Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor says it’s important for Canadians and policy makers to be on the same page as the world recovers from the past two years.
Elizabeth Dowdeswell spoke with MyKemptvilleNow.com during her official visit to North Grenville late last week, where she took part in a roundtable discussion about community cohesion, with Mayor Nancy Peckford and other community leaders.
“It’s one of the things that makes a community strong and resilient for the future, especially when we’ve been having challenges such as COVID-19,” Dowdeswell says. “But, we’re also dealing with climate change, and, for heaven’s sake, we’re in the middle of a war right now.”
She says lawmakers need to address peoples’ needs in order to allow communities like North Grenville to come together.
“For example,” she explains, “if you’re going to be strong economically, how are you going to create situations that allow women to be fully engaged in the workplace? And you do that by thinking about things like child care.”
Dowdeswell also says dialogue and collaboration between different groups of people reinforce community cohesion, like helping immigrants and refugees integrate into their new homes.
“It’s people of all ages, of all backgrounds, coming together,” she says.
Dowdeswell’s visit also included a flag raising ceremony to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. You can read more about the ceremony and her visit here.