your comments only went to Hosts and Panelists – please change your settings in chat so that you are posting to Everyone. Thank you! 12:32:59 From Samantha Staresincic (CUI) To Everyone: The London Hubs Implementation Plan mentioned by Sandra: https://ehq-production-canada.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ebf256bc17d535b7aef469f4f74c94d79d3cf553/original/1690399917/30070cce402496988c5acf06fc119bfc_Hubs_Implementation_Plan_GetInvolved.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIOR7VAOP4%2F20230918%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230918T163220Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=1ea0c55594f6b4bcf884a3da2f24ca17e323054abe994fcbce191859431b9817 12:33:03 From Kimberley Nelson To Everyone: Recently, Calgary Police held a community summit discussing many of the items Sue is mentioning now 12:33:32 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Registration is now open for CUI’s Annual Convening on the State of Canada’s Cities in Ottawa on Nov. 30: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/at-the-crossroads-annual-convening-on-the-state-of-canadas-cities-tickets-691906459847 12:34:09 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Keep the conversation going #CityTalk @canurb 12:35:02 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: Learning from other communities across Canada but are we also looking at solutions happening in Europe, Asia, etc. Yes, there may be cultural differences but there may be creative solutions we can adapt here 12:35:18 From Margaret Anne McHugh To Everyone: Cannot imagine what a policing office in the library would contribute. More marganilized people are afriad of them than feel any safety from them. 12:35:39 From De Szoller To Everyone: Thank you Sandra – for sharing on London. 12:35:50 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Thank you for joining us! We have recorded today’s session and will share it online along with the chat transcript and key takeaways next week at canurb.org/citytalk-canada/ 12:36:05 From Janet Song To Everyone: When I was living in northern BC, I worked in an employment agency for marginalized populations where they had monthly calls with civic agencies in the town 12:36:11 From Thomas Pfanner To All Panelists: Thanks a lot for this insightful talk and the great hosting of this hour. 12:36:17 From Ken O’Brien To Everyone: Thanks for helping us all hear about the challenges in many of our communities, experienced by many of our citizens. 12:36:33 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: We are proud partners of the Liveable Cities Forum taking place in Mississauga Sept. 25-27. There is still time to register! https://livablecitiesforum.com/ 12:36:34 From Janet Song To Everyone: Having locally focused calls can make huge impacts to create grassroots solutions 12:36:35 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: Indwell Supportive Housing is a great initiative in SW Ontario https://indwell.ca 12:36:40 From Barb Maly To Everyone: Thanks for this very informative session! Have a great day! 12:36:40 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Our latest report from CUI x Local, “Halifax Evolves” is now available at canurb.org. https://canurb.org/publications/halifax-evolves/ 12:36:50 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: SAVE THE DATE: CityTalk will be broadcasting live on October 16 from the Evergreen Conference: https://www.evergreen.ca/whats-on/conference/?gclid=CjwKCAjw6p-oBhAYEiwAgg2PguBKGy8j9o-pJFyNT-MNEogn_E5x23xc7kyeGKI6b0e-ouLYkcKGJhoCrDwQAvD_BwE 12:36:55 From Sandra Miller To Everyone: Thank you everyone! 12:36:59 From Nicholas Luck To Everyone: Thank you, always great takeaways from these discussions and from the chat. 12:37:01 From Janet Song To Everyone: Thank you! 12:37:01 From Emilie Charlebois (CUI) To Everyone: Stay tuned for details on the next Citytalk and CUI news by subscribing to our newsletter: https://canurb.org/subscribe/