Open Council

13th Meeting of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee

Open Council

13th Meeting of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee

September 20, 2022, at 4:00 PM

Original link

The meeting is called to order at 4:00 PM; it being noted that the following members were in remote attendance, Councillors M. van Holst, M. Salih, J. Helmer, M. Cassidy, A. Hopkins, P. Van Meerbergen, S. Turner and S. Hillier.

1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.

2.   Consent

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Hamou

That Consent Items 2.2 to 2.8, BE APPROVED.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

2.2   Amendment to Delivery Date of the City of Music Conference and Events Business Case and the London City of Music Expo Business Case

2022-09-20 Staff Report - Amendment to Delivery Date of the City of Music Conference

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Hamou

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Planning and Economic Development, the information report dated September 20, 2022, with respect to the ‘Amendment to Delivery Date of the City of Music Conference and Events Business Case, and the City of Music Expo Business Case’ BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed

2.3   COVID-19 Ongoing Impacts on City of London Operations and Services

2022-09-20 Staff Report - Covid-19 Ongoing Impacts

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Hamou

That, on the recommendation of the City Manager, the staff report dated September 20, 2022, entitled “Covid-19 – Ongoing Impacts on City of London Operations and Services” BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed

2.4   2022 Mid-Year Operating Budget Monitoring Report

2022-09-22 Staff Report - 2022 Mid-Year Operating Budget Monitoring

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Hamou

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports, the following actions be taken with respect to the 2022 Mid-Year Operating Budget Monitoring Report:

a)    the 2022 Operating Budget Mid-Year Monitoring Report for the Property Tax Supported Budget, Water Budget, and Wastewater and Treatment Budget BE RECEIVED for information. An overview of the net corporate projections are outlined below, noting that the year-end positions could fluctuate based on factors beyond the control of the Civic Administration:

i)    Property Tax Supported Budget projected surplus of $8.6 million;

ii)    Water Rate Supported Budget projected surplus of $3.8 million;

iii)    Wastewater and Treatment Rate Supported Budget projected surplus of $1.6 million;

it being noted that Property Tax, Water, and Wastewater & Treatment Budget surplus will be allocated in accordance with the Council Approved Surplus/Deficit Policy;

b)    the presentation providing an overview of 2022 Mid-Year Budget Monitoring (as appended to the staff report dated September 20, 2022 as Appendix C) BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed

2.5   2022 Mid-Year Capital Budget Monitoring Report

2022-09-22 Staff Report - 2022 Mid-Year Capital Budget Monitoring

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Hamou

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports, the following actions be taken with respect to the 2022 Mid-Year Capital Budget Monitoring Report, dated September 20, 2022:

a)    the 2022 Mid-Year Capital Budget Monitoring Report BE RECEIVED for information; it being noted that the life-to-date capital budget represents $2.8 billion with $1.8 billion committed and $1.0 billion uncommitted; it being further noted that the City Treasurer, or designate, will undertake the housekeeping budget adjustments identified in the above-noted report, in accordance with the Multi-Year Budget Council Policy;

b)    the status updates of active 2019 life-to-date capital budgets (2019 and prior) having no future budget requests, as appended to the staff report dated September 20, 2022 as Appendix “B”, BE RECEIVED for information;

c)    the following actions be taken with respect to the completed capital projects identified in Appendix “C” appended to the above-noted staff report, which have a total of $2.0 million of net surplus funding:

i)    the capital projects included in Appendix “C” BE CLOSED; and,

ii)    the following actions be taken with respect to the funding associated with the capital projects approved for closure in c) i), above:

Rate Supported

A)    pay-as-you-go funding of $3 thousand BE TRANSFERRED from capital receipts;

B)    uncommitted reserve fund drawdowns of $1.47 million BE RELEASED back into the reserve funds which originally funded the projects;

Non-Rate Supported

C)    uncommitted reserve fund drawdowns of $43 thousand BE TRANSFERRED from Non-Rate Supported Reserve Funds;

D)    other net non-rate supported funding sources of $567 thousand BE ADJUSTED in order to facilitate project closings.

Motion Passed

2.6   Amendment - Terms of Reference - Committee of Management for the Dearness Home

2022-09-20 Staff Report - Amendment - DHCM Terms of Reference

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Hamou

That, on the recommendation of the City Clerk, the proposed by-law as appended to the staff report dated September 20, 2022 Appendix “A”, being “A By-law to amend By-law A.-6582-255 being a by-law to establish a Committee of Management for the Dearness Home and to update the Terms of Reference”, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council Meeting to be held on September 27, 2022.

