Encouraging diversity in municipal councils
By Contributor
Rossland, BC – Canadian Women in Local Leadership (CanWILL) Inclusive Community Initiatives Project
The City of Rossland is pleased to announce receipt of funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) CanWILL Inclusive Community Initiatives (ICI) program. Delivered by local governments in collaboration with community organizations, ICI projects will serve to strengthen the capacity of communities to support women to run for, assume, or remain in leadership positions.
To deliver this project, the City will be taking a community-centered and participatory approach that works directly with young women, with a specific target of those that identify within the LGBTQ2S+ community. It will also attempt to identify gaps and/or barriers in rural municipal structures as well as the broader social barriers that exist. This project is intended to allow voices to emerge from the community and create localized solutions to supporting individuals to run for, and be ultimately successful in, public office.
“Rossland is honoured to have been selected for this important project” noted Mayor Kathy Moore. “It is imperative that communities large and small think outside the traditional box when it comes to empowering young women and youth who identify as female, and others in the LGBTQ2S+ community. Encouraging diversity in the public sector will serve to benefit our entire society and bring some fresh talent and new ideas into local government”.
Rossland City Councillor Janice Nightingale also stated “Investing and supporting all of our community inclusively in exploring the option of local governance means that we will have more diverse voices in decision making, and broader representation of our citizens. We need to reduce the barriers that girls and women, and people with non-binary gender presentation and people of colour, must navigate to become leaders in our society. Everyone who has an interest in local governance should have the opportunity to add their unique value to our civic processes”.
Our Project, Inspire young women and gender diverse individuals in local government will kick off in March 2022 with an expected completion date of September 2022, in hopes to promote awareness on the upcoming October 2022 Local General Civic Elections and increase prospective Council candidate nominations from under-represented communities.
For further information on this initiative, please contact Rossland City Hall at 250 362 7396 or visit www.rossland.ca.
