Mayoral Candidate Responses 2022

The Municipal Election is just around the corner for the people who reside in Victoria, Vancouver, as well as  Toronto, and trying to figure out which Mayoral candidate to vote for can be extremely overwhelming. Especially with the endless articles that you can read from to try and make sense of what each person stands for. 

Likewise, we wanted to give you, our community members, a better understanding of each candidate running for Mayor in the cities of Victoria, Vancouver, and Toronto.

SNIWWOC values and supports Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC), specifically those that identify as a woman, because we as an organization comprised of women of colour, understand the obstacles that racialized women face in today's society. 

Our organization is here to help you make your decision on whom to vote for based on the values that matter most to you. 

We are giving you a better look at each candidate's track record of advocating and standing up for Indigenous Women and Women of Colour, by highlighting each individual's response to the questions we asked them earlier this week. 

Below are the two questions that were asked to each Candidate:

  • What have you done in the past to advocate for and improve the quality of life of Women of Colour and Indigenous Women?

  • What are the most pressing issues faced by the BIPOC community? How do you plan to create positive change regarding these issues?

Below are the direct responses from each individual candidate.

These responses do not represent the words, or ideas of SNIWWOC employees or the organization.These responses are the unedited unique ideas and thoughts of the Mayoral candidates, as they were sent to SNIWWOC, when they were asked the following questions. 

*Grammer was edited in order for our readers to understand each response*.



TORONTO CANDIDATES

John Tory (info@johntory2022.ca)

1. What have you done in the past to advocate for and improve the quality of life of Women of Colour and Indigenous Women?

Mayor Tory is committed to advocating for Women of Colour and Indigenous Women and has a track record of taking action to support these groups.

 In 2017 he was proud to introduce Toronto’s Confronting Anti-Black Racism (CABR) Action Plan. Since its implementation, 60 percent of the plan’s recommendations have been implemented, with more than $25.8 million invested to dismantle barriers and increase access to opportunities for Black communities.

Throughout the pandemic, Mayor Tory led Toronto’s team including significant resources dedicated to our Black communities on needs ranging from food security, to vaccination science to culturally sensitive mental health supports.

 In 2022 he was proud to introduce the city’s Reconciliation Action Plan that builds on the City's existing commitments to Indigenous Peoples. The Reconciliation Action Plan was developed over three years in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis community members, organizations, Elders, Knowledge Carriers, and youth. $3 Million has been allocated to the first year of the plan. The Mayor also strongly supported from early days the Thunder Woman Healing Lodge in Scarborough. It will be the first Indigenous owned and led healing lodge for Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ women in the province of Ontario.

 The Mayor also oversaw the creation of the City’s first non-police crisis response pilots, where trained professionals respond to people in mental health crises instead of police. As part of this, the City launched a specific Indigenous-led pilot as well as a Black-led pilot.

 2. What are the most pressing issues faced by the BIPOC community? How do you plan to create positive change regarding these issues?

 Under the Mayor’s leadership, the City worked closely with the Black and Indigenous communities to develop both the CABR Action Plan and the Reconciliation Action Plan, hearing firsthand from them the most pressing issues faced by women in those communities. As a result of these community consultations, both plans include actions to address affordable housing, childcare, homelessness, mental health supports, jobs, violence against women, and community safety.

 These are all pressing issues which have unique implications for the BIPOC community. In each case, ranging from housing to mental health to support for Black and Indigenous artists and business owners, the City of Toronto under the leadership of John Tory has advanced culturally sensitive initiatives to achieve progress. With much still to be done.

Sarah Climenhaga (info@votesarah.ca)

1. What have you done in the past to advocate for and improve the quality of life of Women of Colour and Indigenous Women?

