Since coming to Brantford in the fall of 1998, Brian Beattie has established himself as a community leader with a desire to transform the city for the better.
“We moved here from Toronto [and] were part of a large church there, and really felt like we were supposed to come to Brantford, “Beattie said.
Beattie, who founded and established Freedom House, a ministry centre in Brantford, over 20 years ago, was inspired by an organization in the United States focused on helping communities.
“A bit of the catalyst for us and what we felt like could happen here was a place in Los Angeles called the Dream Center. In 1994 they bought a hospital and eventually started doing ministries there. Their tagline is, ‘Find a need and fill it,’ which we were doing…talking to people [and] looking for what was needed,” recalled Beattie. “We started to have more and more conversations with people [and] trying to make things happen…with a vision of doing things right.”
However, Beattie would make a very important connection as he was building in-roads into the community, with Lori-Dawn Cavin, the Manager of Community Recreation and Events for the City of Brantford.
“We ended up partnering with the City [and] met Lori-Dawn who, at the time, was managing [a project] which became Harmony Square. After it was built, [she] approached us as we were right downtown on Market Street where we were doing a kid’s program, and asked if we could do the Kids Day for Canada Day…we helped with that for a year and then the next year in we started doing ‘Movies in the Square,’” explained Beattie.
After successfully heading those events, Beattie and this team was again approached by Cavin to do a bigger event, which would be branded ‘Frosty Fest’; which would truly engage families and bring the community together.
“Halfway through our second year of doing ‘Movies in the Square,’ Lori-Dawn came to us and said that the city needed a winter carnival and asked us if we could do it…and we said yes. We all kind of took a deep breath [as we had no experience doing that], and googled ‘winter carnival’, and ended up connecting with a group out of Sarnia that had been doing one for ten years at the time. They were really helpful,” Beattie recalled. “The city had a goal of 1,000 to come to Frosty Fest for the first year. When February came, we didn’t know who was coming but we ended up making the goal. For year two, 10,000 people came [and by] year five, 15,000 people came to Frosty Fest. That was the year the mayor, Chris Friel, stood up on the Bell Stage at Harmony Square and said that this was the watershed moment of the transformation of the city’s downtown.”
Along with being a key leader at Freedom House, Beattie has also worked with an important organization to drive transformative change on a national level, as well as on a global level.
“Before we started Freedom House [and] after we moved here to Brantford, we connected with a group called Transform Our World. It’s a global network of people with the same idea that we can transform our cities [and] our world. The leader of the movement, Ed Silvoso, had written a book called ‘The None Should Perish,’ which was about what they had done in Argentina back in the 1980s and 1990s. I eventually became the National Director of Transform World Canada for three years [and] was able to travel and speak on their behalf,” Beattie recalled.
Nevertheless, several years ago, Beattie and his team made its first attempts to bring affordable housing to Brantford.
“We had an offer on a piece of land that fell through [but] we’re going to keep looking for land right now…it hasn’t come about yet, but…I’ve got a business plan together and will be speaking with investors [soon]. Our expectation is that we’re going to keep moving forward with that for sure,” stated Beattie.
However, Beattie has also written a book called ‘City of God: Transformed People, Transforming Cities,’ which documented his experiences in helping transform Brantford for the better as well as serving as a guide for others who want to do the same.
“The book came out just before COVID [and] the goal was to write it to be an inspiration to other cities, which is kind of what I do now [as a speaker.] It’s about how we can create a great city, and how people can make change…there’s even an appendix in the book which is like a ten step how to bring transformation to a city,” Beattie explained. “And one of the phrases that is used now is being a ‘cultural architect.’ You can become [one] by building the kind of city you want. So that’s kind of the book I wrote; it’s our story…[And] as I travel…I am working with other churches [and] other city networks, to help them do the same thing.”
However, Beattie stresses the importance of people helping build a city like Brantford.
“I don’t think there’s any one person or any one group that makes something happen alone…there are people like Jamie Stephens, who does events [like the] comedy festivals, [and] Crewfest. Lori-Dawn who continues her [important] work with the city. There’s Gabriel Kirchberger, the owner of GK York construction [who has] actually become a great ally [and] helped us convert our old building into affordable housing,“ said Beattie. “[And] people that have been counselors for years, like John Bradford. When we started doing [events] in Harmony Square, he was hosting them and was known as the mayor in the square. It’s never a single person, it’s never a single group… there are many people that are part of the story and the story that keeps going about people wanting a better city.”
After several decades of helping build a better city, Beattie continues to see people’s perspectives change in a positive way.
“Brantford’s not the same as it was 25 years ago. There was a shadow from back in the 1980s when Massey-Ferguson closed. But it’s not like that now [because] there’s new industry, there’s new jobs, [and] there’s new life. I think people’s mindset has shifted, and I think people are going to say, ‘Okay, that happened [and] that was unfortunate. Now let’s move on and create a city we want to live in,’” concluded Beattie.
