John Sewell

It is my pleasure to introduce our featured speaker this morning – John Sewell. Few in this province – indeed in this country – have served the public interest with such passion and distinction. Let me briefly mention some of John’s endeavours and accomplishments.

As a young lawyer, admitted to the bar in 1966, he headed not for legal towers of downtown Toronto, but instead became a “community organizer” for the Trefann Court Urban Renewal Area in downtown Toronto, working with local residents and business people to stop the expropriation and demolition of their neighbourhood.
In 1969 he was elected to city council and began a 15 year period of distinguished public service, including a term as Mayor, in which he championed people and their causes – so often those who amongst us who were most in need.
And what were some of those causes?

Protecting neighbourhoods
Promoting resident participation in decision making
Protecting historical structures
Advocating for public transit
Increasing affordable housing
Containing urban sprawl

Since then John’s work has included:

Chair of the Metro Housing Authority
Establishing the group “Direct City Action “to deal with local issues
Leader of Citizens For Local Democracy – the anti amalgamation initiative in metro Toronto
He has managed the www.localgovernment.ca website, and has written its monthly bulletin on local government in Canada.
He administers the website of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, www.tpac.ca , and writes its monthly bulletin.
John has been involved in several international consultations on the establishment of local governments including urban centres in South Africa and Malawi.
John taught law, politics and social science at York University from 1989-91.
He has authored several books on planning and development and has columns too numerous to count in major news media.

Of particular interest to us here today is Johns work as Chair of the “Commission on Planning and Development Reform in Ontario in 1991 - 1993 and hailed by many as a ground-breaking initiative. His recommendations included:

The protection and enhancement of significant natural features;
Prohibiting sprawling development;
The introduction of affordable housing into all new development;
The protection of quality agricultural areas;
The pursuit of energy and water conservation; and
Changes to make planning decisions more open, accessible and accountable.
And most of these recommendations were adopted by the province at the time – though later dismantled by a subsequent government.

Karen Farbridge

Karen Farbridge is a former Mayor and City Councillor of the City of Guelph, Ontario. During her 9-year tenure in municipal politics, Karen championed sustainable approaches to waste management, water and wastewater management, transportation planning, natural area protection and community planning.

During her 3 years as Mayor, Karen initiated an extensive community consultation process designed to develop a strategic framework to manage community change. The resulting plan -- called SmartGuelph -- was based on a set of community-derived principles and adopted a triple bottom line approach to decision making: environmental, economic and social sustainability.

Prior to entering municipal politics Karen worked for 10 years as the Director of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (Guelph), a non-profit environmental and social justice organization based on the University of Guelph campus. Karen currently works on strategic initiatives for the Office of V.P. Research at the University of Guelph and teaches on sustainability, democracy and environmental policy for the Department of Political Science.

Karen graduated with an M.Sc (1985) and Ph.D (1989) in animal physiology from the University of Guelph. She regularly speaks and writes on issues of urban sustainability. She has lived in Guelph for over 25 years, is married and has a 16 year old son.