Motion Passed

2.7   4th Report of the Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Oppression Community Advisory Committee

2022-09-20 Submission - DIACAC Report

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Hamou

That the 4th Report of the Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Oppression Community Advisory Committee from its meeting held on September 8, 2022 BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed

2.8   Municipal Accommodation Tax - Tourism London Annual Report

2022-09-20 Staff Report - Municipal Accommodation Tax

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Hamou

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Planning and Economic Development, Tourism’s London annual report on the expenditure of Municipal Accommodation Tax revenues BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed

2.1   Actions Implementing London’s UNESCO Designation as Canada’s ‘City of Music’

2022-09-20 Staff Report - Actions Implementing Londons UNESCO Designation

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Planning and Economic Development the following actions be taken with respect to London’s UNESCO designation as Canada’s ‘City of Music’:

a)    the area previously identified in the Music, Entertainment and Culture District Strategy as the Downtown/Old East Village District BE REDESIGNATED as the Core Area Entertainment District;

b)  the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to 

     i)        proceed with the actions required to include the UNESCO City of Music messaging on new City of London gateway roadside signage, City Hall and Centennial Hall, the Victoria Park Bandshell and; 

     ii)        work with our partners at RBC Place and Budweiser Gardens for inclusion of the messaging on building signage;

c)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back at a future date with a proposed governance structure and detailed four-year action plan to implement London’s UNESCO ‘City of Music’ designation over time and within existing budgets or in association with the next 4-year multi-year budget.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

3.   Scheduled Items

None.

4.   Items for Direction

4.1   Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Framework

2022-09-20 Staff Report - Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression

Moved by M. Hamou

Seconded by M. Cassidy

That, on the recommendation of the City Manager, the following actions be taken with respect to the new Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Framework:

a)    the above-noted Framework, as outlined in the staff report dated September 20, 2022, BE ENDORSED; and,

b)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to undertake the necessary steps to implement the Framework.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

4.2   Hyde Park Business Improvement Association

Moved by S. Lehman

Seconded by J. Helmer

That the following actions be taken with respect to the Hyde Park Business Improvement Association:

a) the resignation of Jean Coles from the Hyde Park Business Improvement Association BE ACCEPTED; and,

b) Vicki Balazs, Jaydancinc Inc. and Kelsey Watkinson, Curley Brewing Company BE APPOINTED to the Hyde Park Business Improvement Association for the term ending November 14, 2022;

it being noted that the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee received communications from D. Szpakowski, General Manager/CEO, Hyde Park Business Improvement Association with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

None.

6.   Adjournment

Moved by J. Fyfe-Millar

Seconded by M. van Holst

That the meeting BE ADJOURNED.

The meeting adjourned at 4;57 PM.

Full Transcript

Transcript provided by Lillian Skinner’s London Council Archive. Note: This is an automated speech-to-text transcript and may contain errors. Speaker names are not identified.

View full transcript (1 hour, 3 minutes)

[6:06] ask colleagues to have their screens on please. Ask the clerk in a few seconds when the big hand hits the 12 and the little hand hits the four will confirm quorum so by the way that’s how I was taught to tell time you know the big hand hits the never mind. Clerk do we have quorum? I can confirm quorum. Thanks for how much colleagues and the public welcome to the 13th meeting of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee. The City of London is committed to making every effort to provide alternate formats and communication sports for meetings upon request. To make a request specific to this meeting please contact SPPC at the London.ca or 519-661-2489 extension 2425 and with that I will call on Councillor Lewis to provide to offer the land acknowledgement.

[7:27] Thank you Your Worship. We acknowledge that we are gathered today on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabic, Haudenosaunee and Lene Peiwak and Adder Wanda and Peoples. We honor and respect the history, languages and culture of the diverse indigenous people who call this territory home. We acknowledge all the treaties that are specific to this area. The two Royal Wampum Belt Treaty of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Silver Covenant chain and the Beaver hunting grounds of the Haudenosaunee, the Nanfan Treaty of 1701, the McKee Treaty of 1790, the London Township Treaty of 1796, the Huron Track Treaty of 1827 with the Anishinaabic and the Dish with one spoon covenant Wampum of the Anishinaabic and Haudenosaunee. The three indigenous nations that are neighbors to London are the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation, the Oneida Nation of the Thames and the Muncie Delaware Nation who all continue to live as sovereign nations with individual and unique languages, cultures and customs. Thank you Councillor Lewis.