My advocacy and community work in the past have been around improving transit, adding green space, and improving cycling and pedestrian safety on our streets. I have also advocated for a better approach to budgeting that doesn't neglect vulnerable groups in our community. I have not specifically advocated on behalf of Women of Colour and Indigenous Women though my efforts at improving this city are meant to help every single resident in a way that our current approach does not. Expensive or unreliable transit, a lack of green space, streets that are inaccessible or unsafe, all of these affect women disproportionately and often are even more of a burden for Women of Colour and Indigenous Women.

2.  What are the most pressing issues faced by the BIPOC community? How do you plan to create positive change regarding these issues?

As a white woman, I feel I am unqualified to say what the most pressing issues facing the BIPOC community are.  I look to others in the community for what they tell us those issues are. I'm particularly interested in how BIPOC communities have been affected by the turmoil of the past two years https://www.cbc.ca/life/culture/5-activists-on-the-alarming-impacts-of-the-pandemic-on-bipoc-women-1.5937360 and want to address issues such as accessibility, social isolation, lack of opportunity and violence. To address these in meaningful ways that genuinely improve life in the BIPOC community, I want to increase opportunities to listen. I think city staff and politicians need to directly involve advocates and individual community members in decision making through public consultation processes that are inclusive. Having food and childcare at public meetings, scheduling them in accessible places, at times that work in people's busy schedules, with an online option for those who don't want to be in crowded spaces, on topics that are top of mind for the community, are some of the ways to gather more useful information so that specific solutions are created that are relevant and useful. I also want to address transit, policing and housing issues that affect BIPOC communities disproportionately. I want to remove mandatory fares for the TTC to eliminate conflicts at the fare box or in stations. I want to provide better service by implementing rapid transit corridors - at low cost that can be done quickly - all over the city, especially in areas of the inner suburbs where residents often wait for buses or have to sit in gridlocked streets. I want to make accessibility a priority so that we no longer accept broken elevators or broken escalators - I would like to find solutions where city spaces are designed with accessibility right from the beginning, rather than adding elevators as an add on which leaves users vulnerable to mechanical breakage. I think the TTC can do a better job and so can the city. With regards to policing, I believe the city needs to do far more to support non-police teams to deal with addiction and mental health to prevent conflict. The city itself needs to address the root causes rather than expecting the police to prevent crime with methods that have proven discriminatory in the past. I would work with the TPS to support community policing where police build relationships within communities rather than dominating them. And I would speed up zoning reform, housing repair, and look at innovative ways of creating new housing using a "Housing First" approach since lack of secure housing is a big barrier to employment.

Chloe Brown (cb4tomayor@gmail.com)

To answer your questions, I have worked with the City of Toronto, George Brown College and Toronto Metropolitan University to help Black and Indigenous women find education for employment.

I believe the most pressing issues facing the BIPOC community are the same as most working-class families - I have organized my platform of action plans to respond to each policy area.

Housing and shelter: Increase affordable and safe housing options for women and gender diverse people.

 Transit and internet: Ensure the TTC is safe, accessible and affordable, particularly for women and gender diverse people, people living with disabilities and low-income individuals, and that all residents can access the internet.

 Decent work: Enhance wages and implement better working conditions for frontline and nonprofit workers, a largely feminized and racialized segment of the workforce.

Community Safety: Increase funding for trauma-informed and culturally-responsive approaches to community safety, including full funding for a robust Gender Equity Strategy.

 Community wellbeing: Create greater access to free recreation programs across the city for girls and youth, including food programs.

 And for Indigenous women, Self Determination and Local Reconciliation - Honoring Indigenous Communities

 I hope this offers some clarity as we enter into this crucial moment in Toronto's history.

D!ONNE Renée (mycity@torontomail.com)

Q. What have you done in the past to advocate for and improve the quality of life of Women of Colour and Indigenous Women?

“Your question is a question I have raised with Candidates and media in previous Elections and I often say to them: “I don’t recognize you from the struggle.”

