'Edmonton is ready': Record-high 8 women elected to city council
Edmontonians want women at the decision-making table. That’s the conclusion after a historic election that saw for the first time a person of colour elected Alberta’s capital city mayor and racialized women earn seats on its council made up of a majority of women.
“I think there’s been a lot of discussion in the past two or three years about about the need for diversity on council, the need for diversity in our elected representation,” re-elected Coun. Sarah Hamilton told CTV News Edmonton as poll results came in Monday night.
In 12 wards, eight women were elected -- the most in Edmonton’s history.
It’s a stark difference to 2017, when Hamilton was elected as one of two female councillors.
“It says to me that message is getting through. I think what we’re going to see on council now is not just a diversity of representation of gender and of race, but of life experience,” she said.
Successful Ward O-day’min candidate Anne Stevenson, elected Monday with 26.71 per cent of the vote, echoed the sentiment.
“It’s an incredible result and I think really speaks to the pent-up demand that there’s been for this sort of diversity for city council.”
PATH PAVED BY ESSLINGER
Of the eight women councillors elected Monday, Hamilton is the only one to have served before. Some upset incumbents: Karen Principe ousted Jon Dziadyk in Ward tastawiyiniwak, Jo-Anne Wright beat Moe Banga in Ward Sspomitapi, and Erin Rutherford won in a close race over Bev Esslinger.
Esslinger was first elected in 2013 -- then the only female councillor -- and sat beside Hamilton as Edmonton’s second female councillor for the last four years.
“Eight years later there’s eight women on city council and as much as I would love to be with them, to feel that, I’m just very proud that we have that many that stepped up and will continue the work,” Esslinger told CTV News Edmonton.
Outgoing mayor Don Iveson thanked Esslinger for her service and leadership the next day.
“I think a lot of the women who got elected yesterday would credit Bev for her leadership, trying to create conditions for more women to join council. And so that must be bittersweet,” he commented.
Rutherford won the northwest ward Anirniq by less than 300 votes.
“I’ve worked with (Esslinger) before in my previous roles in different capacities in administration. She knows very much that I respect her and I know that she cared deeply about this community over the last eight years,” Rutherford told CTV News Edmonton.
“I know for a fact that this is something that I plan on building on what she started, not tearing down.”
‘EDMONTON IS READY FOR A DIVERSE COUNCIL’
Two of the new councillors will share the title of being the first racialized women to serve: Keren Tang and Jennifer Rice.
Tang’s victory in Ward Karhiio was called early in the night; according to unofficial results Tuesday, she had received 39.72 per cent of the vote.
Rice wasn’t declared councillor elect until Tuesday afternoon following a tight race with Rhiannon Hoyle, who she’d end up leading by dozens of votes.
“In the history of 100 years, 31 female councillors, 238 men,” Tang said in an interview. “And now, this time around, we finally have some of our first women of colour councillors. And that’s incredibly exciting. It sends a strong message that Edmonton is ready. Edmonton is ready for a diverse council to make meaningful decisions.”
She pointed to the numbers of female and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of colour) candidates who put their name forward in the municipal election.
“I keep saying this: If we want women, if we want women of colour elected, we need more strong women of colour running.. I really hope that they keep going.”
YWCA Edmonton was part of the push to propel women in leadership roles.
"These are artifacts that aren't in any museums but tell the story of female leadership in our city," said Katherine O'Neill, CEO of YWCA Edmonton.
"The pandemic has disproportionately affected women, particularly women of colour. To have a decision-making body of a majority of women, to roll up their sleeves and have the best post-COVID recovery plan is the best case scenario."
SOHI ‘EXCITED’
The last time a majority of Edmonton’s council was made up of women was 1989, when Jan Reimer was elected the city’s first female mayor.
In total, just 31 women have been chosen by the city to sit as councillors.
“Some people think that diversity is some wishy-washy thing, that it’s a feel-good thing. It is not. Diversity is so fundamental for making good decisions,” mayor-elect and the city’s first BIPOC mayor, Amarjeet Sohi, said Tuesday.
“I am excited to have eight strong women on council.”
“It’s about time,” re-elected Coun. Andrew Knack commented.
“I mean, truly, it is embarrassing that it’s taken this long in our city’s history to reach that mark.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Touria Izri
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.