Who Are You and Why Are You Doing This?

By Stephen Calverley, Election Day, October 24, 2022

Here’s the long answer from the inside, looking out. This is the first and last "it's all about me" flavoured article - but some will want to know this.

I am a 67-year-old retiree, married thirty-three years to a patient woman. I first “discovered” Elliot Lake in 2017, and it was love at first sight because it reminded me of where I lived as a boy – much further north of here but in Saskatchewan. We bought here in ‘17 and moved up from “the south” in ‘18.

Not long after arriving, a question began to puzzle me, “How could a place with so much opportunity be so economically stagnant?” Local long-timers told me the problem was “the old boy’s club” and “[Elliot Lake] Retirement Living.” I was skeptical because I know petty jealousies can underlie explanations of that kind, but I watched and listened.

My grandfather was known to be a little bit opinionated. For better or for worse, I think I got the gene. (And he was bald too, darn it!) But the “for better” part (and, yes, the “for worse” part), is we get involved - and my involvement began online and offline. Online mostly on The Buzz. Offline by attending or watching council meetings.

My earliest days on The Buzz were limited to benign comments and posting a few pictures of the beauty here. I thought it might help if readers diluted the vitriol a little by reminding folks about what we have here in this beautiful place. I started a little amateur photo group, and we posted our pictures on The Buzz - when they were accepted there - and on Elliot Lake News and Stuff when they were not. (I got the distinct impression The Buzz didn’t want too much dilution of their trademark flavour. Yes, it is my opinion that The Buzz is one of Elliot Lake’s greatest impediments.)

A couple of things I don’t have any patience for are racism or sexism, so when a couple of posts were made on The Buzz that was “gateway” racist and sexist, my “Social Justice Warrior (Ret.)” just couldn’t stay retired.

The comment thread on the posts had been as you might expect - jokesters playing off each other to create social approval for the soft-core racist and sexist memes. I made my comment to the contrary and pressed the button. I knew what I would get, and I was not to be disappointed. The usual suspects delivered the usual insults. It was what it was, but for anyone else reading along, there was something else to see on the thread – not everyone thinks that way. And so, with that, I outed my grandfather’s outspoken gene on The Buzz.

My offline involvement began by attending the mayor’s levee in the auditorium of the Lester B. Pearson Centre in January 2019. During the public question period, I asked the mayor where I could find the city’s Mission, Vision, and Values statements. I also made a statement of recognition that our good fortune to “discover” Elliot Lake was because of those people who had kept this city going for many years before I arrived – and I thanked them publicly for doing so. I later followed up with an email to Mayor Dan and received a helpful response. I was a bit surprised because that’s not how it works down south. You don’t get a response. (For a point of reference of the timeline, the Civic Centre roof collapsed the next month.)

In March of 2019, an event shocked the world: a gunman massacred worshippers at a mosque in New Zealand and live-streamed it on the internet. To me, that is the extreme end result when racism is tolerated or, maybe more than just tolerated – given a wink and a nudge. Because I had seen that winking and nudging going on here, I wrote to the city councillors and asked them to make a statement condemning the New Zealand act because even though it was “a world away,” things were happening here in Canada – and Elliot Lake - that were making the soil fertile for the anti-Muslim sentiment. The council did respond with an appropriate and appropriately-scaled statement. I was again surprised. And encouraged by what this council seemed to be about.

And why does this matter to Elliot Lake? Our success as a city and our quality of life as individuals – is best served by respecting one another – not “othering” anyone. That makes Elliot Lake a place open to all the people who can help us achieve our vision - professionals, new business owners, investors, and others. So, yes, it’s a bit of my snowflake coming out, but I think it’s also pragmatic for all of us.

In the following months, I spent a lot of time hiking and being involved in a volunteer commitment that took quite a bit of my time, so my attention to the city council was distracted. And not only that, I had a philosophy of “once you elect them, just get out of their way.” But after the last four years, I don’t have that perspective anymore.

I was very pleased when I heard the council wanted the city to purchase the old mall site for the site of a new recreation center. I could see that our recreation infrastructure needed replacement, so to my thinking, that was a win-win. We would eliminate the big piece of junk sitting on the site (a large, decrepit demo machine was there), and we would have control over what happened there. As one person told me, the old owner would have sold it to a tannery if it was profitable for him. (Tanneries are incredibly smelly operations.) And then there were the Phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes reasons that go deep into the soul of Elliot Lake. We would do something beautiful for Elliot Lake at a location that had been so profoundly painful for those here in 2012.

Imagine my surprise when the proposal kept running into trouble. First, there was the price. To long-timers who had seen local real estate prices crash through the floor and stay there, the purchase price seemed like way too much money. To those of us “from away,” it sounded incredibly cheap. Six acres in the middle of a city for (around) a million. I think the long-timers were remembering how long the depressed prices stayed “under the floor,” and newcomers were coming with the awareness of the price pressures all around Elliot Lake just beyond the visible horizon, and we were thinking of near-future value, not past depressed value.

But it wasn’t just the price. The location seemed to have another specter that was unspoken. Kind of a weird “everyone knows, but no one will say it” problem. But I don’t think everyone did know, and our small-town gossip being what it is, there were many whispered rumours. And the destructive behind-the-scenes shenanigans we now know about from the IC reports carried on.

Shortly before covid, I spoke at the council meeting during the Question Period. I commented that I hoped we would turn the page and asked how the public could help - I’ve been on this track for a while. This project is just the tip of the iceberg.

You will probably be surprised that I am going to say this, but I think the money we spent on our Integrity Commissioner will be money well spent – IF we understand what the reports say and learn from them because the reports go right to the heart of one of our two greatest constraints, “the old boys’ club.” And I will say again, the membership in the club is not static, and “the club” is more of a mindset of selfishness that every human being needs to hold in check within themselves.

I’m going to stop with that part of the story now because the purpose of the Elliot Lake Citizen project is to help the future, not dwell on the past. Learn from it? Sure. Live in it? No.

 

Today, we will elect the council of 2022, and we all hope the next four years will be better than the last four, which were characterized by a lot of selfish drama and manipulation. That stuff prevented a lot of the good work that could have been done for the benefit of us all.

But it’s not just the council who needs to take responsibility. It’s the citizens and another very important piece in our democratic civic life: journalism. In my opinion, we really didn’t have a consistent, accurate, and concise view of what was going on – regular reporting about what happened at each council meeting. That’s the part I’m trying to help with - at least until we have a better qualified, higher quality source that steps up and shows a commitment to regular reporting.

So, while I don’t have what it takes to serve on the council, I have asked myself, what can I do? And, for better or for worse, that’s what I’m trying to do with the Elliot Lake Citizen project.

Watch for news-style reporting (not “shoot from the hip” opinion pieces) that inform you about what happened at the council meeting. Watch for opinion pieces that take an objective approach by comparing the individual council member’s statements and voting to the Strategic Plan. I think that will be the most objective way to give us all an ongoing and up-to-date view of who is leading in the direction that serves us all.

In closing, dear fellow Elliot Laker, please stay engaged after our election today and (forgive me), “Ask not what Elliot Lake can do for you. Ask what you can do for Elliot Lake. “