Saskatoon city hall hoping to inspire women to lead in communities

A one of a kind event put on by Saskatoon’s five women city councilors in partnership with International Women of Saskatoon hopes to inspire people to be leaders in their community.

“My hope is that there will be people who leave here today with new ideas on what that would look like for them and even equipped with a couple of tools in getting started,” said Hilary Gough, Ward 2 City Councillor.

Around 70 women of all different cultures showed up to city hall Saturday afternoon with their local government and community leaders.

All of Saskatoon’s women city Councillors speak to women about being leaders (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)

Gough said the idea for an event like this came up when she was invited to speak at an International Women’s Day event.

“There aren’t a lot of opportunities necessarily for women to come to city hall,” said Gough. “The first idea was what if we just opened our doors and created an opportunity for women to be in this building?”

Gough said the importance of this event for her is that as city council they’re working to prioritize achieving diversity and representation in all decision making spaces.

“We have a long way to go in all sorts of spaces in our communities to achieve that,” said Gough. “Gathering people to learn and to get to know one another and break down barriers is the point of today.”

Gough claimed when talking about having diversity in leadership and representation it is about having diverse voices at the table.

“That makes for stronger institutions, stronger leadership, and it makes for stronger decisions,” said Gough. “We want to hear from women what the barriers are to that today.”

Gough said they want these women at the tables helping make these decisions so the best ones can be made and for that to happen all voices need to be heard.

Ijeoma Nwamuo, executive director of International Women of Saskatoon said this event is important to her because the city is helping bring together immigrant and refugee women to facilitate conversations around civil engagement.

Nwamuo said she worked in partnership with other agencies who sent them women who would be interested in helping out and participating in this event to help ensure every culture was included so everyone felt welcomed.

“I’m so excited, I lived in this city for 18 years (and) this is the first time we are ever having this kind of forum specifically for civic engagement,” said Nwamuo.

Nwamuo said she’s glad this event helps give a voice to people who may not have one in their community.

“It’s also about letting them know that your voice matters, there are women who are willing to support you,” said Nwamuo.

Farkhoanda Tahery came to Saskatoon as a refugee two years ago and she said she found it very interesting the amount of help and support she received when she got here.

“When I came here I found it interesting that people who were living here in different capacities support you and help you do your best,” said Tahery.

Tahery doesn’t consider herself a leader in her community, but she said she is always willing to contribute to her community.

Felicitas Santos-Vargas, retired Civil Servant with the City of Saskatoon said she became a civil servant so she could provide service to the people of Saskatoon.

Santos-Vargas hopes this event can become a yearly thing.

“There’s so many people in the community, so many people in the city who will be able to share their experiences,” said Santos-Vargas.