The Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) annual Community Life Survey will resume later this month after it was put on hold in April when a ransomware attack took the local government’s services offline.
Now in its 14th year, the survey is used to inform the RMOW’s decision-making, track community trends, and support transparency and accountability in municipal operations, the RMOW said in a release.
The relaunched survey will begin with phone interviews, which will run from July 26 to Aug. 9. Anyone who is not contacted for the phone survey will have the chance to fill out an online survey by pre-registering before Aug. 9 at whistler.ca/survey. Registrants will receive a unique survey link via email on Aug. 13 and will have until Aug. 27 to complete the online poll.
Both the phone and online surveys will be conducted by Forum Research Inc., an accredited market and research firm based in Toronto that works with numerous municipalities across Canada. The firm will be calling from the number, 855-294-1814.
The RMOW said it does not ask for private personal information by phone or email that could identify you, such as your name, birth date, Social Insurance Number, and street address.
“We want to assure Whistler residents that the relaunched Community Life Survey is anonymous and secure,” said Acting Mayor Jen Ford in the release. “Survey results help Council and staff understand community priorities, trends and concerns. It’s crucial we hear from the community on how we are meeting the community’s expectations on service delivery.”
The RMOW said it has taken steps to review the survey process in light of April’s cyber attack. Anyone with questions about the Community Life Survey can contact economic development analyst Richard Kemble at [email protected] or 604-932-5535.
