Forum aims to make Lethbridge the healthiest city in Canada
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on May 26, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com Healthy Lethbridge is offering Lethbridge citizens a chance to voice their input on how to make Lethbridge a healthy city to live in, thrive, and age well this week as it wraps a three day forum.By hosting a free virtual forum with speakers that share perspectives from a global, provincial and municipal viewpoint on principles to be considered for ethical community growth and sustainability, Healthy Lethbridge is hoping to get the conversation started on how to make Lethbridge the healthiest city in Canada.
The Imagine Lethbridge-Healthy Cities Forum began Tuesday with a conversation about the global picture where Trevor Hancock talked about how Lethbridge needs to achieve equitable health and social outcomes now and for future generations, without destroying the health of our planet.
Hancock is one of the founders of the Healthy Cities and Communities movement and co-founder of both, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care.
“One of the first points I made is that the evidence is that most of what makes us healthy has nothing to do with healthcare, it has to do with our environmental and social and economic and cultural situation as well as our behaviours,” said Hancock.
In his talk Hancock highlighted three key challenges that cities are facing. The first one he talked about was the emergence of the anthropocene, which he said shows that our current materialistic industrialized society and its economic system is ecologically unsustainable.
The second challenge Hancock referred to in his talk is the growing inequality and the ongoing and growing revolt of the marginalized. He said it shows that our current materialistic industrialized society and its economic system is socially unsustainable.
The third challenge he talked about was a governance system that is largely ecologically blind and focused on economic rather than human and social development.
“Big challenges for cities, as well as challenges for countries and for the whole planet,” said Hancock during an interview after the forum.
He said his presentation was focused on painting a global picture and setting the path for the next two presentations which will localize the information.
On May 25 the forum will be focused on ‘Acting on Imagination’ where Kim Raine will be talking about what has worked well, in what contexts and how? What will it take for Lethbridge’s imagined future to come to fruition? And What is the role of its citizens in its change.
Raine led a five-year community-university-government partnership called Healthy Alberta Communities and currently co-leads the Alberta Policy Coalition for Chronic Disease Prevention and Alberta’s Nutrition Report Card on Food Environments for Children and Youth.
On May 26 the forum will focus on ‘Local Practice’ where Joyce Tang will talk about applying evidence-based research in the connection between built environment and human health is critical to building inclusive and resilient communities.
Tang is an urban planner and landscape architect who has always believed in the relationship between human health and the built environment.
The Imagine Lethbridge Healthy Cities Forum will continue on today from 10 a.m to 11:45 a.m.
To register visit https://imaginelethbridge.eventbrite.ca
Each day’s session will be recorded and posted to the Healthy Lethbridge YouTube Channel https://bit.ly/Imagine-Lethbridge for those who cannot attend but are interested in the information. Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter 4
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