Higher standards for politicians aim of petition
Mohamad AlJumaily wants change to Criminal Code of Canada as it pertains to hate crimes
Mohamad AlJumaily realizes the change he’s seeking won’t be easy to accomplish.
But considering his experiences during the past few years, they’re changes the St. Catharines man believes are needed.
The 23-year-old Niagara College student was at last week’s regional council meeting to discuss his concerns about some of his recent experiences with what he believes to be racism.
“Nowhere does the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms) or any other piece of legislation tolerate or allow verbal harassment in the name of free speech,” he told regional councillors.
AlJumaily ’s concerns about racism began long before those incidents occurred.
He was deeply troubled when he learned that an elected official was using social media to spread what he considered racist and homophobic beliefs.
“It was completely unacceptable,” AlJumaily said in an interview.
He said he felt he had to take action.
And he is asking Niagara residents for their help to bring about the changes needed to hold elected officials to a higher standard when it comes to promoting racism.
AlJumaily will be circulating a petition throughout Niagara in the weeks to come calling for amendments to the hate crime provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada.
Although the Criminal Code currently makes it an offence to publicly incite or wilfully promote hatred, punishable by up to two years in prison, it does not refer specifically to elected officials. The amendments proposed in AlJumaily’s petition will “establish an offence where elected officials that use their office to promote or advocate hatred or intolerance to an identified person or group could be found guilty of promoting hatred.”
His petition also proposes amendments making it easier to oust municipal politicians from office, if they are found guilty of promoting hatred.
Being of Middle Eastern descent, AlJumaily — he moved to Canada as a child more than 11 years ago — said he “felt like I was endangered” after reading some of the comments posted on social media websites during the past few years.
He said he feared for the Muslim community in general, terrified that the local mosque could become the target of attacks. He also feared for any group that might find itself the target of hatred due to race, religion or sexual orientation.
“You’ll never know what type of far-right loon is following up with his tweets,” AlJumaily said, referring to the attack on a mosque in Quebec in January, 2017.
Niagara Anti-Racism Coalition co-chair Karl Dockstader said he understands the fear that AlJumaily has felt.
“I think hate crime is dangerous and unless you’re on the other side of it, unless you’re a member of a marginalized group that has been victimized by hate crimes, sometimes it’s really hard to see how dangerous it is,” Dockstader said.
When AlJumaily learned last spring that regional council would be discussing potential changes to its code of conduct policy, he hoped it might give him an opportunity to allay his fears.
In April, he attended a meeting to ask regional councillors to consider “a serious or strict punishment” for elected officials who use their positions to promote racism.
AlJumaily returned to Niagara Region headquarters in December when the code of conduct was again discussed, asking councillors to work towards changes to legislation that would allow the recall or impeachment of elected officials who promote racism.
But AlJumaily said his idea has improved in the months since that council meeting, with assistance from Welland Coun. Paul Grenier as well as staff from St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley’s office.
Grenier said the idea was to “lower the bar, so it will become easier for elected officials to be arrested on charges of hate crimes.”
“My hope is that Mohamad can be a leader on a way to frame perhaps a different level of responsibility or a different threshold for people in public office,” Grenier said. “The idea is that people who actually promote that sort of hatred and intolerance that there be a lower threshold for elected officials so that something can be done about it. I’m looking forward to helping him get there.”
Dockstader, too, is enthusiastic about the initiative.
“I love the idea of holding people to a higher standard,” he said.
AlJumaily hopes to garner as much community support as possible through distributing the petition, while also working to educate people about issues such as “where do we draw the line on speech and
Holding elected and public officials to a higher standard
We the undersigned residents of the Niagara Region and Ontario seek the capacity to remove from office anyone who promotes racism and intolerance. Please endorse and sign the following call to action.
Amend the Criminal Code, hate crime provision, to establish an offence where elected officials that use their office to promote or advocate hatred or intolerance to an identified person or group could be found guilty of promoting hatred; And consequently, any representative elected to serve on a municipal, county or regional council or a local school board found to have violated any of the above legislation could be removed from elected office.
freedom of speech.”
He plans to visit all Niagara’s 12 municipal councils in the months to come, as well as a return trip to regional council, to ask for resolutions in support of the changes proposed in the petition.
AlJumaily also plans to present the petition to all Niagara’s provincial and federal government representatives in the hope that it will ultimately result in his requested amendments.
But even before people start adding their signatures to the document, AlJumaily is hoping for help getting the petition out there. He’s asking people interested in helping distribute the petition to contact him at AljumailyMo@gmail.com.
AlJumaily hopes to continue refining the idea in the months to come, with input from people throughout Niagara.
“As we move forward in the process, I’m hoping to give the people of Niagara an opportunity to have a say in this, because it is solely for the betterment of the people of Niagara,” he said. “Regardless of what political affiliations they might have, we will try to include everybody.”