Anti-racism advocates urge action as council committee hearing starts
Community advocates say they plan to hold city council’s feet to the fire to take action on the ways racism is embedded in Calgary services and society.
Council’s community and protective services committee will start a public hearing on systemic racism Tuesday, with Wednesday also set aside for Calgarians to share their views.
Committee chair Coun. Gian-carlo Carra said the meeting will certainly go for at least two days, with 135 people currently registered to speak.
Carra noted that political science professor Malinda Smith will be co-chairing the meeting and offering her expertise. Smith was recently named vice-provost of equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Calgary. Five expert panellists will also give presentations before the public gets the floor.
But Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation founder Iman Bukhari said she feels work to set up the consultation was rushed, and she’s worried information about how to participate wasn’t shared widely enough.
Bukhari’s group started circulating a petition last month asking for a public consultation on systemic racism, and in total it got more than 70,000 signatures. Council unanimously passed a motion to set up the public hearing, among other steps, just three weeks ago. The city began sharing information via social media on June 30 about how to sign up to speak.
Bukhari said city officials need to make sure there are supports ready for people who speak to council this week, especially if they’re sharing difficult personal stories about experiencing racism, which can be traumatic to relive.
“If you claim to work for all Calgarians ... when you say all Calgarians, you’re not including the Black, Indigenous, people of colour communities, which make up 30 per cent of your population,” Bukhari said.
The hearing follows several demonstrations last month in Calgary, where thousands of people turned up at marches protesting police brutality and racism.
At public hearings, people typically have five minutes each to speak. Bukhari said that’s also a concern, and asking people to summarize lifelong experiences with systemic racism in that time frame, with little guidance, is unfair.
“I hope that the efforts of the people who come out are not wasted, and the city creates a concrete action plan with the people it affects,” she said.
Carra said council members will point speakers to appropriate resources for support if they need it, and he and the co-chair will be “a bit looser” about the usual rules of a public hearing to make sure people don’t get cut off.
“We’ve got to balance the fact that 135-plus people want to share their stories with the fact that we want to hear meaningful things from everybody,” he said.
Carissa Gravelle, the youth co-ordinator at Action Dignity, said she expects to hear stories about how systemic racism affects people’s experiences with everything from police to housing to hiring. And she added the city should be doing more to understand the impact of racism and discrimination on the people who live in Calgary.
“The city needs to know that race-based data needs to be collected in policing, education, in regards to diverse boards,” she said.
LJ Joseph, a leader with Black Lives Matter YYC, said she plans to speak about the role of the Calgary Police Service and the force’s budget. She created a petition calling for a cap on the city’s police spending — police represent the largest piece of Calgary’s annual operating budget.
“I don’t want (police) on certain calls. I don’t want them in schools,” she said. “You hear it all the time — like, ‘What happens when someone breaks into your house?’ Well, that’s what police are supposed to be solving. I don’t want you coming to me if I have a mental health problem.”
City councillors and Mayor Naheed Nenshi have said that giving communities space to speak is important, but they’ve also repeated that meaningful action has to come out of that process. They’ll need to sort out what that looks like in the days ahead.
Gravelle said there’s community momentum to make sure council members stick to their word.
“There are a lot of community groups that are going to make sure and demand that something actually is done.
“We’re tired of people hosting these sessions where you’re learning and you’re hearing stories ... but then everything resumes as normal and life goes on.”
Bukhari agrees: “Don’t just say, ‘We have systemic racism and we need to be anti-racist.’ Go beyond your words. Actions show more than words.”