Elections should be a time to collectively work together to get Candidates elected who have been in the struggle— no translation necessary— so we don’t have to struggle for the next four years at least. We can focus on living and striving. Yet, it turns out that even when we collectively come together to vote our interests in Toronto, the vote ends with another mediocre white man ‘elected’ as Mayor. I have asked this question out loud too. How does this happen when statistics Canada suggests that 51% of the voting population are women? White women. 

Amongst the things I’ve done and am doing to improve the quality of life for Women of Colour and Indigenous women, I’ve also been working with and within Community to remind our white sisters in Toronto and Canada that what we have comes down to how you decide to use your influence. White people in general hold the majority of votes in Elections because you go out and vote and have access to vote because of your majority citizenship rights; and while I’ve been encouraging Black women, Indigenous women and women of colour and Community from these groups to vote, even all of our votes put together are not enough to achieve our goals in an Election. We need your vote too.

 Together we succeed! continues to be my rallying cry. So rather than be discouraged about historical voting realities we have been experiencing, I try to remind women, remind men, remind non-binary Community members that our work is not futile. It’s exhausting— oppression is debilitating, but the burden is not ours to bear as we do everything we can to be heard to ensure our ability to live, be and thrive.  It’s up to us all to confront realities with proactive actions— especially white people because white people hold and have held the majority of decision making powers. Historically, for too long, Black women and Indigenous women have been the canary in the coal mines raising concerns, providing solutions, confronting harms regarding necessities affecting our lives only to have the issues and solutions be responded to with a perfunctory “we’ll get to that dear'' or “change takes time” or “incremental change” rhetoric. It is possible to achieve our Community wellness goals, thereby improving our quality of life, by voting D!ONNE Renée on Election Day to ensure our collective ability to live, be and thrive. 

 Please ask other people in the struggle about me and please review my YouTube channel < https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC9XNbVnMjlMgwaPgk3Z0zGw/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=list > for additional work I’ve documented and continue to document highlighting what is often not publicly documented elsewhere”.

 Q. What are the most pressing issues faced by the BIPOC community? How do you plan to create positive change regarding these issues?

A similar question was asked by Global News except without including “by the BIPOC Community” in their ask.

My answer to Global News is the same reply I will give to you attached here

 https://twitter.com/onelectionday/status/1572356908950130693?s=21&t=Rl8zJDpapchmj16A9IDhrA

 Global News did not publish my responses to their questions despite stating that they would update their website with my response. 

 Health disparities and healthcare access and services continues to be based on the ahistorical actions of the past using a lens that has viewed us as “other” based on entrenched structural imperialist white supremacist patriarchy. Solutions to end these disparities are wrapped up in the active solutions to end white supremacy. White supremacy is a beast that must be dismantled at every angle politically, socially, environmentally, structurally, economically and individually. Our ability to live, be, thrive to have choice and experience freedoms relies on our independence of thought and actions freed from oppressive systems causing harm.

Jack Yan (media@jack2022.ca)

“As the only candidate who is concerned about skyrocketing crime in Toronto, especially against women and minorities, I can assure you that protecting all vulnerable demographics, including women, from injustice is among my top priorities.

To illustrate my point, I have released a video of a disgusting incident that transpired when I was on the campaign trail. This disintegration of law and order has accelerated under John Tory and women will be the primary target for career criminals.

John Tory has chosen to ignore your pleas for the past eight years. If you want a mayor who will take swift and decisive action to eradicate criminals targeting women and will do whatever is necessary to ensure women's quality of life in Toronto, please share this video to help raise awareness and vote for Jack Yan for Mayor on October 24”. 

Gil Penalosa (gil@gilformayor.ca)

“Throughout my career I have put equity at the top priority of every initiative I have taken.

As Parks commissioner of Bogota, I created 200 parks that provided green space for everyone to exercise and relax with their friend and family and friends. I also initiated the Ciclovia which opened streets every Sunday and offered free programming for all ages, backgrounds and abilities.

