The 36 members of New Westminster’s new community advisory assembly will gather tonight for their first official meeting.
Last fall, the City of New Westminster began recruiting members for its new community advisory assembly, after previously supporting a one-year pilot for the new engagement model. The assembly’s “diverse and inclusive representation” will advise city council and staff on matters related to council’s strategic priorities, as well as key city projects, plans and policies.
A report to council explained that the assembly’s membership will “mirror the overall demographic profile” of New Westminster, based on a number of characteristics: neighbourhood; gender identity; age group; housing tenure (renter or owner); visible minority; and Indigenous identity.
The city also sought to include a diversity of lived experiences by including newcomers to Canada, people with disabilities and people with low incomes.
“The aim is for the assembly members to include a wide diversity of lived experiences, and truly represent the New Westminster community,” said the report.
A Jan. 8 report to council provided a demographic profile of the 36 people who had been selected for the assembly. Here are some of the statistics about the assembly’s makeup – with the first figure representing the city’s 2021 census profile and the second figure representing the assembly’s membership.
- Geographic area of the city: West End: census – 10.7 per cent/ assembly – 8.3 per cent; Uptown: census – 34.8 per cent/assembly – 36.1 per cent; East End: census – 21.3 per cent/assembly – 22.2 per cent; Downtown: census – 19.3 per cent/assembly – 16.7 per cent; and Queensborough: census – 13.9 per cent/assembly – 16.7 per cent.
- Gender identity: Man – census 49.3 per cent/assembly 44.4 per cent; Woman – census 50.7 per cent/assembly 44.4 per cent; and Non-Binary/Gender Diverse/Other – census 0.44 per cent (provincewide)/assembly – 11.1 per cent.
- Age group: 19 and under: census – 16.4 per cent/assembly – 19.4 per cent; 20 to 34: census – 23.9 per cent/assembly – 22.2 per cent; 35 to 49: census – 22.9 per cent/assembly – 25.0 per cent; 50 to 64: census –20.8 per cent/assembly – 16.7 per cent; 65 and older: census – 16.1 per cent/assembly – 16.7 per cent
- Owner: census – 54.7 per cent/assembly – 47.2 per cent
- Renter: census – 45.3 per cent/assembly – 47.2 per cent
- Other (unhoused, living temporarily with family/friends): census – (approximately) 0.8 per cent/assembly – 5.6 per cent
- Visible minority: census – 46.8 per cent/assembly – 47.2 per cent
- Indigenous identity: census – 3.1 per cent/assembly –5.6 per cent
“This is really exciting. And in the public engagement world, it's like all eyes on New West as we embark on this process of deep representative engagement in this really unique way,” said Coun. Tasha Henderson. “You can't look at those stats and not feel inspired.”
Neighbourhood representation across the city is pretty much spot on, said Henderson about the assembly’s composition.
“I am confident that the city has never had an engagement process of any kind that's had renters at 50 per cent of the participants,” she said. “Youth, racialized people – it's just really good work. Something to be proud of.”
The community advisory assembly met for a welcome dinner on Jan. 11.
Henderson, who was among the council members attending that event, said she received great feedback from the assembly members she spoke to. She relayed the words of several members, including one who said: “I've always wanted to share my ideas but I never thought someone like me could – in all the cities I've lived in, I've never felt like I had a voice. I think that this will change that for me.”
As part of the introduction of the community advisory assembly pilot project, the city restructured some of its advisory committees.
Terms of reference
Coun. Daniel Fontaine said he’s had a number of questions from the public about the community advisory assembly, including where its agendas can be found on the City of New Westminster’s website, the number of meetings it will be having, and opportunities for the public to get involved in those meetings.
Peter DeJong, the city’s corporate officer, said the legislative services department is in the process of updating information on the city’s website about advisory committees, including the assembly, to ensure it’s up-to-date and easy to find.
Jennifer Miller, the city’s manager of public engagement, said the assembly’s agendas and meeting schedules and locations will be posted on the city’s website, as its updated. She said the meetings will be open to the public for observation, but space will be “tight” given the number of people serving on the community advisory assembly.
“We're working to book venues. But I can share that we have booked the first few,” she told council at Monday’s meeting. “We intend to move the venues around, mostly to get around to different parts of the city.”
The group’s first meeting is on Thursday, Jan. 25 (today) at 6 p.m. in council chambers at New Westminster City Hall. February’s meeting will be at the Queensborough Community Centre and March’s meeting will be at the main branch of the New Westminster Public Library.
Fontaine questioned how community members can get topics on the floor for discussion at the community advisory assembly.
Miller encourages anyone interested in the details on the group to look at its terms of reference, which outlines various aspects of the community advisory assembly’s work.
“The terms of reference specify what the focus of the group is, and that primarily will be speaking about council's strategic priorities,” she said. “Our first topic up for discussion, after we get through kind of the orientation meeting, is going to be community belonging and connecting, which is the number 1 priority on council's list of five priorities for the term.”
Miller said the terms of reference include a whole list of criteria for what kinds of topics will come to the group for its input. She said assembly members will also have an opportunity to bring forward topics for discussion.
“We have a year and 10 meetings in total, including one onboarding meeting,” she said. “So there's only so much that they're going to be able to get through in a year.”
As per the draft terms of reference, Miller said the assembly will provide regular updates to city council about its work through reports and presentations to council.
