With Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann

Enjoy our chat with Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann.  Clr. Nana is now listed on our Star Wards list which you can see here.

1. Your tenure as Ward 3 City Councillor includes a focus on equity and inclusion. Can you discuss some of the specific initiatives you've implemented to promote these values in Hamilton?

As Hamilton’s first racialized woman elected to City Council, I get this question a lot! 

Sidewalk snow removal address the inequities faced by folks with disabilities, those who use mobility devices, seniors, parents who push kids in strollers, and others who struggled getting to the bus on snowy, icy and slippery sidewalks is a perfect example of an equity and inclusion based policy change that has improved access to public transit for all in the winter. 

The Vacant Unit Tax is an equity based tax policy that aims to increase housing supply by creating an incentive for property owners to sell unoccupied homes or make them available to be rented.  

During a nation-wide housing crisis, and in Hamilton where the cost of housing has sky-rocketed over the past decade, it is critical to pull every lever available to the city to help ensure availability of housing. For those sitting on properties, purposely kept empty, to speculate future wealth generation, they clearly have the means to pay more taxes which in turn the city can use to help fund new affordable and supportive housing. 

The practice of bad-faith renovictions was also a widespread inequity in neighbourhoods across the city. Championing the development of Ontario’s first Renovation License and Relocation By-law, Safe Apartments By-law, and the Tenant Defense Fund along-side renters is another specific initiative that demonstrates an equity approach to municipal government that I am proud of delivering on behalf of Hamiltonians who rent. 

Another tangible example of an equity approach was to ensure the new Truck Route took heavy, polluting trucks that made many residents feel unsafe in their communities out of neighbourhood roadways. This addressed the inequity many school zones faced in the lower city in comparison to other, more economically secure areas of the city, that never have had to contend with walking to school while a semi-truck whizzed by creating a harsh and hostile environment.

I worked with survivors and their supporters to declare gender-based and intimate partner violence an epidemic in Hamilton, giving voice to safety concerns women and gender diverse people face. This has resulted in better funding for support services in urban and rural neighbourhoods to help address needs.

I have also focused on addressing needs in Ward 3 neighbourhoods that have experienced historic underfunding of municipal investment as it relates to roads, parks and other infrastructure, specifically north of Main St. This is an example of equity based capital investment.

I guess you can say that equity, inclusion and accessibility is embedded into all of my work and I believe our city shines with more love and respect as a result.

2. Community engagement is a cornerstone of your approach. How do you ensure that residents are actively involved in decision-making processes, and can you share examples of successful community-led initiatives?

Direct and regular resident and community engagement is a cornerstone of democracy that every elected representative needs to integrate into how we do our work as it relates to governance and responding to emerging/historic needs in our areas.

I hold an annual town hall meeting and at least 12 pop-up office hour sessions each year throughout Ward 3 ensuring to make myself and my office team available to residents in every neighbourhood. 

I publish a regular e-newsletter after each Council meeting and an annual Impact Report to ensure

transparency and timely information. We receive nearly 12,000 emails a year enabling residents to provide direct input on upcoming or major decisions points or to express their municipal service needs or concerns.

I host several community meetings specific to public infrastructure and housing related projects to ensure residents have a direct say in shaping the final design and inform the implementation plan while ensuring residents are well informed of the works, that disruptions are anticipated and reduced, and to enable the city to provide excellent resident-service.

I also attend various community hosted meetings, events and festivals and promote when I will be there so residents can plan to reach me, while also hosting celebrations to ensure we share in good and positive moments together as neighbours when something much needed is delivered in Ward 3.

One robust example of a Ward 3 community-led initiative is the Ward 3 Complete Streets Study and Plan. My office solicited nearly a thousand direct feedback points identifying problem areas for roadway safety across the entire ward. This resulted in a multi-year study, technical review and the development of a phased implementation plan broken down to immediate, short-term, and longer-term roadway design interventions that I have subsequently funded through a combination of discretionary capital dollars or integrated in the city’s overall annual capital budget. 

The outcome has been hundreds of speed bumps, curb extensions, sidewalk tile repairs/replacements, signalized and improved pedestrian crossings, road resurfacing, improved safety for cycling lanes, speed reductions, and more. I’m proud of the input our residents had in this plan having heard cut-through traffic and speeding being among the top 3 concerns for residents across two election terms while talking to residents at their doors.

3. You've been outspoken about defunding or reallocating police budgets in favor of social services. Given spikes in crime and public safety concerns in Hamilton, do you believe this stance is defensible? Please explain. 