In Toronto I founded 8-80 Cities which redesigns public spaces to be accessible and safe for everyone to enjoy

What are the most pressing issues faced by the BIPOC community? How do you plan to create positive change regarding these issues?

Equity and inclusion in their city is the biggest issue I hear from the BIPOC community. Too many Torontonians from racialized communities feel that Toronto is a great city but not for them. As Mayor, I will work to make a Toronto for everyone with more equitable public transit that serves the inner suburbs with fast, frequent transit, programs at community centres and parks that reflects the diversity of our city, and more affordable housing so that everyone can have a home that fits their life.

The City also needs to listen to BIPOC Torontonians who are asking for a move toward a different model of safety. The idea that police are the only arm of the government that provides safety is discounting the voices of many communities they purport to serve. That means programs for at-risk youth, eviction protection for tenants, trained social workers as first responders to people in crisis because of mental health and addiction issues.

 The most important thing for me to do as Mayor is to continue to listen”.



VICTORIA CANDIDATES

Michelle Wiboltt (MichelleWiboltt@outlook.com) 

Question 1

“Women of colour, nothing. See, I grew up in Vancouver’s western side, when women of colour  held powerful positions, Jonathan Brown mom, green peace, and David Suzuki. Amazing moms, never did they express to me lack just absolutely illustrating the power of united communities”. 

“Indigenous, owning to moms being a social worker whose purpose was to housekeeping terrified children until arranging could be achieved. Being with them instilled an absolute determination to correct, simplest, I more than experience their painful experiences cause I was the child in the house. They spoke within horrors and beyond. So, my Elb1b69 philosophical book’s owe to themselves and my parents demanding a way out of our hell’s”.

Question 2

“Opioid crisis. Change back, No more cultures stealing. Examples, rather than dragon boat race’s, dug out Canó race’s, rather thanksgiving Chinese new year’s, united new year’s, instead of Christ’s madnesses, Xmas = potlucks. Further, separation church states, for those bible filthy’s that can not manage new business taxes sold to municipalities at their original purchase prices gifting to first for lower income housing. Plus kindnesses, wealthy, respectful, affordable, always recognize that the first enduring what’s for benefits of new secular “start trekking “ is truly in children's heart health, communities healthier cause, hopefully, leaves that’s beyond”. 

Rafael Fuentes (rafaelfuentes@shaw.ca) 

“On my social media, I try my best to send positive messages for everyone . Being a visible minority (Filipino- Canadian ), my messages/pictures directly or indirectly help everyone including BIPOC”.

“I have encountered racism recently during co-vid. I was at the gas station and a customer wanted 6 feet. A white person gave him 3 feet and he was fine. I will support anyone and BIPOC/women that encounter racism, sexual harassment/assault etc. In the past, I rarely encountered racism. So now, I have more empathy about the subject”.

Rodney Graham (rgraham.1517@gmail.com) 

“As a social activist and journalist I have STUCK MY NECK OUT “innumerable” times complaining about how indigenous people, both sexes, are profiled - and used, abused, and accused. Yes, you can quote me. Yes, I am Métis”. 

David Arthur Johnston (templeofninpo@yahoo.com)

What have you done in the past to advocate for and improve the quality of life of Women of Colour and Indigenous Women?

“I figured out what Creator looks like and am now working on correcting all the damage the Crown has done to the world. Catalyzed the right to sleep being recognized by the Supreme Court of BC and subsequently discovered tent-cities categorically cannot function while the addiction epidemic exists. So I'm going to outright end the addiction epidemic”.

What are the most pressing issues faced by the BIPOC community? How do you plan to create positive change regarding these issues?

“We are ruled by psychopathic children that believe in magic. I'm going to enlighten everyone as to the pragmatic nature of the universe so that the capacity to hate dies enmass”.

