CTV interview on heading into 2025.
My note to City Leaders:
Good morning and happy new year. Reflecting on the past year, I’ve been astounded at how much we’ve accomplished with our new Community Safety Team. Starting with a blank page, a concept and vision, a new and important piece of the public safety net is now catching and supporting people who once fell through the cracks. The CST was willed into existence, a truly pioneering innovation conceived by a forward-thinking Mayor and created by a powerful will within a strong public service filled with people who were willing to use the tools we’ve all been given to make the right things happen for our community. It could not have happened without the flexibility of every civil servant, from finance to labour relations, legal and human resources, communications and IT, executive leadership and more. These things don’t happen in a vacuum, they affect everyone one of us and we change with the environment we work in. In the 6th century BC, Heraclitus said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice. For it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.” Change is the only constant in life, and we are all affected as we co-create and continually improve society, together. This team started with a leap of faith, by the leaders who envisioned it and by the people who became it. Every member was asked to leave the life and career they had built behind them and start on a new journey within two weeks in a brand-new team that was being built on the fly. Partner agencies inside and outside the public service looked on, many with optimism for the future we can envision together; a more inclusive society in which every citizen has a level of dignity and self-worth. Police officers, firefighters and paramedics, core service providers and so many non-government service providers have been in this trench for a long time. But the environment changes, needs and social problems evolve, so this Safety Team has strived to fill the gaps. Together we will all continue to build a net to ensure no-one is left behind. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” (Barack Obama). I am optimistic about the future, and what we will all accomplish together for our city and our citizens in 2025. I wish you all health and fulfillment as we continue on this journey into the future, together.