The District of Sechelt hosted a community dialogue called Faces of Sechelt, Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Seaside Centre, to look at how Sechelt can become more welcoming and inclusive of its diverse community.
"We're talking age, culture, sexual orientation, religious values, ability, disability, anything that makes us diverse," said April Struthers, a consultant with Alofii Consulting, listing some of the "diversities" at play in the community.
The District put on the event in conjunction with Simon Fraser University's Welcoming and Inclusive Communities Dialogue Initiative, and with the help of provincial government funding.
Prior to the event, the District invited community members to submit stories dealing with themes of community inclusion and exclusion to a story contest. On Saturday, the Driftwood Players presented dramatic readings of the winning entries.
Some stories featured the warmth of Coast residents: "It's so great to tell people that you're new to the Coast, and it's as if you tell fellow parents that you just had a baby," one individual wrote. "We feel a kinship now as fellow Coasters, as ones who have travelled a common road that led us here to the Sunshine Coast, and we feel very, very lucky."
Other stories dealt with darker experiences: "I have had people make rude comments to me, point at me, laugh at me," another writer noted. "Often I can pretend that I didn't hear the words, or notice the laughing, but there are days that it hurts me deeply."
The authors of the winning entries, acknowledged by the District, were Duane Burnett, Shelley Jankola, Helga Kraus, Delma Lobo and Li Xiang.
Following the readings, the 40 or so attendees broke into groups to look at some of the recurring themes in the stories and to brainstorm courses of action that would make Sechelt more inclusive of all forms of diversity.
"People committed to - if they saw people on the street or in the neighbourhood who looked like they were lost or needed a little help - to inquiring and referring them in a useful way," Struthers said. "And then [people suggested] things like, should there be a section on the District of Sechelt website, for instance, that might have 10 great things to know about in our area, or 10 great ways to settle in as somebody that's new to the area."
Struthers said a Sechelt task force will now be looking at what came out of the dialogue.
"I hope the things that are learned today are things we can take outside of this room and demonstrate in this community," said Sechelt Mayor Darren Inkster, "to make it a better and better community and a more inclusive community."
