Searching for Izena

What a finale! On the tenth and final episode of the Searching For Izena podcast, we hosted a live recording at the downtown Stanley A. Milner Library to celebrate the year-long campaign and the election of a record number of eight women to Edmonton City Council in October 2021. The event was attended by past and present female Edmonton City Councillors and new Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. Several former council candidates also came to the celebration on December 12, 2021, the actual 100th anniversary of Izena’s historic win in 1921. The Searching For Izena Project started as a grassroots research campaign (during a pandemic!) by YWCA Edmonton and Parity YEG to mark a century of female leadership at Edmonton City Hall and to tell the long lost stories of these female political trailblazers. We also wanted to inspire more women to run and win, and our team is proud to be part of an historic year of firsts on Edmonton council. On this episode, our panelists look back at the project’s key findings and discuss what needs to be done next to ensure that the spirit of the Searching For Izena Project lives on long after the campaign officially wraps up.

Guests: Katherine O’Neill, Rajah Maggay, Jan Reimer, Keren Tang, Bev Esslinger and Nafisa Bowen  

2021 is a big year for the Searching For Izena Project. Not only is it the 100th anniversary of the first woman (Izena Ross) being elected to Edmonton City Hall, but it's also a municipal election year. On October 18, 2021, Edmontonians will head to the polls -- in the middle of a pandemic -- and elect a new city council. On Part 9, Searching For Izena Project co-chairs Katherine O'Neill and Rajah Maggay chat about the upcoming election and the quest for gender parity at Edmonton City Hall (hint: the first and only time that ever happened in our city, Brian Mulroney was the Prime Minister and Love Shack ruled the charts). 86 people have registered to run in the 2021 election; of those, only 29 are women (10 are BIPOC). While that's a record number, we still have a long, long way to go. On this episode, we also break down the mayoral race and all 12 ward races and introduce you to the women running in each contest. Katherine and Rajah are joined on this episode by Searching For Izena podcast producer Sam Brooks.  

Correction: We mistakenly reported during Episode 9 that 113 people are running for a spot on Edmonton City Council on 2021; the number is 86. We regret the error. 

Guests: Sam Brooks, Rajah Maggay, Katherine O'Neill

A lot happens in a century. There are so many rabbit holes you can fall down when you start asking questions about this relatively unknown and unexplored chapter of Edmonton’s history: female leadership at City Hall. On Part 8, The “Lost” Stories, you’ll learn more about women we want you to meet and know before the Searching For Izena Project wraps up in September. Women who have largely been footnotes in history until now. Women who both won and lost at the ballot box in Edmonton. From the two other women who were also on the ballot when Izena Ross made her historic political breakthrough in 1921 to Sherry McKibben, the first openly gay women to serve on council, there are many stories that we still need to tell. To help guide this tour through time, our hosts Kim-Ann Wilson and Stacey Brotzel will be joined by two Searching For Izena volunteers Lisa Holmes and Akanksha Bhatnagar. They will help walk us through the past as we learn more about these female political trailblazers. Some will inspire you. Some will frustrate you. But all will help you understand the important and transformative role women have played shaping our city over the last 100 years. Lastly, you will also meet the very first woman to ever hold public office in Edmonton (hint: it wasn’t Izena Ross!). This person was elected to be a school board trustee in 1912 – four years before most women in Alberta were even given the right to vote in 1916.

Guests: Lisa Holmes, Akanksha Bhatnagar

What if the 31 women who served on Edmonton City Council over the past century were never elected. How different would our city look and feel? Would Edmonton be Edmonton?

While Edmonton’s women councillors did all the bread-and-butter work during their terms – budgets, committee meetings etc. – many also brought forward initiatives that made our city more livable, more beautiful, more Edmonton.

The Searching For Izena Project asked two former City of Edmonton historian laureates to take us on a tour of sorts and talk about the incredible, often visionary and sometimes hidden legacies of many of our former female councillors. From the always controversial Talus Dome to our tranquil river valley system to City Hall, join us for a special journey that will change the way you forever look at Edmonton.

Guests: Shirley Lowe, Marlena Wyman

Listener Warning: This episode contains disturbing language and descriptions of violence that are not suitable for all listeners. If you find these subjects triggering, support and resources are available at the YWCA Edmonton Crisis Information website. Please take care of yourself. 

This chapter of the Searching For Izena Project is dark, ugly and, quite frankly, depressing. From the very beginning of this year-long campaign, our team of volunteers and researchers have been committed to confronting this topic head-on: the prevalence and very real problem of hate, threats and abuse directed towards women politicians. Not only do women face a never-ending stream of toxic abuse and harassment when they run for office, but also when they hold political power. It helps explain one of the reasons why so few women have served at Edmonton City Hall in the last century. It’s a long-standing problem that has existed since women first entered the political arena more than a century ago, and the message is always the same: ‘You are not worthy. You are not welcome here. Leave!’. In Part 6 called ‘Enough’, we expose some of the deeply troubling cases of abuse and threats some former women Edmonton City Councillors faced while they served (most were never made public until now), and we also issue an urgent call to action: Enough already! Let’s pull together as a community and end the vitrol, hate and abuse directed towards women politicians. This is a solvable challenge (lots of promising initiatives are already underway) and we hope this episode shines a bright light on the problem and inspires real and lasting change.

