Further to my post on July 24 where I tried to clear up that the changes to the Procedural By-Law that were being proposed were NOT a keffiyeh ban, here I am again to try to clear this up.
Unfortunately, there are some members of the community who are determined to continue the spread of disinformation, which — more concerning than being damaging to Regional Council, Regional staff, and the intentions of both — is potentially harmful to residents in our communities.
Making people believe that their traditional clothing will be banned or is otherwise somehow under attack is harmful and does nothing to alleviate legitimate concerns that residents have about myriad issues dealt with by Regional Council.
As I noted in my July 24 blog entry, and as I clarified during the July 25 meeting, the ban on signs, props, and flags was precipitated not by the April 25 training session provided by our Integrity Commissioner, but by my March 25 motion about Workplace Harassment and the Display of Signage in Council Chambers.
The March 25 motion I brought, which was seconded by Councillor Huson, was necessary, because an individual attended the February 22 Council meeting with a sign that targeted our Clerk. The same individual was present on July 25 with at least one sign that included expletives.
Our first discussion about the potential banning of signs was at our April 22 Procedural By-Law Review Committee (PBLRC) meeting. It was, then, discussed again at our May 27 PBLRC meeting, where there was also no discussion about keffiyehs, and at the June 25 PBLRC meeting, where there was, again, no discussion about keffiyehs. There was never any discussion about banning traditional items of clothing, and most certainly not the keffiyeh.
Three times during the July 25 meeting, staff and I clarified that this amendment to the Procedural By-Law had nothing at all to do with the keffiyeh, as reported by Bill Sawchuk on July 27:
While some members of the community may not believe that this is not a keffiyeh ban, they have video evidence along with reporting from a reputable media outlet that it is not. They can share this right back at/to us should any Council ever go down the road of banning the keffiyeh or any other item of traditional clothing.
I’m going to also take this time to note (as I’ve done in many discussions with community members, but not in a blog entry) that a motion that includes a resolution that says: “That Niagara Regional Council AFFIRMS that this motion is not to be used to foster all forms of racism antisemitism and targeting of Jewish people living in Niagara, their businesses, and religious institutions or anti-Palestinian racism, or Islamophobia. Instead, it is a reason to show solidarity and compassion for those who are living in Israel and Palestine” has no business making it to the floor.
A motion that includes a resolution like that means the author knows (or should know) exactly what potential outcomes and harms could come from this motion. And they should understand that the motion needs to be re-written and that maybe they should seek some advice from colleagues who have much more of an understanding of racism and its implications along with a much better understanding of the decades of conflict in/against Palestine.
Furthermore, whilst several community members, including the author of the motion have attempted to suggest that this motion was only ever about lighting the sign in the colours of the Palestinian flag or raising the Palestinian flag, it most certainly was not. The sign lighting and flag raising wasn’t even the first resolution in this motion, and lighting the sign and/or raising the flag wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the opening ‘whereas’ statements.
There was a better way to bring a motion like this forward. There was a way to bring a motion like this forward and have it make it to the floor. Sadly, the individual who wrote the motion – based on their own statements – appears to have been uninterested in anyone else’s suggestions, whether colleagues or staff.
It seems some community members have a vested interest in riling up other community members about racism and censorship, and that some community members will continue to cause disruptions and harm to other community members. This desire for continued disruption and harm is as deeply unfortunate as it is concerning.
I can only hope that if someone is hearing or reading information about what Regional Council is planning to do about, well, anything, really, that they reach out to a Regional Councillor (or two or three) to seek clarification, rather than rely on sources who may have problematic motivations; who may be outright lying; or who may simply be wrong.
Laura Ip - Regional Councillor 