Virtual community meetings took place on Zoom July 14, 16, 20 and 23 to bring Whistler together to discuss COVID-19 experiences.
Throughout July, the public was invited to join four different virtual Community Conversation events that focused on the four characteristics of Whistler’s shared Vision: Sense of Place, Environment, Tourism-based Economy and Community. Mayor Jack Crompton and CAO Ginny Cullen hosted the conversations along with a guest community speaker for each characteristic. Breakout group hosts of the sessions included councillors and RMOW staff members. In total, over 250 participated in the virtual sessions, and 385 thoughts were shared on Thoughtexchange.
Highlights of the conversations included the guest speaker portion which inspired the conversations, and the breakout groups where participants were encouraged to discuss their personal experiences with COVID-19 through the lens of the specific theme for that evening. The groups where set up in a virtual roundtable format with 4 to 6 participants in each. Participants were also asked to identify any current and future needs and opportunities they saw for each specific theme.
Guest speaker presentations
Thank you to all of the guest speakers who participated in the sessions, including Heather Paul, Mike Douglas, Danielle Kristmanson and Chris Wrightson. If you missed the live sessions, two of the speaker presentations are available on demand below.
Sense of Place with guest community speaker Heather Paul
Tuesday, July 14 (no video recording available)
Environment with guest community speaker Mike Douglas
Thursday, July 16 (no video recording available)
Tourism-based Economy with guest community speaker Danielle Kristmanson
Monday, July 20
Community with guest community speaker Chris Wrightson
Thursday, July 23
Community feedback
Thank you to all of those who were able to join the conversations and submit feedback using Thoughtexchange. Participants and those unable to attend the live sessions were asked to share their thoughts about “What are some of the things that have been top of your heart and mind during Whistler’s COVID-19 experience?” After entering thoughts, participants rated thoughts shared by others. Thoughexchange’s platform uses the ratings to determine key issues, themes and the importance of the thoughts and ideas shared with the community.
The information collected during the virtual discussions will be used to identify and develop a shared recovery within the community. Themes and shared values, and will be part of a collective of working parts to identify how to shape Whistler’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. A Recovery Working Group has been convened with a broad community scope to help guide this work, while a Social Services Recovery Working Group has also been struck.
Stay tuned for updates as this important work continues.