EXPAND HOUSING-FIRST INITIATIVES, SCAFFOLD COMMUNITY SAFETY & WELLBEING, ACCESSIBILITY & CONNECTEDNESS
On the heels of the last municipal election, in December 2022, my motion that staff study and report on a “Housing First” template to address our homelessness crisis as a long-term solution to eradicating it, was passed by council. Its direction was based on the premise of unconditional housing or “housing as a human right”. Staff would draw from global and national best practices to address the unique profile and needs of unhoused individuals in our community. This, along with the accompanying motions from Councillors Bierk and Riel around urgent winter strategies, set the course for the creation of Peterborough’s modular transitional housing project, increased shelter services, as well as partnerships with agencies providing accompanying wrap-around supports and services.
Core principles of Housing First includes access, client self-determination, housing with available accompanying services, a recovery orientation with services tailored to help individuals maintain housing, focusing on mental health, addiction recovery and overall wellness. Community integration, with an emphasis on social inclusion and community connections is the ultimate goal.
On October 1, 2024, the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton-Kawartha Pine Ridge’s first Garden Home arrived in Peterborough in Town Ward. This additional dwelling unit marks the first Garden Home established by a social agency to exist in our city and aims to demonstrate how we can creatively increase affordable housing options in our city and region.
Healthy, safe and inclusive communities celebrate diversity in creative ways. Nogojiwanong-Peterborough demonstrates its commitments to equity, human rights and inclusivity in an increasingly broader scope. In February, 2023, I proposed a motion for the city to more actively recognize race and cultural identity by promoting and organizing activities for various days of significance. The outcome contributed to the development of a broader equity plan for the city and council voting unanimously to make DEI training mandatory for all councillors.
In 2024, as Chair of Peterborough Public Health, I had the privilege of co-leading the Joint Merger Steering Committee between legacy PPH and HKPR Health Units to the decision to come together, build capacity for our region to form Lakelands Public Health in 2025. As an ally-settler board member of Lakelands Public Health’s Indigenous Health Advisory Committee, I participate in meaningful engagement reflecting local Indigenous perspectives and needs grounded in Section 50 of Ontario’s Health Promotion and Protection Act.
On International Women’s Day, December 6th and at “Take Back the Night”, we stand in solidarity with community and partners advocating for increased protections, parity and promotion of the ongoing work needed to protect women, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives, gender-diverse and equity-deserving groups in Peterborough. Alongside the YWCA, Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre and PDAN, the Peterborough Domestic Abuse Network, I brought forward a December 2023 motion to declare gender-based violence an epidemic, supported unanimously by council, making Peterborough the 74th municipality to do so following the recommendations of the 2022 Renfrew Inquest.
Since GE Vernova distributed notices to select Ward 3 residents last September about its intention to demolish 25 buildings at 107 Park St. North, I have been advocating fervently along with community members, parents and of Prince of Wales Public School, families of former GE workers and neighbouring residents for a healthy and safe approach to the disruption of toxic elements intrinsic to these buildings and the site/soil on which they sit, in the face of a demolition of this scale. Along with fellow-councillor Bierk, we have brought forth motions for a health and safety plan to be provided, as well as a motion that GE Vernova disclose its full demolition plan as part of its application for a demolition. In tandem, at Lakelands Public Health board meeting I moved a unanimously-supported motion, that a letter be written to GE, petitioning for a disclosure of that plan in advance of permitting and demolition, out of respect for community preparedness and safety. We await a reply.
