This week we lost a great Torontonian and a great Canadian. Many are calling him the best mayor Toronto never had. His accomplishments are many, his range of interests and depth of engagement in these were outstanding. He made an art and a science out of problem-solving in a uniquely collective manner. He never took no for an answer; there was no problem that he could not imagine some way out of.
But I think his greatest accomplishments were those that brought him into contact with people on the margins. He understood intuitively and completely that Toronto would never prosper if its newest residents did not have a share in that prosperity. He also understood that a city region as diverse as Toronto needed to go beyond celebrating diversity by making it part and parcel of our DNA.
David started to ask the important and difficult questions about why visible minorities were so prevalent on our streets but so absent from places of power and privilege. Not satisfied with understanding the problems, he imagined solutions and so co-created DiverseCity with Maytree. In typical David fashion he urged us toward concrete action and results and helped us craft these ideas for change.
And so DiverseCity boldly put out its mission – to bring diversity to the leadership landscape of the city region by bringing new faces and ideas to the board room, on election ballots, in the media and in city building. We reached high and aspired to a goal of 1,000 new diverse leaders engaged in enhancing the city region’s cultural, economic, institutional and social infrastructure.
We are only one and a half years into our mandate but already we know that success is within our grasp. DiverseCity has enabled people to have a voice, to have access to new avenues of power and privilege, to enjoy new networks and to action their leadership ideas. As Jehad Aliweiwi said, David Pecaut has helped us to “not only add new chairs and faces to the table, but to rearrange the furniture.”
It seems like yesterday when David took the floor at a Canadian Club lunch to launch DiverseCity to the business world in January 2009. He urged us to imagine a city where our diversity became our calling card to success. David has left us an enormous legacy and I, along with others, will work to ensure that his legacy continues to resonate.
David was my co-conspirator and co-chair at DiverseCity. I will miss him more than words can express.
Ratna Omidvar
