Our ward’s new name, Anirniq, means “Breath of life” in Inuktun. In early June, the Inglewood Community League approached our neighbouring communities about sponsoring an all candidates’ forum in Anirniq.
Woodcroft and Sherbrooke Community Leagues agreed and began planning to host a forum event.
Through the summer, the committee polled residents for their top questions and issues through a survey. The final questions represented the most common concerns voiced by residents through the survey. The result was a list of 10 questions put to candidates on topics including homelessness, infill development and zoning, transportation, police funding, social equality, climate change and health.
Our three communities hosted a live event for candidates on September 28 with four candidates participating: Mark Davies, Bev Esslinger, Erin Rutherford, and Tyler Zutz.
The audience included about 16 people in the Woodcroft Community Hall and about 80 people in a virtual live audience over YouTube. Due to technical difficulties, the first 10 minutes of the forum were lost. The committee apologizes for the inconvenience caused by this problem. Candidates had only answered one question during the missing livestream. That question was, “Why did you decide to run for council?” Most candidates took the opportunity during their 3 minutes wrap-up at the end of the event to replay their answer to this question.
The recording of the video will remain available at: https://youtu.be/Yfj20DzU8A0. People can use this link to help them make up their minds for the election. In the first day after the forum event, almost 500 people have already viewed the video.
Sponsoring a candidates’ forum was a “first” for our community league and it was completely volunteer led. We were very fortunate and grateful to have Mr. Sam Brooks agree to help us out as a moderator and host. He also brought his considerable media and video expertise to help us make this a quality production. Thanks also to Sam, Nolan, and Sasha – youth from the sponsoring communities who ran the cameras, mixers, and helped with set-up and tear down. The planning committee consisted of Daryle Niedermayer, Inglewood CL; Arlene Huhn, Woodcroft CL; and Catherine Jevic, Sherbrooke CL.
Don’t forget to vote on Monday October 18! Advanced voting runs from October 4-13. For more information about the Edmonton Election, visit the City of Edmonton’s website.