[8:33] Colleagues as we all know the last 10 days of this last 10 days we have flown the flag at half staff to honor her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second the longest serving sovereign in our history and I think would be appropriate today acknowledging that her funeral was yesterday. If we if I could ask you all please to stand for one minute of silence. Thank you very much. I will look for any disclosures of Canadian interest. I see none. We have eight items on the consent agenda. I’m just going to share something very briefly with colleagues and then and then we will take whatever action you deem appropriate. The intent of a consent agenda we’re not going to change this in the last 56 days of this council is that if something is on the consent agenda and no one wishes to have it separated for discussion or voting then it’s voted on without discussion and either yes or no as council dictates. That has not been our practice as you know our practice has been that we will pull an item if it needs to be voted on separately and what we then do is discuss any item as we wish and that has certainly been what we have done to this point and we will carry on at this stage but I did think it appropriate particularly those that consider Robert’s rule of orders and rules of order and how we carry our business is that a consent agenda is intended to be exactly that there’s no discussion just a little yes or no. However again as I’ve indicated what we will be doing is asking you to pull any item that you wish to either vote on separately or amend for for a separate consideration otherwise it’s it’s all open and fair. So with that I’ll ask if anyone wishes any item dealt with separately for voting purposes I see Councillor Lewis thank you Your Worship if we can pull item 2.1 after some discussion with London with tourism London I have some alternate language that I’d like to propose and I see that you provided that in advance as well thank you any other item that you wish to have voted on separately when that we can have full some discussion all right so with that then I will look for a motion to accept the balance of the consent agenda with the exception of 2.1. Go ahead and move replace. Councillor and whole seconded by Councillor Hamou thank you very much we’ll call the question. Oh sorry we will not call the question. Get into a routine any discussion on any of those items I’m sorry colleagues after what I just set on items 2 2 to 2 8. Councillor Vanholz go ahead. Thank you Your Worship I’ve got just a short question about 2.1 and yes but we’re not going to discuss 2.1 quite yet it’s been pulled. Oh yes of course and then perhaps I didn’t know that there was I did note a power point in the package with respect to the city or the multi-year budget the 22 mid-year budget monitoring overview and I wondered if staff was going to speak to that. Well let’s stop let’s start right there if we can please Councillor Vanholz stay it’s all in your package normally those screens don’t come up individually but I’m at the pleasure of council if you would like to hear staff go through it I know you’ve all reviewed it but if you would like to staff go through that or certainly be prepared to answer any questions that you might have with regard to that specific item. Okay well thank you Your Worship I think sometimes those presentations are valuable for people who don’t get the agenda and at home but it often happened if that was there was a presentation I don’t I don’t need don’t need to see it maybe I can maybe I can ask a few questions about some of the items done here maybe starting with 2.3 the ongoing impacts on the city of London operations and services so good thank you well I see that there are many and and of course some many those are the result of the the pandemic response and and quite quite dramatic impacts I didn’t want to ask about service deliveries something I’ve heard Your Worship more and more is that our challenges dealing with the number of people experiencing homelessness addictions episodic mental health as is written here in the top of page 17 of our agenda is often related to people outside of the city so it’s it’s not only London being challenged with its own troubles but it seems like we’re being challenged from we’re taking on the challenges of other communities and so I wondered if staff could comment on on that. If I could ask Ms. Livingston please. Through you Mr. Mayor that certainly is a narrative that we have heard in the community and we are starting to see some evidence of that I can share that Mr. Dickens has raised it with his colleagues in terms of on-site and the municipal service managers to talk about it I think it would be fair to say that every city is dealing with very severe impacts of severe community health impacts frankly of what we’re seeing in terms of folks in our community so I we’re aware that that is happening I don’t have a sense of the numbers that’s very hard to understand but we are in dialogue with other communities to say you know it’s best if people stay in their home community where they can be reconnected and established with appropriate services that’s what we try to do here while we’re trying to manage a fairly serious and significant set of issues in our own community.

