Editor:
This past week I became a new citizen of Canada, so this week I am exercising one of my new rights, which is to express my opinion without fear of retribution.
While I have been a resident of Canada for over a decade (and lived in Delta for half of that), gaining citizenship feels symbolic of my commitment to my communities and making Canada my home.
At my ceremony, the presiding judge and a local councillor emphasized the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship.
In addition to our right to express our opinion, we were reminded of our responsibility as citizens to "do our part" in our local communities.
As part of this model of civic engagement, we were also told the role of local governments was to represent its citizens when they "do their part."
Being a resident of Tsawwassen, I could not help but think about this model of government in relation to Delta council's handling of public engagement with the Southlands.
And, I could not help but be struck by its failure in this context.
Many Delta citizens, including myself, have done their part by attending the multiple meetings and public hearings and by expressing their opinions on this issue.
And the majority of the community has said "no" to development on the Southlands for varying reasons.
Yet the issue remains on the table and our government continues to ask us again and again to express our desires despite the strong support for keeping the land designated as agricultural.
My concern about my local government is deepened by a story in this week's Optimist in which Delta council attacked a community organization, Southlands the Facts, which has gone above and beyond doing its part for the community and which has challenged council on keeping its facts transparent and straight.
So, despite my gratitude for being granted citizenship in a country that has become my new home, my experience of local government leaves me with a feeling of disappointment about the ideology of democratic government in Delta and causes me to question what my rights as a citizen really mean.
I can only hope that with this last round of data collection in which folks have (once again) done their part, Delta council does its part by representing the majority opinion.
Ellexis Boyle