In February 2021, I moved a motion to reallocate year-end surplus funds that Hamilton Police Services did not spend toward a Community Resilience Reserve to be used to help close the gap on essential social and health programs to help address homelessness, mental health, and addictions. I have emphasized the need to invest in community-based crisis response services that have had a proven track record in other cities to help reduce overall policing costs that occur when police respond to matters that are not police related. Too often folks facing difficult life circumstances end up being criminalized when it could be avoidable with more accessible and abundant offers of support. 

Ultimately, I believe we need police to be able to focus on delivering excellence in core policing services when it comes to crime, investigation, violence, theft and bringing those violating laws to justice, and to do so in a manner set out in the Ontario Police Services Act. This includes demonstrated outcomes on expressed concerns members of the Black and Indigenous communities in Hamilton have raised related to racial profiling and excessive use of force. I believe Chief Bergen is committed to ensuring progress on this front in Hamilton.

4. In a recent interview in The Hamiltonian, former Mayor Larry DiIanni said ""I know most of the Councillors, even the new ones. They are all well-intentioned and bright. Some are more ideological than others and that is a problem. Municipal council work is very practical so if you are not on the same wavelength as the job requires, it can be a problem.”  To be clear,  we are not suggesting in any way that you are not on the same wave length as the job requires. Having said that,  you've positioned yourself as a progressive voice on Council. How would you respond to concerns that ideology sometimes overshadows practical governance and that such thinking needs to be balanced?

It would be a poor take to reduce my approach to governance that values lived experiences as paramount as being ideological. It doesn’t surprise me that former elected politicians whose time in office have been defined with an approach based in retail politics and a legacy of pandering to their donor base are incapable of acknowledging the transformational leadership I have had the honour of demonstrating in my role as a City Councillor. 

I build collaboratively with my Council colleagues and garner consistent and unanimous support to pass motions that have systematically changed the way the city operates, the way in which we invest in chronically underfunded infrastructure, and how we address city building so we lift more neighbourhoods up.

And, I have done so with the direct engagement of residents from across Ward 3 and in a manner that is accountable and transparent. Many neighbours share feedback with me directly about my ability to govern with a balanced approach that weighs the social, economic and environmental needs and realities of our communities and their interest in seeing it continue.

I encourage anyone who is unaware of my work on Council over the past two terms in delivering investments and achievements in Ward 3 while also addressing complex issues our residents face city-wide is welcome to review my annual Impact Report available online at https://www.nrinder.ca/ward-3-impact-reports. 

I believe Hamiltonians deserve municipal governance rooted in values and evidence that focuses on results. That is the practical approach required to the work of serving on City Council.

5. On the reduction of homelessness front, do you believe that the City has been strategic in the way they have managed the problem? Do you believe MiniCabins to be a worthwhile element of the solution, and how do we find our way in reducing homelessness while respecting the human dignity of those who are homeless?

Yes, the establishment of the Housing Secretariat and the Affordable Housing Project Stream has been a game changer in enabling the City of Hamilton to work collaboratively and strategically with the local housing sector to deliver an unprecedented number of new units.

In fact, I’m very proud of the work I have been able to do through the Ward 3 Councillor’s Office to support the construction and occupancy of over 180 units in my first term. And by the end of this term we are projected to deliver 230 more in Ward 3 neighbourhoods. As President of City Housing Hamilton Board of Directors, I was also proud to secure funding to repair and occupy 476 City Housing Hamilton units that went unaddressed by previous Presidents.

Last term, I also helped break the competitive silo-approach to getting municipal support for individual housing projects among our partners by catalyzing the Hamilton is Home Coalition. This group grew in agreement and worked collaboratively to leverage their expertise and bring forward a whole of Hamilton approach that Council can now support through the Housing Secretariat.

As Hamilton continues to confront the housing and homelessness crisis, Council has demonstrated that everyone in our community deserves access to safe, dignified shelter, including those who have been historically underserved by the traditional emergency shelter system. That’s where the Temporary Outdoor Shelter shines, it enables couples to co-house, it enables pet-owners to have shelter, and it focuses on reducing the harms of homelessness and connects people to the services they need to be successful in permanent housing options so they can open up the opportunity for others to access the same.

Bottom line, public dollars must be used responsibly, with care, and public accounting that demonstrate real outcomes for all service users and residents. I will continue to work tirelessly and effectively in delivering on housing solutions that benefit all Hamiltonians.

6. Looking back on your time in office, what is one policy you regret supporting or wish you had handled differently? Why, and what did you learn from it?

The biggest learning point remains to be from last term of Council when I learned about the 26 billion litre stormwater and sewage spill in Chedoke Creek in 2019. I recall first hearing about it from Indigenous water protectors many years prior to being elected. Those women had been ignored and silenced when raising their concerns to the City of Hamilton at that time. 

