Housing: 1. I view housing on a continuum, which includes encampments. I do not believe we should sanction all encampments, nor should we criminalize those that live in them. We need to stop viewing individuals as problems to be solved, but as gifts to be received. This is a belief I've held for years in working with individuals who are labeled based on a scarcity mindset. I am for identifying areas for encampments, and providing resources and services to those areas. 3 (a,b,c). I am not for local government "fully funding" anything. This outsources the community's power and responsibility. I do believe local government should fund, in collaboration with, not-for-profits and be a voice around the table, but not sit at the head of it, lest we fall into a bureaucratic tailspin. Here we are able to leverage the expertise of those not-for-profits that have experience in, and are already providing housing to, individuals in need.

Public Safety: 2.(a,b,c,d) Decriminalize and increase support in relation to safety and wellbeing.

3. In this reallocation of funds, we are still working within an institutional mindset, where the two primary players are police services and social services. Safety is primarily a community function. By recognizing and building on the capacities of the community we can ask the following questions: (1) How can our institutions support community functions? (2) What institutional policies and practices have stunted or opposed the growth and power of community functions? (3)What functions do police attempt to perform that could be better performed by relocating them to community groups and associations? (4) How do we reorient our work by placing residents, community groups, and associations at the centre, and where institutions act as a support unit for their activity?

Indigenous Sovereignty: 3. I am personally torn between yes and no. Also, questions around process. How is this done without feeding antagonisms? Do we change the name of the park, keep the statue, and surround it with educational pieces that shed light on the woes of our colonial past? Another question, "How do we recognize the pain of Indigenous communities and provide opportunities for healing, while not adding to the hurt by opening space for the pain of public opinion to be inflicted?" Can the park become an educational space where people can come and learn?

Social Services: I do not believe that our wellbeing is directly dependent on social services. Our sense of wellbeing is connected to the places we live and the connections we make. I have never been a proponent of the professionalization of "care," because care, for me, is a relational category. I've written elsewhere, "One cannot befriend a service or institution, and in turn, an institution cannot befriend an individual. The only relational categories available to them are customer, client, patient, consumer, and recipient, never friend."

1. I am for accessible drinking water, the challenge is public washrooms, their safety, cleanliness, and upkeep make them hard to manage.

3. I do not want to see people out of work because of a mandate. When I worked with the City, we took an education first approach, and made accommodations for employees in relation to the vaccine.

Other: In addition to the housing crisis, we are experiencing a healthcare one. 1.3 million people in Ontario don’t have a family doctor. In 2020 it was reported that 6,893 people in Waterloo-Wellington are on a waiting list to connect with doctors and nurse practitioners. This problem intensifies with population growth. Waterloo Region population growth is one of highest among large municipalities in Canada (2016 – 2021 growth of 10.1%)

Not having a family doctor leads to more emergency room visits and hospital admissions for those who have chronic diseases, causing an increase in hospital wait-times and stress on the medical system. The health of residents is the responsibility of local government. As we grow, attention should be given to the recruitment and retention of family doctors.