Mayor candidates share their platform for ending domestic violence
You now know the results. We'd like to take a little credit on what was said during the campaign.
On Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010 or 13 days before Calgary voters elected Naheed Nenshi as mayor, people crowded into a room at the Carriage House Inn, to participate in Shaw television's televised Mayoral candidate forum. The forum, put on by the Calgary Domestic Violence Committee (CDVC), was standing room only as Calgary's most prevalent social issue was addressed by the leading candidates.
The forum was one of the activities in the "Make your vote count against Domestic Violence" campaign presented by CDVC's communications committee. The campaign met its objectives: to educate and engage the mayoral candidates about family violence and encourage advocacy for the collective network of services available.
In the mayoral candidate forum, the seven top candidates attended and answered questions describing their leadership on the issue and outlining what action they would, as Mayor, take to end domestic violence. All candidates talked about a collaborative response and emphasized the need for the entire community to be aware of and help solve domestic violence.
The lively forum generated substantive responses including all candidates committing to at least maintaining the City of Calgary's 25 per cent funding contribution to Family and Community Support Services that funds prevention work by many of the agencies working in the domestic violence segment.
Shaw-TV taped the forum live and then had seven additional encore presentations. All news media were present at the forum. We believe through follow up surveys that it stimulated some of the lively conversations making the Calgary election one of the most exciting in recent history.
Also in the campaign, CDVC sent surveys to all of the candidates asking them what their domestic violence platform was. Nine of the top candidates returned our survey and advocated they would speak publicly about the issue of family violence, provide leadership on the issue and ensure funding so more people could get help to live free of domestic abuse.
The CDVC mayoral campaign was delivered through the efforts of the communications team of the CDVC. CDVC is a collaboration of domestic violence agency representatives, helping to develop a community of care. Calgary Counselling Centre is an active member of CDVC.
A special thank you to Whitney Dean of QR77 radio who was ‘grace under pressure’ as moderator of the forum. Additional information about domestic violence and the campaign can be found at www.voteagainstviolence.com.
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