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.