[16:50] Okay thank you very much and I’m glad we’re seeing deeper into this this issue as I’ve heard a number of confirmations that that is taking place so thank you for that for that answer and again I hope that we’ll be able to one we’re solving our problems look at in a way that smaller communities might be able to duplicate the the solutions that we we take on and then that might encourage them to keep their folks at home where there’s there certainly would be their their preference thank you looking at 3.3 so I see that we’ve got quite a quite a few supply chain issues I’m I was wondering about some PXOs that were supposed to be going up on Hamilton Road and wondering why that was taking so long and then I I see in the report here that the the signal and street poles are are part of those supply chains problems so that’s answered that problem actually very much appreciate the the detail in in this report because it’s it’s answered quite a few questions but I am I’m wondering what what we can do to if there’s ways to mitigate the the supply chain issues are there things that we’re we’re looking at to do differently that might help us so with that Ms. Livingston can you direct this question please yes Mr. Mayor there are a number of steps we’re taking to address supply chain issues notably we have a fantastic purchasing department that gets out in front as best as possible when we understand what it is that we require there are other steps that through major construction we are trying to deal with if those are the kinds of things versus a general answer if you are looking for a specific kind of area I would be happy to defer the answer to this year or if it’s a more general conversation about managing procurement I can also ask Ms. Barbone to respond your call counselor are you good with that okay no I’ll be happy with that answer your words just you know I can see that we’ve we’ve certainly identified the the problems and so there there’s some I think pretty clear options where we could go to to help them that in that way so again thanks for thanks for the detail in this report you know so unfortunately we’re all in this difficult situation thank you any other comments or questions for staff this has been colleagues this has oh I see counselor Cassidy go ahead please you snuck in there go ahead thank you Mr. Mayor I was actually looking for the button to raise money and so I thought I should put the real one out there while I looked for it so thank you I have I have some questions and comments on item 2.7 so I want to start by saying fabulous work to all of our staff especially those in the diversity inclusion and anti the diversity and inclusion area this has been a lot a lot a lot of work I know in this short term and I know that it’s been a lot of work in the long term a lot of this is a long time coming it was way back in our in our strategic plan in in 2015 that we included in our strategic plan that city staff would use a gender lens in the development of new policies so counselor I just want to be absolutely clear I know you made reference to 2.7 sounds like it’s a bit more like 4.1 that you’re sorry 4.1 yes yes yes I’m sorry so why don’t we save that because I know you’ll be incredibly articulate about that at the right time great and I can just say this then thanks to all the work over the last four years to the wonderful volunteers on the anti oppression diversity inclusion and anti oppression advisory committee and all of our advisory committees Mr. Mayor don’t know if I’ll have an opportunity in the next two months so thank you thank you very much I appreciate any other any other comments or questions with respect to the consent items I see none the it’s been moved and it has been seconded we will call the question on to a verbal yeah your words closing the vote the motions passed 15 to 0 back now to item 2.1 of the agenda of the good set agenda Councillor Lewis is at as this be dealt with separately over to you Councillor Lewis please thank you worship and as I alluded to when I asked for this to be pulled tourism one and actually had our strategic planning development meeting last week to start laying out the framework for the new strategic plan for the next five years and I had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Crossman and Ms. Finn about this particular item as they brought it to my attention really all everything in the report speaks for itself I’d like to propose just a slight change to the language that was in the report and that change would be in section B of the staff recommendation that civic administration be directed to one proceed with the actions required to include the UNESCO city of music messaging on new city of London gateway road signage City Hall centennial Hall and the Victoria Park branch out and to to work with our partners at RBC place and Budweiser Gardens for inclusion of the messaging on the building signage and the reason for proposing this amended language or this revised language of courses this UNESCO city of music designation is really critically important as we proceed with you know developing an entertainment district in our community in terms of our tourism initiatives and moving forward in the arts and cultural sector and music in particular and recognizing that this designation is something that’s given up very rarely it’s an opportunity for us to celebrate this not just at our gateway signage which was the original staff recommendation but some particular locations of public venues obviously everyone knows the Victoria Park band shell is is home to a ton of musical performances so I’m gonna stop you for a second because I should have stopped you when you just put it on the floor to see if you had a seconder before you spoke to it do you have a seconder I see counselor five Miller do you have any final comments sure just to wrap up I mean as I was saying the ton of concerts the Victoria Park band shell obviously Centennial Hall is a key venue for music performances in our city and of course to work with our partners at two other important venues RBC place and Budweiser Gardens and I would point out in fact with the consent agenda in 2.2 the city of music conference one of the reasons that there was an ask for an extension that we’ve just approved on the timeline is so that we can utilize our BC place as a venue because it’s an important connector to this initiative as well so that’s the reason for proposing this slight revision in the language and I hope that colleagues can support that there’s been moved and seconded any other commentary I see Councillor Lehman thank you all support this putting my RBC board member hat on I think I would be happy to present this to the board it doves tells nicely with our discussions and our strategic plan now we can be more of a partner with the city and and leverage what the city has and when you’re seeking convention business or other business this designation is certainly a great way to leverage to leverage that and as was mentioned by council office events etc but even goes beyond that I know when conventions are considering London they’re not looking just looking at the facility but they’re also looking at what the city has to offer for those those attending so I’m happy to support this thank you any other commentary that’s your event host yes I think that’s a good approach being taken side support that as well and I also appreciate the report I would like to ask through you to staff just for a little more detail about when we look at the three three kinds of districts citywide main street and downtown old each village district what’s seen for the main street district describes what it is but I know that we have one in my ward Hamilton Road is considered a main street and we do have great music venue there east side barn grill most recently they had the Latin music night which is great nine bands and one of the one of the winning bands as well so that was that was a great time but I’m I’m wondering how main streets are supported through this let’s ask good mr. meters who your worship is part of the the resolution that came from council I was for the most part just focused on on this the core area entertainment district however we do support our the main street districts as well and it’s for this moving forward with our city music in the work we’re doing there it will definitely touch all of London the the focus though for this report was just on on those kind of core areas and but we don’t we don’t want to forget anyone we think music is going to be an important part of all our lives throughout London thank you customer and wholesaling us no you worship thank you thank you any other comments or questions I’m just particularly concerned after 56 more days that I’m looking for signage home of musician and guitarist Ed Holder but I suspect that may not make the signage colleagues this has been moved and seconded I see no other questions or comments with that we will call the question Councillor Slee did you I have a question I’m sorry I missed you no Miss Mary I was just going to just express my support for this I think this is great I just really wanted to say that even the conversation around the music industry in London has preceded my time in the past term of council been able to move some items related to this and glad to see the momentum continue to grow and glad to see Councillors bring this forward I think this is the right to the right direction so I’ll be supporting this and hopefully an incoming new council will continue to build on this because I think this is a very part in a strong part for London’s legacy thank you very much any other comments see none let’s call the question closing the vote the motions passed 15 to 0 thank you that concludes our consent scheduled items we have two items under items for direction the first is 4.1 anti-racism anti-oppression framework you will see a fairly extensive and detailed package here I know that Councillor Casty was had some comments and I did not want to lessen our opportunity to say well done again so Councillor Casty do you have comments yes I do thank you Mr.

