Climate, housing, truth and reconciliation top of mind for New West council incumbent

Editor's note: New West Anchor is getting to know the six councillors and the new mayor elected to City Hall. We're running a series of pieces on them in our newsletters—be sure to take a look at our features on mayor Patrick Johnstone and councillors Paul Minhas and Daniel Fontaine.

Much like others who ran for election in mid-October, Nadine Nakagawa was certainly nervous. 

But the Brow of the Hill resident felt the stakes were even higher as someone looking to serve another term on council.

"I know that incumbency is a really powerful force, especially in local government elections," said Nakagawa. "But it's been made very clear to me by people who are racialized folks, who are Indigenous folks, who are women and young people that that stat doesn't hold up as true for a lot of people, including myself."

Nakagawa was first elected to council in 2018 and was the candidate who received the most votes in that election. In this election, she received the fourth-most votes. She was one of three incumbents looking to return to New West City Hall: Jaimie McEvoy was re-elected, but Chinu Das—who was also elected in 2018—was not.  

"As one of the first people of colour elected in New Westminster, and as someone who came into this space as a changemaker, based on my record, I didn't feel necessarily confident that I would be re-elected."

Nakagawa takes pride in being a changemaker first and foremost, though she understands the opportunities that come with being elected to council. 

"I talk about anti-racism, talk about decolonization and reconciliation, and I talk a lot about centering other voices in the conversation. We know that when turnout is low ... that there's a lot of people who aren't making their voices heard. And that's the community that I strive to represent, so I was worried that the people who come out to support me wouldn't be voting this time."

It's why one of the things she'll be looking at this time around is how to better engage people who may not always get involved in any level of politics. While she believes there have been strides at the city level in engagement, there are still some areas that need work."As I was talking to people in Queensborough about issues in engineering, it makes me wonder how many of our engineering staff speak Punjabi, for example. Are we able to speak to people in languages that are comfortable for them? Do we use plain language?"

Nakagawa says there were plans to continue working on engagement, but having served through a COVID term, there's lots to catch up on.

"I spent more time over the last term sitting at my kitchen counter in council meetings than I think at council chambers. There's a lot of work to be done to engage people throughout the term, and not just go to them around the election, which always feels really disingenuous for people—that we show up right around the election and ask for support."

Nakagawa says her priority is to show the people of New West that the work being done at city council is making a difference. 

"I think about how much work we did over the past four years in renter's rights. My neighbourhood, The Brow of the Hill, has always had the lowest voter turnout at every level of elections. I think there's a lot of proactive outreach we need to do throughout the city to actually engage people in this term, and then that'll actually work out during election time, they'll show up to vote as well."

And while she appreciates connecting to others through doorknocking, Nakagawa—like many of the councillors-elect we've talked to so far—wants to go beyond reaching out every four years when a vote takes place. 

"Community gardens on the front lawns of some of the rental buildings, that's a way to bring communities together, and to connect them. I think about climate resilience as a way to get neighbours connected and engaged in the community. It doesn't always have to be so matter-of-fact ... it can be through art, it can be through food, it can be through lots of different community building events."

When asked if there were any concerns about having a mix of candidates on council—four councillors from the Community First New West slate, and two from the New West Progressives slate—she said her worries were more about certain attitudes that could end up dividing neighbourhoods.

"Over the past number of years there's—not just in New West, this is in the broader community—there has been a real move to use fear and anger to divide communities," says Nakagawa, adding that fear and anger is a very easy tool for politicians to use. "I have a lot of fear about stoking fear and anger in our community by any group, whether that's an elected official, whether that's Facebook groups, any sort of mechanism. I worry a lot about that, and I worry about the potential harm that lands directly on vulnerable people.

"I am somebody who believes in making change, and I don't particularly care where positive change comes from, but I will call out the tactics of fear and division when I see them."

Along with continuing to connect to the community, Nakagawa says she'll be picking up right where she left off—including on her work around truth and reconciliation.

"That was one of my early motions, was truth before reconciliation, and all my motions are available on my website as a transparency piece. I think that this is a vital piece of work: Everything I've been told is that truth comes before reconciliation, and I think we have to get that out into the community," explains Nakagawa, who adds that much of the election seemed to be more about the Royal City moniker issue and remembering the history of the city.

"That's pretty ironic, given the history made invisible on this territory, so I think that's important work that we'll continue doing—that truth piece is important, reconciliation is vital, and [the] decolonization piece is important too; those things are all interconnected, but they're not the same."

Climate crisis and housing are also still top of mind for Nakagawa.

"A lot of people in my neighbourhood died last year in the heat dome and will continue to be the most impacted by climate events. Climate with an equity focus is absolutely the issue of the moment. Everything has to fall secondary to it because we are building a city that needs to be for the future. The young people are watching us very closely, with a lot of anxiety."