Incumbent Marnie Brenner is seeking re-election for a second term on city council.
“When I ran four years ago it was driven by wanting to see diversity at the council table and wanting to have a part in improving relationships with Indigenous communities around Williams Lake,” said Brenner, who is an Indigenous woman.
Brenner said her view has expanded to include council’s need to look at housing, the health care professional shortage, recruitment and retention, mental health and addictions and the ‘hard to home.’
“As a council we’ve done so many things moving forward. We have different partners in the community. I believe that we are on a momentum and I would like to have the opportunity to continue to serve so that we continue this momentum.”
Brenner has been advocating for a relational style of policing she thinks would be effective in Williams Lake, borrowing the idea from Saskatoon.
“First of all they will support the RCMP, fill the gaps in the downtown core so they are walking a beat and have a presence. They can also do case management, tickets and fines so they have a little bit of teeth.”
The relational police officers can respond immediately to less serious issues and allow the RCMP to continue to do the work they need to do, she added.
“They don’t carry guns, they don’t carry a Taser. They are there to build those relationships and fill the gaps of the different resources.”
Brenner has lived in Williams Lake since 2000. A nurse by trade, she is currently pursuing a master’s degree and has started a foot care and diabetes education business.
In 2020, Williams Lake First Nation called for Brenner’s resignation after she said during a city council meeting that “not everyone’s experience at residential school was a bad one.”
“I was speaking about my own experience as an Indigenous woman who was part of the 60s scoop and the experience of my birth family at residential school. I feel very strongly about truth and reconciliation and that it is very disheartening to have my own experience, my own truth unvalidated. I was cancelled because my experience didn’t fit the mold.”
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
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