Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association denounces candidate non-responses (Niagara Falls Review)

(https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/news/niagara-region/2022/05/27/niagara-region-anti-racism-association-denounces-candidate-non-responses.html)

Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association denounces candidate non-responses

Five-question survey sent to all candidates only answered by five, association says

By Karena WalterStandard Reporter

Fri., May 27, 2022timer3 min. read

updateArticle was updated May. 29, 2022

Where do Niagara’s provincial candidates stand on issues related to racism?

That’s something members of Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association wanted to know, but their questions were met with a lot of non-responses.

The association denounced candidates and campaigns Friday for failing to demonstrate they take racism seriously after less than 20 per cent of Niagara’s candidates answered a five-question survey about their party’s policies.

“How can they say they’re concerned about racism if they’re not even bothering to answer a short questionnaire or even touching on some of the provincial issues that have to do with systemic racism?” asked Saleh Waziruddin, a member of the association’s executive committee.

Waziruddin said the association reached out to all candidates in Niagara’s four ridings with five questions on May 11. Candidates had until May 18 to respond.

Emails were sent to candidates’ individual campaigns for Progressive Conservative, Liberal, New Democratic, Communist, Libertarian and None of the Above parties. Where there were no individual campaign email addresses, he said emails were sent to party email accounts for the Green, New Blue, Ontario and Ontario Alliance parties.

Waziruddin said the association followed up with phone calls on May 16 to PC, Liberal, NDP and Libertarian candidates, spoke with staff of some candidates and even reached out to a candidate on Facebook.

In the end, it received five candidate responses — three NDP, one Communist and one None of the Above.

There are 30 candidates running in Niagara.

“Some of the responses were pretty impressive in that it seemed some of the candidates were pretty aware of the issues and really up to speed on it, but that makes me wonder even more about the ones that didn’t respond,” Waziruddin said.

“They must be really lagging if they can’t even bother with a short questionnaire and were given plenty of time to answer it.”

Waziruddin said the association kept the questionnaire short because it knew the campaigns had limited resources. Members discussed the issues and came up with five questions they thought would help differentiate between the various candidates.

They included whether or not the candidate believes there is systemic racism in Niagara and what action they would take as an MPP to concretely reduce racism.

Questions also asked for their positions on diversity in constituency staff, funding for the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate and what type of resolution they would support for the 1492 Land Back Lane dispute in Caledonia.

Waziruddin said he figured some candidates might give short answers, but the sheer lack of responses was surprising.

“I think some of the campaigns didn’t even bother looking at it, frankly.”

While there’s been some discussion about racism during the provincial campaign, he said major issues, such as funding for the anti-racism directorate, haven’t been brought up at debates or on the campaign trail.

He’s hoping to see a better response during the municipal election as the association is planning on engaging with local candidates about their positions.

The association’s provincial candidate questionnaire, the responses received and a grading of those responses is available to read at nrara.org.

“I think all the voters and people living in Niagara should look carefully at seeing which of the candidates didn’t even respond and also look at the responses to see where they stand on key issues,” Waziruddin said.

Karena Walter is a St. Catharines-based reporter, primarily covering city hall for the Standard. Reach her via email: karena.walter@niagaradailies.com

Regional council takes a stand on Russia (St. Catharines Standard)

https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/nd/news/council/2022/05/20/regional-council-takes-a-stand-on-russia.html 

Regional council takes a stand on Russia

Councillors vote unanimously to sanction themselves in a voluntary move to support Ukraine as it battles a Russian invasion

By Bill SawchukStandard Reporter

Fri., May 20, 2022timer3 min. read

updateArticle was updated May. 23, 2022

Niagara Region councillors voted unanimously to sanction themselves in a voluntary move to support Ukraine as it battles the Russian invasion.

Council passed Wainfleet Mayor Kevin Gibson’s motion to send correspondence to the consulate general of the Russian Federation with the names of the regional councillors who have indicated their support to be voluntarily sanctioned, resulting in their “indefinite” ban from entering Russia.

Russia has put numerous members of Parliament and other Canadians in leadership positions at various organizations on a “stop list” or “black list” of foreigners that will be denied entry to the Russian Federation because Canada supports Ukraine.

Regional councillors would be voluntarily joining those who have been sanctioned.

“I would like to ask you to be thoughtful and purposeful before you ask to have your name placed on that list,” Gibson said. “You’re not going to stop in Russia for the rest of your life. If your plane gets diverted to Russia, you may have some difficulties. So please consider it carefully. I spoke with my family. We talked about it, and I decided that I was going to do this regardless.”

Councillors have until the end of the business day on May 30 to tell the clerk whether they want to be included on the list.

Irene Newton, Ukrainian Canadian Congress Ukrainian Branch, said the move is symbolic support for Ukrainians.

