This election, one issue stays at the front of my mind: how our city responds to gender-based violence. I am a mother of daughters. I have only sisters. And every day, I lead a team that is mostly women. So their safety, and the safety of women and families across Guelph, is not an abstract issue to me. It is personal. I believe this conversation deserves a much more prominent place in this election than it has had, especially right now. Below are the responses Guelph's mayoral and council candidates gave, shortened only for length, in their own words. Election day is Monday, October 26. Please vote.
Editor's note: Election day is Monday, October 26, 2026, polls open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Where and how to vote: https://guelph.ca/city-government/mayor-and-council/municipal-elections/
Asking for better responses to gender-based violence and exploitation in Guelph
October 14, 2026
Gender-based violence and exploitation is one of the six priority risk areas in the City of Guelph's 2026-2029 Community Safety and Well-being Plan. It is still rarely centred during elections. To correct this, we asked mayoral and council candidates to share their ideas about concrete actions the City can take to help prevent and respond to gender-based violence and to support the strategies for creating change, outlined in the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan under the GBV&E pillar.
Below are responses we received from candidates in response to our questions. We have shortened and edited several of the responses while retaining the main points raised by each candidate. We are disappointed that several candidates did not respond. We also want to note that several candidates offered to discuss further; we have removed these offers to conserve space but are grateful for their willingness to engage on this issue. Please also be aware that some candidates reference experiences with GBV&E in their responses.
We hoped the responses would include:
- a clear acknowledgement of the problem of GBV&E
- an understanding that the City has a responsibility to address GBV&E, including and beyond its role coordinating services
- a recognition that stable funding for frontline services is essential
Let’s not miss this opportunity to ask the City to do better when it comes to eradicating gender-based violence and exploitation.
Mayoral candidates
Leanne Caron
Many of the goals in the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan focus on collaboration and coordination. As someone with decades of building relationships across Guelph, this is exactly the kind of leadership I will provide. It’s the foundation of my Open and Collaborative City Hall action plan. The City can play a key role in other ways, including but not limited to:
- making public spaces and services safer, including public buildings, parks and trails, and transit shelters and buses. All genders should be able to go about their daily lives feeling safe in the public realm.
- educating city staff (including transit drivers and recreation staff) to recognize and report human trafficking, harassment, or unsafe behaviour.
- providing stable funding for shelters for victims of IPV, education of children, and preventative family supports (ie. Neighbourhood Support Coalition).
- improving training for all first-responders (paramedics, fire, police) to recognize and provide sensitive trauma-informed responses.
- coordinating community agencies to deliver wraparound prevention and response services and promote/communicate where residents can access information and crisis response.
- advocating for greater resources from other levels of government.
Ken Yee Chew
- First, we need stronger coordination between the City, Guelph Police, health providers, school boards, housing and social-service agencies, and organizations already doing this work, such as G-W WIC. The City should be helping these partners work together rather than duplicating their expertise.
- Second, prevention and public education matter. I support clearer community education around the warning signs of intimate partner violence, sexual violence and human trafficking, where residents can safely report concerns, and where survivors can access help. That should also include appropriate training for City frontline staff who may encounter people experiencing violence or exploitation.
- Third, the City can continue working with housing and community partners to improve pathways into emergency, transitional and longer-term housing. Public safety is one of my top priorities. For me, that means both responding effectively when violence occurs and investing in the partnerships and prevention work that can reduce harm before someone reaches a crisis point.
John Edward Krusky
No response
Ryan Meunier
I will support the improvement of our collective community within a financially sustainable framework, and I remain willing to discuss what that might look like with any individual or organization. Fundamentally, we need an affordable government that prioritizes needs over wants and operates in a manner that restores the quality of essential services. I believe we also need to collectively ask the higher levels of government how they are going to financially support us….
This is about holding other governments accountable to what they were also elected to do: serve us. I believe that with improved governance in Guelph, with an affordable government that actually supports our prosperity and restores the declining hope of the citizenry, the overall health of our community will improve. Certainly, the prevalence of violence towards and exploitation of others increases as the health of a society declines. I do see the tone and health of the government(s) as fundamental to the tone and health of the society it was elected to serve, and, therefore, I want to improve that tone!
Finally, I am open to all for improving our home for ALL citizens.
Everisto Ramos Jr.