Lyall Atkinson (lyallatkinson@shaw.ca) 

“I helped move a single mom who had a house fire at no cost. I also helped a single mom who went through a house fire who had no insurance with furniture Beds for her and her son so he could move back in with her. I was asked to pick a winner for a memorial award at a cars show. I picked a lady who came back from Afghanistan as a war hero who’s humVEE was flipped over and then was being flown out to return home and had to jump out of a crashing helicopter  at 20 feet from the ground, when she returned her uncle bought her a 1954 Belair automobile  to restore and she did most of the work herself”.



VANCOUVER MAYORAL CANDIDATES

Leona Brown (leona_brown@hotmail.com)

 *SNIWWOC did not receive an additional response from the candidate. Below are the materials she provided.

Lewis Villegas (villegas4444mayor@gmail.com) 

My name is Lew Villegas, 

I have been an urban design specialist for over 30 years, advocating for consensus based planning and design at the community level. That includes e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. 

I have completed projects in Canada and the U.S. In Nanaimo, and in Anchorage, Alaska, my plans for neighborhood revitalization were greeted with standing ovations. 

Think about that, when was the last time a community plan in our city ever got a standing ovation?

Never. Not in my lifetime at least.

In Vancouver, I designed Chinatown Square with my friend David Mah. I designed the plan for the 2010 Olympic Village—pro bono publico—for the city. I assembled a group of like-minded folks who like me felt that the city, already back in 2004, was on the wrong track, proposing to build the Olympic Village as a ’Tower Park’. 

Give me a break!

As your mayor, with professional experience designing neighborhood plans, I will cut through the bull and make sure the City delivers good plans to the people.

I am very confident that in the groups in Anchorage and Nanaimo, and all the other community groups I have worked with, there was a wide mix of gender, color, age, etc. I remember vividly one exchange during the Q&A in Nanaimo, with a person in a wheel chair, about how we could create accessible units in row houses. 

The point about ‘good’ urbanism, is that it aims to respond to the needs of individuals—all individuals—and to support higher levels of social functioning in the community. In all the neighborhoods.

So, for example, at the Olympic Village Square, where I collected 30 nomination signatures in just 5 hours, there was no hesitation on the part of women of any age, or ethnicity, to chat we me. Five did say they didn’t feel comfortable giving a signature, name and address. I am the father of a teenage daughter and son, I get it. I told them I totally understood and thanked them for chatting anyway. 

Over the course of the afternoon, I met three people who said they lived in one of four social housing sites in the Village. One of them told me that the problem with housing people in hotels is that there is no personal safety. People should be housed in sites with less than 10 residents, with one live-in house manager, I asked? He agreed.

Imagine that. There was no hesitation on the part of total strangers to stop and discuss issues in their neighborhood and their city with another total stranger... because we were standing in a public space. A place intentionally designed for casual, interpersonal exchanges. For bumping into people, maybe our neighbours, without having to text first. 

So as part of a new attempt at a Vancouver Plan that makes sense to the people, not just the tower developers, I want to propose building on village square in each neighborhood. And I will consult the neighbors as to the place and the kinds of services and shops that should locate there. 

Three liquor outlets and one national drug store chain is not a good mix of shops at the Olympic Square. One ice cream shop, three cafes, and two family run restaurants would be better I think. Let me know your ideas.

Cities can function better when the small details are looked after. Typically because the planners have taken the trouble, in the first place, to consult with local residents, the people in the neighborhood—of all types and from all walks of life.

I am asking for your vote for Mayor (#56 on the ballot BTW) because I am promoting a plan to deliver Guaranteed Affordable Houses in Perpetuity to all Canadians—forever! 

GAHP extends the co-op concept to all properties by putting a contract on title that restricts the resale price of the house to the purchase price plus a CPI adjustment (consumer price index, or inflation adjustment).

Then GAHP builds and sells properties in our neighborhoods at the federal target for housing affordability. How much?

In Vancouver, $242,000. 

With a 5% downpayment, the mortgage payment is $1,250, less than most places rent right now. 

