Angel Gamble
Angel Gamble is running for Councillor in Westfort Ward in Thunder Bay.
Angel Gamble (she/her) is a Willow Cree woman and lifelong Thunder Bay resident who operates a private custom tattoo studio and a natural skincare business. Her background includes education and experience in Indigenous family services, aesthetics, entrepreneurship, union pipefitting, engineering design, and process piping. She has worked as an in-house counsellor at Beendigen Crisis Centre, participated in entrepreneurship initiatives with the Ontario Native Women's Association, and received educational and arts funding through organizations including Indspire and Alberta for the Arts. Angel is also a mother of two who has informally cared for 17 additional First Nations children. She is running in Westfort Ward with an interest in strengthening neighbourhood connections, supporting local businesses, improving community safety, and creating economic opportunities in Thunder Bay.
Why are you running for this position?
I love my hometown and want all to experience what I did in what we called the Heart of the Harbor - Thunder Bay, Ontario. A city that had beautiful natural surroundings in each of our neighborhoods, thriving economy, entertainment, community safety and all around community connection & well being. Realization of how disconnected we as a community are from each other, since my positive childhood through adulthood lived experience is my primary reason to run for Council. I propose:
Rebuild & strengthen our neighborhoods with all ages free City paid events
Reconnect with parks, walkways & neighbors with footpath lighting, security and new playground equipment
Marketing ads daily to profile existing local industries, small businesses & services
Propose new industry development of biodegradable packaging from our forestry waste
One stop grant proposal/fund restoring Mom & Pop storefronts in our neighborhoods
Restore community safety with police measures that work i.e. re-initiate patrols at high crime hours and areas, park at open street drug markets/user areas, foot patrols
First Nation commerce hub for relationship building with our local business’, services & suppliers
Advocate for our Lost Souls who need proactive resources in trauma treatment to deal with the root cause with more treatment beds, residential trauma center & counsellors
Help lower property taxes
Employ/Tender Local for all infrastructure projects that ensures hometown pride and production for Shared with Union and Non-Union Contractors
Rooming house developments in older buildings for our less fortunate
What do you love most about your community?
I love most about my community is the beauty it beholds in nature all around us with the endless lake Superior to the urban trees and natural forest which embrace us. This magical aspect is what keeps many of us outdoors to experience the natural state of our city and its surroundings. We are very fortunate to have so much nature for us to experience right out our front doors.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing your municipality right now?
Our biggest challenge right now seems to be community safety which we are lacking due to the drug addiction epidemic which is affecting every aspect of our city. Citizens cannot go a step without it being in our face from the news, social media videos/experiences, open drug use/markets, users panhandling every single place we go and drive. And the associated crime that ensues due to the lack of user accountability, required store complacency, limited or delayed police response as there is no real consequences for their drug seeking crimes of opportunity. Homes being scouted and vehicles being broken into daily resulting in citizens feeling disempowered, violated and angry for being victimized by way of these endless thefts.
If elected, what is one thing you would like to accomplish during your term?
My initial goal is to reconnect the neighborhoods and get people out rebuilding neighborhood relationships again in their block and community. Presence is everything and a community that starts being visible, neighborly and aware will not only strengthen the neighborhood but will show that this is a place where we care, we know who belongs and who will help each other. I will accomplish this by doing sponsored neighborhood block party's, fundraisers for a neighborhoods identification of need ie additional walkway lighting at street level or accessibility, sponsored City paid Westfort Ward events each month. Developing a community that will truly know one another.
What is one thing you would like to see your municipality do differently?
I would like to see more effort put into the local neighborhood small businesses such Mom & Pop stores which were the heart of all our neighborhoods when I grew up. The community news and gossip was discussed at these stores. Issues and resolutions from citizens also were done here. Children were known and which family they belonged too or if a child was in trouble or neglected it would be asked if they needed help. Credit accounts were adopted for many families at these spots which helped many lower income family's get to the end of the month with staples such as lunch items, cereal, soup, eggs, milk and sugar. Our gathering places have all but disappeared due to city taxes on these small local businesses became too much to operate. We need to make it so there is not only limited taxation but also grants specific to start up.
What does good local government look like to you?
A good local government involves our tax paying citizens who we truly listen, transparent, and decision making with the community input of all city decisions. We may not be able to please all with our decisions but we can take surveys online which seem to be optimal to getting opinions or percentage of which choice is best on spending, bylaws, updates and removal of unnecessary red tape.
If you received a $1 million grant to use for your municipality any way you wanted, what would you do with it?
A $1 million dollar grant would help set up a green process for all our e-waste, recycling and repurposing center locally which services all Northwestern Ontario. This would be a center that would generate a new green recycle center that would create many new jobs, generate much income thru processing and breakdown of e-waste, metals and eventually smelting our own metals locally for resale nationally and internationally. One such plant in Calgary, Alberta generated 1 million per month in the ecommerce recycling alone for the city of Calgary, Alberta. We would generate that with the help of deposit drop off boxes all over Northwestern Ontario.
How do you approach working with people who disagree with you?
My approach is to ask them their reasoning of disagreement. I do not own anther persons emotions but I do want to know why they are in disagreement and if we can come to an agreement through a mutual compromise. If not then I would accept an impasse on both our parts as we would agree to disagree with no emotion, mutual respect and acceptance of both our positions.
What does having more women in local leadership change?
Tribally women were the Decisions makers in our communities as we do not make our decisions or positions based on fame, power, money or control as Men seem to do. We First Nation women lost our community Leadership due to patriarch nature of the new Settlers many generations ago. We First Nation women decide in a Council with other Councils feedback and based on the big picture of how it will impact our children, grandchildren and subsequent generations. And feel that with Women returning to these roles many decisions will be community and economically beneficial to the community as a whole for all generations who live in them. We are eloquent with our decisions as we see the small details and how they can snowball out of control if not identified and addressed in the development processes.
What is something about you that you would like voters to know that they might not learn from your campaign platform?
My family is generations deep into the skilled trades and the Motorcycle sub-culture of the skilled trades. I grew up traditionally First Nation with pow wow dancing, trapping and teachings with my grand-Mom & Dad on our Reservation of Beardy's & Okemasis primarily due to the lasting impacts on my bio--parents of the St.Micheal's Residential School in Duck Lake, SK. Where, four generations of my family attended and I attended the Day School program. Alternatively, my sacred Uncles who all worked skilled trades took me in the summers which entailed motorcycles every single day. Riding with them felt as free as riding my horses on our reservation as a child and continue riding motorcycles as an adult to this day. They taught me how to take apart motorcycle parts and what tools did what plus how to safely use them. This formative childhood is how I ended up becoming a Union Journeyman Pipefitter as well as a lifetime motorcycle Lady-rider. I broke the cycle by staying on with my Adopted Father in Thunder Bay when my bio-mother decided to leave her husband as she couldn't be away from Saskatchewan. I now take care of my 73 year old Elderly Pops who never once told me to go home to my bio-Mom.
Where can people find you?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61594075242689
