Niagara letters June 25: Immigrants are not the problem (letter to St. Catharines Standard)

https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/niagara-readers-opinion-letters-insight-comment/article_628d75ef-0ce0-5058-949f-57b47625dbc3.html

Opinion | Niagara letters June 25: Immigrants are not the problem

Newcomers are being targeted by some to score political points when the real problems can be found elsewhere, says a reader.

Updated 4 mins ago

June 25, 2026

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What’s responsible when it comes to immigration policy is for Canada to respect its international legal treaty obligations to accept refugees, writes Saleh Waziruddin.

Niagara Letter to the EditorNiagara Dailies

A real awkward truth

Re: Awkward truth, Niagara letters, June 20

The letter from a former Niagara Region councillor and provincial candidate is baffling in misunderstanding the opinion column about cheering a Team Canada of immigrants while falling for anti-immigrant propaganda. The letter even calls for “reasonable accommodation” in immigration, as if those born here need protection from immigrants.

The letter says the case for refugees was used for “reckless and irresponsible” immigration. What’s responsible is Canada respecting its international legal treaty obligations to accept refugees, which comes from what happened when Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany were turned away by Canada and the U.S.

This responsibility is already violated by “safe third country” agreements which turn away refugees at the U.S. border.

The reason so many Canadians become anti-immigrant is not because of immigrants but how immigrants are blamed to score political points. This is both from below — white supremacist groups calling for mass deportations — and from above — governments actually carrying out record deportations.

Immigrants are blamed for housing shortages when that’s controlled by for-profit corporate landlords. Studies show when immigrants are deported, roughly as many citizens lose jobs because these jobs are complementary, not competing.

Immigrants should be seen as part of the solution, not the problem. The problem isn’t “reckless and irresponsible” immigration, but reckless and irresponsible racism that scapegoats immigrants and stokes fears using the conspiracy theory whites are being replaced by racialized immigrants.

The awkward truth is many fear Canada becoming a more Black and brown country.

Saleh Waziruddin, Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association, executive committee member

Speech at St. Catharines Mayor's Town Hall for St. Patrick's Ward (Ward 4)

I am Saleh Waziruddin, president of the Park Towers Tenants Association. A few of the other tenants from our association are also here tonight.

Our building is one of the larger buildings in our ward and is owned by a REIT, a corporation that owns five buildings in this City. To squeeze more profits they’ve taken away our visitor parking, which makes it difficult for tenants who get visits from carers like nurses and PSWs.

It would be great if the City could give free parking passes to carers while they are working. That way they don’t need to worry about getting a ticket if their visit runs over.

For future buildings, the parking space requirements should include a minimum number of free visitor parking spaces to make it easier for tenants to get the care they need.

Some years ago the city had added hallway heat as a vital service landlords have to fix within 24 hours, but a few years ago when tenants in another building owned by the same REIT that owns ours tried to actually use this by-law, City Council voted to remove this protection. I am glad that three of you voted against doing that. What’s the point of by-laws to protect tenants if City Council is going to side with corporate landlords when we try to actually use these protections?

On Monday night one of the alternatives staff proposed to City Council for having staff time to enforce against vacant buildings downtown was to stop enforcing the vital services by-law entirely. This means heat inside the apartment, not just in the hallway. Many of the members of our association don’t have heat and use space heaters, they don’t want to complain. It’ll be even worse if the by-laws that are supposed to protect them aren’t even going to be enforced.

I’m glad the issue was deferred on Monday’s Council meeting but it will be coming back.

The next parts I am speaking to are from me personally and not on behalf of the Park Towers Tenants Association.

The other part of that option was not enforcing sign and graffiti by-laws. There are white supremacist groups active in Niagara who are postering and graffiti-ing in our wards and the City has an obligation to tear these down as by-law violations, let alone intimidation of residents. Please don’t remove enforcement of these by-laws.

Recently some of you said in the news that you don’t want to add costs to developers by having the City clean up the GM lands. But the costs will have to be paid one way or the other. It’s urgent to get those lands cleaned up, it’s better to clean them up now and then figure out how to get costs recovered from those who are responsible later. It’s better to delay development even 20 years if it means we can save our health and our lives right now.

The concerns about safety downtown are not new. Even the previous mayor and police chief they pointed out downtown is actually safe, even if the perception is it isn’t. More police and security guards may make some people feel safer but make many of the rest of us feel unsafe. Niagara Region Police has the second worse disproportional use of force against Black people in the province, worse than Toronto and Peel. Some of the high profile crimes downtown have happened right around the corner from officers, so more police won’t prevent crime.

