Lemire probe glosses over internal questions
Did Lemire’s background and activities really escape notice at city hall?
The City of Hamilton’s recent announcement that Marc Lemire would not be returning to work in the city’s IT department is welcome news, but it should not be the end of efforts to hold the City of Hamilton to account for his employment and broader inaction on hate crimes in Hamilton.
The new city manager, Janette Smith, assured Hamiltonians that the Lemire issue would be investigated. It’s not clear if the now-concluded investigation inquired into his hire, employment and allegations of a coverup, or if it just looked into Lemire’s own conduct.
Although the city reports that they found no evidence of improper activities by Lemire on the job, his association with white supremacist groups and activities is damaging to the city’s reputation — already harmed by reports of our high rate of hate crimes relative to other Canadian cities. It’s also a risk to the rights of city workers to a safe working environment free from discrimination and harassment, that also upholds the dignity of a diverse workforce and the diverse community these workers serve.
Court documents dating to the year of his hire reference his previous full-time employment by known Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel. In the same year the city rolled out the welcome mat to Lemire, a Federal Court judge issued public decisions identifying him as a member of a “violent racist and extremist movement,” president of the racist Heritage Front organization, and active member of Freedom Site, a website that links to Canada’s extreme rightwing groups.
Lemire’s work for Freedom Site appears to have continued well into his employment at the city. As recently as 2014, Lemire was actively involved in human rights litigation against the site in his capacity as its owner and webmaster. The site was found in violation of the Canadian Human Rights Act, in a decision easily accessible online. Now inactive, Freedom Site was reportedly
modified early this year and is reported to have included holocaust denial material as recently as May 2019.
Did these cases and Lemire’s reputation somehow escape the city’s notice?
Or did someone decide that it was acceptable to place some one known to espouse violent racism in a position of public trust, so long as it was kept quiet? It’s difficult to imagine that Lemire’s reputation, references to his activities in multiple legal cases, and the publication of his name and picture in national news magazines would have gone entirely unnoticed by management.
Without answers to these pressing issues, Lemire’s dismissal itself has little meaning. It becomes easy to imagine that this obvious error in judgment could be repeated, or worse, that it has already been repeated in the hire of other employees.
Our white supremacy problem has not been addressed through the dismissal of a single person. It’s clear that right-wing extremism is a problem in our city with or without a former Heritage Front president on the IT staff.
Firing Lemire does not undo the
harm caused by ongoing demonstrations by “yellow vesters,” allegations that police are targeting LGBTQ and racialized folks, and the growing number of U.S. confederate flags in Hamilton windows and on car bumpers. It doesn’t reverse the xenophobic shouts newcomers hear on our streets. These problems need more thoughtful solutions and a lot of hard work from community members and city leadership alike. They require a willingness to grapple with difficult topics, to hear criticism, and to give a platform to members of our community who have historically been silenced.
If we are lucky, Lemire’s firing will open the eyes of Hamiltonians who had, until now, kept their eyes willfully closed to the realities faced by marginalized folks and the increasing sense of unease in our community. With more open eyes, perhaps it will be harder to miss the Neo-Nazis hiding in plain sight. But this only seems likely to happen if we keep the real issues in view.