Racism is a bigger problem in Niagara than many think, but we are doing even less about it than our neighbours (Opinion piece in Niagara Dalies)

https://www.niagarathisweek.com/opinion-story/10812691-racism-is-a-bigger-problem-in-niagara-than-many-think-but-we-are-doing-even-less-about-it-than-our-neighbours/

Kicking recommendations down road brings us back to square one, writes Saleh Waziruddin

Saleh Waziruddin

NiagaraThisWeek.com

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Many move to Niagara from the GTA for cheaper housing, and approach the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA) for help with racism. Those who do told us they never saw this level of racism in Toronto or Brampton, where the province mandated anti-racism policies for police and schools. Yet many here think racism is a Toronto or Brampton problem. Two of those we helped moved back because of Niagara’s racism.

But we don’t have to take their word. Niagara Regional Police (NRP) officials told us there wasn’t data showing systemic racism in their force, even though their racial profiling data (where people are stopped without connection to a crime, renamed carding, street checks, and now Collection Of Identifying Information) showed police disproportionately stopped Black and Indigenous residents. Yet they refuse to formally drop the practice, saying it’s provincially regulated. Drinking and smoking are regulated too but that doesn’t mean you can’t quit.

It gets worse. Toronto’s police chief told his officers to brace themselves for embarrassment when the data on use of force by race, mandated by the 2017 Ontario Anti-Racism Act, came out showing force used against BIPOC people, especially Black, is way out of proportion to their population. But the NRP's May board agenda shows it’s even worse in Niagara, yet no such public sense of shame. Nearly one-quarter of instances of use of force in 2020 and 16 per cent in 2021 was against Black people, but the 2021 census shows Black people make up less than three per cent of the population. This is a Disproportionality Index (the term the independent experts used for the Toronto police) of six, which is 150 per cent of Toronto, using census data. For Middle Eastern people, the index is three times Toronto’s number.

The NRP met one of the demands of NRARA, to release the who, what, where and when details of police-reported hate crimes like they do for other crimes, but on easy things like ending racial profiling or adopting body cameras, which city after city in Ontario has done and the NRP has money set aside for, there is no action.

Niagara’s proportion of “visible minorities” (by the government’s definition this excludes Indigenous people) has increased from nine per cent in 2016 to more than 13 per cent in 2021. The proportion of South Asians has more than doubled to almost three per cent.

Even though we have a greater need for anti-racism, our governments are going in the opposite direction. Recently, the City of Niagara Falls tried to merge its anti-racism advisory committee into the diversity and inclusion committee. Thankfully city council unanimously decided against this after hearing from delegations. But this wasn’t the first time the idea of watering down anti-racism was proposed there. In St. Catharines, that was also the original proposal in 2019 but they also set up separate committees. However, with a couple of exceptions, the recommendations of this committee have sat with staff and been kicked down the road quarter to quarter without action. With the new council, all these recommendations, some easy to do and enjoyed by residents in other Ontario cities, have been wiped off the slate, bringing us back to square one. At the region, the corporate services committee directed staff to report back by Sept. 30, 2021 on launching an anti-racism committee. We are still waiting for that committee.

There are moral, equity reasons to remove the barriers of racism, but here is an economic one: McKinsey & Company consultant reports show a more inclusive and diverse community does better economically, and many of the large companies we want to attract won’t come if their diverse workforce isn’t welcome or safe. The 2017 Niagara Region Global Attractiveness Report says the same, if we needed more reasons to catch up on anti-racism.

Saleh Waziruddin is an executive with the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association and a member of Metroland's Community Advisory Committee in Niagara. Reach him at salehw@yahoo.com. 

Despite staff recommendation, Niagara Falls won’t merge anti-racism committee with diversity & inclusion group

https://www.insauga.com/niagara-falls-to-merge-anti-racism-committee-with-diversity-inclusion-group/ 

By Don Redmond

Published December 20, 2022 at 3:38 pm

Feeling that their interests often overlap, Niagara Falls City Council recently looked at a motion to merge its Anti-Racism Advisory Committee with the Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Committee.

While staff was looking at a new single group, the Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Advisory Committee, the motion was shot down as Council decided to keep the two committees separate.

