Mayor's Engaged City Task Force

Vancouver residents long for a greater sense of connectedness with their neighbours, and in how they engage and interact with City Hall.

The mandate of the Engaged City Task Force is to increase neighbourhood engagement, and improve upon the many ways the City connects with Vancouver residents.

The task force will focus on the following priority issues:

Enhancing how the City engages with citizens, including immigrants and youth.
Improving the way the City consults with citizens on policy.
Increasing voter turnout.
Enabling community connections at a neighbourhood level.

First report released

May 22, 2013

The Engaged City Task Force released their first report that contains a set of 16 recommendations that the City can take to enhance public consultation, improve the effectiveness of civic communications, and foster collaboration and
connection within neighbourhoods. These quick starts are recommendations that the taskforce believes could be accomplished by the City within a 6-month time frame.

Read the report

Members selected

December 5, 2012

The Mayor announces the 22 citizens who will serve on the Engaged City Task Force. The members were selected from 117 applicants.

Task force established

October 3, 2012

Vancouver City Council passed a motion to establish the Mayor's Engaged City Task Force, with the mandate to increase neighbourhood engagement and improve upon the many ways the City connects with Vancouver residents.

Making the City a leader in civic engagement

The task force begins work in December 2012, and will report to City Council in June 2013.

Made up of a diverse group of citizens from all corners of Vancouver, the task force will examine innovative best practices for civic engagement, and work to improve the ways the City engages and communicates with citizens.

Task force co-chairs

Mayor Gregor Robertson
Councillor Andrea Reimer

Task force

Waldo Brino: Vice president, Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre; member, City Multicultural Advisory Committee
Mark Busse: Host, Creative Mornings Vancouver; past president, Society of Graphic Designers, BC Chapter
Mary Elisa Campbell: Former executive director, UBC Centre for Sustainability; past chair, Trafalgar Elementary PAC
Dennis Chan: Former chair, current director of S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
Samuel Chen: SFU PhD student, studying transformational change in the Faculty of Education
Hannah Cho: Curator of engagement and dialogue, Museum of Vancouver; former project manager Youth Outreach, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Catherine Clement: former vice president public engagement and communications, Vancouver Foundation
Curtis Davey: Volunteer/operations director, KitsFest
Richard Delaney: President, Canadian Institute for Public Engagement
Olive Dempsey: Facilitator and engagement strategist; former communications coordinator, Get Your Vote On
Meharoona Ghani: Director of strategic planning, community engagement and outreach at Reel Causes
Jennifer Gray-Grant: Executive director, Renfrew Collingwood Neighbourhood House
Peter Greenwell: Chair, Vancouver City Planning Commission
Lizzy Karp: Creator, Rain City Chronicles, a fun way for residents — both new and long-standing — to meet and share their stories about Vancouver
Tara Mahoney, Creative Director, Gen Why Media
Colleen McGuinness: Current member, City Seniors Advisory Committee; director, Dunbar Residents Association
Lyndsay Poaps: Former Vancouver Parks Commissioner; former communications specialist on public engagement, City of Toronto
Scott Sheldon: Co-Founder, Vancouver Change Camp, which seeks to renew relationships among citizens and government through innovative dialogue approaches and internet tools
Marten Sims: Design specialist, Vancouver Design Nerds and Civic Renewal Lab; lecturer, Emily Carr University and Vancouver Film School
Paul Taylor: Executive director, Gordon Neighbourhood House; former executive director, Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House
Julien Thomas: Arts-based community engagement specialist; facilitator, Late Night Art series, and Gather Round and Stick Shift public art projects
Tesicca Truong: SFU student in Environmental Science; facilitator for citizenU, an anti-discrimination program for youth