For that price, GAHP will deliver 1,280 SF—680 finished (2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, kitchen, laundry, living room and dining space, carport, and a unit door that opens directly to the street or a courtyard). 600 unfinished and heated for DIY. GAHP can also deliver smaller units for singles, and larger units for families. Can’t be done? 

Never say never.  

By building on Crown land, the contract on title essentially takes the cost of land right out of the property. You guessed it—in perpetuity! Canada is the largest democracy in the world by land mass.

So I don’t believe the claims that we are running out of land. It seems to me we have run out of good ideas.

On 1 October I will publish my new book on Amazon, “The Death and Life of the Vancouver Urbanism”. 

It is in that book (and on my website Villegas++++Mayor.com) that you can read the details of how the Housing Crisis was triggered, and how we can fix it by combining GAHP and modern Streetcar|LRT.

I’m going to give a short explanation here, using the 2030 Olympic Bid as the example. For the nitty gritty read the book, or check out the website.

I think we can and should win the 2030 Olympic Bid for Vancouver, Squamish and Sun Peaks. This is how I propose we put Vancouver’s bid over the top with the IOC:

(1) Make all three Olympic Villages GAHP.

 

When the games are over, and the athletes return home, 2,000 to 3,000 households move into the three villages and make them home.

(2) Hardwire Whistler with YVR

• Extend the Canada Line tunnel to Lonsdale Quay, then

• Operate modern Streetcar|LRT (demonstrated as the 2010 Olympic Tram at the last Vancouver Olympics) in the Canada Line tunnels. 

• After the Streetcar|LRT reaches North Vancouver, it takes a left turn and… 

• Runs rouge on BC Rail main lines all the way to Whistler. 

• We add a café car for convenience (that means WCs, BTW)

 

Heading in the opposite direction, Streetcar|LRT goes to the airport. Now we have hardwired one of the best Alpine resorts in the world with an International airport. 

Visitors can get from one place to the other in less than 90 minutes.

That is what is different about the modern Streetcar|LRT. It operates as Streetcar in the city, and as LRT outside the city. Whereas Skytrain and Canada Line cannot ride the BC Rail mainline, Streetcar|LRT is designed to get places, all kinds of places. Flexibility is its competitive advantage… and price!

(3) We have provided 200,000 people living in the North Shore—finally—access to rapid transit. And we have built a third crossing of the Burrard Inlet that is GHG-0—no pollution, cleaner air.

But that is not all we will do by building a 2030 Olympics with GAHP doors and modern tram.  

In the most expensive real estate market in the world, Vancouver, we will have sent a signal to the rest of the world that affordable housing, provided in sufficient quantity to meet or exceed demand, is the responsibility of every government. 

 A promise I make to each and every person I will represent as Mayor. E-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. 

That is why I am running for mayor of our city. That is why I am asking for your vote. 

 

Because I believe that we can deliver affordable houses in sufficient quantity to meet or exceed demand—for everyone, forever—by doing just 3 things:

(1) Building—GAHP houses, row houses, courtyard houses and walk-up apartments on Crown land; then

(2) Hardwiring GAHP districts, neighborhoods and tramtowns—with the jobs and cultural core (downtown Vancouver); by

(3) Using modern Streetcar|LRT—a technology now operating for a year in Kitchener-Waterloo, where it was built for 12-times less cost than the Broadway tunnel.  

I also have some other more practical ideas:

• Free shopping bags (we are a community that recycles),

• Free drink cups (get government out of our pockets, already) and 

• Free parking after 8 p.m. (a suggestion from my barber, a seasoned merchant with over 30 years of experience).

Gölök Z Buday (buday4vancouver@goliberty.org)

I don't tend to point it as a identarian matter, I have many positions in favor of this and other groupings, any individual.

Check www.gzlfb.com to see if anything does by your estimation. Including the Constitution I am planning to make Vancouver's.

Probably people condescendingly isolating them as BIPOC, and treating them like some political fetishization.


adriana arantes