Debra Toporowski
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Debra.for.North.Cowichan.Council/
Are you associated with or running as part of a slate? If so, which one?
NO
Do you live in the municipality where you are running, and if so, for how long? If not, what is your connection to that community?
I was born and raised in the Cowichan Valley.
What is your occupation, and for how long?
North Cowichan Councillor for 4 years and Cowichan Valley Regional District Board of Director for 4 years.
Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience.
I was a four term Cowichan Tribes Councillor (2013 to 2022).
I was elected to Municipality of North Cowichan in 2018 and I am the first elected female to have held both positions on two councils at the same time.
I am the Chair of the First Nations Relations Committee and appointed to the CVRD Board of directors and sit on the Cowichan Watershed Board. I became Deputy/Acting Mayor on March 1, 2022.
I was appointed to the Pacific Salmon Commission, Southern Panel Member - Canadian Section in 2020- 2025 and was appointed Indigenous Watershed Champion Initiative in May 2021.
Why are you running? What’s your motivation?
I was born and raised in the Cowichan Valley, with a First Nation and Chinese Heritage. I wish to work towards finding the right balance of economic, environmental and social issues that we all care about. There are many critical issues, for example water, affordable housing, a healthy environment, food security and many other issues which are important to you and your family.
I have experience working as a Constituency Assistant for 12 years for 2 MLA’s.
I am a fourth term elected Cowichan Tribes Councillor and North Cowichan Councillor. I am a caring person who knows how to listen.
What are your top three issues?
The three most pressing issues are Water, affordable housing, and Healthy Environment.
We need to work with community, provincial, federal governments and Cowichan Tribes to find solutions and collaboratively take action.
As a community advocate and as a Councillor, I am passionate about working on continuing to build bridges and to find fair solutions for all our communities.
What’s your vision for your community in 25 years?
My future vision is that we can all work together to come up with practical solutions to the issues we face in our community today.
Not only do we need to form short term visions for the issues we face today, but also find long term solutions for these issues into the future.
We need to value the diverse voices in our community, by creating safe spaces to express open dialogue, and work cooperatively to create an inclusive & healthy community.
COVID had magnified these issues, but also brought people together in different ways to step up through these difficult times.
What’s one “big idea” you have for your community?
I have entered politics at a very interesting time with the Federal and Provincial Governments looking at implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
At North Cowichan we are all learning together what this means to us all and have created for the first time the First Nations Relations Committee.
Together we need to look at how outdated policies are not only affecting Aboriginal Peoples, but also the community as a whole.
We are starting to speak to each other differently and making sure, in some instances for the first time, that everyone is included in the decision-making process, right from the beginning. I know that these are small steps, but I know they are definitely steps in the right direction.