To the world, Edmonton’s 31 female councillors are political trailblazers. But to their families, they were simply: mom. In Part 5, you’ll meet the children and grandchildren of several past and present female councillors who served from the 1950s all the way up to 2021. At a time when women’s participation in politics is still far from the norm, you’ll find out how their mom’s high-profile and demanding job affected them. Spoiler alert: this episode is going to give you all the Mother’s Day feels. It’s a heart-warmer with lots of laughs and inspiring moments thrown in. The episode begins with an interview with the children of former Edmonton City councillor Una MacLean Evans, one of the first women in Canada – if not the first! – to have a baby while holding public office. That was in 1969! Since Una blazed that trail, only one other female Edmonton councillor (Jan Reimer) has had a baby while serving on council. However, that’s going to change later this summer. Tune in for breaking baby news at Edmonton City Hall that you won’t want to miss. We end the episode with stories submitted by several children and grandchildren about their beloved relative.

Guests: Margaret Evans, Sarah Evans, Bill Evans, Tara Mackenzie, Adam Zepp, Bethany Krukowski, Tom Field, Nick Kiniski, Corinne Butti Humeniuk, Melanie McCallum and Jane Hewes

Zero women of colour or Indigenous women have ever held a seat at Edmonton City Council. Before 2021, only 21 have ever tried to break this final glass ceiling at Edmonton City Hall. In Part 4, the Searching For Izena Project travels the world, including heading to India and Kenya, to investigate why our city has never elected a women of colour or Indigenous women to council. You’ll hear directly from many of these women about the discrimination and challenges they faced, why diversity matters in politics and what they think needs to change in Edmonton to finally breakthrough this remaining barrier at City Hall. Will 2021 be the year for this historic development? We are hopeful. At least eight women of colour have already registered to run in this October’s municipal election. A special thank you to the Searching For Izena volunteers for their dogged and determined efforts producing this episode. None of this information was easily available before their hard work compiling the data and telling these women’s important stories. While the women you are about to meet in Part 4 of the Searching For Izena Project may not be in any history books, they are brave trailblazers we want you to get to know, celebrate and remember.

Guests: Dr. Syeda Hameed, Nafisa Bowen, Taz Augustine, Danisha Bhaloo-Shivji, Sandra Muchekeza and Beatrice Ghettuba

Music: Lyra Brown

Searching For Izena is a year-long grassroots project organized by YWCA Edmonton, Parity YEG and several past and present Edmonton City Councillors. Thanks to our generous sponsors the Edmonton Community Foundation and Edmonton Heritage Council. Thanks also the Edmonton Public Library, Edmonton Archives, the Adams Agency, Ryan Jespersen and countless volunteers for their help bringing this project to life. For a full list of supporters and more information about the project, head to: searchingforizena.com

1989 was a high water mark for women working hard to shatter the glass ceiling at Edmonton City Hall. Not only did Edmontonians elect their first female mayor (Jan Reimer), but they also elected for the first time an equal number of women and men to serve on council. We talk to Reimer, still the first and only woman elected to lead Edmonton, about the highs and lows of her mayoralty and her experience wading through the deep-seated sexism and misogyny that confronted her every day. We also hear from two former Reimer staffers — Kathy Vandergrift (Edmonton’s first female chief of staff to a mayor) and John Brennan — about the behind-the-scenes efforts to support a female mayor during this wild, tumultuous and sometimes hilarious time in Edmonton’s history.

Art by: Deanna Bains

Searching For Izena is a year-long grassroots project organized by YWCA Edmonton, Parity YEG and several past and present Edmonton City Councillors. Thanks to our sponsors the Edmonton Community Foundation and the Edmonton Heritage Council. Thanks also to the Edmonton Public Library, Edmonton Archives, the Adams Agency and Ryan Jespersen for their help bringing this project to life. For a full list of supporters and more info about the project, head to: searchingforizena.com

We’re taking you alllllll the way back to 1921 Edmonton. 100 years ago, Alberta’s capital city was just a tiny place on the map, still reeling from the devastating effects of a world war and pandemic. It was also the beginning of the Roaring Twenties and gigantic social changes, including a brand new feminist movement that give birth to our very first female councillor, Izena Ross. In this episode, you’ll also meet our second female councillor, Margaret Crang, who led a wild life that included sex scandals, gun battles and even an International Peace Conference.

But despite both being brave political trailblazers, Ross and Crang’s stories have largely been lost to history. Why? Our guests Senator Paula Simons and YWCA Edmonton Board Member and former Morinville Mayor Lisa Holmes will unravel that mystery and introduce you to two Albertans you won’t soon forget.

Guests: Senator Paula Simons and Lisa Holmes

To start this story, let’s go right to the end. In the last 100 years, only 31 women have been elected to Edmonton City Council. In Part 1 of ‘Searching For Izena’, we talk to #30 and #31 — Councillors Bev Esslinger and Sarah Hamilton. They are currently the only two female councillors out of 12 at Edmonton City Hall. You’ll learn about why they ran, what their experiences have been like, being called the C-word and why they relish talking drainage with the best of them. 

In Part 1, you’ll also hear from YWCA Edmonton CEO Katherine O’Neill and Parity YEG Vice-Chair Rajah Maggay about why they are co-chairing the ‘Searching For Izena’ Project and what you can expect to learn about the history of female leadership on Edmonton City Council during this special year-long centennial project. 

For more information about ‘Searching For Izena’ and how you can get involved, head to: searchingforizena.com. 

Music by: Lyra Brown (lyrabrown.com)