No response
Rajee Sinha
First is educating people and making everyone aware of what gender equality is all about. We need to really put emphasis on educating the children in schools and asking them to bring it forward any domestic issues in their household…. I did meet with Guelph Police Chief and Deputy Chief and went over the numbers. The reason we are higher on human trafficking is because the police is reporting every domestic partner violence as possible human trafficking. Guelph human trafficking incidents report last year was 17 while same year reported in Winnipeg was 6. So, you can see that our Police force is trying to do the right by reporting it instead of not reporting.
Municipal government carries most responsibility for gender-based concerns as these challenges are at the ground level happening in our communities. Gender based violence needs to be dealt with higher level of consequences. We have to work with the justice department and bring forward more strict laws when it comes to domestic and gender violence. That’s what I would do so people will think twice before moving forward and getting involved in gender-based violence.
Homelessness is another major concern. We have look at it from a human perspective, with compassion and empathy. Housing first needs to be a priority. We can learn from Helsinki, Finland, which uses a housing first approach that focuses on providing unconditional housing. We have to make our shelter homes into studio housing for homeless. As a city we need to invest and probably buy a building and convert it to affordable housing for homeless population. This way every homeless person has a place to live. Secondly provide mental health, addiction services and employment services to people where they are living. This way it will be easier to manage and treat people and help people to get jobs and be successful and have a better life.
Ward 1 Candidates
Tammy Corbin
First, I think the City should increase funding for WIC.
Second, I feel that education and seminars should be had or made available to the public to educate them on what's happening and the potential consequences of committing such crimes. I feel that if religious institutions were to come on board with educating the greater public, more people would become aware.
I think the City should mandate the province to teach this in schools and change the laws to be more effective and severe for those who are found guilty. I believe the penalty should carry a consequence that is similar to murder and the like.
Dan Gibson
No response
Daniel Kaufmann
No response
Marcell Dion Lambert
No response
Owen Martens
No response
Evan Silva
There are multiple avenues from which to combat violence against women and human trafficking, because there are multiple ways in which it happens. Random acts of violence from strangers can be fought by making our streets safer in general especially at night. I would like to have better lighting at night in our parks and on our streets, as well as evening police presence in parks and high-risk areas. The way in which GBV&E occurs most often involves people who know the victim well, exploiting them in times of vulnerability. A big part of preventing this violence in these circumstances is in supporting women’s shelters, food banks, and even warming stations in the winter so vulnerable women aren’t forced to stay with an abuser out of fear of losing necessities.
Dave Williams
No response
Mustafa Zuberi
No response
Ward 2 Candidates
Mike Barber
My family was affected by domestic violence when I was a child. The City has an important role to play in preventing gender-based violence and ensuring that survivors can access help safely, quickly and anonymously in some cases. I support making the City a stronger coordinator between the organizations already doing this work…to identify gaps in services, improve referrals, and make sure people do not have to navigate multiple disconnected systems on their own. The City recognizes that gender-based violence is interconnected with housing, poverty, homelessness, mental health, and safety. In my memory of our needs in Toronto, we had to go to shelters and if my father showed up, he was also allowed access. Therefore, the importance of more gender exclusive shelter is top of the list for keeping fleeing people safe.
The City can make sure its own services are safer and more accessible. Staff who regularly interact with vulnerable residents should have appropriate training on recognizing gender-based violence, coercive control and signs that someone may be at risk. The City's Community Plan specifically identifies trained first responders and coordinated community services as goals. One of the things I have already been bringing forward is de-escalation workshops for the businesses in the downtown, maybe as part of these workshops we could include some form of safety check? Prevention also needs to happen before someone reaches a crisis. Making phone numbers and contact information available in public areas may be a way we can help those in need as well.
Safety includes the physical environment. “A Safer Guelph” is part of my platform. The City can continue improving lighting, visibility, safe pedestrian routes, transit stops, trails and public spaces, while specifically asking women, girls and gender-diverse residents where they feel unsafe. Safety audits and community input can help direct limited resources. I have already identified a few corridors with bad lighting and would encourage and engage with the community to identify and then act.
Finally, I want the City to measure whether these actions are working. We should track outcomes such as access to services, response times, housing access and survivor-informed measures of safety, rather than simply counting how many awareness campaigns or training sessions were delivered. The City does not need to duplicate the work of Women in Crisis or other specialized agencies. Its role is to use the tools it does control—planning, housing, transit, public spaces, recreation, communications, community investment and coordination—to strengthen the system around those organizations.