“I will call it a genocide, because that is what it is at this point,” Newton said. “It is not just a war. It is to try to annihilate the entire country, the people, the land, and grab what they can. I would love to put myself on that sanction list.”

Newton said her more significant concern is what Niagarans can do for the people fleeing and who are coming into Canada now. She said the refugees were coming to large cities such as Toronto, but Niagara also saw an increase in those heading here.

“I have had more and more in the last two weeks than I can handle,” Newton said. “We are literally jumping from one load to another, trying to find housing, trying to find accommodations. I can pretty much find jobs for most of them, but I cannot find a place for them to live right now. So trying to get housing is crucial for us right now.”

West Lincoln Dave Bylsma eventually supported Gibson’s motion but didn’t like the word “unjustifiable invasion” and asked Gibson if he wanted to remove it. The Wainfleet mayor responded with a terse, “I do not.”

Bylsma said he couldn’t be sure the invasion was “unjustifiable” because it was an adjective, and he didn’t know if the media is slanting the coverage.

“If we just say we denounce Russia’s invasion, I would be much more comfortable,” Bylsma said. “I don’t always know if it is unjustifiable or if it was an act of defence.”

St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik followed Bylsma, saying it was an absolutely unjustifiable invasion of a sovereign nation of Ukraine.

“I want to thank Mayor Gibson for bringing this forward,” Sendzik said. “While some may think that this doesn’t mean a lot, I can honestly tell you from my friends and family of Ukrainian descent that this means a considerable amount. Slava Ukraini.”

Saleh Waziruddin of the Communist Party of Canada said the resolution would do nothing to hurt the Russian government or to hold back the war destruction in Ukraine.

“Other than Niagara Falls, those in the Russian government have probably never even heard of the other 11 municipalities in Niagara,” Waziruddin said. “It’s a completely meaningless sacrifice.”

“What this resolution does do is it needlessly escalate tensions. The horrible situation in Ukraine needs to be resolved through a political settlement and peacefully. Escalating this war through pointless performances is ultimately irresponsible and very dangerous.”

Bill Sawchuk is a St. Catharines-based reporter with the Standard. Reach him via email: william.sawchuk@niagaradailies.com

Speech to Niagara Regional Council on proposed voluntary Russia sanctions

 I am Saleh Waziruddin from the Communist Party of Canada's Eric Blair Club, the Niagara organization of the Communist Party.

This resolution for “voluntarily” sanctioning yourselves is going to do absolutely nothing to help Ukrainians or to ease their suffering. It is going to do absolutely nothing to hurt the Russian government or to hold back the war and destruction in Ukraine. Other than Niagara Falls those in the Russian government have probably never even heard of the other eleven municipalities in Niagara represented on this Council.

How many of you were planning to travel to Russia in the future, or travel to Russia regularly? It's a completely meaningless sacrifice then to say that you will voluntarily be banned from traveling to Russia forever. This is not your Spartacus moment, in the movie where the leader of a slave revolt, a revolutionary, was going to be executed and others stepped forward to risk their lives to save his. You are risking and sacrificing absolutely nothing by this pointless resolution, you are only putting on a performance that you are somehow being brave.

What this resolution does do is it needlessly escalates tensions. The horrible situation needs to be resolved through a political settlement and peacefully, this is much better than a military solution. Escalating this war through pointless performances is ultimately irresponsible and very dangerous with consequences many of us may not fully realize.

We are increasingly accelerating towards World War III. But you don't have to take my word for it. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, an organization founded by Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer, the head of the Manhattan Project, have a “doomsday clock” to measure how close we are to utterly destroying each other and our planet. Their latest measurement from the war in Ukraine is that we are “at doom’s doorstep: it is 100 seconds to midnight.” They have issued a statement saying:

“Leaders around the world must immediately commit themselves to renewed cooperation in the many ways and venues available for reducing existential risk. Citizens of the world can and should organize to demand that their leaders do so—and quickly. The doorstep of doom is no place to loiter.”

and that's why I'm here tonight.

In the days before World War I many thought it would never happen, but before people fully realized it a war of the senseless slaughter of millions spread through the world. World War II had not ten but eleven times as many military casualties, not to mention the even much greater civilian casualties and massive death and destruction. From what we're already seeing of war another world war would be even worse this time around.

We have a responsibility to work for peace and to bring about peaceful solutions to the conflicts around us. I am asking you not to so needlessly and pointlessly contribute to escalating tensions especially when we are closer than many of us realize to a renewed horror of another world war.