Likewise you have a lot of pressure on you to remove unhoused people from our sight. But what we should be doing is providing supports even in encampments, because we don’t have the housing, like they are doing in Halifax and Kelowna. The anti-encampment by-law, misnamed the public space use by-law, because it’s about encampments, is not only a human rights violation allowed by the courts but is also a moral violation. It’s bad policy because it ends up making the problem worse through creating a revolving door for the unhoused. Anti-encampment enforcement might sell well, but is short-sighted and doesn’t work in the end, and you should know many of us oppose it.

St. Catharines tenants’ 3-year fight over rent increases still unresolved (St. Catharines Standard)

https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-region/niagara-st-catharines-above-guideline-rent-hikes/article_1d3ead6c-0af8-5409-b6e4-307efb12f1cb.html

Tenants at an Ontario Street building have been fighting above-guideline hikes before the Landlord and Tenant Board.

April 12, 2026

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Tenants Saleh Waziruddin, left, and Joan Coburn of 158 Ontario St. in St. Catharines have been fighting above-guideline rent increases from their landlord, a real estate investment trust, for more than three years.

Bob Tymczyszyn/St. Catharines Standard

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By Matthew P. BarkerReporter

After years of waiting, tenants of a St. Catharines apartment building who are challenging above-guideline rent increases may soon see their concerns addressed.

For almost three years, tenants of 158 Ontario St., a 75-unit, 10-storey building near Montebello Park downtown, have been contesting the increases.

They first appeared in a pre-hearing conference before a Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) tribunal Oct. 6, 2025, as parties attempted to negotiate an amicable solution. 

InterRent, a $4-billion multi-residential real estate investment trust operating about 13,000 residential suites across Canada, purchased the St. Catharines property in 2020 and soon after started renovations to common areas and balconies.

The Standard reached out to Renee Wei, InterRent’s director of investor relations and sustainability, and company lawyer Martin Vervoort for comment, but received no response. 

Some tenants say proposed rent increases at the building could make them homeless.

Tenants face a combined increase of about eight per cent, with a 2.5 per cent provincial allowable rent increase from 2023, and a further 5.5 per cent for balcony restoration and the addition of LED lighting retrofits, said documents filed with the LTB. 

An online LTB hearing was held Jan. 26 for tenants and the landlord to submit written documentation. An adjudicator was expected to reach a decision on the case within 30-60 days, but no decision has been issued as of publication. 

Joan Coburn, 86, a former building superintendent who has lived in the building for more than 30 years, said she saw minimal rent increases under the previous landlord, but since InterRent started renovations in 2022 and filed for above-guideline increases (AGI) in 2023, on average her rent has risen about $70 per month.

“Every year, I get this humongous (rent) raise, so I end up calling,” she said.

“I said, ‘Look, I’ve got a computer. I can do my own math, and I know 2.5 per cent doesn’t come up to that.’”

Under LTB rules, tenants must start paying the AGI increase right away or hold the potential rent increase amount when the AGI is filed. Any outstanding balance between tenants and landlord must be settled upon final judgment or tenants could face eviction and landlords could face penalties. 

Coburn counts herself lucky she has supportive family. But even so, as a pensioner on a fixed income, she has had to take drastic measures to afford rent.

“I eat a lot of macaroni. I don’t buy meat anymore,” she said.

“I sure as hell don’t buy a case of beer,” she said half-jokingly.

“As long as I can afford to keep my car on the road,” she said, adding her six grandkids last year put new tires on her vehicle and this year paid for her underground parking spot.

Coburn said the baseboard heaters in her apartment have not worked properly since being installed last summer, and she had to buy a space heater after requests to have the matter fixed went unaddressed.

As superintendent, Coburn said she kept on top of building issues, including replacing the hot water tank, addressing electrical issues and replacing windows.

“These guys (InterRent) came in and threw some polish on it to make it look good,” she said. “They ripped out the old carpet and put in new carpet and painted the corridors dull black.”

LTB documents filed by InterRent, and provided to The Standard by tenants, said the REIT is seeking a 5.5 per cent AGI increase dating from renovations started September 2022, with papers filed once work was completed in 2023.

LTB usually limits AGIs to a maximum of three per cent annually,  to a maximum nine per cent over three years.