It was in dealing with that issue and confronting what I found to be perplexing reactions from some on Council who worried about publicly disclosing the issue, that I dug in and pressed for transparency and an apology. I was proud to remain consistent in demanding improved public reporting systems, to actively seek redress with Indigenous groups, and worked with a couple of my Council colleagues to ensure it never happens again. 

I learned to push aside the fears others had about being fully transparent and to stand firm for what was right and to not shy away from calling out poor decisions made by former Council terms. It also solidified for me just how deeply the residents of Hamilton deserve excellence and how every elected representative needs to do the work to earn the trust of our neighbours.

7. What has surprised you most about serving on City Council? Is there something you thought would be easier—or harder—before you stepped into office? 

Honestly, what has surprised me most is how toxic some people can be and how some people try to bully their way to power. 

I’m a community builder at heart. I grew up as a peacekeeper, challenging hate, racism, and many forms of violence. I have tremendous respect for people who speak truth to power and genuinely enjoy learning rather than assuming I have the answers. I prefer to work collaboratively and also like to be prepared by reading reports thoroughly and asking questions.

It has been difficult to face those who prefer an approach to governance and decision-making that is more transactional and blissfully ignorant in nature. 

For as long as I have the honour of holding this seat, I will continue to engage with residents, stakeholders, and my Council colleagues with the goal of building a Hamilton we can all be proud of.

8. Ward 3 is incredibly diverse, culturally and economically. Can you share a moment or conversation with a constituent that deeply impacted your approach to leadership? How did it influence you?

There have been so many!

From the heart-wrenching stories of neighbours who were being evicted from their home of 20 plus years by a new landlord looking to flip the property forcing them to leave the community they raised their children in and where their entire support network was. To an inspiring multi-generational group of moms who gather at the Eva Rothwell Centre to learn, connect, and share in collective resources while talking about how to improve their beloved neighbourhood. To meeting with small business owners with clear ideas on how the city can do better to foster commercial corridors. To a senior who shared her struggles getting to the bus in the winter due to snow, ice and slippery sidewalks. To hearing from a couple of young folks wanting to transform a neglected greenspace from a hot spot for litter and illegal dumping to an animated parkette that fosters a sense of belonging for all. To talking with a queer, racialized athlete dedicated to removing barriers youth in Ward 3 face in accessing recreation, coaching and life skill development. 

What each of these interactions led to was listening to the passion of my neighbours, inquiring with them what would make the difference, and then inviting them to be part of the solution with my office has provided the blueprint for how to co-create community-led change.

It has inspired me to share their stories and elevate their community leadership. It also helped me reshape the allocation of Ward 3 discretionary funds that come from fees for a Bell tower at the Hamilton Stadium into the Ward 3 Community Resilience Grants that helps resource resident-led efforts to benefit others in our community.

9. Collaboration is critical at the municipal level. Who on Council or in the community do you find yourself aligned with most often—and who challenges you in a good way, and/or, in your view, in a bad way. (Note: this is not a rabble-rousing type of question, but one based on the recognition that there are a myriad of interests and personalities that are part of public and political discourse. 

I agree, collaboration is essential in all levels of society, not just municipally.

Generally speaking, I align most with people who focus on solutions and getting things done. And honestly, that is a wide range of people with many different vantage points, areas of expertise, and come from many sectors. 

I think some people have pigeon holed me as being solely a social justice warrior, but I have over 25 years of professional experience in community building and value a triple bottom line approach that integrates social, economic and environmental outcomes. 

I enjoy learning from people and appreciate a genuine challenge that requires me to listen to a variety of insights, perspectives and ideas that are not common to me. I enjoy striking a balance and building decision points that demonstrate progress future generations will also benefit from. 

10. Looking ahead, what are your key priorities for the remainder of your term, and how do you plan to address emerging challenges facing Ward 3 and Hamilton as a whole?

I look forward to continuing to deliver enhancements in our public realm that raises the level of pride and love Hamiltonians have for Ward 3. From new, epically fun and accessible spray pads, playgrounds, and a new Children’s Museum, to safer streets in every neighbourhood, and dignified and affordable housing everyone would be proud to call home!

I also look forward to leveraging my role on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to help shape national funding programs that meet our housing, infrastructure and community wellbeing needs here in Hamilton.

I’ll continue facing emerging challenges in Ward 3 head on with evidence-based solutions that are cost effective and deliver results!

Thank-you Councillor Nann for engaging with Hamiltonians through The Hamiltonian!