Nazi salute video removed
The chairman of Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority is asking that a video of the board’s January meeting be edited to remove footage of two board members doing a Nazi salute.
The video shows Welland Mayor Frank Campion and Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati making the gesture. It was removed from YouTube early Monday evening after local reporters began asking questions about it.
In an emailed statement, NPCA chair Sandy Annunziata said that if it is possible to edit the video and repost it it will be done so with a disclaimer indicating 10 seconds of the video had been removed because of an offensive gesture.
“Both member Campion and Diodati have both received feedback from the Jewish Community,” Annunziata said in emailed statement. “They have indicated the gesture is offensive and have asked it be removed. We will respect our partners wishes.”
(The relevant portion of the video can be found on The
Standard’s website.) The removal of the video, and a statement of apology issued by the mayors, followed the video being posted on Facebook by Niagara Falls city Coun. Carolynn Ioannoni Monday morning.
The video is the recording of the official NPCA livestream footage of its Jan. 18 meeting. At about the five-hour, 15-minute mark, NPCA board member and West Lincoln Mayor Doug Joyner raises his hand. Campion, sitting beside him and looking across the room at Diodati, mimics the way Joyner raised his hand.
Then both he and Diodati extend their right arms in the same fashion as a Nazi salute.
“I didn’t think that is what we did,” said Campion in an interview Monday.
“Then I looked back at the video this morning, and I can sure see why someone would think that. There was no malice intended there. That is not what I am all about.”
Diodati said he and Campion enjoy a “jovial relationship” with Joyner and they were just poking fun at how he raises his hand.
“He has this very peculiar way of raising his hand. It’s not a oneoff thing; he does it all the time. And we have that kind of relationship where we can tease each other. That is all we were doing,” Diodati said. “There was no other thought there.”
The mayors issued a joint statement Monday apologizing for the gesture.
“Unfortunately, our actions were gestures meant in light and a silly imitation of another councillor’s unique hand-raising style. They were not meant as anti-Semitic. Our actions in no way represent our genuine views and values,” the statement said. “We have both apologized to those who felt offended. We feel strongly that we would never want our actions to be taken out of context or misinterpreted.”
One of the people from the Jewish community the mayors spoke to Monday was Perry Schlanger, a teacher from St. Catharines.
For Schlanger, the Nazi salute is anything but a joking matter. His grandmother was a survivor of the Nazi death camps in the Second World War. Remembering those people who did not survive the camps was a regular occurrence in his family.
“You know, I am coming from a background where we had to stop a family dinner to explain why grandma has a tattoo,” Schlanger said, referring to the serial numbers Jews had tattooed on their forearms in Nazi concentration camps.
Schlanger said he was “enraged” when he saw the video of Campion and Diodati, but accepts their apology.
“I spoke to them, and Mayor Campion, in particular, seemed very remorseful,” said Schlanger, who doesn’t believe either man is anti-Semitic. “He seemed genuinely upset about what happened and, for the time being, I am willing to accept their mea culpa.”
Nevertheless, Schlanger said he wants to see Niagara politicians take ethics and their code of conduct seriously. Specifically, he wants to see regional council reject a version of a proposed code of conduct edited by Grimsby Coun. Tony Quirk and Niagara Falls Coun. Selina Volpatti. He would rather council vote on the proposed code as originally presented by integrity commissioner John Mascarin.
“As upsetting as this is, I have to tell you, the idea that council can water down its code of conduct and only be held responsible for what they say or do when they are on regional property worries me a lot more,” Schlanger said of the Quirk/Volapatti edit.
For his part, Diodati said he accepts that while he and Campion were making a joke, they shouldn’t have done it.
“If I could do it again, I sure wouldn’t have done it. That is not what we are about. We were making a silly joke, but I felt it was important to accept responsibility and apologize to those who felt offended by it. I think an apology goes a long way,” he said. “I’m also looking at it as a teachable moment, even for my kids.”
If nothing else, Diodati said the incident shows how mindful elected officials must be about what they say or do. Even if they don’t intend to say something hurtful, they sometimes can do so without realizing it at the moment.
Annunziata said he was unaware of what happened at the meeting until he was told about it on Saturday. In the video, Annunziata can be seen with his head down in paperwork when Campion and Diodati make the gesture.
In an emailed statement, Annunziata said he consulted with Jewish groups, including the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, and condemns the Nazi salute “in the strongest terms.”
“I am aware both members Campion and Diodati have acknowledged the action and have accepted full responsibility. I am also aware both have issued unreserved apologies for any misunderstanding the video portrays,” the statement reads. “Like all formal complaints received by the chair on the conduct of board members, I will rely on the advice of the full board to make recommendations if warranted.”
The issue of anti-Semitism consumed most of a regional council meeting last week, when Annunziata put forward a motion asking council to condemn the boycott-devest-sanction, or BDS, movement against Israel. The movement is regarded by many Jewish groups as being overtly anti-Semitic.
Annunziata took issue with an April motion put forward by the NDP Niagara Centre riding association asking the NDP to endorse BDS at its May convention. The motion died, never making it to the floor of the convention for a vote. Welland riding NDP MPP Cindy Forster wasn’t present at the riding association meeting when the motion was crafted, does not endorse BDS and said if it had come to a vote, she would have voted against the motion.
On Thursday, regional council voted to condemn the BDS movement, and distance itself from the NDP riding association.
Although the January video that sparked controversy is of a public NPCA meeting, the authority may be able to edit it as it sees fit because, according to NPCA regulations, videos are not official records of the meeting. NPCA board regulations say videos the meetings are posted at the discretion of the chair. They also say that “a recorded video of a full authority meeting is not an official record of that meeting. The official record of the full authority meeting shall consist solely of the minutes approved by the full authority board.”
NPCA spokesman Michael Reles said there are no other policies concerning videos.