It appears Ottawa has chosen to honour Diane Deans1 by renaming the Greenboro Community Centre after her. A heartwarming gesture, surely, for those who never had the “pleasure” of dealing with her during her tenure as Councillor. From my experience, Deans was anything but the dedicated public servant being celebrated.
Deans was known for her fondness for important committees, but her enthusiasm for hearing from average constituents was non-existent. If you ever tried to raise an issue, good luck finding her. She didn’t enjoy emails and she was rarely in her office, which was mysteriously cloaked in Venetian blinds, perhaps to keep her disengagement hidden. The only cheery correspondence I ever received from her was a request for donations to one of her pet charities—a blatant misuse of my personal information, considering she had my address only because I had written to her about pressing neighbourhood concerns which only worsened term after endless term.
Naming the community centre after Deans is an irony too rich. The building she’s now eternally tied to is one she barely inhabited in spirit. If the aim was to honor absenteeism and detachment, then mission accomplished. Otherwise, it’s a baffling choice that should be reconsidered.
- For more information, read this news release. ↩︎