Enjoy our chat with Ward 7 Councillor Esther Pauls.
1. Now in your second term as Ward 7 City Councillor, you’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with both veteran councillors and newly elected colleagues. What valuable lessons have you taken from more seasoned members of council? Conversely, what qualities or approaches do you believe distinguish your leadership style and give you a unique advantage in navigating complex issues and delivering results?What I learned most from the first term was to listen carefully regarding the history of lessons learned from previous councils. What Councillor Tom Jackson has taught me, for example, from his 34 years in council, has been immeasurably valuable. To know history well helps us make better decisions in the future.
I would say my leadership style is one of servitude. Leaders aren’t meant to feel important - they’re meant to make the people they serve feel important. The privilege my ward has granted me as their councillor to represent them is one I try to reciprocate by being accessible, being willing to listen to their concerns and a wide variety of conversations and being willing to meet with people in-person or discuss matters with them by phone, in real-time.
I wear my heart on my sleeve. What you see is what you get. I’m a real hugger too, so watch out if I see you out and about! I still love going door to door to meet and chat with people and get such a charge from talking to residents as we collectively work to find solutions to the things my constituents care about most. These conversations are the basis for motions I present and support in council. They are the distillation of complex issues and help us seek common ground, to find compromises and hopefully solutions that work, even if these aren’t perfect.
2. Among the many challenges you’ve faced during your tenure, which ward-specific or citywide issue has proven the most difficult to tackle? How have you approached it, and what outcomes are you hoping to achieve?
The homeless encampment issue was very difficult to navigate, not just for me, but for everyone at council. Everyone sitting around the council horseshoe cares deeply about Hamilton’s homeless. But, with 15 councillors and one mayor, there are bound to be very diverse points of view and approaches to resolving this kind of complicated human challenge.
From the start, I opposed encampments – especially in parks. Many Ward 7 residents opposed them too. Once encampments were approved by council (though not by my vote), we just had to see what unfolded and let that experiment run its course.
Now we’re focused on trying to provide a better model of housing – proper, more long-term housing. Yet, we are still