[29:59] Mayor so well I got I was able to afford to thank the advisory committee as well so that was just an added benefit but I do want to thank staff for this it really is incredible work it was a lot of work going back to again 2015 is when we first put consideration of a gender lens in our strategic plan I personally whether it was a result of of that consideration or not but I you know I remember when we were debating that addition to our strat plan way back in 2015 I remember looking at our senior leadership team and it was definitely a a minority of that group were were women despite the fact that if you look around City Hall the overwhelming majority of our workforce at that time especially were women and so it didn’t seem to be translating up to the higher echelons in City Hall and I think we can all agree that that definitely has been a change whether that’s a result of our our gender lens approach or not I was disappointed to see that the gender and equity lens were not always used over the years and so I’m really happy to see how things have evolved to see this framework coming forward and really to see in the short time that we have had our anti-racism and anti-oppression people team in place in that really short time so much work has been done and I really want to commend them for that I really want to commend Ms. Livingston for putting this team together and bringing them here to City Hall to to really have this focused approach on this really important work I’m really really happy and pleased with this a couple of questions about this as well my first one is in one of the guiding principles it talks about the truth truth and reconciliation commission commission excuse me calls to action and that we will be focusing on implementing the calls to action I’m assuming it’s calls to action that have a municipal focus and I will say over the last eight years and primarily in the previous term of council there was some hesitancy towards implementing some of those calls to action I want to understand where we are now from Ms.

[32:32] Livingston if she can comment on that is there a greater acceptance of really pushing ahead and going forward and endorsing these calls to action here at the City of London well then let’s let’s ask Ms. Livingston thank you your worship and through you to the counselor there’s a deep commitment to truth and reconciliation within the organization and it is being led by the ARAO team but there are also a number of staff across the organization that are working hard to deliver on the specific municipal actions when we were reporting to council back in April to talk about an update on where we were at with those specific actions and also bringing forward the land acknowledgement at that time we indicated that in addition to moving forward on the municipally identified actions we wanted to do deeper work within our organization and also with the urban indigenous community and the local First Nations on what other steps of reconciliation we might be needing to consider and at that time we indicated we would be undertaking that work and bringing back to council an action plan on delivering further on truth and reconciliation so we anticipate bringing that plan back next year that work is underway right now and as I say it begins with the base of the municipal actions but it will probably also and consider other elements as we collectively move forward on reconciliation thank you yes thank you for that so again in in the framework it talks about the tool especially the previous iteration of the equity lens was intended to be used by council members and it talks throughout the framework about these this framework being used by city council in in helping us to make our decision so I’m wondering how how that will come to be will the training be offered to city councilors will it be strongly encouraged will it be part of the orientation for incoming council or is there a plan somehow for the training of city councilors in the use of this framework this limits thank you your worship the short answer is yes that will begin in the new council orientation is embedded in our proposed approach to that orientation already so not only will it be it will be a foundations training around anti-racism and anti-oppression and also understanding the tools what council can expect in the future as staff work to use this tool and I just want to be clear it’s going to take time to build skill and capacity across and competency in this area across the organization deeply but as we start to do that what council can anticipate seeing is in reports what the result of the equity tool has been so if we are bringing forward a new policy to you there should be a section that describes much like what you saw earlier around the climate action plan tool a component of the report providing you that additional information for your consideration as you make decisions ideally you would see this in the future on any policy program funding service change so that you can have that that the information emanating from that tool to help inform your decision-making that’s the that’s the intent behind this thank you mr. Mayor so finally it says in there that it’ll be offered to agencies boards and commissions things like that will the framer or the opportunity for training or even maybe like a training module so that people can do their own training will this be shared in some way with the broader community so going beyond city related agencies boards and commissions and beyond the city hall itself if say some nonprofit organizations or even private sector organizations come forward with an interest in implementing this framework or being trained and somehow how will that be possible to spread that around Ms. Lewis yes your worship the answer is yes so in fact I can share with you I was meeting with an organization this afternoon they’re not an ABC but they’re a prominent organization in the city shared with them because they have a deep interest in this work that our framework and tool was in front of council this evening they’re very interested in learning about it using it so it will it’s public we’re happy to share it if it’s of help to folks we can also share our training ideally we’d like as a community to all be moving in the same direction so the more we are all talking about the same language in a similar way it helps us to collectively affect change where we can have the greatest impact is of course through our ABCs but I think there are many organizations that are doing this work now and as we have benefited from their work they are welcome to benefit from this tool and any other work that we’re doing in this area thanks Mr. Mayor so just one final thanks especially to Ms. Livingston I do remember making the motion in less than 100 days of the office about the gender lens and including that in a strat plan and I remember being you know a rookie counselor and extremely nervous to make that motion and I was one of my first motions on council and to see this this work coming forward see this incredible evolution in over eight years how far the city has come and I remember and I can’t see her now but I remember looking at Ms. Livingston’s face because she was helping us go through the strat planning process she was facilitating and guiding us and I remember when we were having that debate about the gender lens it was a bit testy at times but I remember the look on Ms. Livingston’s face of encouragement that and it felt like to me maybe I was just reading something into it that I was that I was on the right path at that particular time but to see the path the city has gone on now and I really want to thank Elizabeth George Antone Ramina Morris and Melanie Stone I understand as well very involved in this work and Ms.