The City can support the GBV&E strategies by moving from recognizing gender-based violence as a priority to establishing clear municipal actions, partnerships, and measures of progress. We need to:
- meet with, listen to and find funding to support organizations already doing the work.
- make coordination an ongoing municipal responsibility with the goal of identifying gaps between services and improving integration of service access and delivery.
- put survivor safety at the centre of City services and spaces. We need to be able to identify who needs help without the person in need having to ask. My mom was often with my dad and us, I later learned that he would abuse her if she spoke in public. It is not always safe for someone to ask for help.
- use the City’s existing communications channels for prevention.
The City already provides community grants, including funding to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis for public education, violence prevention, survivor recognition and connections to supports. The City should continue looking at how its community investment programs can provide stable, predictable support for organizations delivering GBV prevention and survivor services. We need to also encourage donations as the City of Guelph. We can engage with the public on behalf of the work being done.
Guelph should use its position to advocate for provincial and federal funding where the City cannot reasonably fill the gap through property taxes. At the same time, Council should make sure the municipal responsibilities that are within its control are being addressed!!! If we can find money for a permanent stage in the downtown we can find money to support community organizations keeping our citizens safe and helping them through tragedy. The most important principle for me would be partnership rather than duplication.
I want to be the councillor that listens to organizations, such as Women in Crisis, and identify where the municipal system can remove barriers, and then use the City's existing services, infrastructure, planning powers and community investments to support that work. I keep saying that sometimes the best thing the City can do is to just get out of the way! The work is being done, the people doing it know what they need.
The City has significant public-facing communications through recreation, libraries, transit, facilities, and digital channels. Those existing channels can be used to promote healthy relationships, consent, warning signs, available supports and information about where someone can safely seek help. This is consistent with the City's stated goal that education and awareness should reduce the incidence of GBV.
Michelle Bowman
No response
Troy Bridgeman
No response
Greg Cox
No response
Morgan Dandie
No response
Kim Fry
No response
Rodrigo Goller
No response
Barbara Mann
No response
Alec Purves
No response
Ward 3 Candidates
Phil Alt
No response
Kevin Bowman
No response
Annika Maldonado
No response
Michele Richardson
No response
Marty Williams
No response
Ward 4 Candidates
Linda Busuttil
As a school board trustee, Board Chair or more recently as the Ward 4 Councillor I have been indirectly involved with WIC and am aware of the increasing intimate partner violence and human trafficking. I attend the WIC hosted education events to stay abreast. As a community volunteer I support women through the CRA Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, along with my retired WIC employee friend. I do not work directly with the women but know of their experiences that they feel safe to share.
In the community I have also personally responded to a mother and daughter's safety concern at 3 am and offered my home for them to come to until they could arrange for help and safety. Again, as a community volunteer I have arranged for WIC staff to come to a safe meeting place as they arrange supports and safety plans. I have also spoken with women from diverse cultural backgrounds who seek assistance and directed them to WIC.
As a school board Chair, I had the heart wrenching experience of attending the funeral and memorial for Charlie, one of our students (Note: Charlie was killed by his father in an act of femicide in 2022).
I have attended human trafficking, and intimate partner violence workshops. As a current city councillor, I voted to support the elevation of Intimate Partner Violence as an epidemic.
Brendan Clark
I think the City can make the greatest difference by focusing on the areas where municipal government has a clear role, which is in coordinating services.
Prevention also matters. The Community Safety and Well-being Plan recognizes that gender-based violence intersects with issues such as housing insecurity and early adversity. The City should continue working with its community partners to identify gaps in services, improve coordination and ensure people leaving dangerous situations have clear pathways to appropriate supports.
I also believe implementation needs to be measurable. When Council supports a plan like this, residents should be able to see what actions are being taken, which organizations are responsible and whether those actions are producing results. I support regular reporting on the outcomes identified in the Community Safety and Well-being Plan so Council can determine what is working and where changes are needed.
Finally, the City should recognize the limits of municipal government. Many of the services and funding required to address gender-based violence fall within provincial or federal responsibilities. Council should advocate for those resources while making sure municipal dollars are directed toward effective local actions rather than unnecessarily duplicating programs that already exist.
