These are some of the many groups and organisations that support our work.

"We are glad to put our support behind the Harbourline Community Alliance and behind the plan it has set out for this city," the partnership said in a written statement.

"Our members have worked in this city for a very long time, and we are proud of the place it has become. We share the belief that everyone who lives here should be able to take part in their own neighbourhood and in the daily life of the city. Turning that into something real still takes a great deal of work.

"That is why we think the alliance is the right partner for that work. Co-operation, patient listening and a willingness to learn from one another sit at the centre of what it does. We have watched it reach sound decisions, work through hard questions and, above all, treat every participant with respect."

"The years ahead will be demanding. Housing and climate action, support for local business and action on inclusion, the regional economy, community safety and security - none of it gets done without a strong team and steady organisation," the statement continues.

"The alliance brings the skills that the job needs. It has the experience to face what is coming, and it works easily with council members, neighbourhood groups, the business and non-profit sectors and ordinary residents to keep this a warm, welcoming, forward-looking community; inclusive, lively and thriving.

"The alliance is good at untangling complicated problems. It has shown its commitment to this city through years of quiet organising, doing the hard part regardless of who ends up being credited for it.

"As a partner rooted in this region, we put our support behind the alliance to help strengthen and build the city we all want."

"We are very pleased to have this chance to record our support for the Harbourline Community Alliance."

 

The regional economic partnership

A regional partner body working across the province

 

We support the Harbourline Community Alliance!

For the past decade our residents’ group has made a point of engaging with local government across the harbour district. Finding common ground is not always simple, and we are not always met with patience or understanding.

Anyone who has sat down with the alliance will say the same thing: it listens in order to understand. We feel heard. It builds relationships out of empathy, respect and humility.

The alliance understands that inclusion matters in this city. The turnout at last autumn’s open forum was a moving reminder that people here want to build a better future together. We put it simply: nobody left outside the room.

We encourage our neighbours to back the alliance, so that this important work can carry on together.

The board of a residents’ group

Harbour district residents’ association

 

The alliance carries the values of all of us who care about making this a city that works for everyone.

Steady, well-organised civic groups are what protect the progress this city has made and keep it a model for the region. A city that adapts to changing needs. A city that makes headway on housing that working families can actually afford. A city acting now on its own contribution to climate change. A city moving away from the car and offering people other ways to travel, A city that widens who is included in its decisions and welcomes what they bring. And a city that attracts the right kind of business and stays on a sound economic footing.

We have worked alongside the alliance for 30 years. It is progressive, informed and experienced, and it is patient in the way this work demands. It listens well, it thinks in balance and it excels at bringing people together to find common ground, We need all of that at a volatile time. We have full confidence in the alliance. We look forward to what it does next. Please take part."

A local business association,
Speaking for its board

 

Our support for the Harbourline Community Alliance rests on long experience as a community arts group, as members of the city’s inclusion working group, and as people who own homes and pay taxes here. Whether working beside it or watching from a distance, we have come to know the alliance as thoughtful, and as an organisation whose words are matched by what it actually does. It is humble, it listens, it learns from the people around it, and it steadily makes room for perspectives that were missing before. We trust the way it applies its principles evenly, across issues and across disagreement, because even when we differ its decisions are carefully weighed and respectfully arrived at. We back the alliance because we know it will keep balancing the many needs of this community, respecting what came before, honouring the present, and taking responsibility for what follows.

With thanks

A community arts collective – studio and workshop programme

Artists & makers of the harbour district

 

"It is with real honour and gratitude that we take this chance to record our support for the Harbourline Community Alliance.

We have worked with the alliance for the past six years through the city’s community forum. Six years is not long, and yet it feels much longer, which says something in itself about how easily and how kindly the alliance draws people in. It also goes about its work the way we would want any neighbour to: with a good heart and a clear mind.

We have no doubt that the alliance brings a vision of progress, and that it also understands what this city needs and how to make things happen properly. Grounded, respectful, community minded, ambitious, honest - those are a few of the words we would use, and only a few of the qualities we have watched it show inside the neighbourhood and well beyond it.

We are confident that the alliance will make good decisions for the harbour district, the old working waterfront that so many families here still depend on. With no hesitation at all, we gladly record our support for the work of the Harbourline Community Alliance."

