Some familiar faces were in attendance at Monday’s City Council meeting to address Councillors regarding the deferral on Town Ward Councillor Lachica’s motion to include “Race and Cultural Identity” in the City’s Community Safety and Wellbeing (CSWB) Plan until Peterborough’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Reem Ali delivers a presentation to them in March.

The motion to move forward with the creation of a Leadership Table for the implementation of the CSWB was up for ratification by Council Monday. This followed a tense General Committee meeting on February 13th which saw Northcrest Ward Councillor, Dave Haacke state his “exception” to Lachica’s statement that she is the only non-white, non-male member of Council. 

During her delegation, former Mayor, Diane Therrien recognized the work of the City Staff and the previous Council in bringing the eighty-page document forward and noted that it had been in development for years. The need for a Peterborough CSWB Plan arises from Provincial Legislation passed in 2019.

Therrien noted that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not things to be voted on once as governments and organizations need to be wary of tokenizing gestures without meaningful follow through. Recognizing that Council doesn’t possess the authority over Staff, she also encouraged City Staff to take the necessary steps to implement similar training, and recommended it be delivered by a third party. 

In conclusion, Therrien was emphatic in her suggestion that mandatory training is a simple task, but one which would enable Staff and Council to better understand and attend to their work. 

Former Northcrest Councillor and 2022 Mayoral Candidate, Stephen Wright told councillors that he had come to give a “lecture” and went on to state that he was “significantly disappointed when Council voted to defer diversity, equity, and inclusion.” He went on to thank Lachica for her work in bringing up the significant links between race and cultural identity and community safety and the importance of recognizing and celebrating the contributions of people from marginalized groups in Peterborough through City funded and sanctioned events. 

“Black History Month isn’t for Black people,” he said. “We know our history, we know how we were excluded from the record.” 

Wright told Councillors that diversity and inclusion is an everyday reality for members of the community who otherwise don’t feel like they belong in this City and urged Councillors to “start making people who don’t look like you feel like they belong here.”

This objective, he went on, is the role that must be one of the primary tasks of public officials and policymakers.

Wright also pointed out the optics of passing a motion which made diversity, equity, and inclusion training mandatory for Councillors which was ratified on consent during Monday’s meeting, while voting to defer the addition of race and cultural identity to the CSWB Plan. Stating that the successful motion amounted to virtue signalling when considered in the larger context.    

Addressing Haacke directly, Wright also made it abundantly clear that no one needs to apologize for being white, or being a man.

However, he noted that many in the community - who are not white, or male - tend to feel as if their racial or gender identity is something that precludes their belonging in the community.

“No one should have to apologize for the skin they’re in or how they identify in the community,” he said.

Other delegations who spoke to this motion included National Human Rights Director for UNIFOR, Christine Maclin, who spoke about experiences of racism and exclusion. Maclin further reflected on how she grew up being aware that she “stood out in Peterborough” and how Council’s deferral felt like yet another instance of that same mentality. 

For Maclin, the addition of this focal point in the CSWB was “a no-brainer” which forced her to ask Council, “what side of history are you on?”

Stephen Dorsey of Toronto and the Black Business and Professional Association spoke about his experiences getting white people to understand the specific social and economic advantages they experience due to the colour of their skin.

He deliberately noted that he wasn’t going to spend any time trying to convince Councillors that systemic racism is real, but in speaking about his work for over thirty years in marketing and business strategy, he is aware of the way these issues play out in work environments and the economic implications of race and identity in the workplace. 

“No one’s asking you to not like your whiteness,” Dorsey said. “What we’re asking you to recognize is that people have been disadvantaged.”

When it came time to discuss the motion which included the deferral Lachica talked about how she had been surprised by the deferral. She told her fellow Councillors that since the Committee meeting she had done a deep dive on CSWB and its history and assured them that she was “aware of all the voices” that went into its drafting and that she had not intended to “stir the pot.”

Lachica also brought up numerous other municipalities who have included similar language in their CSWB Plans, including Toronto, Kingston, Niagara, Guelph, and Durham. 

"How can we not state that systemic issues are not woven through all that we need to do in this plan?" she said while noting that these words appear in the plan but lack the prominence and intentionality she believes is warranted in order to “prioritize the truth of what happens in Peterborough.”

Following these remarks, Lachica motioned to drop the deferral from the motion and therefore accept the addition of “Race and Cultural Identity.” The motion was lost 6-5 with Councillors Lachica, Crowley, Beamer, Haacke, and Bierk voting in favour. 

Following the meeting, Mayor Leal told Arthur that the delegations were very informative and that they “added to the conversation” and Council’s understanding of these issues.

Citing his “profound respect for our civil staff” and the work that they do, Leal noted that he will support what comes forward regarding the deferral in light of Reem Ali’s presentation. However, he added, he feels that at least listening to City Staff before making certain decisions amounts to a way of doing business which he personally feels is important. 

For her part, Lachica related her disappointment at the way the vote turned out, sharing her disappointment at the loss of a “symbolic opportunity.” 

Council will hear from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Reem Ali during the March cycle of meetings and from there will make a decision on whether to include Lachica’s phrase.