Niagara Region Council Blocked #Palestine #Ceasefire Motion From Agenda - and Even Blocked Any Debate on Removing it!
The Delegate Speeches That Were Blocked Are Being Uploaded to
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Thursday, January 25, 2024
Hypocrisy + Double Standards = Anti-Palestinian Racism by Niagara Elected Officials
Several #Niagara Region Councillors say tonight's resolution in support of Palestine has no place because it's outside the Region's mandate or will be divisive and harmful.
But the Region already supported Israel and Ukraine, yet Palestine support is out.
This is a double standard and hypocrisy that can only be explained as racist.
Two of these Councillors have been outspoken against racism but like so many humanitarian concern ends sharply when it comes to Palestinians.
Lincoln Councillor Rob Foster told the St. Catharines Standard that the Region shouldn't be dealing with international conflicts.
St. Catharines Councillor Laura Ip, who chairs the Region's Diversity Equity Inclusion Advisory Committee, made a blog post saying the resolution in support of Palestine has “no place” on Regional Council.
St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe, who is also a Regional Councillor, told former St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik in an interview on CKTB 610AM the motion has nothing to do with the Regional mandate and will be divisive so shouldn't even be on the agenda.
Yet Councillor Ip criticized the Palestine motion as having “no weight or bearing on what will actually happen,” a clear double standard for all three voting for the Ukraine motion and even allowing it.
St. Catharines City Council passed a resolution in support of Ukraine supporting military escalation, which I also delegated against.
Niagara-on-the-Lake unanimously passed such a resolution.
These motions were divisive too and had nothing to do with municipal mandates, a clear double standard by Mayor Mat Siscoe.
Just a little bit up the highway from Niagara, Mississauga and Brampton City Councils UNINAMOUSLY passed resolutions supporting a ceasefire in Palestine.
If it's relevant for these two Ontario cities why is it not relevant for Niagara?
The Region already stepped firmly into the Israel-Palestine conflict when Chair Jim Bradley issued a statement October 11 in solidarity with Israel and Niagara's Jewish residents, lighting the Region's headquarters in the colours of the Israeli flag.
But despite getting nearly 100 emails asking him to also light up in the colours of the Palestinian flag for the nearly 500 residents of Palestinian descent there is not a word, even though so many disproportionately more Palestinians are being killed by Israel (including children sheltering in UN schools).
This is a double standard and lack of basic humanity.
The same day Mayor Mat Siscoe sent St. Catharines Councillor Robin McPherson (of my ward) to speak on behalf of the City of St. Catharines at a pro-Israel rally.
The City of St. Catharines already took a position and condemned one side of the violence, but when it comes to calling for a real, binding ceasefire to END the violence it's suddenly off-mandate and divisive.
But the Palestine resolution DOES have to do with the municipal mandate because it calls for removing the cap on Palestinians so they can be reunited with their families in Niagara.
These refugees will need services from the Region, which has been recognized by Council when it came to Ukrainian refugees.
This cap is causing panic and stress in the race to get approved to safety.
Councillor Ip repeated the misleading statement from Minister Marc Miller that there is no “hard cap” on Palestinian refugees when his own ministry's news release on January 9th said it's even worse: the program expires even before 1,000 people if they aren't approved by next year.
Why is this a divisive, hateful issue as two Councillors said?
Because so many don't recognize the basic humanity of Palestinians.
Palestinian lives don't matter and are disposable to too many.
This is also a bandwagon attack on Palestine solidarity.
We see:
* A Hamilton MPP who is a Black woman with a disability excluded from the legislature she was elected to for refusing to jump on this bandwagon.
* Calls for deporting anyone expressing support for Palestine.
* Fines, arrests, police brutality for protesters supposedly protected by the Charter.
Condemning a resolution in support of Palestine as out of bounds is part of the same crackdown on solidarity with Palestinians and complicit with anti-Palestinian racism and ongoing settler colonialism.
You can't acknowledge that you are on Indigenous land and be silent when Palestinians are suffering the same colonial settler violence.
You can't be anti-racist except when it comes to Palestinians.
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