Ritter for Town Council

Good morning Slave Lakers!
Today's the big day! Municipal Election 2021!
The polls are open today from 10am to 8pm at the Slave Lake Town council chambers at the town office. Be sure to bring ID with you! If you're like me and have a PO Box as your mailing address, voters will be required to provide proof of their name and home address. The following types of verification meet the standard provincial requirement for one piece of identification.

Identification issued by a Canadian government, whether federal, provincial or local, or an agency of that government, that contains a photograph of the elector and their name and current address.
Bank or credit card statement or personal cheque.
Government cheque or cheque stub.
Income or property tax assessment notice.
Insurance policy or coverage card.
Letter from a public curator, public guardian or public trustee.
Pension plan statement of benefits, contributions or participation.
Residential lease or mortgage statement.
Statement of government benefits (for example, employment insurance, old-age security, social assistance, disability support or child tax benefit).
Utility bill (for example, telephone, public utilities commission, television, hydro, gas or water).
Vehicle ownership, registration or insurance certificate.
A letter or form (attestation) confirming that the person lives at the stated address will also be accepted as valid proof. The letter can be signed prior to the vote by any of the following:

authorized representative of a commercial property management company;
authorized representative of a correctional institution;
authorized representative of a First Nations band or reserve;
authorized representative of a postsecondary institution;
authorized representative of a facility that provides services to the homeless; or
authorized representative of a supportive living facility or treatment centre.

And a quick tip for those referendum questions:

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME:
yes- you want to stay on summer hours permanently, so no more spring/fall time changes
No- you would like to continue springing forward and falling back

EQUALIZATION PAYMENTS:
yes- you want the payments to end
No- you wish them to continue

Get out there today if you haven't already and use YOUR VOTE!

Well this is it, the final days before the election. I've been quiet on here lately because I've been listening, listening to elders, listening to families, listening to business owners and residents alike. And I hear you! We want less crime and safer streets, we want more programs and activities for youth, we our town to be more accessible and we want to see businesses thrive here. I'm with you and I'm for you and if elected on Monday, I'll do what it takes to make these things happen!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-indigenous-thanksgiving-traditions-1.6202534

Canadians need to learn 'dark history' of Thanksgiving in spirit of truth and reconciliation, educator says | CBC News With the Thanksgiving long weekend upon us, this year on the heels of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, CBC Windsor spoke to some Indigenous educators in Ontario about what the holiday means to them.

Some helpful information for when you head out to vote!

Tomorrow is the night!! The candidates forum starts at 7pm! Links go live 15 minutes before!!

Don't forget to submit your questions for the candidates! The forum isn't open to the public, this is you chance!

I've been very passionate about us finding a safe place for our homeless to stay warm during the winter for a long time, sadly this plan didn't pan out and the MAT program is no longer in operation. This issue is one I plan to tackle if elected. We need to have some place to keep people off the streets and alive during the cold months, preferably all the time, but at the very least when people can't survive due to the cold.

Support rezoning of the former parent link building Some facts and information regarding the Slave Lake Mat Program and the hopeful rezoning to allow it to go into the former Parent link building.

Ritter big on helping the less fortunate in the community | Lakeside Leader Joe McWilliamsLakeside Leader One of 14 candidates for a seat on Slave Lake town council, TinaMarie Ritter has a couple of things going for her that distinguish her from most of her competitors in the race. One is a family connection to the area that goes back at least a century. “My great-great g...

The incoming council and mayor are facing some big challenges, Covid has turned this into a new world. As such, we need new ideas to support and encourage both our economic growth and our residents well-being. We need a council with not only with a strong business mind, but also creativity, frugality, transparency and most importantly, empathy. This will not be an easy road, there are tough decisions to be made in the future. If elected, I will rise to that challenge and I will make sure that the interests of all Slave Lakers are being heard. A community is only as strong as those within it and I want to ensure that we find programs and supports to give all residents the tools to live stronger, healthier and happier lives. We need businesses to be able to survive through the hard times so people aren't losing their livelihoods. Some out there are fighting for their lives and I'm ready to fight for you, for us and for Slave Lake. This isn't the same world it was 4 years ago when the last election has held. We need to adapt ourselves and the way we do things as a municipality to ensure that we can grow and overcome these new hurdles. We cannot allow ourselves to be stuck in the past with our way of thinking and doing things, we need to attune ourselves to the needs of Slave Lake and work together as a council, as residents and as a community to accomplish this. If you give me the chance on October 18th to be part of council, I will be ready to help makes those hard decisions, but will always keep the the very heart of Slave Lake as my priority, which has always been all of you!