“Additional efforts will be undertaken to enhance collaboration and increase communication between the Committees,” said the city.

Saleh Waziruddin, a member of the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association and chair of the St. Catharines Anti-Racism Advisory Committee, was a delegate at the meeting – as was Niagara Falls Anti-Racism Advisory Committee chair Sherri Darlene – and both fought against the merger of the two groups.

Said Waziruddin to council, “Please do not merge the anti-racism and diversity & inclusion committees. Having one committee instead of two means less time spent on anti-racism, and you can’t do more for anti-racism by giving it less time. Even a sub-committee won’t have the time that a full committee will.”

He continued, “There is a mistaken idea that diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism are all part of the same set. But there is a big difference. As a former elected official in Niagara had said about himself 100 per cent correctly that he was the first Polish-Canadian elected to his position, and while that may very well be diversity and it may very well be inclusion, it is definitely not anti-racism.”

“It’s an important achievement but anti-racism is something else altogether.”

He said that merging the committees would “obviously cut the time spent specifically on anti-racism and it would water down the work of the committee by mixing in people who don’t have lived experience with racism.”

“Please keep the committees separate as you originally decided to do when there was a proposal for just one diversity committee instead of a dedicated anti-racism advisory committee.”

In the end, council reversed the staff recommendation and opted to keep the two committees separate.

https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/council/2022/12/14/you-have-a-responsibility-to-this-community-and-not-just-the-ones-that-look-like-you.html

Niagara Falls city council opposes staff recommendation to merge anti-racism, diversity and inclusion committees

By Ray SpiteriReview Reporter

Wed., Dec. 14, 2022timer4 min. read

COUNCIL

‘You have a responsibility to this community and not just the ones that look like you’

Niagara Falls city council opposes staff recommendation to merge anti-racism, diversity and inclusion committees

By Ray SpiteriReview Reporter

Wed., Dec. 14, 2022timer4 min. read

Niagara Falls city council unanimously opposed staff’s recommendation to merge the municipality’s anti-racism and diversity and inclusion committees after hearing from members of the public who said combining the two would set anti-racism efforts back in the community.

“Can’t tell you that I’m really happy about this because once again I’m standing in a room full of white people asking them to do the right thing,” said Sherri Darlene, chairperson of the city’s anti-racism committee.

“This merger is not a good idea. While we’re not opposed within the committee to collaborating with the diversity and inclusion (committee) … these committees need to stay separate. You have a very serious racism problem here and it’s gone unchecked and untouched for a very long time.”

Darlene said the committee is still new and continues to work on various projects.

“I think it’s time for you guys to do the right thing. You are council members. You have a responsibility to this community and not just the ones that look like you.”

Local politicians discussed a staff report during Tuesday’s meeting recommending the merger.

“While it is important to note there are differences between (both committee) initiatives … there is also a lot of overlap and synergy between them, which could be leveraged more effectively if they were merged,” said the report.

“Further, integrating the two committees would also minimize any redundancies in work being done by the committees and or staff.”

The report said merging two committees into one will “in no way eliminate the work and or focus of either committee.”

“In fact, it will only strengthen the committee’s capacity as they would be a larger working group.”

Staff said members of both committees have discussed a potential merger in the past.

“In discussion with the anti-racism committee at meetings, they do feel that separate is a better approach to reach their desired objectives. Staff believe that the concerns of the anti-racism committee can be addressed with a sub-working group of the merged committee to focus on these specific issues if required.”

In 2020, council supported the creation of two committees to deal with anti-racism, as well as diversity and inclusion, initiatives in the community. In the 19 months since both committees were established, staff said each committee developed its action plans, along with specific goals and objectives.

“Both committees have been very active in the work they have accomplished since April 2021,” reads the report.

“However, after careful review and consideration, staff feels the two committees can be even more strategic and effective if they merge and work cohesively on various diverse, equitable and inclusive community initiatives.”

The municipality currently does not have a dedicated staff member to address diverse, equitable and inclusive matters, said the report.

Saleh Waziruddin, of the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association, said having one committee instead of two would mean “less time spent” on anti-racism issues.

“You can’t do more for anti-racism by giving it less time. Even a subcommittee won’t have that time that a full committee would,” he said.

