City council sets July date for hearing on systemic racism

Calgary city council will hold a public hearing on systemic racism next month, following several demonstrations that saw thousands of people march through city streets to speak out against racism and police brutality.

Council’s community and protective services committee has set a special meeting for July 7 to give people the opportunity to speak. Committee chair Coun. Gian-carlo Carra said the meeting will likely go for two days.

The meeting was called after council unanimously agreed this month to a number of steps to deal with racism in Calgary, including the public consultation.

The motion also calls for the city to establish an anti-racism action committee and implement mandatory training on “anti-racism best practices” for city council and senior city staff.

Carra said the city is still working out details about how the meeting will work.

They’re planning to bring in a panel of community members to offer guidance and expertise, but who will be on it and how exactly they’ll participate hasn’t been confirmed.

“We want to make sure this is meaningful and strikes all the right balances, and it’s a great pivot from action in the streets to action in government,” he said.

“We want to balance the respect for the trauma that these communities have been feeling and the lack of trust that these communities, rightfully, are experiencing.”

The councillor added that there’s also an ongoing discussion about bringing someone in to help lead the meeting.

“Obviously, I’m a white guy … and I’m chairing the meeting where we’re talking about structural racism and trauma,” he said.

“So we’re talking about potentially having a co-chair from the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) community.”

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people will be able to sign up to speak from their homes rather than going to council chambers. Council has held at least two large public hearings remotely in recent months, including hearing from more than 100 speakers on a bylaw to ban businesses from offering conversion therapy in Calgary.

Details about how the meeting will be organized and how Calgarians can get involved will be set up in the days ahead.

Edmonton city council also held several days of public hearings on racism this month.