Pre-conference Program - See pre-conference page for details and cost
11:00 am - 4:00 pm - Optional Study Tours (with an additional cost)
8:30 am - 9:00 am - Coffee Hour and Registration Foyer
9:00 am - Welcome and Opening Remarks Theatre
9:15 am - Opening Plenary: Rooting our work in Truth and Reconciliation Theatre
Led by Brianna Bear, this session for all attendees will introduce the concepts of safety and wellbeing through a lens of truth and reconciliation. By understanding the depth, breadth, and power of truth, we can find reconciliation through the creation of community wellbeing.
10:00 am - Plenary - Introducing Victoria Theatre
Join Mayor Marianne Alto and guests to to discuss the City of Victoria’s recent Community Safety and Wellbeing plan, including an analysis of themes like community building, advocacy, and urban social service delivery. This session will discuss current trends, themes, and discourses around social disorder affecting cities, large and small, across the globe.
10:45 am - 11:15 am - Break
11:15 am - 12:15 pm - Feature Speaker/Keynote Address Theatre
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm - Lunch Saanich Room
1:15 pm - 2:45 pm - Panels
The size and scale of communities creates new challenges to safety, but also brings new opportunities for collaboration and innovation. Join leaders from local governments for a discussion of the impacts of safety challenges on small and rural communities.
Cities across the world are struggling with social disorder concerns, leading to increased questions about safety in downtown centres. Join urban leaders for this panel discussion about innovative and modern solutions to transform the way we view urban safety.
Data is the key to community safety wellbeing, and helps quantify problems we knew we had, while identifying unknown challenges. This panel will explore ways that data can be used for social sciences, strategies for collecting and maintaining data, and what data is necessary to build community safety and wellbeing policies.
Experts agree that poverty reduction is key to addressing security issues and declining social order. Join panel experts to discuss modern frameworks for a guaranteed livable income as a tool for poverty reduction, and how to balance existing economic concerns with the need to reduce poverty.
2:45 pm - 3:15pm - Break
3:15 pm - 4:45 pm - Plenary: Dissecting the Toxic Drug Crisis Theatre
The toxic drug crisis has had disastrous consequences for communities across North America, and beyond. All aspects and networks in the community have felt the consequences of this crisis, and with over 2,500 lives lost in 2023, nearly everyone knows someone who has been affected. Across Canada, many different approaches have been taken to combat the toxic drug crisis, reduce deaths, and support vulnerable individuals. Recently, in BC, the provincial government attempted to implement a decriminalization pilot, which they rolled back earlier this year. This panel will bring together leaders in the toxic drug crisis field to discuss policy, consequences, and the next steps forward.
5:00pm - Walking Tour of Chinatown Chinatown, Fisgard Street
In anticipation of the Conference Banquet at Golden City restaurant, join local tour guides for a tour of the oldest Chinatown in Canada. This tour will highlight the history of Victoria’s Chinatown, while discussing approaches to equity and diversity through building a welcoming City for newcomers. Transportation from the Victoria Conference Centre is included.
Meet the tour bus in front of the Conference Center (Douglas Street Entrance), or meet the tour guide at the Gates of Harmonious Interest (Red Chinatown gates) on Fisgard Street, at Government Street. The tour will end at Golden City Restaurant.
6:00 pm - 8:15 pm - Banquet and Welcoming Reception Golden City Restaurant, 721 Fisgard Street
The banquet of the conference, taking place at Golden City Restaurant, is a chance to enjoy traditional and modern Chinese cuisine, while building upon participants’ understanding of community wellbeing.
The cost of dinner, as well as transportation to and from the Victoria Conference Centre is included. Meet the buses in front of the Conference Center (Douglas Street Entrance). After dinner, the buses will drop participants at the Conference Center.
8:30 am - 9:00 am - Morning Coffee and Registration Foyer
9:00 am - Morning Welcome Theatre
Join Victoria Poet Laureate Marie Metaphor Specht to start the second day of the conference.
9:30 am - 10:30 am - Feature Speaker Theatre
10:30 am - 10:45 am - Break
10:45 am - 12:00 pm - Panels
Policing, enforcement, and community responses to crime look more different today than they have over the past decades. As we respond to new challenges, our police, bylaws, and enforcement teams have adapted - and continue to adapt - to the new realm of safety and wellbeing. This session will discuss how these forces are adapting and collaborating, and what panel members see for the future of their organizations.
The effects of the toxic drug crisis can be felt in communities across North America. One approach to address the toxic drug crisis is to provide spaces, tools, and resources for people who use drugs to reach recovery in a safe, compassionate, and community-oriented space that meets people where their needs are. This session will discuss the recovery community approach, and new understandings of addiction, health, and wrap around care.