My approach would be to support practical prevention, strong coordination between service providers, access to appropriate supports for people experiencing violence, and clear accountability for results.
Jesse Guite
Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own home and community, and people seeking help need to know that someone will listen and respond. I support several concrete actions by the City:
- Work with organizations such as G-W WIC to identify gaps in services and consider predictable municipal funding, access to City spaces, and help securing provincial and federal funding.
- Work with Wellington County and community housing providers to improve access to emergency accommodation and longer-term affordable housing for people escaping violence. Leaving an unsafe home needs to come with a realistic option for somewhere safe to go.
- Support prevention education through recreation programs, community centres and partnerships with schools and local organizations. This should include healthy relationships, consent, recognizing coercive control and exploitation, and knowing how to safely seek help.
- Provide training for public-facing City staff so they can recognize concerns and connect people with support, while respecting privacy and the survivor’s choices. Information and services should be accessible to people facing language, disability or other barriers.
To put the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan into practice, I would support clear responsibilities, timelines and regular public progress reports. Council should be asking what has been accomplished, where people are still falling through the cracks, and what resources are needed to close those gaps.
I also agree that these issues are connected. Housing, financial security and support for children affected by violence need to be part of the response. Better coordination between organizations can help people access that support without repeatedly having to explain their situation.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I would want survivors and the people doing this work every day to help shape our decisions, with safe and confidential ways to contribute. Council’s responsibility is to listen, act on what we learn, and follow through.
Ali Malik
I think the City can take a few practical steps to better prevent and respond to gender based violence. First, we need a quicker and clearer system for tracking reports and making sure people get support fast. Many incidents go unreported because people don’t trust the process. Building awareness and educating residents about how to report and showing them that authorities respond, will help build confidence.
Gender based violence often connects back to two pressures: mental health challenges and everyday financial stress. Mental health programs exist, but they need to be strengthened and easier to access. At the same time, rising costs of living, inflation, unemployment and limited job opportunities create stress in households. When people are under financial pressure, conflict and instability can grow.
The City can help by creating more opportunities for people to work. We can’t control big corporations, but we can reduce red tape around opening new businesses. Making it easier for residents to start small businesses will support families financially and strengthen the local economy. The City can also prioritize local workers for city projects, which keeps money and opportunity within the community.
These actions: quicker reporting systems, stronger awareness, better mental health support, and reducing financial pressure through local job creation will support the strategies in the Community Safety and WellBeing Plan.
Derek McCaughan
This is an issue that has personal significance for me. My mother was a victim of intimate partner violence when I was a teenager, and I witnessed firsthand the devastating impact it can have not only on the person experiencing the violence, but on an entire family.
I support the inclusion of gender-based violence and exploitation as a priority in Guelph’s Community Safety and Well-being Plan. I also believe the City has an important role to play, although it is not an issue the City can address on its own. Expertise rests across several organizations and agencies, including those providing direct support to victims and survivors, the police, the County and other community partners.
In addition to the support the City currently provides to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis for public education and events, there are other practical ways the City can contribute. It can bring the appropriate organizations together, facilitate coordination and information sharing, help identify gaps or duplication in services, support public education and awareness efforts, and ensure that responsibilities and objectives under the Community Safety and Well-being Plan are clear. I would also like to see meaningful measures established so Council and the community can assess whether these efforts are having the intended effect.
Where I would be cautious is in making a commitment in advance to any particular new program or expenditure. If additional municipal funding is proposed, I would want to understand what is being requested, the evidence supporting it, who is responsible for delivering it, the expected outcome, whether other levels of government have a responsibility to participate, and how it fits among the other priorities competing for municipal resources. I would apply that same decision-making process to this issue as I would to any other request for public funds, consistent with my campaign commitment.
For me, that does not diminish the importance of addressing gender-based violence. It means taking the issue seriously enough to focus on actions that are coordinated, effective and capable of producing measurable results.
Ward 5 Candidates
Michael Agueci
No response
Xandine Arnott
No response
Greg Cawsey
Gender-based violence is a community safety issue that is closely connected to housing, homelessness, poverty, affordability and access to support. My approach involves evidence, collaboration and accountability.
Housing is an important part of prevention and safety. People leaving an abusive situation should not have to choose between staying somewhere unsafe and becoming homeless. The City should continue working with community organizations, the County and other levels of government to increase affordable and supportive housing, while ensuring that the needs of people fleeing violence are reflected in housing strategies.
