Author: lisahelps
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Thank you Victoria, and Looking Ahead
For those of you who followed me as mayor and would like to continue to follow my blog, thank you. To those of you who no longer wish to hear from me now that I’m no longer mayor, thanks for reading over the years; please unsubscribe if you wish. It’s been an enormous privilege to…
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With Housing As Key Election Issue, Here Are My Picks for Mayor and Council
With so many candidates running and so many vacancies on Council, I’ve been asked many times over the last month for “my list” – who will I be supporting in the upcoming election. Having completed our final Council meeting last night, I now feel free to make my endorsements. I thought about all the ways…
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Rethinking Canada Day – and Canadian History – in a New Era of Reconciliation
WARNING: This post contains details some readers may find distressing. When I stood up in the canoe on July 1st in Victoria’s inner harbour to ask permission of the Lekwungen speaking people to come ashore, I was participating in a tradition that is thousands of years old. As we got closer to protocol corner at…
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Statement on Homophobic Threats and Cancelling of Family-Friendly Drag Show
In June, Canadians from coast to coast to coast come together to celebrate Pride month. Here in Victoria we do the same. After two years of not being able to gather in person for Pride events and the annual parade, Victorians are keen to come together again to celebrate. On Friday at City Hall we…
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Victoria’s Big Housing Moves – Building the Future We Need
This piece was originally printed in the Times Colonist. Not everyone wants to raise a family in a downtown condo. And, with the cost of single-family dwellings hitting an all-time high, too many families in Victoria can’t afford a $1.4 million starter home. The “missing middle” fills the gap between these two scenarios. Missing middle…
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More Affordable Housing, More Quickly – Victoria Makes First of Three Big Housing Moves
At a public hearing on Thursday evening, speaking in favour of Victoria’s proposal to allow affordable housing and co-ops to be built more quickly, Irene from Vic West said when she thinks about the character of her neighbourhood, its the people in her neighbourhood thinks of. Irene wasn’t alone. She and others talked about the…
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Reconciliation Contribution Program – Opportunity for Victorians to Recognize Lekwungen Lands, Contribute to Nations
Over the past few months, in partnership with the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations and guided by the insights and leadership of the Reciprocity Trusts, we’ve been working to create a very simple program for local property owners to make a voluntary reconciliation contribution to the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. Last Thursday, a strong majority of…
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City Supports Songhees Nation in Treaty Negotiations with Province and Canada
In 2017, the City of Victoria declared a year of reconciliation, adopted the five municipal calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and began a journey of reconciliation with the Songhees and the Esquimalt Nations on whose homelands Victoria was built. We realized quite quickly that a “year” of reconciliation was a naive…
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Black in BC and the International Decade for People of African Descent, 2015-2024
Pulchérie Mboussi, Executive Director of the African Arts & Culture Community Contribution Society – Issamba Centre. Systemic racism exists. It exists in policing. In local, provincial, and federal government programs and services. It exists in health care and education. Systemic racism is rooted in the historical acts of colonization, displacement, slavery — acts which were…
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Part 4. Missing Middle Housing and More Inclusive, Climate-Friendly Cities for the Future
This is the final part in a four-part series to make as strong a case as possible for Missing Middle Housing in all neighbourhoods in Victoria. This initiative is key to the city’s future. In a nutshell, Missing Middle Housing will allow for more inclusive housing forms “as of right”, which means without needing to…
