Faith Leaders Luncheon (June 22nd, in person): This is a luncheon for faith leaders in the Calgary Alliance. Join us over the lunch hour at Hillhurst United Church on June 22nd. RSVP.

The following Research Action Teams are meeting in the coming weeks:

• Reconciliation Research Action Team—June 14th, 7:30 PM
• Environment Research Action Team—June 21st, 7:30 PM
• Mental Health Research Action Team—July 4th, 7:00 PM

The Strategy Team is meeting on June 23rd at 10:15 AM.

 

 

If you or your core team would like to engage with these Research Action Teams, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected].

Leaders and their core teams were on hand last week to press councillors for a yes vote on the Climate Strategy. Read the LiveWire Calgary coverage here.

Christine Laing spoke for us with Global Calgary. Watch the full clip here, or on our press room webpage.

Environment: 

• The Climate Strategy, which was scheduled for last week, has been moved to July 5th. We continue to advocate for Calgary's revised Climate Strategy.
  • The delay was, officially, because of two councillors needing to leave to Toronto. However, unofficially, we heard that the vote is very close—which means we need to get to work ensuring that all of our councillors are on board.
  • Photos: For members of core teams and institutions, we've uploaded the photos from the action at city hall from last week and campaign information here.
• Please sign up to join us on Tuesday, July 5th in front of city hall to support our city taking action on climate change and environmental stewardship.
• Please consider sending a message to your city councillor. We have a list of councillors, their contact information and their names on this page.

Rev. Tony Snow (Hillhurst United Church) and Christine Laing chatted with veteran journalist Jeremy Klaszus at The Sprawl on the discussion in front of city hall right now about Calgary's Climate Strategy. This episode from The Sprawl is an excellent introduction to the topic.

 

One discussion item, which featured prominently in the coverage of last week's debate at council, was the $87 billion number. This number was shared in the the revised Climate Strategy, in part to communicate the full sum of investments that it would take from private, federal, provincial, corporate, personal and municipal resources to achieve our climate goals.

It's a big number for a big goal: but it's made of many, many investments, some of which are already being put in place throughout our community.

These are flood mitigation projects, ongoing drought infrastructure, the net-zero work of our municipal utility company, the assumed purchases of electric vehicles, home owners installing their own solar panels, and so much, much more.

Some political agents have been engaging in bad faith, saying that the whole bill will fall on the shoulders of citizens of Calgary, and within the tax slips of Calgary's ratepayers.

Councillor Penner said it best in a most recent twitter thread: we need a climate strategy to attract investment and funding. We are being outpaced, outcompeted by, and outfoxed by other, more savvy jurisdictions.

So we need to step up, catch up and take the leadership role, as Calgarians expect us to.

ASK: Please write to your councillors with this information in mind. We will have a new letter writing tool this week - look for it under "Take Action" in the coming days on our website.

 

 

Organizing:

• A group of our members gathered over the weekend to participate in the Foundations for Community Organizing training.
• We now have over 300 Calgarians throughout the city that have taken this coursework and form a community of Calgarians who are actively implementing community organizing practices in their neighbours and institutions.

 

Rabbi Mark Glickman was elected chair of the Calgary Interfaith Council the other week. He is the rabbi at B'nai Tikvah.

During his remarks, he shared a commentary on why faith leaders and those who build community must be a part of the public discourse.

Watch the remarks here. We've also recreated the finale of the rabbi's speech in the below graphic.

A version of the above graphic is in the team.calgarycommongood.org's campaign page. Feel free to use it with your institution's newsletter or social media channels.

This section is dedicated to events and updates that have been forwarded to us from members of the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good. If you would like your event or update featured, and you're a member, please forward your update or event to [email protected].

 

 

One of our members, Engineers Without Borders (Calgary), has been leading an advocacy campaign under the title "The Water Movement."

And this team of advocates just won an award for their work on education and outreach at the 2022 Canadian Water Summit. Learn more about these advocates here.

 

Councillors are meeting on Tuesday as a regular meeting of council. There is an Annual General Meeting for the Calgary Municipal Land Corporate, an AGM for the Calgary Economic Development team, and the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund. Most of these items are verbal, and with a series of reports about these institutions that help guide various aspects of Calgary's redevelopment, investor attraction and more.

There is also a discussion taking place for the city's Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. They're discussion the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Chestemere-Calgary committee, various updates on annexations and councillors are receiving two briefings from administration (from the Alberta Municipalities Update and the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board).