I also believe good municipal policy starts with listening to frontline service providers. As part of preparing for this campaign, I had sit-down conversations with Sue Keuhl, Community Engagement Manager at Hope House, and Perrin Valli, Executive Director of Stepping Stone, to better understand the challenges facing people experiencing homelessness and vulnerability in our community. Those conversations are part of my effort to listen first and gather the understanding needed to formulate sound, evidence-based policy.
Partnerships are essential. The City should work closely with relevant organizations and other levels of government. The City can use its convening role, funding decisions and municipal services to help strengthen community response.
Finally, I believe the commitments in the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan need clear accountability. We should know what actions are being taken, what resources are committed and whether those actions are producing results. If the evidence shows that something is not working, Council should be prepared to change course.
Dakota Cherry
When I first moved to Guelph, I personally experienced gender-based violence involving a roommate. Despite having a recorded confession from this individual about what they had done, I was told by Guelph Police that there was nothing they could do. It was devastating, and it fundamentally shaped my understanding of how difficult it can be for survivors, even more so for those who may experience multiple barriers such as not knowing English, having distrust in police institutions, etc, to navigate these systems.
Because of this, one of the first actions I would advocate for on Council is stronger education and training around gender-based violence, particularly in trauma-informed approaches for those responding to survivors. I recently met with a woman who draws on her own lived experience to provide this type of training to police in Kitchener-Waterloo. We should be looking closely at examples like these from neighbouring municipalities that have developed promising approaches to preventing and responding to gender-based violence, learning from what is working, and adapting those approaches in partnership with local survivors and organizations.
The City must also meaningfully (and financially) support the strategies for change identified under the Gender-Based Violence and Exploitation pillar of the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan.
As I'm sure you know, short-term, highly competitive grants make it extremely difficult for community organizations to build and maintain the infrastructure needed to prevent violence and support survivors. Rather than forcing organizations with shared goals to compete for increasingly limited resources, I would advocate for more stable municipal support while also pursuing provincial and federal funding wherever possible.
Most importantly, addressing gender-based violence means listening to people with lived experience, investing in the organizations already doing this work, improving how our institutions respond to survivors, and treating the commitments in our Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan as commitments we are actually responsible for delivering rather than aspirational dreams.
Jon Christensen
To answer the questions I requested a meeting with G-W WIC and learned that the need is growing and the City continues to charge G-W WIC like any other customer. G-W WIC pays a City permit fee to run events in City parks. They pay property tax. If they want to advertise the crisis line on a bus shelter or an arena screen, they pay the same rate as any business.
And the City is counting on G-W WIC. Council declared intimate partner violence an epidemic in November 2023, 13 to 0. The new Community Safety and Well-being Plan measures its own progress by G-W WIC’s numbers, clients served, crisis line calls (2,447 in 2024), and shelter use, which was up 20 per cent from the year prior. There were 1,644 intimate partner violence incidents investigated by Guelph Police that same year.
So, what can the City do? The City owns the screens and the bus shelters. They should give the partner organizations of the Community Safety and Wellbeing plan advertising space for free. The City gives G-W WIC about $8,000 a year to run awareness events and part of that grant exists to pay the City's own permit fees back, which is a staff person on each end moving the same dollars in a circle. Waive the fees for those events. And, rather than give additional grants to cover tax-related charges from the City, it would be better to waive those charges to being with.
To support the Community Safety and Wellbeing plan, awareness and prevention is one of the five strategies, and free space on City property is the cheapest way I can think of to support it. The plan's advisory table meets twice a year. I want those numbers in front of council as often as possible, so we can all see whether any of this is working.
James Doran
In my consulting work, I spend a good deal of time helping clients develop equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategies for research programs involving Indigenous communities, women and children, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants and newcomers. I have not worked directly on a gender-based violence project, but I am familiar with many of the connected issues identified across the six pillars of the Community Safety and Well-being Plan.
The City can help by making it easier for people to get support and by addressing the conditions that can leave them at risk. People facing complex or immediate risks need clear, timely referrals. I support the plan’s call for a coordinated, “no wrong door” response. There is precedent for this - when I was leading Innovation Guelph, we used the no-wrong-door approach so that innovators and entrepreneurs could go to any business support organization and be directed to where they needed help.