In the LTB papers, InterRent said balconies and LED light retrofitting cost more than $712,000.

The tenants’ response said had InterRent done its due diligence, it would have known the state of the balconies when buying the property.

“The balconies had been deteriorating for many years prior to the purchase, indicating deferred maintenance by the previous owner,” said the response.

“Costs incurred to remedy deferred maintenance are not eligible for AGIs under the Residential Tenancies Act and its regulations.”

According to the Tribunals Ontario website, “expenditures for routine maintenance or work that is substantially cosmetic in nature are not considered to be capital expenditures and cannot be claimed in the application.”

Geraldine Purdy, a pensioner on a fixed income, has lived at 158 Ontario for more than 20 years and also struggled this past winter with no heat due to faulty baseboard heaters.

Each time she complains, she said, nothing happens. Purdy believes it’s a way to make her and others paying below current market rent choose to leave.

“They want us out, that’s it,” she said. “That’s why they never fixed anything.”

Purdy fears as AGIs continue, she and others like her are going to be slowly priced out.

“I’m going to run out of money. I’m not going to get a job at this point,” she said.

“Coming in here, I said this is my last move. I’m not moving again. They’re going to have to carry me out of here.”

Purdy said she has family, but won’t impose on them should she be unable to afford rent.

“They have a life of their own. They don’t need me hanging around,” she said.

“My granddaughter has her house, but (has) her baby, and my grandson just bought a house, so, I can’t go with anybody and my brother’s here.”

In response to AGI concerns, the renters recently formed a tenant association to advocate for themselves.

Its president, Saleh Waziruddin, said tenants don’t have the luxury to breathe easy.

“In the (LTB) pre-hearing held in October, the landlord-tenant representative tried to get a negotiation (started) between the landlord and the tenant, and the landlord only went down one per cent,” he said.

Tenants voted unanimously to turn down the offer, Waziruddin said.

“We’ve got nothing to lose. (The landlord is) only going down one per cent, so let’s say no and fight this, because now it can’t get any worse (than what is offered),” he said.

“We don’t know what the result will be until the LTB makes its decision,” he said. “We know if the 5.5 per cent (from the AGI) … goes through, that will hurt a lot of people.”

Matthew P. Barker is a St. Catharines-based general assignment reporter for the Standard.

Saying we are “Johnny come lateleys” to antisemitism is part of the denial and dishonesty around the Bob Gale scandal (Response to op-ed in St. Catharines Standard)

(Bolded parts were cut out by St. Catharines Standard)

Those saying they have “not heard from us in the last two years” on antisemitism are just wrong. We have been pointing out antisemitism is the top police-reported hate crime here (and criticized the police for not counting it as racism, one of its oldest forms) and other antisemitic incidents. More recently we raised the alarm on how white supremacist groups pushing anti-migrant and anti-trans hate are using antisemitic conspiracy theories.

We would have released the Bob Gale files a week earlier but we were waiting for Jewish organizations we were consulting, the opposite of what the columnist claims. You can’t say we should have released it earlier but should also have taken time to consult with Jewish organizations, which we did.

All Niagara and Hamilton Jewish contacts we consulted agreed with us but could not participate. One retired rabbi, for example, was stopping Ford’s government from an injunction against a pro-Palestine rally in Toronto on the false grounds of antisemitism because it criticizes Israel. 

Palestine is the issue dividing some of the Jewish community on Bob Gale. When we consulted larger Jewish advocacy organizations they did not get back to us except for one, who after agreeing to confidentiality didn’t follow-up after they found out this was about Bob Gale. The reason could be that Bob Gale, like much of Regional Council, has been anti-Palestinian, and doubled down in his first speech as Regional Chair saying he would keep Council in its “lane,” alluding to a 2024 pro-Palestine motion removed from the agenda. As Rabbi David Mivasair of Independent Jewish Voices tweeted these organizations are more concerned about being anti-Palestinian than they are about antisemitism.

Members of Niagara’s Jewish community have written to us about how they are hurt by what Bob Gale did, and this was also said in the Standard by the president of the Congregation B’nai Israel. Accusing us of “…ignoring antisemitism affecting living ones,” shows obliviousness and denial about the ongoing harm of Nazi memorabilia to the level of dishonesty.

We are not “cheapening” the charge of antisemitism. The Bob Gale scandal exposes both those who are defending him, oblivious to the harm that cannot be separated from a Nazi “historical artifact,” and the even louder silence of those whose voices are absent.

