CITY VOTES TO TACKLE RACISM
Police included in sweeping study
Calgary city council unanimously endorsed a proposal Monday to tackle systemic racism in the city.
The city will now plan a public consultation on systemic racism at council’s community and protective services committee, which will include presentations from an expert panel and opportunities for members of the public to speak.
The motion also calls for a report on anti-racism work being done within the Calgary Police Service.
The motion follows recent protests across the city and throughout Canada and the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has “articulated the clear and compelling reasons to redouble our efforts to achieve structural adjustments to existing inequalities within our city and our society,” according to the motion to council.
More than 70,000 people have signed an online petition circulated by the Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation, which called for a public consultation on systemic racism in Calgary.
Councillors said the work they’re planning is about listening and learning before they take further action, and making sure that action is meaningful.
Coun. Jyoti Gondek said it makes sense for the city to be leading an effort to address the fact that work needs to be done on systemic racism.
But she added it will take more co-operation beyond city council.
“I think the folks that have marched in the last 10 days have really raised the point and said, ‘You can’t just have a policy. You can’t just make commitments. You have to take action.’”
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said it’s time to start turning the conversation from “being not racist” to “being actively anti-racist.”
“All lives can’t matter until Black lives matter, until Indigenous lives matter,” he said.
He said the city also needs to look closely at its own hiring and promotion practices, noting senior management roles are overwhelmingly white.
“How is it that the mayor is, in the vast majority of meetings he attends, the only non-white person in the room?” he said.
The council motion acknowledges that the makeup of both council and administration leadership doesn’t reflect Calgary’s community in terms of gender and racial diversity. It calls for an immediate re-evaluation of the city’s internal practices and policies through the lens of diversity and inclusion.
That will include budget deliberations, organizational structure, human resource practices and procurement.
Council and administration leadership will undergo mandatory anti-racism training, with a commitment to recurring training at least once every four years.
The City of Calgary will also establish an anti-racism action committee under the terms of the motion.
That committee would aim to identify systemic and language barriers to accessing city programs and services. It would also look for opportunities to work with organizations on ways to address structural racism on a community-wide level.
The strategy would “be diverse and inclusive, and a true reflection of Calgary’s residents,” according to the motion.
Committee members would be appointed in October.
The motion calls for the Calgary police commission to prepare a report to council as soon as possible on anti-racism work that’s underway or being considered by Calgary police, “and any plans for engaging in a broader conversation with the community on the future of policing in a diverse city.”
Close to 3,000 people have signed an online petition calling on city council to defund the Calgary Police Service, which had an operating budget of more than $400 million last year.
The call for action differs from what’s taken place in cities such as Minneapolis in the U.S., where the majority of the local council has pledged to disband its police department in favour of a community-led model.
Petition organizer LJ Parker of Calgary Supports Black Lives Matter said council should cap the Calgary police budget, allowing for a redistribution of funds to services such as accessible transit, affordable child care and housing, education and job training opportunities for young people, as well as mental-health supports.
In a statement, Calgary police commission chair Bonita Croft said the civilian oversight body has “much more to learn” to meaningfully address the issue of institutional racism.
“We will develop a plan of action that involves listening to citizen experiences, improving our literacy on racism, and showing our city’s Black, Indigenous and people of colour communities that they don’t have to fight this battle alone,” Croft said in a statement.