City staff who work with the public should receive trauma-informed training developed with organizations that understand gender-based violence (as far as I understand, they do get EDI training so this is a natural extension of existing training). Services for those at risk or in crisis must be accessible and free of discrimination, including for people whose past experiences with institutions make it harder to seek help.
The City can also use its facilities and communication channels to make trusted information about available support easier to find. Housing matters too. A person is less able to leave an unsafe situation when there is nowhere to go. My Blueprint Guelph proposes to speed up appropriate affordable housing and expand transitional options could contribute to a longer-term solution. These options must work alongside confidential emergency shelter and specialist support for survivors and their children.
Cathy Downer
Gender-based violence is a serious community safety issue, and I believe the City has an important role to play in preventing it and making sure survivors can access the support they need. We also need to recognize the connections between gender-based violence, homelessness, poverty, early childhood adversity and discrimination. These are not separate issues, and our response cannot treat them that way.
There are several practical actions the City can take. We can:
- strengthen prevention and education. Work with schools, the University of Guelph, community agencies and other partners to expand education about healthy relationships, consent, and recognizing and preventing sexual violence. This education should also address exploitation, human trafficking and online abuse.
- improve coordination between services. Bring together key organizations to identify gaps and make it easier for survivors to find help.
- connect safety with housing. Access to affordable housing and emergency accommodation can make the difference between someone remaining in an abusive situation and being able to leave safely. The City should work with housing providers and other levels of government to expand affordable and transitional housing options for survivors and their children.
- make our public spaces safer. We need to listen to the experiences of women and equity-denied groups when planning streets, parks, transit stops, lighting and public facilities. Good design, accessible transportation and meaningful community engagement can help people feel safer moving around our city.
- strengthen training and accountability. Municipal staff and first responders should be able to recognize gender-based violence, respond with care and connect survivors with specialized services. The City should also track our progress and report honestly on whether our actions are making a difference.
Guelph’s Community Safety and Well-being Plan already identifies important goals (see footnote 1). I would focus on turning those commitments into measurable action, building on the expertise of organizations already doing this work and advocating to the provincial and federal governments for the resources and changes that fall within their responsibilities.
Wesley Harris
Gender-based violence and exploitation cannot be addressed by policing alone. Prevention, safe housing, victim services, health care, education and enforcement all have a role to play, and the City needs to help bring those pieces together.
I support maintaining appropriate investigative capacity for intimate partner violence, sexual violence, human trafficking, child exploitation and crimes targeting vulnerable victims. These are complex crimes that require specialized training and the ability to build trust with victims. At the same time, we should aggressively pursue provincial and federal funding so that specialized enforcement and victim supports are not funded entirely through local property taxes.
The City can also strengthen prevention. Frontline City employees should have appropriate training to recognize signs of exploitation and know where to refer someone for help. We should continue partnerships with organizations with expertise in gender-based violence and human trafficking.
Housing is also part of the solution. Someone leaving an abusive or exploitative situation may need multiple services and supports. The City should work with community organizations and other levels of government to make those existing services easier to reach rather than trying to recreate every service at City Hall.
I also support involving survivors and survivor-led organizations, where it is safe and appropriate, in evaluating what is working and where people are falling through the cracks.
Finally, we need to measure results. I support transparent reporting on prevention, training, victim connections to services, outside funding secured and other meaningful outcomes while protecting victims’ privacy. The goal should not simply be better statistics; it should be fewer people experiencing violence and exploitation.
Danny Liu
From my work as Chair of Sanguen and my outreach work, I know that there are quite a few parallels and overlapping challenges to getting help for those who need it. I have supported Women in Crisis, and know how poverty, lack of resources, food scarcity, stigma and more can make a bad situation feel impossible to escape. I would love the opportunity to sit down and learn more and explore the ways that I can support the work being done. It would be essential for me to have a deeper understanding if I become councillor, but I would like to explore ways I can be of service even if I don’t get in.
Dylan White
No response
Ward 6 Candidates
Rebecca Adam
I share your concern not only about the issues your organization faces, but about the growing sense of unsafety and fear experienced by many people in our community. I was encouraged to see Guelph add gender-based violence as a named priority through community engagement in 2024.With my background in Human Resources, I believe the City’s role is to listen to those doing this work every day and support strategies that are proven to make a difference. That means supporting education and awareness, ensuring survivors can access support, and working with community organizations and first responders to create a coordinated response.I am never going to say I am an expert in areas where I am not. I commit to listening to those who are, learning from cities trying different approaches, and supporting solutions that make our community safer.