[39:37] Livingston as well I can’t say enough I’m really really happy with this in case you couldn’t tell thanks Mr. Mayor thank you Councillor I have Councillor sleep please yeah thank you Mr. Mayor and through you I just really wanted to echo kind of what Councillor Cassidy had said and I think this has been a long time coming I think the conversations when I first came around the horseshoe around this were sometimes more difficult than they needed to be just to get to the starting point of conversations so I’m very very very much pleased to see where we are today and how this conversation is a lot more fluid than it has been in history in times past almost you know a decade ago so I guess this is probably the last time I have an opportunity to speak on this I guess you know up with the exception of council but just to say you know for the incoming council and those who around the horseshoe that will be returning I think don’t let up and continue to keep the momentum up on this this is a very important thing and it’s it’s going to be something that’s going to continue to come up for every year and sometimes almost every month during your future term of councils as it has creeped up and come up more times than you know I wish it didn’t need to and I wish we lived in a different kind of world the reality is is sometimes world is a very ugly place but I’m you know I’m confident to see that there’s some great councils around the horseshoe and the mayor who continues to try to make this more of an inclusive community for all people from all walks of life so thank you very much and thanks to staff for doing the work because I know it’s very difficult it’s sometimes easier for counselors just to say can we get this done can we do this and then just the kind of part ways my staff have been really great in reaching out through the process and involving myself and I know many others around the horseshoe so thank you very much to everyone involved in Ms. Livingston and your team and Mina much much appreciation and hopefully this will be passed unanimously take care I mean not take care of myself that’s more time to go but you know what I mean well you take care of two counselors so they thank you all I’ll turn it over to the deputy mayor you have some comments yeah I’m not sure how I can follow counselors Lee on that I wanted to make two brief comments on this first on the the use of the tool I think you know the reference to counsel and counselors in there talks about how valuable the tool will be particularly given counsel does not get to choose its own makeup and and they’re you know are likely because of the number of voices across the city there are likely to be gaps in the representation around the horseshoe and so having a tool that allows us to to hear from voices that might not be directly represented on council I think is valuable and that’s specifically mentioned in the report and the other thing I wanted to comment on this is having had the opportunity at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to present with Ms. Morris our plan to disrupt Islamophobia one of the distinct advantages that the city of London has that is quite the envy of other municipalities is the fact that we’ve made the very smart decision to create the anti-racist anti-impression division and build actual capacity within the organization to to do this work and to support other elements and other parts of the organization in in the work that is identified through the framework so I certainly think that that has been a great decision of counsel to build that staff capacity and and and Ms. Livingston and her team is and and Ms. Morris says as they build out and and staff up that division to create a capacity for all equity deserving groups that is something that not every municipality has chosen to do nor has the capacity to do so we are very lucky and fortunate to have made those decisions that we’ve made and have that to our advantage and this is the type of work that is produced when you have that that capacity within the organization. Thank you any other comments or questions? On four-point Councilor Van Holst you just got in under the wire go ahead please. Thank you very much Yourship and I certainly enjoyed my long conversations with Ms. Morris on these items. I wanted to ask a few questions about the the tool itself.

[44:02] First maybe an opinion here I see the equity tool looks like maybe that’s where the work is done and then in the reflection tool that’s where the real fruit of the of the process comes out in as much as is identifying the learnings is that is that how Ms. Morris if that’s or if that’s how she sees this as well. Well why don’t we start with Ms. Livingston and then she can direct it if appropriate. Thank you Mr. Mayor I’m quite happy to refer the question to Ms. Morris just give us one second. Go ahead Ms. Morris. Thank you for the question and you’re absolutely right that the intentions that the equity tool portion of the framework is the actual application piece that is that it is the work if you will and the reflection tool really is an opportunity once the tool has been utilized to be able to think back on what the tool prompted what changes did it prompt and then allow for some reflection so that moving forward the tool gets easier and easier to use as people get accustomed to using it but that is essentially that the tool itself is where the application at the work takes place.