• For those tracking open positions at the City of Calgary, they're looking for an Executive Advisor, who is in part of assist in some of this intergovernmental work.

 

 

Vincent had a chance to snap a photo of the award statues that will be presented this week.

The Calgary Awards are taking place on Wednesday, June 15th at 7:30 PM. You can watch the livestream at calgary.ca/calgaryawards.

Several of our members are up for awards. From the Calgary Climate Hub, Dr. Joe Vipond has been nominated for Citizen of the Year, along with the Calgary Climate Hub for the Environmental Achievement award. The Cerebral Palsy Association is up for the Community Advocate (Organization category) award. Vincent, who puts together this newsletter with the various Research Action Teams, was also nominated for the Community Advocate (Individual category) award. Gar Gar, who is involved with the South Sudanese Youth Empowerment Society (a member of Action Dignity) was also nominated.

Our friends at the Workers' Resource Centre, Miistakis Institute, Dashmesh Culture Centre, CJSW, the Calgary Catholic Family Services, Many Chief Tours and others were also nominated for a variety of awards. You can read the full list here.

 

 

Curious about any of the above, or looking for further details? You can view upcoming council meetings at www.Calgary.ca/agenda or on eScribe.

 

 

The next meeting of the Calgary Police Commission is on June 29th, over Zoom. Get the information for this event and the Zoom link here. Agendas are posted a week in advance.

 

Below is an assortment of articles and updates that might be of interest to ongoing discussions within our city and in public life. If you see something that might make sense to be added to this section of the newsletter, please send it to [email protected].

 

 

Last week, the Canadian Poverty Institute (at Ambrose University) submitted documents to the Government of Canada as part of its consultations on the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy. You can read their submission here.

 

 

Our friends at the Disability Action Hall shared an interesting update on federal data and measurement strategy for accessibility. You can read the strategy here.

This is in part a reaction to the Accessible Canada Act, which came into effect in 2019. Our member, the Cerebral Palsy Association (and their team at the Alberta Ability Network), is leading a campaign on Alberta to enact its own accessibility legislation, which you can learn more about here.

 

 

Stars of Alberta Awards: Do you know an excellent volunteer? The Government of Alberta is running their annual "Stars of Alberta" awards. Deadline for nominations is June 30th.

There are youth, senior and adult categories, with specific additional categories for addressing racism, barriers, advocating for LGBTQ2S+ inclusion and fighting gender discrimination. There are even posters available to be placed on bulletin boards.

 

 

Our friends at Vibrant Communities Calgary released their 2021 report last week. You can read the report here.

 

 

LiveWire Calgary is celebrating 4 years of serving the community. For those interested, they're on our list of agencies that we have on our List.

 

 

Reconciliation:

• June 21st is National Indigenous Peoples Day.
  • Fort Calgary is hosting a "Walk for Reconciliation"
  • Vibrant Communities Calgary shared an events listing on their monthly email.
• "At Calgary’s Glenbow Museum, decolonization is at the top of the agenda" - Link

Alberta Senator Paula Simons shared the above commentary about this incident in Edmonton.

• "Accused in Chinatown homicides was dropped off in Edmonton by RCMP 3 days before killings" - Link
  • Mayor Sohi shared his horror and a call to action. - Link

Stewarding our Environment:

• The Calgary Sprawl hosted a podcast on the subject of the Calgary Climate Strategy. You can listen to it here.

Anti-Racism:

• The Government of Canada is looking for someone to fill the role of Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia.

Mental Health:

•  "Alberta’s opioid-related overdoses still at record highs compared to pre-pandemic" - Link

Closing the Divide:

• Alberta Soccer released a statement detailing how they will not tolerate any kind of abuse towards their officials. You can view their statement here [PDF].

• Abacus Data: "Millions of Canadians Lack Trust in Government and News Media"
  • Over the weekend, Abacus released additional polling on conspiracy theories in Canada, and the level to which they are believed by the population. You can view this information here.
• Did you know that your Calgary Library card grants you free access to pressreader and many international periodicals?
• "Alberta needs strategy to reverse stagnation of its aging rural areas: report" - Link
  • The report can be found here [PDF].
• "Preston Manning: Alberta is badly fractured, but here's a plan to start uniting it" - Link (Editorial comment: The interesting aspect of the op-ed by this retired conservative politician is how he is describing the fractured elements of the conservative movement in the province.)

 

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	The Calgary Alliance for the Common Good is a proud partner in Enough for All.