Engage Barrie is a collective that formed in 2019 to help foster an equitable community, mobilize and empower people, and build an engaged local democracy. We believe that the more people who share their ideas about our city, the more diverse, representative and equitable our municipal actions will become.
Current Campaigns and
Calls To Action
While we've got lots of members involved in lots of projects all the time, here are the ones we need your help with right now. Please click through and see how you can help make our city more equitable, with residents who are empowered and engaged!
SCSL-B: Final push – encourage your Councillor to Say YES to Barrie's SCS Monday night!
At last week's General Committee, Council voted 8-2 to support the CMHA's & SMDHU's application for a Supervised Consumption Site at 11 Innisfil. This Monday (May 31), this motion will go in front of City Council for a final vote, so the applicants can take this proposal to the Province. The link to watch is here.
Last week's vote was as follows:
Mayor Lehman - forCouncillor Riepma - forCouncillor Aylwin - forCouncillor Kungl - forDeputy Mayor Ward - forCouncillor Thomson - forCouncillor N.Harris - forCouncillor Harvey - againstCouncillor J.Harris - abstained, declaring pecuniary interestCouncillor Morales - forCouncillor McCann - against
This is the final push to encourage your Councillor to vote Yes to Barrie's SCS on Monday night! Contact information is here, or you can email [email protected] to automatically send your message to all members of Council.
Thank you, everyone, for your support in bringing a Supervised Consumption Site to Downtown Barrie!
SCSL-B: Sign the Petition: "Say YES to Barrie's SCS"
Sign our Change.org petition to Barrie City Council, calling on them to stop the delays, and endorse the CMHA & SMDHU's application for a Supervised Consumption Site in downtown Barrie, before any more lives are lost.
We have been made aware that on February 6, 2021, the Downtown Barrie Business Association (BIA) launched a website, co-opting our name to put out messaging that goes against both our position on the SCS and our position paper on public engagement.
Thank you to all who alerted us to the mis-use of our name and identity.
Our position on supporting a downtown Supervised Consumption Site remains the same as when Engage was founded in 2019. Please continue to follow our SCS-related sites, found via the "Supervised Consumption Site" button below, for our true position.
SCSL-B: Downtown Businesses / Residents / Visitors, visit VoicesOfDowntown.com
Add your business or organization to our list of Downtown SCS supporters, request a window sign, send an email to City Council, and learn more at www.voicesofdowntown.com
Projects and Initiatives
Our first project was hosting the only all-candidates meeting for the Ward 3 by-election in January 2020. Our first report to Council was later that spring, regarding Ranked Ballots (it was successful, in that they agreed to add it as a referendum question in the 2022 election – sadly, the province rescinded municipalities' right to choose, but we'll keep pushing!). We campaigned to reallocate 10% of the police budget to health and social services. We prepared a position paper on community/public engagement, and submitted it to both City Council and the Police Services Board. And were a part of the creation of Just Recovery Simcoe, and recently incorporated Barrie Community Media.
2021 Budget and Business Plan
Letter to Council, January 18, 2021
Workplace Harassment Case
The information on the Workplace Harassment Case has all been transferred over to Engage Barrie's new website.
Please visit
https://www.engagebarrie.org/blog/categories/workplace-harassment
for all updates.