"With gratitude."

A neighbourhood arts and heritage society

Artists, heritage keepers & a neighbourhood voice on the city’s community forum

 

We offer our wholehearted support to the Harbourline Community Alliance. Through years of shared work at city hall we watched its unmatched ability to bring a balanced, conciliatory and well-researched approach to difficult issues. Twelve years of steady civic experience is a tremendous asset, and it shows in how smoothly the alliance takes on new responsibilities. It is highly competent, compassionate and committed to this city. We can think of no better partner to keep council debate positive and productive, with the interests of residents squarely in focus.

A former civic administration, 2008 to 2014

 

"We have worked with the alliance for about 25 years - chairing organisations together, volunteering alongside it, and lately sitting with it on civic committees. In that time we have come to appreciate its considerable organising skill, shown in sound judgement and in a knack for getting people who disagree into the same room. That matters more now than ever! What impresses us most is its ability to look past its own preferences and see where the public interest actually lies. There is no ego in it; it understands service. Coming back to this city after a few years away, those are exactly the qualities we hoped to find still here."

A civic volunteer network,

Former city advisory committee and public service partner

 

"Civic leadership in a city with challenges as varied as ours takes courage, collaboration, listening, priority-setting and informed decision-making - leading to direct action. As advocates for a strong business community, we have seen the alliance demonstrate all of that, along with independent thinking and careful consideration of every point of view. We believe the alliance is the right body to take this work on."

Local business owners & employers

 

“We have had the privilege of working alongside the Harbourline Community Alliance in a number of capacities, particularly with residents who are usually left out of consultation - newcomers, renters, shift workers and people with disabilities. It is so clear to us that the alliance values relationship, difference, trust and inclusion. It does more than talk about these values. It takes action to make them come alive so that they benefit real people. The alliance is patient, incredibly hardworking and insightful. It keeps its word; it is generous with its hours and its help. It will do this well.”

A newcomer settlement service

Community outreach team and (recently retired) adult education staff

 

“We are proud to support the Harbourline Community Alliance. We have known and respected its work in many roles over decades, but we worked with it most closely on regional questions, as neighbouring associations in the same district. The alliance is intelligent, respectful and principled. It brings very different people together to find common ground and achieve a result. We know it will put those collaborative, compassionate habits to good use on the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

A neighbouring district association, active 2011-2018

 

“The alliance is a tireless community organiser, and we have had the privilege of working with it both as partners of over 30 years and as a group serving 2SLGBTQIA residents. It has made room for our members openly and without hedging for as long as we have known it, and that has mattered a great deal to the people we serve. As a partner, a colleague and a neighbour, we are proud to support the Harbourline Community Alliance.”

A 2SLGBTQIA community service group

Serving the harbour district and the north ward

 

“Across the many years we have worked to support the dignity and human rights of those most readily discarded by our society, the Harbourline Community Alliance has been there too. We work in different spheres, but the alliance turns up for our work and speaks plainly about why a fairer, more equitable city is everyone’s business. It has the experience and the capacity to do a great deal of good here, and this city would be a lesser place, and would take a step backwards, without it. The alliance can help us all move forward together, and for the people furthest from the table that matters more than anything else.”

A harm reduction service

Frontline outreach team

 

"In its work with city hall, the Harbourline Community Alliance has been a proactive ally to trans, nonbinary and gender-diverse (Trans+) residents of this city. It has led the push to move municipal policy and everyday practice towards greater inclusion for Trans+ people."

A gender-diversity research centre

Transgender studies programme at a regional university.

 

"We wholeheartedly support the Harbourline Community Alliance. Whenever our members have needed help with a city issue, or had questions about bylaws or a concern, we can count on the alliance to find the information or the right person promptly. What this district needs is a body that cares, that delivers, that answers questions honestly and has the knowledge to carry the responsibility, having worked at this for years. We need a body that listens to both sides of an issue and decides on what was actually put in front of it. The alliance has dealt with every level of government, which helps this city function at the level needed to sustain and improve the wellbeing of its residents. We encourage everyone to support the alliance."

