WAWA — Municipal representatives are working on a four-year project to encourage and support greater diversity of council candidates for the the next round of elections.
Building off the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s We All Win Campaign, AMO representatives are conducting a four-year project in time for 2026.
During an era when civic engagement is relegated to a social media town hall, the Healthy Democracy Project wants to bring the public inside their civic centres to understand and engage with municipal governance.
“Voter turnout is slow and steadily on the decline, especially in rural and remote areas. In 2022, it was one of our lowest voter turnouts. Only 37 per cent of eligible voters came out. In 2018, it was 39 per cent,” said Wawa Mayor Melanie Pilon.
AMO representatives are concerned with declining eligible voter turnout and rising acclamations to council positions.
“We're not seeing the interest in people; particularly, the interest in skilled individuals coming out, so that's definitely a cause for concern,” said Pilon.
Acclamation becomes increasingly important as minority groups are grossly underrepresented in governments. Pilon is the first Indigenous mayor to be appointed to Wawa’s council.
“I was originally appointed to becoming a councillor when there was a vacancy available and, and that's what council decided to, to appoint somebody when there was a vacant seat. And then, in the 2022 elections, I decided to run for mayor and I was actually acclaimed,” Pilon said.
Pilon’s journey into municipal politics is what once might have been a unique experience that has now become too common.
According to AMO statistics on the 2022 municipal elections, 553 members of council were acclaimed across the province, with only 163 of those being female. In 2018, 477 heads of council were acclaimed and 147 were female.
Pilon believes the lack of interest comes from a lack of understanding of the roles of municipal government and their contributions to strong communities.
Another pitfall of municipal politics that Pilon points out is the lack of respect from disgruntled community members.
“There's certainly concern with stability and disrespect to those who participate in municipal government. That can certainly discourage people from participating in municipal government. You know, sometimes it's a thankless job, but if it's always a thankless job, then, why would anybody in their right mind want to participate?” questioned Pilon.
Deciding to become an elected official of a small community is a lifestyle choice where mayors and councillors have to come to terms with their public and private life intersecting.
“There is no distinction between your public and private life. You are the mayor or you are a councillor, it's if you go to the grocery store, you expect to deal with questions or if you're out for dinner with your family, you will be receiving comments or questions based on your public life," Pilon said.
"So, I can definitely tell you that my life significantly changed when I entered municipal politics. But it's something that I expected and it was a decision that I made with my family and it's something that I'm going to have to live with for the next three years."
Pilon is open to interacting with community members while out in public, but as long those interactions remain respectful, and admitted there have been certain uncomfortable interactions.
“I certainly am open to having a conversation any time, so long as it's respectful. But I certainly can regale you with stories where somebody has crossed the line whether it's coming to my home or where it was disrespectful. To be perfectly honest, at points, I thought my health and safety was at risk,” Pilon said.
Healthy Democracy Project wants to engage the public by breaking down the barriers between civic duty and citizenship. By building partnerships among the public who are willing to participate in promoting a greater respect for democracy.
To do this, the Healthy Democracy Project will need to open the lines of communication between elected officials and their constituents.
"We are looking to promote greater awareness of the important role municipalities play in building stronger communities. We're also looking to develop new training and resources to support municipalities to engage effectively with our communities. We're hoping that that will result in training and resources and programming including social media programming, that will help us better communicate with the residents and ratepayers of our community, and we want to promote the value of the importance of municipal governments,” Pilon said.
“I think many people are disengaged or detached between the daily life that they lead and government officials. Sometimes I think people can forget that as the mayor of the municipality of Wawa, I'm a person too. We get up every morning and we do the best that we can and we make decisions based on the information that we're provided with. I'm still a neighbour. I'm still a family member and a friend. Respect is something that people forget and we need to try and bring people back to that foundation of core, basic dignity."