We had an incredible turn out of over 160 people at our Discernment Assembly on Monday September 16, 2024 at Scarboro United Church, each one coming with a priority issue on their mind. We heard about widespread affordable housing challenges, heart-breaking  stories of individuals struggling with mental health and addictions, the grind and disheartening process of trying to find a good job these days, and a moving overview of how the Environment and Climate Change are existential issues, especially through the lens of our call to reconciliation with indigenous peoples in Canada. 

Ultimately, through 3 rounds of voting including a round for institutions and 2 rounds for individuals to vote with a personal commitment to work on the issues, the two chosen issues for the Alliance to focus on were Mental Health, and Good Jobs, with a commitment to work in a spirit of reconciliation and right relationship with our indigenous neighbours as to how they are impacted by these issues as well.

Though Climate Change was not chosen as a focus, we are fortunate that among our membership are two environmentally focused groups--the Calgary Climate Hub and the Alberta Environmental Network. We encourage anyone specifically interested in advocacy around environment and climate change efforts to connect directly with these two groups. 

Affordable Housing came in a very close third as an issue, and so we made the tough decision to create a "Research Action Team Lite" which may work to bring people together for public engagement as affordable housing issues will continue to crop up as Calgary works through implementing their Home is Here housing strategy. An initial meeting for folks to meet and discuss how to work together will be set up. 

We had unprecedented numbers of people sign up to join the Research Action Teams, and we are excited about how these groups will work together to advance specific policy changes within the identified topics.