Jean Collective session aims to encourage women to seek office

A project launched by Sarnia’s Helen Cole to encourage more women to run for elected office is set to hold its third conference of the year Sept. 14 in London.

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Registration is being accepted until Sept. 7 for the one-day Middlesex Women’s Leadership Conference at London’s Stonebridge Inn with Margaret Hudson, chief executive of Burnbrae Farms, as keynote speaker.

It follows conferences held in April in Lambton and Elgin counties, and the first Middlesex Women’s Leadership Conference held in London in September 2023.

The Lambton event drew 80 women and more than 100 attended the Elgin conference, with similar attendance at last year’s London event, Cole said. That first conference was organized after Cole connected with several women in London-area municipal politics.

Cole founded The Jean Collectivenamed for her mentor. Jean Macdougall, after retiring from a career in the non-profit sector. Years earlier, she was a city councilor in St. Thomas.

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Women held 31 per cent of municipal elected offices in 2023, according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). While that percentage has grown in recent years, it’s still short of the 50 per cent goal held by Cole and others.

“We need all perspectives at the table and women bring a unique perspective,” Cole said. “For centuries, we have been led by men. It’s time that we level the playing field.”

After helping create The Jean Collective, Cole often heard women saying they didn’t feel capable or know enough to run for office.

Her effort now is to replace that with an attitude of, “I don’t know how to do it, but I’m going to try,” she said.

While the ultimate goal is to see more women seek office, the effort also encourages more women to become leaders in other roles, Cole said.

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“Maybe it’s just enough to help them feel confident enough to take her place at a leadership table, a board table or even within her workplace,” she said.

“We want to inspire. . . (and) empower women, and connect them with other women,” Cole said.

“Women have come away from the conferences as friends, and they’re supporting one another.”

The London conference runs 9 am to 3 pm, hosted by Joanne Vanderheyden, former Strathroy-Caradoc mayor and past-president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities as MC, with author Deb Crowe as a featured speaker.

“We’ve got women from every generation who are going to be sharing their knowledge, their learnings and teachings,” Cole said. “It’s going to be a terrific day.”

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Tickets to the London event are $40, with $5 going to a YMCA of Southwestern Ontario Women of Excellence initiative, Cole said. Ticket information for this year’s Middlesex Women’s Leadership Conference can be found online at eventbrite.ca.

The conferences are a “social enterprise” that rely on sponsorships to keep admission affordable, Cole said.

The Jean Collective also plans to offer a virtual campaign school in the fall and is advocating on behalf of Women of Ontario Who Say No, a group calling for legislation to hold municipally elected politicians accountable for violence and harassment, she said.

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