CHCH Interview on Niagara Connection to Buffalo White Supremacist Massacre

Interview on behalf of the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association with CHCH on Niagara (Canada) connections to the Buffalo White Supremacist Massacre, May 15, 2022

Families in Ontario grieve with Buffalo, N.Y., after 'heartbreaking' mass shooting (CBC News)

(https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6454110)

Hamilton

Families in Ontario grieve with Buffalo, N.Y., after 'heartbreaking' mass shooting

  

Advocates say shooting is evidence more resources should be put toward combating white supremacy

Dan Taekema - CBC News

Posted: May 15, 2022
Last Updated: May 15, 2022

Mourners gather Sunday for a vigil for victims of the shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., a day earlier. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Sherri Darlene says her father, Robert Ford, visits Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., nearly every day, just to pickup "little things." It happens so often that it's become a bit of a family joke.

The 74-year-old was on his way there Saturday when he stopped to see if his friend Larry wanted to join him, according to his daughter, who lives across the border in Niagara Falls, Ont. 

Darlene said her phone started ringing around the same time, with people telling her there had been a mass shooting in the city she was born in, and she should check in with her loved ones.

"My heart just dropped and I immediately called my father," said Darlene.

Ford told her what had happened.

"We got to talking on the porch and the next thing you know we heard sirens," she recalled he father saying. 

He came "that close," to being there at the same time, she said during a video interview with CBC on Sunday morning, holding her fingers just an inch apart. "That close."

• Mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., that killed 10 a racially motivated hate crime, authorities say

• What we know so far about the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting

Officials say the accused, a white 18-year-old wearing military gear and livestreaming with a helmet camera, opened fire with a rifle at the Buffalo supermarket on Saturday, killing 10 people and wounding three others in what authorities described as "racially motivated violent extremism."

Police said those shot were 11 Black people and two white individuals in the shooting broadcast live on the streaming platform Twitch. The accused eventually surrendered to authorites.

Darlene has family in the neighbourhood where the shooting happened and described the supermarket as the "Blackest Tops in Buffalo." On a Saturday afternoon it would have been crowded with shoppers, especially the elderly, she said.

"This is my backyard and it's way too close to home. It's so scary and so heartbreaking."

Darlene said that over 24 hours, members of the Black community in Buffalo shared their anger and frustration, calling the shooting a "reality check."

"I need white people to wake up," said Darlene, who is also the founder of the Niagara-based Justice 4 Black Lives. 

"We're tired of you telling us that we're in your thoughts. We're tired of you feeling sorry for us. What we want you to do is acknowledge that white supremacy is the biggest threat in this country today."

Darlene moved to Niagara from Buffalo when she was two. Most of her family still lives there and she said she visits regularly, adding when she's in the city, she's at the Tops where the shooting happened "all the time."

Strong ties connect communities across the border

Her family is an example of the deep connections between Buffalo and the Canadian cities across the border; connections she says date back to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

Fort Erie, Ont., Mayor Wayne Redekop also emphasizes the link his community shares with the city directly across the Niagara River.

"There are close family ties between our two communities, not to mention the deep friendships among our residents and those in Buffalo," he wrote in a text message to CBC on Sunday. 

"In many respects, we are one large community, connected by our history, geography and culture."

Redekop said people in Fort Erie are "horrified" by what happened and grieving, calling "the knowledge that the shooter was racially motivated ... extremely troubling."

Flags are being lowered to half-mast in Niagara Falls, Ont., just a short drive away, and the city's mayor said there are plans to light the falls in honour of those who were killed.

"Our hearts are broken after learning what happened in Buffalo," wrote Jim Diodati in a statement, describing Buffalo as a "neighbour" and adding he has contacted its mayor, Byron Brown, to "offer support from their friends in Canada."

Torn between heartbreak and anger

Darlene says more than support is needed.

"Black people literally walk around with a target on their back and it's constantly being minimized," she said. "We have to call this what it is, this is straight up terrorism and it's against Black people."

People gather outside the scene of the shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., on Sunday. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

Saleh Waziruddin, a member of the executive for the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association, shared a similar sentiment.

He said the mass shooting is further evidence white supremacy needs to be taken seriously and more resources should be put toward investigating it, both in the U.S. and Canada.

"Everybody's horrified," he said. "This is something really extreme, but we know it could happen anywhere and I think it could happen here in Canada as well."

Sherri Darlene is the founder of Justice 4 Black Lives in the Niagara Region. She was born in Buffalo, but grew up in Niagara Falls, Ont., and said there are close ties between the two communities. (Supplied by Sherri Darlene)

Darlene said she's been on "pins and needles" for the past 24 hours, as more is revealed about the shooter and the people he killed.

Tension in the community is high right now, according to her father, torn between heartbreak and anger that Black people have been targeted yet again.

"The youth, they just don't know what to do because it's almost like standing on the top of the mountain screaming, for years and years and years," said Darlene. "What exactly is it going to take?"

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.