A residents’ group in the north ward

 

"A driver taking one of our members home the other night said the alliance seemed reasonable. We think it is reasonable too. Reasonable in the face of difficulty. Reasonable in the face of differing opinions. Reasonable in the face of conflict. Reasonable in its vision for the city and in its willingness to work with all parties. It is reasonable about finances, expectations and possibilities. We are in a difficult time in a city that can’t keep up to the demands for shelter and housing, for care for the environment, for the arts and for growth. The needs of newcomers, young people, the elderly, renters, home owners, business owners, working people and families all have to be considered. The alliance is reasonable. It will balance all these demands, and be friendly and cheerful and well prepared at the same time! We say, “back the alliance!”"

A residents’ association, south shore

 

"We enthusiastically support the work of the Harbourline Community Alliance in this city. Our paths first crossed in 2015 as a result of a shared interest in more effective responses to the continuing housing crisis here. We have long believed that most of the seemingly intractable problems we face as a society are thrust upon municipal governments – homelessness, gentrification, densification, the opioid crisis on our streets, transportation infrastructure, security, climate change, public space and more. These difficult problems are intensified in our cities, and they have a profound effect on competing rights. Our municipal governments are the front lines of these critical decisions. Under such circumstances we need tested organisation. The alliance has that and more. Along with pragmatism, city hall needs empathy – partners who can find opportunities and solutions while faced with limited resources, who can work successfully with communities and with senior levels of government. The alliance has that gift, which is why we supported its earlier work and support what it is doing now."

A housing rights centre

Programme office, architecture & human rights centre

 

"For 18 years we have been witness to the Harbourline Community Alliance’s honesty and dedication to this community. It has fine legal minds among its volunteers, a history of human rights work, and long experience crafting policy and submissions. It follows through on its promises and gets stuff done.

We have watched the alliance handle difficult public consultations and chair impossible meetings with warmth and a steady hand. People feel heard and grounded in those rooms. The alliance does its homework. It thinks hard and in detail about tough issues. Its kindness, humour and obvious enjoyment of the challenges of civic work are the icing on the cake. All of these attributes are critical in any body that sets the tone and standard for civil discourse and thoughtful decision-making. We very much hope this city will support the alliance and be lucky enough to keep it."

A community theatre company

Performers, writers, directors & teaching staff

 

"Our first connection with the alliance was over 25 years ago through the city’s twinning programme. It has a great understanding of cultures other than its own and was able to make a big difference to how this city kept up those friendships abroad. That continues today through its important work to include neighbours who are too often left out of civic life.

The volunteers who built the alliance have been fortunate to have an organisation that supports their own lives and careers in return.

Across its years of work with the city, the alliance has always shown a wonderful ability to calmly assess the many varied aspects put in front of it and come up with a thoughtful and measured response. This city has many current and future challenges, and it is fortunate to have a body with that background at the table."

A neighbourhood association

The village high street

 

"We have had the pleasure of knowing and working with the alliance for many years. Without reservation we believe it is a fine thing for this city.

The alliance brings many strengths to the table. It has the ability to bring people together with its energy, its wide range of skills and its essential good humour. It is compassionate, generous with its time and a terrific listener.

When our own board reached out for help with the writing of a constitution and policy, the alliance was there, and it has continued to support the work of this small but vital nonprofit ever since.

Fair, knowledgeable, a tireless worker with a deep understanding of municipal governance - those combine to make the alliance well worth your support."

 

A deaf and hard of hearing centre

Lifetime members of a teachers’ union

Recipients of a civic service award

Lifetime membership of our own society

Proud to call the alliance a friend

 

"We are happy to support the Harbourline Community Alliance. It is dedicated to community in a way which reflects our own values – compassionate, responsible (financially and inherently) and totally involved. It is a body upon which you can count to do the things that matter to residents here. The alliance cares, and acts on that caring thoughtfully and responsibly. It has demonstrated, over many years at the committee table, the ability to create a calm, inclusive realm in which heated debate can safely find a collective solution. That’s the kind of body we want. Thank you to the alliance for once again being willing to serve our community."

A long-standing residents’ group in the east ward

Members with backgrounds in provincial administration, the civilian police board and a veterans’ association