Michelle shows what it looks like when leadership is grounded in relationships, and tested in a real crisis. Long before elected office, she built her career in community development, social planning, and facilitation, helping people with very different needs find common ground. As Duncan’s first female mayor, she’s become known for a steady, listening-first style and a belief that small communities can tackle big problems when they work together.
That approach came into sharp focus during the first year of the pandemic, when instability and homelessness spiked and Duncan needed more than sympathy, it needed a plan. A dusty parking lot became The Village: 34 small, private cabins arranged like a little neighbourhood, with meals and daily health and wellness supports that helped people stabilize and begin rebuilding their lives. When the temporary funding was about to run out, many assumed the project would end. Staples pushed back - because she’d seen what was changing: residents reconnecting with services and moving toward permanent housing, and a community shifting from skepticism to support.
Michelle’s story is a case study in changemaking inside government: take an emergency response, prove it can work with dignity, and then fight to scale it, reframing The Village from a stopgap into a practical recovery model that other communities could learn from.
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