Shane Coulis
As a father of three daughters, this is an issue that plays near to my heart each day. To be fair, Guelph seems to be getting on the right track in this regard, especially through the communal efforts in:
- acknowledging and declaring Intimate Partner Violence as an epidemic.
- partnering with GPS and other services to attend elementary and high schools (and other public places) and share with students the dangers of Human Trafficking, including the warning signs
- funding and supporting local organizations, such as Marianne's Place.
I believe that the City of Guelph can do better, by:
- increasing mandatory training for public servants of the signs of abuse and how to interact and support victims to ensure there can be plenty of safe spaces in Guelph.
- providing municipal lands in areas that are available, or not being used, to provide other options for transitional housing.
- expanding on neighbourhood watch groups who can assist residents travelling alone.
- actively promoting crisis lines and shelter information on city buses and other publicly accessible places.
What makes these ideas immediately actionable is most do not require waiting for provincial funding. It is something that we can actively start right away.
Luke Devos
No response
Katherine Hauser
In my experience, GBV&E is not something that happens somewhere else or to someone else. Many of us have known, cared about or supported someone affected by intimate partner violence or abuse, whether we were aware of it at the time or not. These experiences reach into families, friendships, workplaces and communities, leaving impressions that can last generations.What stands out most to me in the Community Safety and Well-being Plan is the commitment to make it easier for people to get help. I particularly appreciated the links that immediately connect someone with help. Admittedly, I was taken aback when I saw the option to quickly hide a site visit. It is a small detail, but one that speaks volumes about the experience, knowledge and thoughtfulness that has gone into making these resources accessible to someone who may not even be safe while looking for help.Guelph is fortunate to have organizations with significant expertise in supporting people experiencing GBV&E. The City should work with and support those organizations, strengthen connections between services, and make it easier for someone seeking help to reach the right support. Our Community Response Protocol provides a good foundation: explain confidentiality, offer safety planning, make an appropriate referral and provide follow-up support. That last piece matters. Connecting someone with another service should not simply mean handing them another phone number and leaving them to navigate the next step alone.Prevention matters too. I support the Plan’s focus on education, awareness, training and building greater understanding across our community. We also need to recognize that housing and income insecurity, transportation and other barriers can make it much harder for someone to leave an unsafe situation. The City’s work in those areas is part of this response too.We should continue listening to the organizations doing this work, identify where people are falling through gaps, and use the Plan's measures to understand whether our response is actually improving.Ultimately, this is about people finding safety, support and a way forward when they need it most. The City cannot do this work alone, but we have a responsibility to be a strong and reliable partner in it.
Helen Liu
Below are responses addressing the municipal role in confronting these crises across two key dimensions: 1) prevention & community supports; and 2) housing, infrastructure & municipal policy.1: Strengthening Prevention, Education, and Frontline Support
- Municipalities hold critical levers through strategic funding, local policy frameworks, and community safety partnerships.
- City Council should formally recognize intimate partner violence and gender-based violence as an epidemic in Guelph—following the recommendations of the Renfrew County Inquest. This sets a clear municipal priority across all city departments, including emergency services, transit, and social planning.
- Operational Support for Frontline Organizations: The City can provide direct grant opportunities, space allocations, or administrative support to organizations like G-W WIC.
- Awareness & Training across City Services: Municipal frontline staff—including Guelph Transit operators, parks and recreation personnel, and library staff—should receive specialized training to spot the signs of human trafficking and intimate partner violence and safely connect individuals with support resources.
- Safe Public Spaces: Ensuring transit stops, public parks, and municipal facilities are well-lit, accessible, and equipped with clearly visible emergency contact information (such as the 24-hour Crisis Line)
2: Housing Security, Infrastructure, and Inter-Agency Coordination
Housing availability is directly linked to violence prevention. Survivors often face the impossible choice between remaining in an abusive environment or facing homelessness due to the region's housing crisis. The City can:
- in collaboration with the County of Wellington (the housing manager in Guelph), prioritize supportive and transitional housing units specifically designated for women, gender-diverse individuals, and children fleeing violence.
