Innisfil’s Mayor Lynn Dollin has been named a recipient of the 2020 Women of Influence in Local Government Award, by Municipal World magazine.
Under normal circumstances, she would have received the award in person at last week’s AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) conference.
This year, due to COVID-19, Dollin was contacted in advance, and the trophy was mailed to her.
“I had to accept it virtually. I was sworn to secrecy,” she said. The presentation was taped, and played later at the virtual AMO conference.
According to Municipal World CEO Susan Gardner, the award “celebrates women who have made significant contributions to the field, whether on the administrative or political side of life.”
Mayor Dollin was nominated for her role in strengthening municipal government, mentoring to help “inspire the next generation of local government leaders,” and her years of public service.
In a 26-year career in municipal politics, Lynn Dollin has served as Ward Councillor, Deputy Mayor, and beginning in 2018, Mayor of the Town of Innisfil. Her leadership has helped earn Innisfil a reputation as “Canada’s most innovative Town,” for its ground-breaking microtransit partnership with UBER, and its acceptance of cryptocurrency to pay tax bills, noted the magazine.
She has also been president of AMO, from 2016 to 2018, representing the province’s 444 municipalities, and is currently serving as Past President.
Dollin was asked how the municipal political scene has changed since she first entered the political arena 26 years ago.
“It’s funny because back then – that was in 1994 – there were five women and four men on Council,” she said. Today, Innisfil Council has three women and six men.
What has changed is the level of collaboration. Now, she said, there are more “women really supporting other women – a lot of mentorship, a lot of giving a hand up, and I think that’s a shift. Back then, there was more competition.”
That mentorship has been especially important to Dollin as she has taken on a leadership role, both within her own municipality and within AMO. She identified Pat Venini, executive director of AMO when Dollin was president – “I learned a lot about strategy from her,” Dollin said – and icon, Hazel McCallion, the feisty long-time Mayor of Mississauga, as key mentors.
Dollin has also been playing a mentoring role herself, encouraging young people, and especially young women, by participating in AMO’s inaugural 2020 Youth Fellows Program.
She is currently mentoring a university student from the Belleville area. The mentorship was supposed to culminate in a visit to Innisfil in March by the young woman, but COVID-19 intervened. Their meetings have since been virtual, with the student sitting in on online council meetings and the AMO Conference.
There is a tendency to downplay the importance of municipal government. It annoys Dollin, “when people know everything about Donald Trump and some American politician, and yet they couldn’t even tell you the names of their own municipal councillors.”
Yet municipal government has the biggest impact on daily life, “from flicking a switch to turning on a tap, to having the road plowed… And it’s taken for granted, until something doesn’t work.”
Dollin has worked hard to shine a spotlight on municipal governance. As a ‘Woman of Influence,” she wants her legacy to include “helping people understand how important it is, and to get as big a voter turnout” and as much attention, as either the provincial or federal level of government.
“If you want to make a difference, this is where you do it. This is where you can vote your conscience, every time,” Dollin said. And, she said, “If I can do it, anybody can do it.”
Mentorship, support, validation – Dollin has found all of that from the mayors of other municipalities who share similar challenges, such as the reopening of beaches as COVID-19 restrictions are eased.
“Just knowing you’re not alone out there” is important, she said – especially during a pandemic, when there’s no script and no guarantee that the actions adopted will work.
“You can’t wait until you get it right – you’ll be too late,” Dollin insisted. “You pivot and you adjust and you monitor and you adjust again…”
Dollin is not the first recipient of the ‘Women of Influence in Local Governance’ award, which was introduced in 2019. Just looking back at past winners “made me so proud to accept it. To be put on the same page in the history books as them is very much an honour,” she said.
She was nominated by Innisfil Councillor Donna Orsatti.
“Having somebody you work side by side with, who sees you every day nominate you, makes it even more special,” Dollin said.