A key part of upstream intervention and mitigation is disrupting generational trauma. By fostering a sense of belonging and community, coupled with care and supportive services, young people and their families can be key solutions in addressing community wellbeing concerns. This session will discuss the unique needs of youth and youth support, and strategies for improving youth services.
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm - Lunch Saanich Room
1:15 pm - 3:30 pm - Panels
This session will discuss new challenges that cities face in combatting polarization, hate, and extremism. The digital era and growing challenges with social media and misinformation can fuel extremism and hate-motivated individuals to target communities and networks, resulting in new and dangerous threats to social cohesion, equity seeking communities, and wellbeing. Discussion topics will include the new dimensions of extremism, countering polarization at the City level, and supporting communities facing discrimination and targeted threats.
In a post COVID-19 world, homelessness has taken new dimensions in modern communities. This panel will bring together community leaders and experts to talk about the state of homelessness in urban communities, and realistic approaches to addressing homelessness in a time marked by the high cost of living and a housing crisis.
This session will focus on how urban design and effective community planning can- and should- create safer spaces to improve social outcomes in a community. Panel members will discuss new insights and solutions in placemaking, community belonging and identity through spaces, and the effectives of built landscapes on those living in extreme poverty.
Bringing government, stakeholders, and subject area experts is key to solving any community challenges, but with so much at stake, its often difficult to get the right people in the right room together to work through solutions. While this collaboration and cooperation can sometimes be the biggest barrier in community safety and wellbeing work, if done effectively, it can also be the biggest opportunity. This panel will discuss the role of government and cross-sector collaboration at various stages of community safety and wellbeing, and discuss tips, tricks, and methods to gaining consensus and alignment on key issues.
3:30 pm - 3:45 pm - Break
3:45 pm - 5:15 pm - Mayor’s Panel: Mayoral Leadership in Community Safety and Wellbeing Theatre
This panel will bring together mayors to challenge perceptions and ideas of political leadership and its integral role in community safety and wellbeing. Topics will discuss the role of Mayor’s in communicating safety to their constituents, political leadership in decolonizing local wellbeing, and the role of multi-government advocacy in local governments.
8:30 am - 9:00 am - Welcome Theatre
Join for the morning welcome and a message from Laurel Collins, MP for Victoria
9:00 am - 9:45 am - Policy Roundtables
Policy Roundtables are informal opportunities to connect with experts, practitioners, knowledge keepers, and those with an interest in a particular subject. These drop-in sessions do not have a set agenda, but will connect participants with informal, guided conversations.
9:45 am - 9:55 am - Break
9:55 am - 11:20 am - Panels
The success of all community wellbeing work is tied to the ability to bring your community and stakeholders along with you. Whether it is newcomers and refugees, people with disabilities, or just people who have never engaged with local governments before, the creation of a community safety and wellbeing plan, and related wellbeing work, is built through communication, engagement, and constructive discourse. This session will discuss the importance of belonging as part of wellbeing work, strategies for effective communication and outreach, and engagement methods that reach different audiences.
Traumatic brain injuries are associated with a host of cognitive, behavioural, and affective disorders- and they are inherently intertwined with toxic drug use. Supporting people with complex care needs, included brain trauma, creates unique challenges and requires a targeted skill set. This panel will discuss the interconnectedness of drug use and brain trauma and discuss solutions and approaches to supportive people with complex traumatic brain injuries.
Small businesses are key partners in addressing crime and social disorder, while are oftentimes experiencing it first-hand. This session will bring together business leaders to discuss approaches to managing social disorder, supporting staff, and being community partners in safety and wellbeing.
11:20 am - 12:00 pm - Closing Remarks Theatre
This multi-day conference will give you a chance to connect with leaders in the field, while encouraging you to reimagine what community safety and wellbeing looks like in your community, and beyond. Topics will challenge, explore and discover the current trends, issues, and research in the community safety and wellbeing field.
More details are provided in the Agenda section.
To ensure a comfortable and convenient experience for attendees, please fill out the contact form with your contact information and specific requirements. Our team will work to accommodate your needs and provide you with information on available options at the conference venue. We look forward to assisting you with your booking and making your conference experience a success.
This multi-day conference will give you a chance to connect with leaders in the field, while encouraging you to reimagine what community safety and wellbeing looks like in your community, and beyond. Topics will challenge, explore and discover the current trends, issues, and research in the community safety and wellbeing field.
More details are provided in the Agenda section.
To ensure a comfortable and convenient experience for attendees, please fill out the contact form with your contact information and specific requirements. Our team will work to accommodate your needs and provide you with information on available options at the conference venue. We look forward to assisting you with your booking and making your conference experience a success.
The Reimagining Inclusive Community Safety and Wellbeing Conference is honoured to be based on the homelands of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples of the Songhees Nation and Xwsepsum Nation, whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.