Building community at Calgary’s Neighbour Day amid divisive time in Alberta

Every year, Calgarians across the city come together to share food, enjoy activities and build stronger connections on Neighbour Day, and this year is no different despite a politically-charged atmosphere in Alberta.

Neighbour Day began in 2014 after Calgarians came together to support one another during the 2013 floods.

The annual Neighbour Day event in Millican Ogden was one of 54 community association events across the city on Saturday. It also coincides with the Millican Ogden Community Association’s 70th anniversary.

To mark the milestone, residents who have lived in the area for all that time are being specially recognized, such as Denise Boutet Sedor.

“I wasn’t born in the community. I moved here when I was two years old. And my mom and dad built their first house here, just over here on 18th Street – we’re one of the original houses,” she told CityNews.

In her 70s now, she’s still very active in the community by volunteering around 40 hours a week. She’s seen the neighbourhood evolve over the years, but she still enjoys the small community feel.

“Everybody knows everybody, and it’s just really nice, you know. My neighbours on 18 Street are all a close-knit group. We help each other, we look after each other, and it’s just really good,” Boutet Sedor said.

While Calgarians across the city are coming together, it’s happening during a politically-charged and divisive time in Alberta, with the fall referendum and separation question looming.

“There’s a lot of anxiety over the future of the country, the local economy and whatnot, which means that coming together as neighbours, especially at the local level here in the neighbourhood, matters now more than ever,” said Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas.

“At the end of the day, we’re all Canadians, we’re all Albertans, we’re all Calgarians. And what brings us together is so much better than what divides us.”

Opposition leader Naheed Nenshi, who conceived the first Neighbour Day to celebrate the community spirit during the 2013 floods, spoke with 660 NewsRadio about the difficulty in celebrating community this year.

“Because a lot of people are worried that all this division and anger in the world and this separatist referendum will lead us to losing the greatest country on earth,” he said on Friday.

“Neighbour Day is a great day to remind ourselves that those loud, angry voices don’t represent us. They’re not Albertans. We are a family; families get things done together. We overcome problems together, and we will continue to build the greatest place on Earth.”

Meanwhile, a family at the event says communication and education about the issues on the ballot and their impact are what’s needed.

“We don’t want to be in a situation where, like with Brexit, they are Googling after the decision has been made, ‘What does Brexit mean?’ We want people to know before they get into it,” Jeff Migel said before his wife, Heather Migel, followed up.

“It’s important to ensure that everyone puts their vote in because I think what happened with Brexit is people thought, ‘Oh, this won’t happen, this won’t happen,’ and didn’t go out and vote. And so, then it happened. So, everyone needs to get their say in, no matter what they think,” she said.

Regardless of the time of year, Boutet Sedor says you should get to know your neighbours and practice a little empathy and kindness.

“Don’t be strangers to your neighbours. Show kindness and show respect to people,” she said.

“Show respect to immigrants, show respect to Indigenous people, show respect to people of colour. It’s a given that you just have to be kind, and with kindness, you’ll go far.”

With files from Todd Kaufman