Page 36 - 01-Jan-Feb-2025

ADVOCACY
“DON’T
LET THE
BASTARDS
GRIND
YOU
DOWN.”
Jan Reimer has spent her career protecting
others through her political will
J
an Reimer was first
elected as an Edmonton
alderman in 1980 — a
mere six years after
Canadian women were first allowed to
have their own credit cards and mortgages.
In 1989, she became Edmonton’s first (and
only) female mayor, leading our city’s first
female-majority council, the members of
which were then still called “aldermen.”
“I tried to change it to ‘councillor,’ but
it never happened during my tenure,”
she says.
Reimer has seen a lot of change since
running campaigns and councils that
focused on environmental and women’s
rights issues, and the change hasn’t all
been good.
“Sometimes it feels now we’re going
backwards, particularly when you see
the influence that’s happening from the
United States and how that’s impacting
women in a country that has the Violence
Against Women Act,” Reimer says.
Recalling a recent speech she gave to
a convocation of University of Alberta
students — and a time when all political
parties worked together to fix the hole
in the ozone layer — Reimer says today’s
students have a lot resting on their shoul-
ders because of things that should have
happened, but never did.
“It’s really disheartening to see now the
disbelief in climate change, because it’s
our children, my grandchildren, that are
going to bear the brunt of what’s coming.
And I think it’s the same for violence
against women.”
Despite what she sees coming, Reimer
shared with those students the message of
“If you don’t speak up, you’re never going
to be heard,” and since leaving office she’s
used her voice to protect and uplift women
through Alberta Council of Women’s
Shelters (ACWS).
“In addition to the trauma and harm,
violence against women is a huge cost
to society, whether it’s the health-care
36 EDify. JANUARY • FEBRUARY.25
system, the loss of work, policing costs,
income support — these have profound
impacts on the community, because
everybody knows somebody who’s been
impacted by domestic violence. And if you
don’t know someone who has, it’s only
because they haven’t told you.”
Reimer says the good news for people
who wish to protect women (and the
environment) is that they have facts
on their side, the most robust of which
were compiled by ACWS and repeatedly
sent “to the top of the piles” of ministers’
desks.
“I’ve been very proud of how we
developed a common database of what’s
happening with women shelters, the
violence that occurs, what is happening
for the survivors and the staff. Because
working there for 23 years [Reimer
stepped down as executive director in
September 2024], I know how much the
staff is rarely recognized — and poorly
compensated.”
With a firehose of information spewed
by billionaire oligarchs, and a never-
ending bombardment of bills, Reimer
understands how the public can feel too
overwhelmed to fight for the society she
sees slipping away. But she reminds us
that, no matter how helpless we may feel,
we can’t afford to lose our political will
as well.
“You can resist, you can speak truth
to power — and you can vote,” she
says. “One of the messages I gave to the
convocation was: You should never give
the power of your vote away to some-
body else and double their power by not
taking yours. I think that many people
wait for that perfect candidate, but there
will never be a perfect candidate — I
certainly was not a perfect candidate
knockng on the door — but you’ve got
to find candidates that you believe will
listen, and then make your voice heard
loud and clear.”
As we leave her neighbourhood cafe,
Reimer, picking up on her interviewer’s
frustration and fear, shares yet another
great quote, this one from another great
Canadian woman, Margaret Atwood:
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
by CORY SCHACHTEL