The Comox Valley Planning Society is an organization that promotes social planning as a process to create a healthy and inclusive Comox Valley. (Supplied)

Doors open at 4 p.m. to welcome registered participants at the Best Western hotel on Cliffe Avenue. (Jeannie Lin / CHLY 101.7 FM)

The Comox Valley Planning Society is bringing municipal candidates together tonight, Tuesday evening, for a forum focused on social issues.

The forum will look at how issues such as health care, substance use, food security, housing and social supports can affect the health of local residents.

Christopher Bate, coordinator with the planning society, said the event is designed to give the community a chance to hear directly from candidates about social issues.

“The idea behind the Social Sector All Candidates Forum is to provide an avenue for community members to meet candidates and learn about issues around the social sector or social services in their communities. A lot of the events that take place in an election cycle tend to be very business-oriented, so we purposely stay away from business, and we focus solely on organizations that support the social determinants of health,” said Bate.

Ten local organizations will take part in the forum, including Pride Comox Valley, the Immigrant Welcome Centre, the Comox Valley Community Justice Centre and the Comox Valley Food Policy Council.

This candidates forum is different from a more typical Q&A style event. Instead, each participating organization will present on issues they are most concerned with. At the end, candidates will receive a packaged list of questions for them to answer.

“At the end of the presentation, candidates will receive a package of questions, and the candidates will have 10 days to respond to the questions. And when we receive the answers back, they'll be posted on our website, [and] on our YouTube channel,” said Bate.

Bate said the questions vary between the organizations and all are informed by the social determinants of health.

“They are all questions focused around the determinants of health as they pertain to each particular organization. So, you know, for example, the Community Health Network has questions around poverty, and income disparity. And the Indigenous Women Sharing Society, which houses the Comox Valley Substance Use Strategy, has questions around general health in the community. Food Policy Council's asking questions around food security,” said Bate.

Bate said the forum is also about strengthening relationships between social sector organizations and local governments.

“With every level of government, there's different levels of involvement that they can have in the social sector. Within each community, it might vary a little bit, but you know, broadly, we have relationships with political figures, people who hold political office in our community. And we want people to know what we do and how we do it so that we can sort of strengthen those relationships,” said Bate.

He said that local governments support social organizations through efforts such as funding and participation in community projects.

“And in some cases, municipalities have actually been very supportive of the work that social sector agencies have done. So for example, I'll use the Regional Access Committee that is operated by the Social Planning Society. The Regional Access Committee is actually funded via a joint contribution from each of the municipalities through the CVRD to us. So it's not a huge amount of money, but they actually provide the funding for a portion of the regional accessibility's work. And then finally, even if there's not funding involved, oftentimes elected officials or staff representing elected officials are participating in projects that are taking place in the community,” said Bate.

While not a Q&A, the forum allows community members a chance to interact with candidates directly to voice their concerns.

Bate said the majority of the declared candidates are expected to attend tonight. Candidates or their representatives will be present for informal conversations with participants before and after the organizations’ presentations.

The presentations will run from 5 p.m to 7 p.m., and informal conversations at the candidates’ tables take place from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and again from 7 p.m to 8 p.m.

The forum is being held at the Best Western Best Westerly Ballroom on Cliffe Avenue in Courtenay.

Bate said while the venue allows for 156 people at maximum capacity, there is still space available for people who want to attend. To register, visit info@cvplanning.ca.

Advance voting days will take place October 7th and 14th. General Voting Day is October 17th.

Further and future local elections coverage can be found at www.chly.ca/news.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

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