160 people gathered in Jack Singer Concert Hall Saturday for the first gathering of CivicCamp Photo: Peter Rishaug
A “Congress of Calgarians” met Saturday at the Epcor Centre to discuss ways to mobilize on issues important to the future of the city. Civic Camp, as it is called, attracted about 150 people interested in grassroots organization and issues.
Peter Rishaug is one of the organizers of Civic Camp. He describes the nascent organization “as a way to bring very important city-wide matters of public interest to the forefront in Calgary.”
Mr. Rishaug says Civic Camp started as an ad hoc response to the June public hearing at City Hall on Plan It, the City’s long-term development plan for transporation and land use. With only a few day’s notice, the group that eventually became Civic Camp was able to get 100 people to the hearing to speak in support of Plan It.
“We found that getting the support was easy once people got educated and informed about the great importance of the Plan, what it mean as a road map to a fiscally and environmentally sustainable future, and how it will enhance the quality of life for all Calgarians and their families,” he said in an email interview.
“In the end, it was this large movement of engaged and caring citizens that ultimately played the pivotal role in the passage of Plan It Calgary.”
Mr. Rishaug says Saturday’s Civic Camp event discussed a wide range of topics, including:
The "idea wall" where attendees' ideas were posted Photo: Peter Rishaug
- Transparent, fair, citizen-driven governance and engagement
- A city and region of vibrant urban villages
- An enhanced, interconnected, accessible and sustainable public transit system for all modes : walk, bike, bus, train, auto, and air
- Creating great public spaces and public realms
- Supporting and enhancing local food production
- Senior and youth friendly development
- Integration of development of land use with transportation (i.e. Plan It Calgary, Municipal Development Plan, and the Calgary Transportation Plan)
- A social environment that respects diversity, human rights, and individual and community progress
- A network of citizens that can respond quickly to issues as well proactively work for positive change in Calgary
Andrew McIntyre works for the University of Calgary Students’ Union and he attended the Civic Camp event. He says the most important issue participants wrestled with Saturday was “what they want to do and how they want to do it.” He participated in several break-out sessions, including one on the role Civic Camp might play as an “honest broker” in the upcoming municipal election.
A common thread running through discussions of Civic Camp is that the land development industry has too much influence in Calgary politics, particularly around Plan It and the municipal development plan. The development plan has already been criticized because it lowers the density for new neighborhoods from 11.3 units (houses) per acre to nine units.
According to Mr. McIntyre, “we’re all working on getting more people involved in caring about the decision their elected leaders make.”
D.J. Kelly, president of the Winston Heights,/Mountview Community Association, says the fundamental issue for him was “transparency at the City of Calgary (that) needs to be addressed before almost all of the other areas can gain much traction.”
In the short-term, Mr. Kelly expects “CivicCampers doing the same thing they have been doing for the last six months: speaking out on issues and showing up at City Hall when they feel their voice needs to be heard. I imagine this will continue with issues like Plan It and the City’s open data initiative continuing.”
How CivicCamp will progress is hard to predict, according to its supporters. Jeremy Zhao volunteered at Saturday’s event. He says that CivicCamp should “aim for a complete plan for Calgary’s future.”
In Mr. Kelly’s opinion, ”there is a strong will from the majority of CivicCampers that the organization stays non-partisan – after all there are people of every political stripe in the room. I think CivicCamp will remain a place where specialized conversations come together to share their experiences and work together to help build a better city. It is the opposite of a special interest group – it is a place for Calgarians to learn more about issues and take action if they choose to.”
CivicCamp, according to Mr. Rishaug, “can also function as a large resource base or ‘tool kit’ for individuals or communities to access skills, expertise and experience to help them in their efforts in community-building, place making, consultation with the City, or other volunteer-based efforts at the community level.”
The most consistent idea held by the CivicCampers, as they call themselves, seems to be influencing municipal politics, especially with the election looming a year away. There is a strong sense that many on City Council have lost their way and allowed themselves to be unduly influenced by corporate and business interests, to the detriment of communities and the environment.
Mr. Rishaug writes about CivicCamp as a “broad and democratic movement of the citzenry of Calgary” that is in the process of defining and structuring itself. That process will take some time. If successful, CivicCamp will be in a very good position to influence the next civic election campaign.
And that might have a few aldermen wishing Saturday’s organizing event hadn’t been quite as well attended as it was.
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