#6 – Community Diversity, Inclusivity, and Resident Experience

58% of town residents who responded to the survey felt that “Embracing equity and inclusivity principles” was important. Given this information I believe that we need to be aware of this as decisions are made regarding affordable housing. Without at least some affordable housing we are clearing excluding a large number of individuals who could add great value to this community.

MODERATOR COMMENT: It is great to see these conversational threads evolve.
These Discussions Boards are being moderated to match the stated guidelines: “Comments made via this portal are public. We expect conversations to follow the rules of polite discourse. Messages containing inappropriate content or language will be removed at the discretion of Future iQ”. To date, we have had to exclude a number of comments that are critical about people or groups, or are obviously off-purpose (unrelated political commentary; for example). PLEASE remember, these are open community conversations, to which a wide range of people are contributing – including school students. These Discussion Boards are an opportunity for thoughtful, polite and convivial community discussion focused on exploring specific important issues. Please consider ‘tone and content’ before submitting, as we will draw a clear line – and exclude – inappropriate messages. Thank you.

There are, of course, lots of ways to look at statistics. But my reading of the responses suggests that 58% of Falmouth residents see inclusivity and equity to be important issues, compared to only 14% of Falmouth residents see these issues as not important, the remainder being neutral. The importance of safety has been mentioned above, and in reality, if you don’t feel included in a community, you can feel unsafe. Falmouth prides itself in its excellent schools. In my opinion and understanding, where economic, ethnic, and racial diversity exist in schools, and where equity and inclusivity are encouraged, young people are provided a richer educational experience – they are better prepared for the world they will live in.

While there are points of celebration, the results of the survey should be cause for concern. In addition to what it seems to show, paying attention to what it missing is equally revealing. It is conceivable that part of the population may be shocked, or even in denial about the realities and experiences of others in their very own community. Silence, they say, speaks volume, and you don’t know someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. We live in a system that focuses on “majority” (i.e. “la raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure”) instead of achieving equity for all its members. That is how slavery happened. That is how colonialism happened. That is how women, our mothers to whom we all owe our very lives, were seen and treated as inferior, not intelligent enough to vote until only 101 year ago, or hold positions of power in a misogynistic culture, and are still often paid less to do the same job their male counterparts. That is how immigrants are seen as problems and undesirable neighbors in our communities that were built, ironically, by immigrants and their countless contributions. That is how we continue to deny our own history, and start to repair the ills and harm we have done to entire groups of people such as indigenous people. That is how, in spite of the overtly declared constitutional guarantees of freedom to express once chosen religious beliefs without fear of oppression or discrimination, we continue to see many of our neighbors being ostracized because of their very religion. That is how many of our elders, after pouring themselves into the well-being of our communities for most of their lives, often find themselves struggling to enjoy the fitting, well earned and deserved opportunity to age in place. Falmouth is not worse than other places. It is not better either. The fact that it is starting to recognize that it can and must be better for all is a positive development. We all live here.