Two separate model Calgary city councils tackled two hot topics in the city – housing and public transit safety – and they did so with insight only young people can provide.
Thirty young Calgary women and gender-diverse youth participated in the fifth annual She Governs program on March 1, a partnership between Equal Voice Calgary and the City of Calgary that provides experience on what it’s like to participate in a city council meeting.
The groups got an intro to council chambers from Mayor Jyoti Gondek and a behind-the-scenes tour. Then they conducted two separate councils to debate – and pass – two separate city policies. After that, the women participated in a panel discussion with the mayor and Calgary’s contingent of female councillors, Sonya Sharp, Jennifer Wyness, Jasmine Mian and Kourtney Penner.
“The world needs more young people, especially women to be involved in political processes, to guide the decisions that are going to affect all of us into the future to make sure that the world is a good place for generations to come,” Mayor Gondek told the participants.
“We need women of all gender expressions and identities to serve as leaders and to provide that vision for the future.”
Participants were given admin presentations, like a typical council meeting, before asking questions of administration and debating the motions.
Co-mayors Grade 11 students Saanvi Kapoor and Erleen Sandhu both said it was a huge responsibility to chair the meeting and it helped connect young people to current issues.
“I feel like we are very distanced from politics. We think of it as like a whole different thing and we can’t really connect to it,” said Sandhu.
“Through this experience, you’re able to see how much responsibility there is and all the different parts, and how nothing can come easily because you have to consider everyone’s opinions.”
Kapoor said that this program offered a safe opportunity to explore politics.
“I believe that we are getting a bit distant because we nowadays we have a lot of technology – like TikTok – and be on it all the time,” she said.
“We’re not really connecting to how the society is working, and what are the policies that are being made for us Calgarians for our benefits and our safety.”
Sandhu also said a lot of the time the focus is on federal or provincial news, and people forget about city government.
Unique insights brought to the table
On the housing strategy, one participant asked about the property tax implications of the plan. Admin said that some of the actions are still unknown and being developed, so it wasn’t possible to say what the total cost or tax implication would be. Others talked about the importance for people to have a safe place to live.
“I assume that we all woke up in a bedroom in a warm house under shelter and that we’re all in a warm environment that is protecting us from the winter cold that took over Calgary just a day ago,” said the young woman who presented the motion to approve the housing strategy.
“I want us to consider how many other people do not have access to housing, not have access to wake up in a warm environment and have access to housing and about stress and anxieties that come with rent, mortgages and living and expenses that come along with housing, especially with new immigrants coming in every year.”
It was the public safety issue where ideas really started flowing on how they could make transit safer.
The councillors talked about the use of artificial intelligence to help direct people to the nearest safety officers through the transit app, and more than one talked about having the officers deployed on the trains instead of at the stations.
One member suggested that having a uniformed presence exacerbates some riders’ anxiety on the LRT, but also that perhaps plainclothes officers could patrol so they could catch perpetrators in the act.
There was discussion of compassionate response to the growing drug use along the line, but also taking a firmer approach to dealing with crime on transit to show the public there was an effort to make things safer.
Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner said hearing the ideas come up was a conduit to the perspectives of young Calgarians.
“I think what we heard a lot today, through their questions and their debate, is a lot about their lived experiences as young women in the city,” Coun. Penner said.
“So, with respect to housing or transit safety, and the ideas that they could put forward to making our city better and recognizing that not all people experience situations in the same way when we’re able to hear from them, I do think administration truly listens and myself as a councillor, I listen, and we take back those ideas towards creating more inclusive spaces.”
Big effort to encourage young women to enter politics
Dhuha Nader with Equal Voice Calgary said that historically women were not as engaged in politics as they are today. She said through efforts like Equal Voice Calgary and others (Ask Her) they’re seeing more interest. This year they had enough applicants to the program to have two model councils.
“Last year, for instance, we had a lot of young women that were interested in participating in the program, because they were inspired that we have the first woman mayor, as mayor of the largest city in Alberta, and in addition, a racialized woman,” Nader said.
“Those things are really impactful. I think that encourages women to put themselves out there and sign up for programs like this that encourage them to have a seat at the table.”
One aspect of the job that the young women don’t get to see directly is the criticism, and at times, abuse, politicians are targeted with. Nader said she believes many of today’s future leaders see those barriers, whether they’re gender-based, racial, or political, and they want to break those down.
“While it exists, I think the representation of women in these spaces, help us break those barriers and move towards having more inclusive spaces, having more governments that we elect that looks like Alberta and reflect the population,” she said.
Equal Voice Calgary is a national, multi-partisan organization that advocates for the equal representation of women in Canada’s Parliament, provincial legislatures, and municipal and band councils.