- leverage municipal planning tools (such as inclusionary zoning and density bonuses) to encourage non-profit housing providers to build affordable, long-term options for survivors transitioning out of emergency shelters like Marianne’s Place.
- support community-led safety models that pair social service agencies and crisis counselors with frontline responses, ensuring individuals in crisis receive compassionate, trauma-informed care.
- actively advocate for, and participate in, regional tables that bring together Guelph Police Service, Wellington County Social Services, local school boards, and community organizations like G-W WIC to coordinate anti-trafficking efforts and IPV response strategies.
Laura McQuillen
To start, the city can fund the organizations who are on the ground already doing the work. Specifically, multi-year funding that these organizations can use to plan ahead and create stability within their programming is vital.
As you mentioned, GBV&E is not always alone, and housing and income security can also be preventative measures to end GBV&E. Knowing that you have a place to go and money independent of your partner can keep people from entering into unsafe situations or help them to feel confident in leaving. The City has a role here to increase housing and affordability and expand rent supports and emergency housing options and pathways.
Finally, we need education. We need to ensure that frontline workers are aware of and trained in identifying and supporting someone experiencing GBV&E. Training for frontline staff can teach them to identify likely incidents as well as respond through a trauma-informed lens and then know and provide information about available resources. We also need to make sure that young people are learning about healthy relationships, consent, and noticing what concerning behaviours to look for. “Stranger danger” is not the primary threat to an individual, and being able to notice red flags or troubling behaviours, and knowing what to do in response, can save a life.
Where to learn more about the candidates
Every candidate named above is listed here with their campaign website, so you can read about them in their own words.
Mayor
- Leanne Caron - leannecaron.ca
- Ken Yee Chew - chewforguelph.ca
- John Edward Krusky - johnedwardkruskyformayor.ca
- Ryan Meunier - meunierformayor.ca
- Everisto Ramos Jr. - changetogrow.ca
- Rajee Sinha - rajeeformayor.ca
Ward 1
- Tammy Corbin - no campaign website found
- Dan Gibson - dangibson.ca
- Daniel Kaufmann - kaufmannforcouncil.ca
- Marcell Dion Lambert - marcelforguelph.ca
- Owen Martens - owenmartens.ca
- Evan Silva - evan4guelph.ca
- Dave Williams - no campaign website found
- Mustafa Zuberi - mustafa4ward1.ca
Ward 2
- Mike Barber - mikeforward2.ca
- Michelle Bowman - bowman4ward2.ca
- Troy Bridgeman - troybridgeman.com
- Greg Cox - gregcox.vote
- Morgan Dandie - dandieforwardtwo.ca
- Kim Fry - kimfry.ca
- Rodrigo Goller - goller4ward2.ca
- Barbara Mann - barbaramann.ca
- Alec Purves - alecpurves2026.com
Ward 3
- Phil Alt - philallt.ca
- Kevin Bowman - kevin-bowman.org
- Annika Maldonado - amforward3.com
- Michele Richardson - micheleforguelph.ca
- Marty Williams - martyfor3.ca
Ward 4
- Linda Busuttil - ward4guelph.ca
- Brendan Clark - brendanclark.ca
- Jesse Guite - guite4guelph.ca
- Ali Malik - alimalik4guelph.ca (not loading as of Oct 20)
- Derek McCaughan - derekmccaughan.ca
Ward 5
- Michael Agueci - michaelforguelph.ca
- Xandine Arnott - xandinearnott.ca
- Greg Cawsey - gregcawsey.ca
- Dakota Cherry - dakotacherry.ca
- Jon Christensen - jonchristensen.ca
- James Doran - jamesdoran.ca
- Cathy Downer - cathydowner.ca
- Wesley Harris - votewes.ca
- Danny Liu - votedannylui.ca
- Dylan White - dylanwhite.ca
Ward 6
- Rebecca Adam - voterebeccaadam.ca
- Shane Coulis - shanecoulis.ca
- Luke Devos - lukedevos.ca
- Katherine Hauser - hauserward6.ca
- Helen Liu - no campaign website found
- Laura McQuillen - lauramcquillen.ca
If you need support
If you or someone you know is experiencing gender-based violence, help is available. Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis provides safety, support, information and advocacy for women, gender-diverse people and their children in Guelph and Wellington County. Their 24-hour crisis line is 519-836-5710 or 1-800-265-7233, and their website is gwwomenincrisis.org.
