We, the residents of Waterloo Region, demand that the Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing remove Karen Redman from her position as Regional Chair and appoint a new candidate who will better serve the interests of our community. Under Ontario’s Municipal Act, 2001, municipalities are “responsible and accountable governments.” The Regional Chair serves as the municipality’s chief executive officer, with a duty to uphold its purposes and promote public involvement in municipal government. Since Waterloo Regional Citizens are no longer able to vote for our Regional chair, we demand that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing take this community's concerns seriously and remove Karen Redman from her position as Regional Chair.

Since her election in 2018, Karen has repeatedly fallen short of these responsibilities—at times steering Council towards decisions counter to Region residents interests, and treating public input as an obstacle rather than an objective. Under Redman's leadership, Council has faced allegations of racism toward Indigenous and Black residents, refused requests to support sexual-assault survivors, faced community backlash over land development and water-supply concerns, appointed a police deputy to lead the COVID-19 task force rather than anyone with medical knowledge, and unfortunately the list continues.  

Nearly every year of Karen Redman’s tenure has brought controversy over the WRPS budget and public outrage over police spending. Redman has repeatedly pushed for increased police funding despite opposition from residents and fellow councillors, often dismissing calls for greater scrutiny. In 2025, after WRPS lost a budget vote, Redman reportedly stopped the meeting and pulled Mayor Sue Foxton aside, after which Foxton changed her vote. For years, residents have demanded accountability, but Redman has repeatedly given the police more money instead.

In 2021 the Region of Waterloo bulldozed a homeless encampment to the ground at the corner of Stirling and Charles Streets in Cambridge. This violent assault made big news and caused a massive public outcry. Since then Redman's Council has spent unknown amounts of public money taking its own residents to court, not once, but twice, to remove unhoused people from the 100 Victoria Street encampment. Twice, the courts have affirmed that our neighbours’ Charter rights come before the Region's "staging ground". Yet Council’s response is to spend even more money to ask a third time. The Ontario Superior Court has directed the Region to develop a safe-tenting protocol and/or provide a nearby legal place for unhoused residents to exist, but under Karen’s leadership, Council has chosen to fight in court for a third time instead of working to solve the homelessness crisis.

Under Redman’s leadership, homelessness has more than doubled. Chronic homelessness has reached record levels and many residents say the shelter system is too dangerous to use. Despite this, every winter, the Region appears unprepared, repeatedly mishandling the transition to winter services. There are never enough shelter spaces - typically only enough beds for roughly one in four people experiencing homelessness in Waterloo Region. 

In 2024, Wilmot farmers said they were threatened and coerced into selling their land. Much of what happened remains hidden behind non-disclosure agreements, but the public saw what came next: the Region destroyed an active cornfield while residents watched. The land is now  fallow, and furious farmers drove their tractors to a Regional Council meeting in protest. 

Throughout Karen Redman’s tenure, a water-supply crisis has been quietly growing and worsening year by year. Council has ignored this issue until it became an emergency that forced housing development to slow. Now, while Waterloo Region faces limited water capacity, Council is exploring AI data centres which could place even additional strain on our water and energy infrastructure - failing to protect our limited resources and promising them instead to industries which may provide few long term jobs, and continuous environmental harm. Land expropriated by the Region should be used for net community good. 

Each of these issues has been met with intense and sustained pushback from the community. Residents have spent countless hours researching policies, reviewing Council documents, writing speeches, organizing petitions, emailing elected officials, attending meetings, and showing up in person to educate Council on the consequences of their decisions. People have requested private meetings, submitted detailed delegations, organized protests, and repeatedly brought forward solutions—not simply complaints. Yet under Karen Redman’s leadership, it has become common for delegates to stand before Council and say that they do not feel heard, that their concerns are being ignored, and that decisions have already been made before the public is afforded the chance to influence them. Public participation should not be something residents have to fight for. 

For these reasons and because we have lost our right to vote for our Municipal Chairperson under Bill 100, the residents of Waterloo Region demand the Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing:

1. Remove Karen Redman from her position as Regional Chairperson

2. Appoint a new Regional Chair who will:

Treat homelessness and the shortage of shelter beds as an urgent crisis.
Respect the rights and dignity of people experiencing homelessness.
Demand meaningful accountability and transparency in policing.
Take systemic racism and discrimination seriously.
Protect farmland, water and our environment.
Plan infrastructure before crises occur.
Scrutinize major industrial developments and their demands on public resources.
Put residents' interests ahead of political convenience or economic-development headlines.
Stand up for Waterloo Region when provincial priorities conflict with local needs.

For reciepts please visit: linktr.ee/Remove.Redman