Saleh Waziruddin

Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association

Interview with Jon Gonzo on 610 CKTB "The Drive" on Niagara Region Chair Bob Gale Resignation

 

Interview with Steph Vivier of Niagara in the Morning 610 CKTBAM About Niagara Region Chair Bob Gale Resignation Over Signed Mein Kampf

 

White nationalist activity in Niagara monitored by anti-racism group, police (St. Catharines Standard)

https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-region/grimsby-hate-events/article_52666886-6372-5617-b593-26edeb1c25cb.html

Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association and Niagara Regional Police are on alert following two events earlier this year in Grimsby.

Updated 2 hrs ago

March 10, 2026

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Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association and Niagara Regional Police are monitoring white nationalist and hate-related events and organizations in Niagara, including two events earlier this year Grimsby.

Mark Newman/Metroland

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By Mark NewmanReporter Grimsby Lincoln News

An executive committee member of Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA) says white nationalist groups have a growing presence in the peninsula.

“They are all over Niagara,” said Saleh Waziruddin. “There’s N-13, Second Sons, Dominion Society — it’s been recent in west Niagara.”

Waziruddin said the N-13 group was behind a demonstration across from the Tim Hortons drive-thru on Livingston Avenue in Grimsby on Jan. 24 and a Feb. 7 gathering on the Casablanca Boulevard bridge over the QEW.

In both incidents, masked people dressed in black were holding signs with pro-white, anti-immigration messages and giving the Nazi salute.

“They have a clear political agenda, which is anti-immigrant and white supremacy,” Waziruddin said. “It’s meant to intimidate and meant also to attract support.”

An employee at the Tim Hortons outlet, who did not wish to be identified, said the group of 10 to 20 people appeared out of nowhere.

“We were quite confused as to what was going on. It was customers that told us what was going on. (The group) made no effort to approach the store and we made no effort to become involved. It lasted approximately 10 minutes.”

Grimsby resident and NRARA member Jeff Johnston said he has not had any personal contact with white supremacist groups, adding they are not welcome in the town.

“This community is welcome to everyone, no matter who you are, but it is not welcome to hate,” Johnston said.

Stephanie Sabourin, manager of corporate communications for Niagara Regional Police, said it is aware of the recent Grimsby incidents.

“Any incident involving symbols or messaging linked to extremist or hate-motivated groups is taken seriously,” Sabourin said. “When reports like this are received, officers review the circumstances to determine whether any criminal offences have occurred and engage specialized units or community partners when appropriate.”

Sabourin said police continually monitor reports of hate-motivated activity and encourage people to report concerns or sightings of these groups in public so they can be assessed and investigated as needed.

Ameil Joseph, associate professor at the school of social service work at McMaster University, has been teaching about racism and racialization for the past 10 years and helped establish Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre.

He said the N-13, or Nationalist-13, group was founded in Hamilton and has been associated with demonstrations that are hateful in nature.

“They’re pretty forward about what they are up to,” Joseph said.

“What’s worrying is how little is being done in response to it.”

The number 13 in the group’s name, Joseph said, is linked to the letter M, the 13th letter in the alphabet, “which is about militancy.”

Joseph said white nationalist groups communicate and recruit using lesser-known social media outlets or apps and they have been strongly influenced by what is happening in the United States.

“I think we have a turn-back to a far more dangerous scenario right now, where the kinds of violence with the departments in the U.S. like ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the scooping up of immigrants and sometimes killing people in the streets and detaining folks and deporting folks, has allowed for some of these white nationalist groups to kind of pick up the banner (for mass deportation) and do so feeling like they are validated,” Joseph said.

Joseph said much more needs to be done by all levels of government to respond to hate groups and their demonstrations.

“I definitely think people should be thinking about how much we have been desensitized to this hate and we should clue in to the fact that these groups are militantly organizing in violent and extremist ways and it needs to be intervened upon before something worse happens,” Joseph said.

Grimsby Mayor Jeff Jordan said his town is welcoming, diverse and inclusive community and that hate or discrimination is not condoned in any form. 

“Actions that seek to divide our community do not reflect the values of our residents, and we remain committed to ensuring Grimsby is a place where everyone feels safe and respected,” he said.

Hate incidents can be reported to the NRP by calling 905-688-4111 or emailing EDI@niagarapolice.ca.

Incidents can also be reported to Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association via info@nrara.org.