(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall and Troy Gillard

YEAR IN REVIEW

Mayor Veer looks back a final time at 2020 and ahead to 2021

Dec 31, 2020 | 11:01 AM

As noted in the first half of our year in review story with Mayor Tara Veer, Red Deer was a community that found itself divided over a number of issues throughout an emotionally volatile year in 2020.

City council was not immune to that division, including when it came to debating whether to ban conversion therapy in Red Deer. While other municipalities across the province, including Rocky Mountain House locally, voted to ban the controversial practice altogether, city council voted instead on a series of individual resolutions and ultimately left it in the hands of the federal government to pass a ban.

“Our council took a definitive position that the City of Red Deer ‘supports and upholds that conversion therapy negatively affects the physical and psychological well-being, safety, security, dignity, inclusion, and equality of LGBTQ persons. Council has advocated to provincial and federal elected officials to ensure that this issue is comprehensively addressed in our province and country,’” Veer suggested.

“I think the City could have communicated our actions on this issue at the outset more proactively, which may have prevented some of the social media misunderstanding that unfortunately was likely hurtful to people of our LGBTQ+ community,” she admitted. “Council and I value relationships and we will continue to work with the people of the LGBTQ+ community to build welcoming and safe community life in the New Year. As noted, the federal government has tabled legislation which is expected to be passed in 2021.”

When it comes to the ongoing issue of crime, Veer was asked what her message is to Red Deerians who, despite declining crime rates reported during the year, have continued to be victimized and are losing faith that anything can be done about it.

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“Crime and public safety has been, and will continue to be, the top priority for council and The City,” she reiterated.

“Crime stats are important because they speak to trending in our community and hold us accountable for our prevention of and response to crime and community safety issues, but it is imperative to always be sensitive to the fact that statistics are ultimately citizens who are deeply impacted and victimized by crime. While we are making progress on the community safety file, I am not satisfied with progress alone. We need complete resolution to our crime and safety issues and will resolutely keep working until this is an area of strength for our community.”

As divided as Red Deer was in 2020 over issues such as face coverings, racial tension and crime, Veer says it was heartwarming despite the tragic circumstances to see the community band together in the wake of the devastating murder of Dr. Walter Reynolds in August.

“That was a significantly low, if not the lowest point for our community in 2020,” she lamented.

“Our community vigil is a picture of what Red Deer really is and it was said that we will not allow the actions of one individual to define us as a community. The (image) of 2,000 people, all masked because they were in the medical community, predominantly, coming out in support of that family and the staff at the Village Mall Walk-in Clinic really was a picture of who our community is, that we cannot always control what happens to those among us but we can control our response. That was a very strong picture of who I think Red Deer is.”

As the calendar flips to 2021, Red Deer still has work to do when it comes to ending homelessness.

There was a 2014-2018 plan to end homelessness in the city before a new plan was introduced last year which noted that the City of Red Deer had just $27 million of the $275 million needed to achieve the goal of ending homelessness. Veer says progress has been made, but not as quickly as hoped.

“COVID has had a significant impact on this file as it has caused some implementation delays for our shelter planning and integrated housing strategy due to the urgent need to temporarily reprioritize our social infrastructure and staffing resources for vulnerable citizens in response to the pandemic,” she explained.

“Having said this, we are making headway on our shelter discussions with the Province and the affordable housing portfolio has been rescheduled for Q1 and Q2 on Council’s work plan in 2021, so we will be making up for the time lost in 2020 due to COVID in short order.”

With a municipal election coming up in October Veer isn’t showing her cards either way over whether she plans to seek a third term as mayor.

“I am focused on governing right now and I always make my election announcements usually in the summer prior to an election. I personally have the very strong opinion that I have a mandate to serve the public. I believe the public right now needs me to govern and not politic. Particularly given the economic circumstances that our community is in, responding to the pandemic and the fact that we have very significant challenges and many issues that we need to follow through and take action on in the interest of Red Deerians.”

READ ALSO: Mayor Veer says there’s work to do after divisive year in Red Deer