I’ve dedicated my career to serving our community as a frontline healthcare professional, currently based right here at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. As a director of the Health Sciences Association of BC, I proudly represent roughly 2,300 healthcare and social service workers across Vancouver Island. I’m incredibly proud to call Nanaimo home, and it’s the community where I intend to raise my family one day.

My deep passion for this city—and my firsthand experience advocating for improved access to healthcare and social services—is exactly what brought me into this race for a seat on Nanaimo City Council. During my term, my goals and priorities will focus on three concrete initiatives that our city desperately needs, while addressing the constant challenges of rising taxes and housing affordability:

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• Primary Healthcare Access: One in five Nanaimo residents are without a primary care provider, and I want our city to take a strong leadership role in changing that by establishing a municipally-run medical clinic as other municipalities in the province have done successfully.

• Improved Transportation Network: Our regional transit system must adequately connect our regional hospital, ferry terminals, and airport to the people who need to travel there, and this can be done while reducing transit dead zones to support youth, seniors, and families.

• Expanded Childcare Facilities: Childcare facilities with flexible hours that are open seven days a week will accommodate the essential shift workers we so desperately need in our city, and this program will be open to all families in our community.

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When I began my career in front-line healthcare, I was drawn to Nanaimo by the mid-island lifestyle, employment opportunities, and the natural beauty of the region. It is a story shared by many who call Nanaimo home: families relocating from the mainland to raise their children; young adults building a life and dreaming of owning a home; retirees seeking the idyllic climate on the West Coast. Over the last several years, working with patients of all backgrounds at our regional hospital gave me a window into the needs of a whole community, a community that deserves to live in a city its residents are proud to call home.

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Alongside my position with Island Health, I serve as a regional director with the Health Sciences Association of BC, representing over 2,300 healthcare and social service workers on Vancouver Island. In the community, I volunteer with several non-profit organizations, notably the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation. I enjoy supporting a variety of their causes, such as raising funds for medical equipment and employee wellness initiatives at the regional hospital. I am also an active member of the Rock City Neighbourhood Association and l'Association des Francophones de Nanaimo.

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I am running for Nanaimo City Council because I believe this city has the potential to become a regional centre for healthcare excellence, and local municipal government has a role to play in shaping that vision into a reality the next generation can benefit from. Nanaimo can act as a leader in developing innovative solutions to address our overburdened healthcare system, and we need a front-line healthcare professional's voice at the table.

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A close-knit family is at the core of who I am, and as I intend to raise my own family in this city, I want other families to have the same opportunities I have been granted. That means primary healthcare access every resident can rely on, a public transportation network that serves the workers and the patients who depend on it, and flexible childcare options that make it possible to hold a shift job and raise young children at the same time. These are the areas where a council can make measurable progress in a four-year term, and where the tools and precedents already exist if council chooses to utilize them.

The combination of front-line healthcare experience and union governance experience shapes how I will approach the work. I know what it means to be one of the voices at the table when decisions affect the people working in my industry, and I am motivated to build the coalition on council that can produce consistent, meaningful change.

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Away from work and community roles, I enjoy hiking in the alpine and cycling through the trails and coastline that first drew me to the mid-island. In the summer, I play beach volleyball and take ocean swims when my schedule allows. Recently, I became a first-time homeowner, so I understand what the rising cost of municipal property taxes means for young families and for residents on fixed incomes who built this community. For most of my adult life, however, I have been a renter, and I will always keep that experience front of mind when it comes to community decision-making.

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I am running for Nanaimo City Council to serve the residents of this community with integrity, and in doing so, I pledge to engage in difficult conversations and present boldly worded motions with the intent of having the city act to benefit future generations. Being elected to one of the eight councillor seats is a privilege, and one's ambition should not merely be to support what is convenient to justify another term. The responsibility of ethical leadership requires an individual to possess the courage to do what is right, not what is easy, even if that happens to be unpopular at the time. Providing quality healthcare to my patients is part of my identity, and as your elected representative, I will bring that same standard of dedication to the residents of Nanaimo.