Watson takes second run at Township council seat

Hard of hearing candidate wants to champion accessibility, positivity

Watson takes second run at Township council seat Published 5:45 pm Sunday, July 12, 2026 Jami Watson is making her second run for a Township council seat this fall, after running last October in a byelection. The former Port Coquitlam resident had been politically active there, running for office in 2018 and 2022, and when she moved to Langley Township she again registered to run.

Her platform at the time was about public safety, accessibility, and infrastructure and parks. “Accessibility has just kept getting bigger and bigger for me,” said Watson, who has been hard of hearing all her life. She said her goal is to create a culture of inclusion.

In February, Watson appeared before the Township council to ask that they help people who are hard of hearing or deaf by adding automatic closed captioning on the video system during the meeting. “This request is about accessibility, inclusion, and good governance,” Watson told the council, noting that in addition to helping people with hearing impairments, it could aid many seniors and people who are learning English, and can follow along better with printed text. Council approved the request and over the spring closed captioning was added, visible both in the council chambers and on the livestreamed YouTube videos of meetings.

“That was a surprising one, and the impact it had was wonderful,” Watson said. Her second key plank in this election is voter turnout, she said, noting that it was disappointing in the byelection and the last general civic election. “How do we bring in the younger generation?”

she asked. Finally, she said she wants to bring a more positive perspective to local politics. A member of the Recreation, Culture, and Parks Advisory Committee, she was thrilled with plans for the new Fernridge Nature Park, for example.

As an independent candidate running in an election with two slates – Progress For Langley and Langley Strong – she acknowledged this will be a difficult race. “It’s a very scary thing for me, because individual voices will get lost,” Watson said. She said she decided to run anyway, “because I love Langley.”