Haldimand Police Board Clarification and Apology (Official Statement)

(https://www.haldimandcounty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Board-Apology-Final.pdf)

Haldimand Police Services Board 

(The Board) 

December 02, 2020

Clarification and Apology:

On September 23, 2020 the Haldimand Police Services Board released a position paper directed towards the Ontario Provincial Police. The intent of the position paper was to express concerns received by citizens of Caledonia about the police response to lawless acts committed by the Land Defenders on August 05, 2020. The concerns raised were directed to the OPP and the Board’s position was that in Canada there should be only one law applicable to all and enforced in an unbiased, non-prejudicial manner and that it should apply equally to all Canadians. The Board also requested that the OPP policy “A Framework for Police Preparedness for Indigenous Critical Incidents” needed to be reviewed and revised as recommended by Justice, Mr. Sidney Linden. This recommendation was made based on the fact the policy obviously wasn’t working and a review was required. 

Unfortunately, in one paragraph, the Board chose to use the words Terrorism and Terrorists. The Board acknowledges that these words should not have been used. The Board also acknowledges that Terrorism and Terrorists can only be legally determined by the courts. There is a process in Canadian law where permission must be granted by the Attorney General in order to initiate any allegation of Terrorism. In addition to this, Terrorism cannot be legally determined until there is a finding of guilt at a trial conducted before a Judge in a court of competent jurisdiction. 

The Board apologizes for any upset this may have caused to any person.

Speech to Niagara Regional Council on Need for Separate Anti-Racism, 2SLGBTQQII+ Committees vs Diversity Committee

 I'm Saleh Waziruddin from the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA), thanks for allowing us to speak this evening. I am also chair of the City of St. Catharines anti-racism committee and while I'll be drawing on that experience I am here tonight for NRARA.

There need to be separate committees for anti-racism and LGBTQ2S+ from the beginning, right from the start and not somewhere down the road, they cannot be combined into one committee or operated as subcommittees of a broader committee.

To start off, it's important to point out diversity and inclusion are not anti-racism. To show you what I mean, there is a local elected official who correctly pointed out they are the first Polish Canadian to be elected to their position. That may be diversity, that may be inclusion, but that is definitely not anti-racism.

To have effective anti-racism and LGBTQ2S+ committees you at least need people with lived experience who have engaged in these issues. Diversity and inclusion are much broader issues and so it will be difficult to get a group of people who have lived experiences engaging in all the different issues at once. It's tough enough to do anti-racism work, to have to explain it to a majority of committee members who don't have the experiences is an extra obstacle.

The table you have from staff of what other municipalities are doing is a bit flat: it's missing some of the changing trends. There was a trend earlier to fold up anti-racism committees into broader diversity committees, which posed the danger of watering down anti-racism work. This trend is being reversed, municipalities are now hanging on to separate anti-racism committees or establishing them.

In St. Catharines there was originally going to be one diversity and inclusion committee but after campaigning it was agreed to set up separate anti-racism and LGBTQ2S+ committees. Fears that there would not be enough people interested were unfounded and many of those who opposed separate committees have come around and agree it was the right decision to have separate ones.

Briefly recently the LGTBQ2S+ committee had several vacancies at once and it was proposed to them to merge into a broader diversity committee, but they refused and maintained their committee needed to be separate. They were able to easily fill the vacancies as they had an enormous interest in applications. I am sure there is an enormous interested across the Region as well, now is the time to harness it. It's not unrealistic or unmanageable.

In Niagara Falls also staff initially wanted to have one diversity committee but have set up a separate anti-racism committee.

The Region should be on the good side of the trend, it's important that anti-racism and LGBTQ2S+ issues be not mixed with the important and broader issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and be run as separate committees if they are going to have any chance to deliver results for you and our residents. Please amend the motion tonight to create separate anti-racism and LGBTQ2S+ committees from the beginning of this process.

I'll hand off now to my co-delegate Erika Smith.

Speech at A Progressive Niagara: Why We Engage in 2020

Speech Representing Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association at A Progressive Niagara: Why We Engage in 2020

I'm Saleh Waziruddin from the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association

Though I'm a Canadian I got my start in activism while I was living in the USA, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

I was working there as a Canadian and so wasn't a US citizen so was very careful not to get publicly involved because I was afraid it would affect my work visa.

Then 9/11 happened – some of you may be too young to remember what a change that brought about. Among many things there was a big rise in open racism that went hand in hand in support of war, similar to the rise in open racism we've seen over the last few years.

There were many civil rights and anti-racism organizations in Pittsburgh but almost each month after 9/11 one person had been arrested as a terrorist in Pittsburgh without any evidence. These were people whose lives were being destroyed but their whole communities were also being cowed into silence and fear. I reached out to them to help but they were too scared, until the 3^rd person who had no choice but to accept help from me as he had no one else.

But I still didn't want to be public. We organized a press conference and I refused to give my name to the media. A journalist laughed at me saying how can I give a press conference but not give my name.

I realized at that moment that he was right, no one else was helping these people who were arrested and so I had to do it, and if I was going to do it I had do it all the way and do it right, and be public.

I didn't do it alone, we approached all the existing organizations and made a big coalition that got the person freed after a year-long campaign and that stopped the arrests in Pittsburgh of people made out to be terrorists. It was a victory for the BIPOC communities and for everyone, but it took stepping forward where no one else was.

Fast forward to you in Niagara in 2020. I have some good news for you that doesn't sound very good: we are behind in Niagara. We are behind many of the places right next door.

With the police, they are still clinging to racial profiling, which they call street checks or collection of identifying information. This is disgusting and was one of the first things other police forces said they would stop doing. Toronto and many other cities across Ontario and Canada, and now the RCMP, are adopting body cameras, not because some study says they work or because the price is right, but because they decided they would listen to the communities that are asking for them, Do we in Niagara deserve any less?

It's not just the police but we are behind on the Opioid crisis and in many other areas.

But the other side of this is that there is a big hunger for change. Not just among the people in general but even those in power, governments including elected officials at all levels, business, institutions are reaching out looking for ways how they can be part of the solution.

You are in the right place at the right time!

Remember that we're living in Harriet Tubman's home town, a woman who took initiative to fix what was wrong without worrying about limited by conventions or obstacles or what was acceptable to those who had power and wealth. Today in Niagara we are not too small or too far removed from what's happening in the world to be pioneers and show the way forward.

So if you see something wrong that needs to be fixed, and no one seems to be doing anything about it, now is a great time to step forward all the way and to gather all the support that is around you and take it on, make a difference for your community. If you're not sure how to take the first step then reach out to one of us or another activist or leader in your community for advice.

And if you don't see anything you can do that no one else isn't already doing, then the answer is pretty simple: join in with those who are already working to break down inequality and patriarchy and racism and the power of the wealthy and add your full voice, one of the pieces we need to make our efforts stronger.

Your community is waiting for you to add your missing voice.