From Prairies to Peace: Lori Ackerman’s journey

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — After six years on council and 11 years as mayor, Lori Ackerman sat down with Ted Sloan, host of Voices of the Peace, to talk about her beginnings and plans for the future.

Ackerman said serving on council was an exciting opportunity, though it could sometimes get a little overwhelming.

“There’s a lot of things that you need to get your head wrapped around and understand to make decisions, so it does take a lot of prep time,” Ackerman explained.

“But honestly, anyone thinking that they might want to run for council someday, they’re more than welcome to reach out to me, and I’d be happy to have that conversation.”

Ackerman said she started in politics because “it’s in my DNA.”

“I have a couple of cousins who were also on councils in their community, and my grandfather was an MLA,” Ackerman said.

After high school, she wanted to take political science but said her mother wouldn’t let her.

“My grandfather died of a heart attack in politics, and she felt that that’s what killed him,” she said.

“If I had the opportunity to go back to school, it would be for law or political science or both.”

Ackerman said she looked up to her dad the most, though he wasn’t directly involved in politics, only followed it closely.

“He always said, ‘when you hear someone speak about someone or an issue, you learn more about them than you do about the person they’re speaking about or the issue,'” she said.

“And that is so true. There’s a lot of people in pain out there.”

Another lesson she learned was “haters are gonna hate, and you just cannot take ownership of their anger.”

Ackerman also said she looked up to Winston Churchill and his “dry sense of humour.”

An economic theory that stuck with her through the years was to build a community where her children would want to raise their children.

“They go and get their post-secondary education, and when they say, ‘where do we want to live?’ And ‘where do we want to raise our kids? They’re going, ‘we need to go back home because we had really good childhoods there.'”

Ackerman, originally from the prairies, said she came to Fort St. John on a “two-year” plan but ended up staying.

“I came up here with a young family and stayed. Two-thirds of my children are here, and they’re doing very well. The other third comes up for a visit, and she’s doing very well,” she said.

“This is where my family is, and this is where my friends are. It’s my community.”

Before serving as mayor, Ackerman worked at the Salvation Army as their business administrator before becoming their family service director.

“I have no social services education, so by the time I left there, I was burned out, crispy.”

Despite being burnt out, she said she had helped reorganize the company.

“We had taken the soup kitchen from one day a week to six days a week. We had expanded the food bank and opened the first staffed homeless shelter,” she said.

When she stepped into politics, she said she stepped away from about ten volunteer positions while working with the Salvation Army and Sci-Tech North.

Ackerman said she had a plan, in 2005, to do two terms on council and then run for mayor; if she was unsuccessful, then “C’est la vie.”

She was successful.

In 2014 and again in 2018, Ackerman said she was comfortable in the position, so she continued to run for mayor.

When 2022 arrived, she and her husband, Andy, were “humming and hawing” about what to do.

“Anyone that knows the two of us knows that we aren’t going anywhere, and we will always be involved,” Ackerman added.

“We just decided that we were gonna not miss any more birthdays.”

Some of the projects Ackerman said she was proud of through her years include keeping the walking track free to use and the work the city has done with Doig River First Nation, Prophet River First Nation, Halfway River First Nation and Blueberry River First Nation.

She also mentioned her work with the North Peace Community Foundation and the increase in community engagement during her time in office.

Ackerman recalled a couple of interesting incidents when she was in a classroom at an elementary school.

“This little girl goes home, and she said, ‘mom, did you know a girl can be the mayor?'” Ackerman said.

“She was so blown away because she thought you had to be a boy to be the mayor, and I was so overwhelmed, and I’ve had several messages from moms who have said, ‘thank you.'”

The second incident she described was when the teacher asked the class who would like to be mayor.

“All the hands shot up except for one little girl wearing a little pink parka, and I looked at her, and I said, ‘you don’t want to be the mayor?'” Ackerman said.

“She looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘no, I’m gonna get a real job.'”

Ackerman actually agreed with the girls’ sentiment.

“It should never be considered a career. It’s a community service. I’ve never considered it to be a career, so I welcomed her thoughts,” she said.

On January 1st, 2023, Fort St. John will officially be 75 years old, though the township was around before then.

“I’m gonna miss being the mayor at that point,” Ackerman admitted.

“The only thing that Andy has said to me that he’s gonna miss is eating first at an event.”

However, she said the city staff have already told her she can come back for coffee whenever she’d like.

“So I will do exactly that. I will go and see them and visit with them and have coffee with them,” she said.

Ackerman said she would also be attending meetings and engagements, as she said it’s important to be involved.

Recently, Ackerman was appointed the CEO of Blueberry River Resources Ltd., a new entity to manage Blueberry First Nation’s business interests.

The full interview between Ackerman and Sloan can be viewed below: