Welcoming City Strategy
A Welcoming City can meet its highest civic and economic potential by unleashing the power of its biggest asset – its people.
Informed by community input, the City of Victoria has developed a Welcoming City Strategy to serve as a roadmap to guide Victoria towards becoming a stronger, more inclusive community where everyone, including newcomers, immigrants and refugees, is accepted, respected and feels like they belong.
The strategy is intended to remove barriers to City services and foster a compassionate and neighbourly community where all residents are encouraged to participate in civic life.
It is intended to be community owned and focused. Many of the action recommendations are driven with and by community, and in partnership with the City.
Advisory Committee Members
In November 2021, Council directed staff to work with the community to develop community-driven implementation plans.
Council also invited the Welcoming City Task Force members to continue as members of the Welcoming City Advisory Committee to guide this work. All of the Task Force members chose to stay on as Advisory Committee members.
| Organization | Members |
|---|---|
| Member at Large | Daniela dos Santos Pinto |
| Member at Large | Jibril Mohamed |
| Victoria Immigrant & Refugee Centre Society | Luis Gutierrez Aguirre |
| Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria | Florentien Verhage |
| Chinese Community Services Society | Nora Butz |
| Greater Victoria Public Library | Maureen Sawa |
| George Jay School Pac | Sandra Hough |
| Here in Canada Magazine | Fiona Bramble |
| Bayanihan Community Centre | Isidoro Emmanuel |
Terms of Reference
Read the Welcoming City Advisory Committee Terms of Reference.
Background - Welcoming City Task Force
In 2020, Council appointed a Welcoming City Task Force comprised of community experts with a diversity of perspectives and lived experiences to develop a Welcoming City Strategy. The work of the Task Force is now complete.
The Task Force led this work with the assistance of consultants and City staff. Sharing their own expertise and lived experience, Task Force members reached out to other community stakeholders through a series of virtual workshops to gather input to inform the Strategy. Mayor Lisa Helps and Councillor Sharmarke Dubow were appointed to serve as non-voting liaisons to the Task Force and co-chaired meetings.
Meeting Time and Location
The Welcoming City Advisory Committee meetings are held every second month from 5-6:30 p.m.
All Meetings held in the Esquimalt Room, City Hall | 1 Centennial Square and electronically via Teams.