FILE PHOTO – A fire has destroyed 90% of the Village of Lytton.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/2 Rivers Remix Society
October 31, 2022 - 7:00 PM
An all-female council will be leading the charge to rebuild the Village of Lytton after a devastating wildfire.
The next mayor will be Denise O’Connor, and around the table will be Coun. Nonie McCann, Melissa Michelle, Jessoa Lightfoot and Jennifer Thoss.
O’Connor said the gender dynamic isn’t something she'll consider as the chair of the meetings.
“What’s important to me is getting in there, and getting the job done with whoever else is on council,” she said.
“They’re all people that I know, some of them I've worked with in the past.”
Todd Pugh, executive director of CivicInfo B.C., said this isn't the first time an all-female council has been elected in the province, but "it's rare." CivicInfo collects data on B.C. municipalities and its electronic records dates back to 2008.
According to Ministry of Municipal Affairs staff, they are unaware of any previous all-women councils in the province or B.C. but don't formerly track gender.
"This is however welcome news from Lytton. Our government supports women and girls in all our communities who are breaking down barriers and building a stronger, more equitable province for everyone," according to the ministry.
In Canada, women make up half the population but aren't typically represented in the same way on municipal councils or in politics generally.
The number of women mayors also lags behind that of men mayors, according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Women had the right to vote and hold office since 1916, staring first with Manitoba, but have been able to vote in municipal elections in B.C. since 1873. During this time, they couldn't hold office, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia.
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O’Connor, a retired principal from the local elementary school, found herself becoming more active in politics after most of the town was destroyed by a wildfire in July 2021.
Only a few dozen houses remain while the rest of the community waits for clean-up efforts to be completed.
Equally as impressive as an all-female council, O’Connor said, was the 68.25% voter turnout – 129 of 189 eligible residents participated, despite the large number of people who are still displaced. Many had to drive back to Lytton when the polls were open or rely on mail-in ballots to participate.
O’Connor said the number one priority hasn’t been established yet, since council won’t be sworn in until Nov. 2. However, she said it’s important to develop an Official Community Plan to envision what the community should look like once it's rebuilt.
“But they’re not even finished cleaning up yet, there’s been zero rebuilding yet.”
O’Connor admits she doesn’t know the details of the clean-up contract, but said it’s apparent to the public that the crew doesn’t work on weekends.
“People notice that and make assumptions there’s no urgency to get it cleaned up,” she said.
“A year-and-a-half later, I don’t want to say people are giving up hope, but, yeah, it’s just really difficult… as soon as we start to see some building happening, that will help a lot of people feel more positive moving forward.”
O’Connor believes taxpayers deserve better communication from their government, and that was one reason why she felt compelled to run for mayor.
“I hope to communicate differently with the taxpayers.”
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, she says. Facebook is useful for many residents, but some are elderly and don’t plan on embracing newer technologies. But in such a small community, she’s able to be in direct contact with “a lot” of local residents.
O’Connor is living in the home she grew up in once again. It fortunately survived the fire, and had remained in the family as a rental property. When the tenant moved out in October 2021, she had first dibs to move back in.
The new council will be sworn in during a ceremony Nov. 2 in Lytton, the first municipal meeting in person in the community since it was destroyed.
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