[45:30] Okay thank you and I appreciate you said that the the tool get easier and easier to use and I really like that there’s essentially checkboxes and many of these things so it makes it very clear what needs to be done. I know in section two it says what phases your proposal in and there’s about six different possible phases do we see that you know in the in the future it will be done for every phase for for every project. Ms. Morris thank you and through you Mr. Mayor absolutely it is intended to be used at every stage what we know is that if we use it at the front end when we’re just even in the design phase of any project any service any program that we’re organizing or thinking about that’s the ideal time to use it but we also recognize there’s lots and lots of projects and things that are underway already so the tool is designed to be used at any stage you could use it even at the end what will happen if you use it at the end probably is that you may see some things that you missed and there may be some cost or time implications so we’re always going to encourage using it at the front end of everything recognizing we’re in the middle of a lot of things and so as we transition to implementing it and using it right from the beginning of everything we’re going to anticipate using it wherever we are whenever we can that will be that will be the intent okay thank you now when we get to part two it’s it’s what you know looks like there’s some research to be done do we do we it’s your department going to be helping out with the research are we going to leave it to every individual to to try and get through that themselves Ms. Morris thank you for the question and through you Mr. Mayor it’s a great question and so there is a bit of elements of this that people are going to have to do a little bit of work in terms of even thinking about and looking into what they know about the community that may be impacted in addition to that we’ve created some fact sheets that that’s more sort of demographic information that we have compiled on on certain equity deserving groups not all but some of the key ones in terms of statistics what do we know about the city of London and how many people of a certain equity deserving group are in the city and what are some of the barriers to their success as well so we’ve got some very very easy fact sheets for people to refer to in terms of some general pieces of this and then there will be elements that they will have to look a little bit deeper and when we say research we’re not talking about taking it and doing a research project on things it’s actually often things that we already do know so where we have data we’ll rely on it and we have a lot of information within the city that we can use keep maps and that type of thing so there is a lot of ways to come up with what is the demographics and what do we know about a particular community so real support but certainly people are going to be expected to do a little bit of homework themselves customer whole standing else thank you now i’m interested have we have we tried the tool out and and and if so what can you can give you some description of some encouraging results miss morse thank you for the question and for you mr mr absolutely we did we piloted the tool as well as the training that this livingstone referenced and so what we had was different uh four pilot projects that happened across the corporation different service areas different types of uh projects and like so policies there was a physical um space that was being reconfigured so the tool was applied to that so we had a little uh test run of it got great feedback in terms of um the application so the version that you’re seeing now is definitely has been revised from the original based on that feedback and what we anticipate is that as we roll it out more broadly we’re going to test it a little bit more but as we roll it out more broadly we expect to have more feedback and we hope to keep updating it so that it’s reflective and easy for people to use and to navigate but certainly we did pilot them and had some really good feedback that we’ve incorporated customer and host yes okay and maybe a final question your worship so there’s um many different types of things that go on in the city we could be designing a community center we could be fixing a water main break and do how do you see it being different for those in along that spectrum of of projects and activities uh not sure i follow that question with customer uh miss Morris perhaps you do thank you and through you mr mary if i understand correctly the question is that how will this be applied to the very many different types of work that we do within the corporation and i would actually say there’s a lot more similarities than differences in terms of that the questions are really designed to have us think about who is impacted ultimately by whatever we are doing and so it may be different people that are impacted but impact is is going to happen based on any program any service anything that we’re doing so the the tool can be applied to any anything i mean it literally can be applied to a budget decision to a policy that we’re reviewing who’s impacted by the policy who’s impacted by the budget decision who’s impacted by the construction that’s happening and then what do we know about those folks and how do we get their voices in so that we make sure we don’t miss anything so it is designed to be used across the board regardless of the service area regardless of how small or how big the project to be honest thank you both customer thank you uh mayor holder and through you um i have a couple of questions first actually first of all i have a couple comments um the first comment i have is i really really liked this tool it’s very comprehensive and what i liked the most about it is the reflection tool um i’m just wondering about all of this will there be a place where all of the these pieces will be collected from the reflection tool and possibly we can look at them because i think um the question here about what did you not plan for and what would you do differently next time i think that’s really important for even counselors to understand some of that information um but just a question through the mayor to miss morris good miss morris thank you counselor and we went through you mr mare um so the idea with that reflection tool really is is for people to do the reflective piece to the work what we will do is as as a division we will collect that information and and certainly will use it to help us to better this version as well we anticipate that feedback coming through the reflection tool um in terms of having access to we haven’t really got that for this point in terms of of sharing that openly the point of it is to sort of drive people to think about things differently and if there are conversations within teams or within service areas that can help to sort of front end some of the things that have emerged by using the tool that is really what it’s intended to be used for but we can certainly give some thought in terms of how we can use that feedback more broadly as we start to collect it customer thank you that’s uh great thank you next then i have customer thank you worship and uh thanks to staff and i certainly echo comments my colleagues as far um i am sharing this morris is um i guess uh reservations about uh um sharing all the data from from this is it’s a working tool i see it as very much as a as a formative tool along the process of creating a policy document or bringing and bringing things forward to counsel um and very much uh work in rough uh and work in progress rather than it being something uh finished um but that that does bring up a really interesting question and uh um in the report it says uh how will we share uh the results or how should i share my results and that’s an important