Safer for All

On September 20, 2020, I put my name forward for the opportunity to join the City of Edmonton Community Safety and Well-Being Task Force with the hope of being able to use my voice to help serve the community. The Task Force was being struck as a result of public hearings in the summer of 2020, where 142 brave Edmontonians shared their perspectives about racism in Edmonton and their experiences with policing. It was clear from their stories that far too many Edmontonians do not feel safe.

In October 2020, I found out that I was selected to be a member of the Task Force and then began the journey that I will always remember as the hardest, and most rewarding experience of my professional life to-date. As I reflect back over these past six months, I am forever in gratitude for the experience of being able to sit at what I now refer to as the most inclusive (virtual) boardroom table I've ever sat at. The complexity of the deliverable not lost to us (myself, along with our chair, nine other community members, and appointees from the Edmonton Police Commission, City of Edmonton, and Edmonton Police Services, making up the Task Force) as we gathered weekly, starting on November 4, 2020 to share our insights, lived experienced and perspectives on community safety and well-being in our city.

Our Task Force was given a mandate to “create actionable recommendations for Edmonton City Council regarding the future of community safety and well-being in the city that are anti-racist.”

In the early stages of our conversations, I challenged myself to lean into any discomfort I felt around not being the most knowledgeable at the table about policing, or not having everyday lived experiences of racism, and reminded myself the experiences I do hold in supporting others in having courageous conversations. Throughout much of my career, I've had to collaborate and work together with many stakeholder groups to seek their input and make inclusive recommendations to both executive and management teams and my service on this Task Force was an accumulation of that experience. It was soon clear to me that my experience in supporting courageous conversations would help us have the much needed dialogue to create a system where everyone, unequivocally feels safe to call police for help.

Even with an inclusive space, there were times when the conversation was difficult and uncomfortable, but using an inclusive, relationship-based approach we explored how services users and service providers can work together to create actionable funding suggestions and policy changes to achieve better outcomes. I know from my work in the equity, diversity and inclusion space, that people feel included when they are valued for their uniqueness, can be their authentic self, and feel psychologically safe -- a space that was created at the beginning for our Task Force and served us during these uncomfortable conversations.

To the greatest extent possible, we approached our work in the same spirit we would ideally like to see across our city. Ours was a forum where all voices were given equal weight and where all voices mattered - regardless of race, background, career path, or circumstance. It was a place where people could speak their minds freely, share their perspectives safely, and call things as they saw them. We did our best to represent the diversity that is Edmonton. We laid our personal truths bare. We challenged each other. We learned from each other.

In the end, we created our vision -- a vision for community safety in which Edmonton:

• provides a sense of belonging
• welcomes, values and includes all individuals of all backgrounds and circumstances
• enables people to live without fear of being harmed, targeted or othered
• enables people to fully engage with and participate in community
• supports individuals and families in overcoming homelessness, poverty, addictions and other challenges
• treats all individuals with respect and dignity
• treats all individuals equal under the law.

I see now that our Task Force was able to lead with both their head and heart, and to this, I am at peace knowing what it means to be at a diverse and inclusive boardroom table. To all my fellow Task Force members, I thank you all for creating a brace space for us to build our recommendations. I am forever indebted to you for your courage, your humility and everything that you've taught me, and for the recommendations we brought forward for creating a safer Edmonton. In the wise words of my fellow Task Force member, Laila Ballony, "believe us", as we move forward to creating braver spaces for all. You can hear our voices of why we need to create this brave space in our Community Safety and Well-Being Task Force video.

As I think towards the future, the continued work of each of the Task Force members, and my own personal journey, I share three ideas to start, or continue your own journey towards creating a safer and braver space for all:

• Start a conversation with your family, friends or colleagues on what your definition of of community safety is, and what your own personal role is in the broader community ecosystem.
• Take Harvard Project Implicit to learn more about your own unconscious bias. Understanding your own prejudice or unsupported judgments in favor of or against one thing, person, or group, can help you see whether you are unknowingly favouring certain people and potentially penalizing others.
• Apply an anti-racism lens to your work, community engagements and daily interactions. Pause to better understand if you are taking deliberate actions to provide equitable opportunities for all people in your community.

This work will continue -- I'm not na?ve to this fact. I know that individual and system impacts will not always meet their intended intent. I know that our unconscious (or conscious) biases will get in the way. I know we will make steps forward, and undoubtedly take steps backwards -- we are after-all human. But if there is one lesson that I now know to be true, we can truly accomplish greatness when we come together, inclusively.

"In the months and years ahead, we encourage all Edmontonians to be partners in driving our leaders towards decisions and actions that will truly make our city a place that is safer for all."

Full Report: Safer for All: Report and Recommendations of the Community Safety and Well-Being Task Force (March 2021).