Tuesday, October 29

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.