point to this and so it gives a brief paragraph to this and says as well you may be required to include your results if you’re reporting to counsel about your proposal i’m curious if there’s an opportunity in this and to do something similar to where uh we’re using the climate change tool um and uh and strategy uh in the uh council report templates it has that things like linkage to corporate strategic plan um are there opportunities to create standard um sections of a council report that says uh you’ve considered climate change you’ve considered uh the equity tool and and that it’s there every time to say these are the things that we’ve encountered and these are how we’re mitigating or addressing the concerns that we addressed through the process of applying the tool let’s ask miss let me send that thank you your worship and i apologize if i wasn’t clear earlier that is exactly the intent it is exactly the intent to have a section in council reports uh where we have applied the tool to give you that information very clearly separate and apart so you can consider it council can consider it as they make their decision about whatever issue is that is in front of you customer and through uh your worship but uh mr. Livingston thank you very much uh i’m processing all of this as we’re discussing it too so i may have missed that as you talked about it so um if you did uh thank you and uh that’s that’s really helpful i think it’ll be um especially for the community i mean one for counselors uh in the application of policy and this and deliberation of policy but two for the community to understand um what the process is uh at the administrative level uh in considering how the community is reflected in policy and and not just community and singular communities uh that uh that we are brought to represent so uh i’m very intrigued to see this rollout and applied i think it can only be better policy and one that’s far more inclusive as we move forward so so thanks for all the work we’ve done thank you counselor castropans yeah thank you um mr. chair and i want to take this opportunity as well to to thank staff i do want to follow up on one of the questions i council attorney just touched upon it that this is a living document and my question was really around uh the fact that uh how are we going to see this document come forward i appreciate uh the new counselors will we’ll get some training and obviously we’ll see this tool um applied when we have recommendations coming forward to us as council but how are we going to be able to as a council to understand that it is constantly um being worked on and changed uh as we move forward it’s amazing how time goes by very quickly and things do change and i i really this really stood out to me when i read the report the importance that this is a living document wanting to have a better understanding how that’s going to work let’s ask miss things through your worship i think our intent would be to provide an update report to council on how the tool was applied uh what the uptake has been like as well if there are any substantive changes i just want to also reiterate that it will take time to uh have the tool used routinely across the organization we are we are going to start with the rollout start with big and small initiatives but it will take time to fully train across the organization and use it for say every report but we can absolutely update council in a year on how the rollout is going and the kinds of initiatives it’s been applied to and where the changes have been and if there are any changes to the tool i’m quite happy to do that castropans yeah thank you uh for that clarification um slivingston and and thank you to you uh and staff for all the work that i’d also like to thank uh this has me reflecting uh as some of my our colleagues are going to be moving on the the work uh that has been going on with the diversity inclusion and anti-oppression community it it it really has we’ve come a long way and i’m just reflecting on past councilors that were a part of this and it’s just not um it’s a it’s a constantly moving um conversation that we’ve been having here in in the city for a number of years and the importance of keeping that communication and understanding and understanding the tool going forward is going to be important for us as a city so thank you for allowing me to make these comments thank you any other comments or questions because we’re in committee i have the flexibility of uh not looking always for a mover and seconder first what we start with the mover i see counselor how moving do i have a seconder for this i see counselor city snuck in there yes thank you very much i saw your hand counselor Cassidy you know it’s one of these kinds of things you know it’s yeah okay so i was messing with my camera all right good for you so with that we have mover and a seconder i have no other speakers on the docket so with that let’s call the question closing the vote the motion is passed 15 to 0 colleagues to item 4.2 on the agenda which deals with two changes of directors one that is looking to confirm for the Hyde Park BIA the appointment of Kelsey Walkington and who is the spirit of a little promotion owner of the curly brewing company and i can’t say if you support this you get a free brewing treat and the second is Vicki Belaz owner of jdancing and i don’t know if you get a free dance out of that so with that though i’m going to put this on the table look for a mover please i see counselor layman seconded by i see counselor helmer thank you very much any comments or questions with regard to these two Hyde Park BIA appointments counselor layman go ahead thank you you’ve heard tonight reference to our boards and commissions many folks that serve london often unheralded that give a great deal of time to serve on those organizations and including our many BIA’s throughout the area so i just want to say thank you to all those folks i don’t think you get recognized enough and so i will use this opportunity to speak and i’m sure on behalf of other counselors to say thank you and specifically i’ll reference gene coals who is resigning from the Hyde Park BIA board for her efforts in service on the on that organization and i support the confirmation of the both Vicki and Kelsey as well look forward to working with them on the board so so thank you very much thank you any other comments or questions i see none with that let’s call the question closing the vote the motion is passed 15 to 0 colleagues there’s no nor additional business before we call for german they give a bigger shadow to uh miss morris and the team responsible for the arao framework you’ve heard a lot of comments in fact that was the greatest amount of commentary tonight from colleagues and i think that speaks to the caliber of the report that was produced so our thanks to the team who’s put that out who put that out and also as we acknowledge in our in our opening the meeting this morning of this afternoon where we paid tribute to her her majesty and i’d like to thank everyone responsible for making the arrangements from the municipal standpoint from the desk and books of remembrance and sort of the clerk’s office and others responsible for all of those arrangements we’d like to say thank you to all our staff we don’t have that many more meetings left and so we’ll ask staff to hang out with us we’re just a little longer through this but you’ve been great we appreciate you very very much and just living soon please pass that through to uh to all of our staff we appreciate that with that i’ll look for a motion to adjourn i see counselor five miller i see seconded by counselor van holst uh can we do a hand vote do you think let’s go screens on just for fun and let’s just say with a hand vote those in favor that motion’s passed with that meeting’s adjourned and we’ll see you all soon thank you