With municipal elections just around the corner in BC, on October 20th, CBC interviewed Vancouver’s own Ajay Puri, co-founder of Changemakers Vancouver for their daily podcast show on September 27, 2018.
The big question Ajay poses is, “who is this city really for?”
In a time of great diversity in this city, with over 58% of the Vancouver population being non-white, it is still concerning that this is the not the representation seen from the political leaders in this city.
“Is it issues with access to run? Is it issues with access to getting elected? These are the questions we should be reflecting on”, Ajay explains.
While there doesn’t appear to be a quick solution, bringing up this conversation will help turn people’s attention to this topic. Even further he explains that it goes beyond just representation as well. Having people in some positions to check a box on diversity isn’t the only way to move forward, it’s having people in positions of influence, that have the ability to take action.
While social enterprises and nonprofits can be instrumental in creating change in our local cities, often times it comes down to having the support from a political standpoint to really move the needle. It’s times like this where we need to pick our head up from our work for a bit and look to the change we can make in our leadership at a municipal level.
Click here to listen to the full interview on CBC.ca
