Governing Local During a Global Crisis

Story collected by Will McGuirk, website: slowcity.ca

Working remotely in Brock Township was the order for Ward 4 Councillor Cria Pettingill. Balancing staying apart from with staying a part of her constituency necessitated a maturation in local governance.

“I live in Sunderland countryside. Quite a few family members living in the States or Europe have had Covid-19. A couple long haulers too but mostly everyone getting off pretty gently.

“I was working at municipal offices, council chambers previously, now everything is from home. It works very well and we have developed terrific methods for sharing the space and making sure everyone is equally heard.

“I found solace during Covid through diving into Bethoven piano sonatas, walks with friends on the rail trails, fires outside instead of inside and more recently, embroidery.

“Plans for when the pandemic ends, hopefully a little more environmentally sound travels to other urban and rural locales.

“On a personal level, I have been liberated by this pandemic to dig deeper in all my work and to feel more freely in my thoughts. On the other hand we’re all growing older anyway, we hope this type of progress happens in time? I guess you could say Covid has pushed the type of maturing we need.”