With school closures, City Hall School is having to adapt. Mayor Nenshi took time out of his busy schedule to meet with classes that are not able to make it to City Hall School this year. Students asked many questions about Covid-19, being a mayor during the pandemic, as well as many questions about how a city is run before and after the pandemic.
In the history of Calgary, there has only been two states of emergency and both happened while Mayor Nenshi was the mayor. Mayor Nenshi can’t believe that he’s been responsible for both, but he loves that he can be helping the community at a time like this. The two states of emergency were the 2013 flood and the current pandemic. Mayor Nenshi told the students that, “We couldn’t control the flood, but we can control this pandemic.”
Mayor Nenshi believes that Calgary needs to be Build Back Better. The government and citizens need to think about how to rebuild Calgary to be a better and stronger community. A strong community needs to be strong socially, economically, and physically. The City of Calgary has created a motto that Mayor Nenshi shared with students: Clean Hands, Clear Heads, and Open Hearts. Clean Hands encourages citizens to work towards stopping the physical spread of Covid-19. Clear Heads supports citizens with dealing with the grief of the current situation. Open Hearts promotes not feeling isolated and building community during social distancing through online visits and phone calls. This motto will help citizens Build Back Better.
Mayor Nenshi reminded students about his campaign of 3 things for Canada where everyone should do 3 things a year for the community. Since the pandemic, he is suggesting doing 3 things of kindness for the community.
~ Erin Retallack, City Hall School Coordinator
