CityTalk Canada – Canadian Urban Institute

Cities in the time of COVID-19

This new CUI series of online, candid conversations brings together city builders of all stripes to discuss what’s working, what’s not and what’s next for urban communities across Canada.

Upcoming Special Events

June 24, 2021

Leading Canada’s She-covery From the Ground Up

Join us on Thursday, June 24, 2021 for two important conversations about addressing the post-COVID gender gap in Canada’s cities, hosted jointly by the Canadian Urban Institute and the Pay Equity Commission of Ontario, and made possible by the generous support of Libro Credit Union and Advanis.

What must urban communities across Canada do to not only recover the progress we have lost, but emerge from COVID with a renewed commitment to gender equality? What kind of leadership will be needed — from governments, from the private sector, from civil society — to meaningfully address the gender gap in communities across the country as we emerge from this global crisis?

Upcoming Discussions

June 24

Addressing the Post-COVID Gender Gap

The first event of “Leading Canada’s ‘shecovery’ from the ground up” virtual events establish the context for the day, providing a close and personal look at the gender gap in Canada as we emerge from a global pandemic and she-cession. This session takes an intersectional look at what groups of women and girls decision makers need to be most focused on today.

June 24

Big Ideas to Close the Gap

What are the big ideas and specific policy actions that will be needed to close Canada’s gender gap? This event provides a summary of what advocates, experts and policy makers in Canada are currently doing to improve the wellbeing of women and girls – and showcases efforts emerging out of COVID towards achieving gender equity.

Recent Discussions

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Indigenous Practitioner Perspectives on City Building

Featuring Eladia Smoke, Principal Architect, Smoke Architecture, Master Lecturer at Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture; Tonii Lerat, Community Planner with Urban Systems, and a Board Member, Canadian Institute of Planners; Lorna Crowshoe, Aboriginal Issues Strategist with the City of Calgary and Board Member of National Trust of Canada; Danilo Caron, EIT, and Indigenous Student Engagement Coordinator at UBC Engineering Student Services; and Naomi Ratte, Landscape Architecture student, University of Manitoba, and co-editor of Voices of the Land: Indigenous Design and Planning from the Prairies. Moderated by Hunter Cardinal, Co-Founder and Director of Story, Naheyawin. Based in Edmonton, AB, Hunter is a member of the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation.

Lessons from the Local: How are Calgary and Edmonton responding to urban challenges?

Featuring Ashlyn Bernier, COO, SamDesk; Mohamed Elsaghir, Senior Manager C5 Northeast Community Hub; LeeAnne Ireland, Consultant, LeeAnne Ireland Consulting; Mayor Don Iveson, Mayor of Edmonton; Mayor Naheeh Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary; and Irfhan Rawji, Founder and CEO, Mob Squad.

CUIxWindsor: Is this the mid-size city’s moment? A conversation with Windsor’s new CAO Jason Reynar

CUI x Windsor: The Windsor diaspora discusses the city they love (but left)

Are we ready for a revolution? Creating a new future for our Downtowns

Featuring Martine August, Waterloo, Assistant Professor of Planning, University of Waterloo; Alkarim Devani, Calgary, Co-founder, RNDSQR; Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer CHROMA; Ken Greenberg, Principal, Greenberg Consultants Inc.; and Michel Lauzon, Montreal, President, Laab Collective.

Douglas Cardinal: Architect of the Future

Join us on for an intimate conversation with world-renowned architect, Douglas Cardinal. Hosted by Engineers Canada and the Canadian Urban Institute

CityTalk Blog

Original insight, analysis and stories on how local government and communities across Canada are responding to the new urban reality under COVID-19.

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The democratic deficit in Canadian cities during COVID-19

Municipalities across Canada have been faced with some of the most challenging governance issues in the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the decisions most directly affecting the daily lives of Canadians have been made by municipalities. By Anneke Smit, Hana Syed, Aucha Stewart, Terra Duchene, and Michael Fazzari Read the full report here.

A Call to Courage: An Open Letter to Canadian Urbanists

Jay Pitter, award-winning placemaker and CUI Senior Fellow, Equity-Based Placemaking, releases A Call to Courage: An Open Letter to Canadian Urbanists, with a toolkit of resources for responding to anti-Black racism in urbanist practices and conversations.

COVID-19 has exposed how vulnerable Canadian cities really are

Now that we have seen how our cities truly function at their most vulnerable, what possible excuse do we have to not emerge solely committed to fixing them?