Last Thursday was a sad day in Calgary. Five time City Councillor Joe Ceci announced he was retiring from City Council.

Ceci was a social worker at the City of Calgary when he decided to run for City Councillor in Ward 9. Despite having strong management from his wife Chris and help from the Common Front Coalition, Ceci needed a re-count to win in 1995. Replacing Ceci on City Council will be just as difficult.

Once winning though, Ceci easily won the next four elections. During his time on City Council Ceci has been busy as a beaver working to improve his ward and Calgary at large.  

I had the pleasure to first meet Ceci in 2004 as part of the Calgary No Sweat Coalition’s lobbying efforts to get an ethical procurement policy adopted at City Hall. This was my first time having any involvement in city politics. I was completely intimidated until we had a chance to sit and talk with Ceci. His down to earth personality was the first thing I noticed. When I learned more about city politics I realized what a rare person Ceci was, someone who cared about equity, the environment, and the arts. Being a progressive in Calgary is like being an atheist at an evangelical church in Mississippi.

Ward 9 is one of the lower income wards in the city. It was probably difficult putting up with the fire and brimstone tough on crime believers. As a social worker Ceci understood the strong correlation between poverty and crime. Unlike most of his colleagues, Ceci knew you couldn’t just sweep poverty under the rug into another community.

Speaking of this, Ceci for years has been helping pick up garbage with residents of the Drop-In Centre and community volunteers on Sundays. I had the pleasure of regularly volunteering for Joe’s Clean Team. I enjoyed meeting residents and hearing their stories of despair, the result of an injury at work or a severe physical or mental illness, and also their stories of hope.

It was frustrating not seeing the number of homeless decrease in such a rich city. I could not even imagine how the homeless must feel. It was also infuriating picking up litter. Each piece of garbage reminded me of our throwaway society. Our environment is disposable, just like our people.

When not advocating for affordable housing, Ceci was advocating for the arts. In particular Ceci loves music. He is a big fan of the Calgary Folk Festival and is on the Board. Every summer you can see Ceci at home in his Folk Fest chair at Prince’s Island Park. Interestingly enough Ceci had to miss the Folk Fest in 1995 in order to door knock, something that probably made the difference between winning and losing.  

It wasn’t just that Ceci was one of the rare Calgary birds who gave a shit about equity, the environment and the arts. When you had the chance to get to know Ceci, you met someone who genuinely cared about making the city better and better for everyone. He went against the greed, I mean the grain.

At the end of the day though, Ceci was a nice guy. Thankfully this guy finished first.