Since 1999, Councillor Pam McConnell has been one of Toronto’s representatives at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). As a member of the Board of Directors and the Chair of the Women’s Committee, Pam works with councillors from across the country on important initiatives to improve municipal governments in Canada and around the world.
Councillor Pam McConnell at the FCM Board of Directors meeting.
FCM is currently campaigning the federal government to help address the infrastructure deficit faced by municipalities and for a review of the costs to municipal police services for federal policing work, such as drug enforcement, policing the Great Lakes, and combating cybercrime and organized crime.
FCM also does vital international work by helping to build municipal capacity and promote equity and local democracy.
Visit www.fcm.ca for news and more information about FCM and its work.
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TSUNAMI RELIEF
On December 26, 2004, the families and friends of many Torontonians perished on the shores of Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The tsunami decimated homes, towns, infrastructure, and municipal governments.
Councillor Pam McConnell discusses tsunami relief projects in Sri Lanka.
Toronto worked with FCM, with funding from the federal government through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), on post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction. Toronto participated in helping to rebuild municipal public works (such as waste management and surface water drainage), improve municipal finance and planning, and restore community services such as public libraries.
Through FCM, Toronto and 13 other Canadian cities co-operated to identify experts drawn from city staff from across the country to design technical missions and help rebuild battered local governments. In Sri Lanka, the Municipal Cooperation Program worked in Ampara, Batticaloa, Galle, Matara, and Trincomalee.
Click HERE to view an 8 minute overview of the tsunami relief work.
In November 2007, Councillor McConnell participated in a mission to Sri Lanka to evaluate the tsunami relief work and progress, to help develop plans for the next 18 months and to recommend the possible continuation of FCM’s post-tsunami work.
In April 2008, Councillor McConnell hosted a forum highlighting the tsunami relief work done by Toronto City staff. Click HERE to read her remarks from the forum and her observations from her mission to Sri Lanka.
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REGIONAL CHAMPIONS CAMPAIGN – INCREASING WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT
The United Nations defines 30% female representation as the minimum required for policy to reflect women’s concerns. Although women comprise 52% of the population in Canada, women make up only 23% of municipal councils. That means a total of 1,823 more women would have to be elected to local office in Canada to reach the 30% minimum target.
The Standing Committee on Increasing Women’s Participation in Municipal Government and FCM are moving forward on an action plan to encourage and support women running for public office. To help achieve the goal, FCM created the framework Getting to 30% by 2026 and an Election Toolkit to assist women in running for elected office.
An important part of the FCM strategy is the Regional Champion Campaign. The goal of this campaign is to recruit, organize, assist, and provide information for women interested in running for municipal government.
Councillor Pam McConnell, Ontario Fairness Commissioner Hon. Jean Augustine, and Regional Champions protegees.
As Toronto’s Regional Champion, along with the participation of all Toronto women councillors, Councillor McConnell developed a unique program to introduce university-aged women to municipal government.
Launched in September 2008, this one-year mentoring, job shadowing and education program matches young women with women councillors. Since the program began, the protégées have received information, support and a unique window on the experiences of women councillors.
Councillor McConnell’s 2009/2010 protégées have written an account of their experiences in the program. Click to read articles by Mafaza Assan and Simone Samuels.
Click HERE to read the handbook developed for the Toronto Regional Champions program.
Click HERE to read Councillor McConnell’s speech at the official launch of the program, which includes a history of the development of his initiative at FCM.
Click HERE for information about applying to participate in the program.
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GHANA – SUPPORTING WOMEN IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
This September 2008, Councillor Pam McConnell lead FCM’s delegation to Accra, Ghana, to chair a workshop on women’s leadership and local government in September.
Councillor Pam McConnell as part of the FCM mission in Ghana.
Funded by CIDA, the workshop was organized by FCM and the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), bringing together women from 10 African countries, Bolivia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam to discuss women’s leadership, gender-responsive budgeting, and how to get more women involved in municipal politics. This workshop was part of FCM’s ongoing international initiative to create networks of women mayors and councillors.
In many cases, women in Africa put their lives at risk by simply running for office. FCM is playing an important role by offering both technical and personal support to these amazing women.
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