Let me introduce myself properly now. My name is TinaMarie. I was born in Edmonton, I lived there for 2 years until following my parents’ separation, I went to live with my grandparents, John and Rena, in a very small village east 0f Edmonton called Chipman. I have now lived in Slave Lake for 23ish years. My mother had moved here and then I joined her a few years later. My mother’s side of the family has a long history in the region, 5 generations have called Slave Lake and area home at one point or another. My grandma Rena’s father and grandfather lived on the very shores I now call home. My great-grandfather George lived here until he enlisted in Canadian Armed Forces in 1915 to fight in WW1. His father Modiste Loyie remained here to the best of my Gram’s memory. There’s something very inspiring to live somewhere with such family history, it gives you a sense of loyalty to your community, a sense of protectiveness of its well-being and the will to do whatever you can to see it succeed. My Grandmother Rena didn’t speak much of her youth when I was younger, she was a residential school survivor, and it was too hard for her talk about it. She came to live with my mother and I after her and my grandfather John separated. Sadly, she developed dementia and I learned so much about this disease because of her. I also spent many hours in our local seniors’ homes and long-term care facility at our local hospital as her condition worsened. It took 10 years for it to finally take her and end her pain. Before her dementia worsened enough to go into care, my mother struggled to support us 3 as a single mother. She worked 2 jobs to support us and even pushed herself through a terrible back injury from an obscenely freak accident when I was in jr. high because the cost of living was too much for her to stay on disability for very long. We had hard times, we barely made paycheck to paycheck, we used the food bank, we struggled with rent. We struggled with each other. I dropped out of high school and moved out when I was 16. I made many bad choices in my youth; I didn’t respect myself or any thing for that matter. I know how easy it is to fall through the cracks and to be lost and depressed and not know where to turn.
I was to pull my life together though. I appreciate every opportunity given to me, I’m forever grateful that we have so many amazing people here that never gave up on me and in turn I will never give up on us, I do good recklessly, quietly, and often. I don’t tell this story of my past for sympathy or pity. I tell it for you to know that what I say next is truly from the heart. I have been blessed in this life. I am happy and healthy now, I have matured and found myself and my path. I have the time to volunteer having been awarded the 2016 Citizen of the Year award for my volunteer work. I have been lucky enough to work with some truly amazing bosses that have taught me so much and I value everything they taught me. I have worked in everything from service to insurance and most recently for last 7 years, in a law office that handles mostly real estate. I have a wonderful boyfriend of 9 years and because of his work as a truck driver, has been able to show me the importance of the different industries in our area. I support sustainable logging, I support the oil and gas industry, the construction industry and everything in between. We need these sectors to survive and thrive. I also support the development of new processes, new energy sources and growth in these areas. The way we did things 50 years ago is different than today and what we do today will be different than what we do in another 50 years. I firmly believe that we should always strive in any industry, to find more efficient ways to do things, more ethical ways to do things and that we should never stop progressing. Progress drives change, it creates jobs, it keeps us accountable and give us strength. And while I don’t own a home or business in Slave Lake, I work here, I play here, I call it my home and will always strive to do my best for the betterment of our Town.
I support programs for youth, from newborns to teenagers. Having seen our community not only lose countless affordable options for parents to put their children in for afterschool programs, but also things like the bowling alley, the pool hall, the arcade, the Hub, the old (and better in my humble opinion) skate park, and so much more. I know how easy it is for vulnerable youth to fall into a life that some won’t return from. I also know what wonderful things they can do when supported, mentored, encouraged, and believed in. I want that for our community and know that we can get there again.
I understand the hardships that our seniors’ facilities face with adequate staffing and supplies. I understand the loneliness and isolation that far too many elders face and feel everyday, they did before Covid came and because of it, they feel this more and more. I believe in supporting our elders, in learning from them and in giving them the ability to be sharing in their knowledge to be passed down. The respect they deserve and reverence we should show them is something I have and will continue to fight for.
I believe in better supporting of families, giving them the tools, they need to grow and be healthy, to make good choices for themselves and to thrive and blossom here in Slave Lake. I believe that there must be something we can do to help with the high cost of living here. I refuse to believe that the same struggles my mother had 20 years ago are still so strong today and that’s there is nothing we can do about it.
I believe in supporting business growth here. We need a strong economy and a diverse one, there are some wonderful opportunities that are coming into our community, and I want to see them succeed. I also believe that we need to keep encouraging people to come into our community and to set up their businesses here, we have such room for growth here and the more business growth we have, the more jobs we have. I also think that we should strengthen our tourism industry, the more likely people are to come visit and fall in love with Slave Lake, the more likely they will be to move here if the opportunity arises, which is all a win in my books.
I also believe that we need to better support those at risk in our community. Having come from an indigenous family, but not appearing so by looks, I fully understand my privilege. I had hardship in my life, but never because of what I looked like. I am now and will always be an ally because of this. I will never pretend to fully understand the pain that discrimination, shame, racism, and the assimilation of indigenous people across North America have felt and continue to feel today. But I do understand the intergenerational trauma it’s caused, having lived with it in my own family and understand that it is a complex issue, with no easy fix. We need to do something about the lack of easily assessable and affordable trauma and addiction counseling, the lack of places for our homeless and at-risk population to turn to for help and to get off the streets. And we need to continue to listen, to heal and to have empathy.
If you’re still with me after this very long, but thorough background, I thank you for taking the time to read it. Hopefully what you’ve gotten from it is that I have worked hard to get where I am today and that I will continue to work hard everyday for our community. And if given your support and your vote on October 18, I will do everything I can to see Slave Lake grow and prosper and every single person within it do the same.

Youth programs are always something that I've been passionate about. I've spent many hours volunteering with them and have been quite sad to see so many programs in Slave Lake shut down. Youth that are supported and encouraged to explore their talents and strengths are happier, healthier and have better confidence. These youth can positively impact many around them. If elected, one of my main focuses will be on the creation and support of Youth programs and mentorship in Slave Lake. There are so many young people in our community with so many gifts that need nurturing and encouragement and I promise that I will do all in my power to see they get the support to do so. On October 18th, vote for someone that prioritizes our youths futures

I just have to say, when I first decided to run for town council, I thought I may be crazy for doing so. But the amount of support and encouragement that I've received from so many of you is truly humbling. I thank you from the bottom of my heart and look forward to the chance to be one of your voices on council, to help keep moving this amazing community forward through uncertain times and to help Slave Lakers from all ages and walks of life feel like they have someone to talk about their concerns about our community and will take them seriously