CITY HALL’S DIVERSITY PANEL A BIG STEP ON INCLUSION — BUT IT IS ONLY A STEP
Montreal has much further to go before our citizens are truly represented
For all its glorious diversity, Montreal is still a city where exclusion is far too prevalent.
Sometimes it’s a matter of blatant discrimination, such as police pulling over motorists for the so-called crime of driving while black, or too quickly dismissing the death of an Indigenous woman as suicide when witnesses suspect there could be foul play.
Sometimes it’s a sin of omission, such as an ad campaign unveiled to celebrate Montreal’s 375th birthday that features not a single non-white face, or the lack of minorities in our political, civic and cultural institutions.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante acknowledged the diversity deficit on her executive committee after her historic victory last November. While Montreal elected Plante as its first female mayor, its first council with a majority of women, Cathy Wong as its first Asian woman and Marie-Josée Parent as its first Indigenous woman, there is still a woeful lack of representation on council as a whole.
According to an analysis by the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), only eight per cent of the 103 city and borough council seats were won by members of different cultural and ethnic groups in the 2017 municipal elections, compared with 34 per cent of Montreal’s population.
Plante pledged to address this serious shortfall — and this week she did, appointing a 15-member advisory panel with a mandate to hammer out a plan on diversity and inclusion within a year. With members representing numerous cultural, religious and racial groups, the disabled, the LGBTQ community and Indigenous Peoples, the committee will have a lot of ground to cover.
This is an important move by the mayor, although the one-year deadline seems awfully tight given the sea change that must take place at Montreal City Hall and beyond. This isn’t just a problem that needs to be tackled at city council, which is the political side of the equation. This is also a challenge for the city bureaucracy and all its agencies, such as the police and fire departments.
Only 8.5 per cent of the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal come from diverse backgrounds, which might help explain the frequency of complaints about racial profiling.
The city has made strides in recruiting since 2008, with a targeted hiring program that has boosted the number of minorities it has brought on board. According to a city progress report on these efforts released in 2016, two per cent of firefighters, 14 per cent of blue-collar workers, 27 per cent of whitecollar workers, nine per cent of supervisors and six per cent of senior managers identify as members of ethnic or visible minorities. Overall, it said 17 per cent of city workers come from diverse backgrounds.
The Société de transport de Montréal, on the other hand, has had a strategy aimed at inclusive hiring practices for three decades. Now it has the results to show for it. Today, more than one-quarter of the STM’s workforce is from different cultural backgrounds.
Still, making Montreal institutions more reflective of the city’s diversity is only one way to deal with lingering discrimination. Groups like CRARR have demanded public hearings on systemic racism to confront issues like poverty and access to housing.
Montreal can look to Toronto for inspiration when it comes to taking concrete action. Last November, Toronto unanimously adopted a 22-point plan to target anti-black racism in the city that is accompanied by a $1-million budget. While it focuses on one particular target of discrimination, its framework is nevertheless instructive.
Developing the multi-phase strategy involved dialogue with community groups to gather input for a draft strategy and get feedback on recommendations. Crucially, senior city staff participated in the process to set specific targets and figure out what resources were required to achieve results.
Toronto’s strategy strives to bring about a culture shift at city hall and related institutions — starting with training for more than 30,000 civic employees, from janitors to police officers.
Veteran Snowdon councillor Marvin Rotrand is a fan of Toronto’s initiative, although he has said rather than focusing on anti-black racism alone, Montreal needs to tackle diversity more generally. He asked Montreal’s finance committee in January to earmark funds for this purpose.
This may be warranted eventually, but Montreal needs a map for where it needs to go and what it needs to accomplish.
Some caveats for the new committee as it begins this monumental task based on the Toronto example: After getting the lay of the land and outlining its orientations, it will be crucial to involve staff from the city and various bodies to ensure the winds of change sweep through all organizations. As in Toronto, training programs will have to be developed that set the right tone and confront negative attitudes. Accountability and transparency must also be built into this process from the outset.
The striking of the advisory committee is a big and important step forward, but it’s a first step in what will surely be a long road ahead.
Only eight per cent of the 103 city and borough council seats were won by members of different cultural and ethnic groups.