Waziruddin said the visible minority population in Niagara Falls, which by the government’s definition doesn’t include Indigenous people, has gone up by one third since the last census.

He said it was 12.7 per cent in 2016. Data for 2021 showed 16.5 per cent of Niagara Falls’ population are visible minorities.

“The portion of the Black population increased by over a third, from 2.9 to 4.1 per cent. The South Asian portion has nearly doubled to 2.5 per cent alone,” said Waziruddin, noting Niagara Falls voters recently elected Mona Patel to city council.

Patel, an immigrant from Southeast Asia, is one of very few Black, Indigenous and People of Colour representatives to have been elected in Niagara Falls in decades.

Coun. Lori Lococo, who is council’s representative on the anti-racism committee, said she’s there to support the group but understands “this is not my (lived) experience.”

“I try not to talk unless it’s about procedural (issues),” she said.

“I think putting anti-racism as a sub-committee is really removing the importance of anti-racism in Niagara Falls.”

Lococo said she understands the city does not have enough staff and is willing to “donate my time, whether to take notes - I’ve been a court reporter - open up rooms, or whatever to help staff.”

“When I walked into this meeting tonight, my suggestion was going to be that the anti-racism committee and diversity and inclusion (committee) have a joint meeting in January to discuss the how’s and why’s — what does the agenda look like, how much time are we spending? I’ve changed my mind on that. I’m going to put a motion forward to oppose the report on the floor and that we not merge the committees.”

Ray Spiteri is a St. Catharines-based reporter for the Niagara Falls Review. Reach him via email: raymond.spiteri@niagaradailies.com

Speech to Niagara Falls City Council Against Merging Anti-Racism and Diversity & Inclusion Committees

 Dear Mayor and Councillors,

I am Saleh Waziruddin from the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association. I lived in Niagara Falls for 10 years until a few years ago, the most time I've lived anywhere in Niagara.

Please do not merge the anti-racism and diversity & inclusion committees. Having one committee instead of two means less time spent on anti-racism, and you can't do more for anti-racism by giving it less time. Even a sub-committee won't have the time that a full committee will.

But the merger will do even worse than cut the time spent on anti-racism. There is a mistaken idea that diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism are all part of the same set. But there is a big difference. As a former elected official in Niagara had said about himself 100% correctly that he was the first Polish-Canadian elected to his position, and while that may very well be diversity and it may very well be inclusion, it is definitely not anti-racism. It's an important achievement but anti-racism is something else altogether.

This is important because a merged committee will have people representing all kinds of diversity and not just lived experience with racism. This means that anti-racism recommendations will need to be first approved by people who don't have the lived experience before they even get to you. It's an unnecessary barrier to get you vital advice you are seeking.

There was a trend before the murder of George Floyd in 2020 for municipalities to fold anti-racism committees into one broader diversity committee a catch-all committee. That trend was reversed after the murder of George Floyd when cities, including lower-tier municipalities, saw that they too have a role in anti-racism. The proposal tonight will move things backwards.

But actually the need for more attention to anti-racism, not less, is even more acute now in Niagara Falls and in Niagara in general. The portion of Niagara Falls' population who are visible minorities, which by the government's definition doesn't even include Indigenous people, has gone up by 1/3 since the last census: it was 12.7% in 2016, and the 2021 census shows 16.5% for Niagara Falls. The portion of the Black population increased by over a third from 2.9% to 4.1%. The South Asian proportion has nearly doubled to 2.5% alone. We have Councillor Mona Patel, the first BIPOC Niagara Falls councillor I know of since Burr Plato, who was elected over 100 years ago, and the first female BIPOC city councillor here. We need even more time spent on anti-racism than before.

We in the municipalities of Niagara have been falling further behind actually on anti-racism while the rest of Canada and the world is marching ahead. There are specific lower-tier municipality anti-racism measures that other cities in Ontario have been doing that our residents are missing out on.

Merging the committees would obviously cut the time spent specifically on anti-racism and it would water down the work of the committee by mixing in people who don't have lived experience with racism. Please keep the committees separate as you originally decided to do when there was a proposal for just one diversity committee instead of a dedicated anti-racism advisory committee.

You can't do more with less, less time, no matter what the synergies are. This is going to be seen by the world as a step backwards when we need to be moving forwards.