Crombie and crew spurn prejudice
“The mayor owes you nothing in the form of an apology; and you owe her thanks.” CAROLYN PARRISH MISSISSAUGA COUNCILLOR
Much wisdom was dispensed at Mississauga city council on Wednesday. Meadowvale residents should heed that counsel rather than let the seeds of resentment germinate and grow into more ugliness.
Ten of the 11 councillors stood behind Mayor Bonnie Crombie and her principled, unflinching rejection of ridiculous, incendiary claims made by a citizen who claims a new mosque on Winston Churchill Blvd. would lead to rape and villainy and destruction of Canadian values. Galling and rancorous, this man. Crombie confronted him at the Sept. 21 council meeting. On Wednesday, his backers were back — not denouncing his views or apologizing for ever being associated with his vile ruminations, but with a petition demanding that Crombie apologize for slandering members of the community as racists.
The cheek. Council showed them the door — even as the aggrieved pledged to defeat Crombie in the next election and throw councillors out of their “comfortable chairs.”
The lone council dissenter was Pat Saito.
Our democracy allows local dissent to give voice to a minority view. In this case, the minority view — Stop the Mosque — is the opinion of the vocal resident majority. It’s a dynamic often repeated when development proposals arise.
When I wrote about this last month, several readers took offence that the column centred on the racist views of a citizen who posted vile comments in his Stop the Mosque ramblings. The issue is not religion or Muslims, they wrote; it’s traffic, safety and neighbourhood impacts.
So I drove out to Winston Churchill Blvd., which in Meadowvale near Battleford Rd. is a wide, wide suburban street. If you were to build a place of worship, this would seem like a good spot. It’s on an arterial road, with a signalized intersection. Traffic from the mosque can’t infiltrate the surrounding residential neighbourhood. The applicant has developed a traffic management plan that is non-existent at many similar venues.
To the north and to the south are two Christian churches. If they’re in any way successful, no doubt they spill traffic out of their confined parking lots on popular Christian holy days or seasons. My church does. Your synagogue probably does, as well.
As Councillor Nando Iannicca told a deputant Wednesday, if faith groups were forced to provide parking for peak usage, “you could not build a place of religious assembly anywhere in this city.” This one meets the gold standard, he said.
One is inclined to give Councillor Saito a pass on the issue — until she indirectly sided with the racist citizen. Crombie should not have launched “an attack on the resident” because he did not state his objectionable views at the council meeting, she argued.
The rest of council, wisely, disagreed.
“(Mayor Crombie) won my respect that day,” Iannicca said.
“Our job is to pull wedges out from between communities, not to drive them in,” said Councillor Jim Tovey.
“Can’t sit still for that kind of thing,” added Councillor George Carlson.
Looking directly at Jonathan Silbert — not the hateful poster, but rather the man who presented the petition signed by 581residents — Councillor Carolyn Parrish said: “The mayor is elected to speak for the people who can’t or won’t speak for themselves. The mayor owes you nothing in the form of an apology; and you owe her thanks.”
Scores of members of the Meadowvale Islamic Centre applauded loudly. Their spokesman and initiator of the project choked back emotions.
“This has returned dignity to Meadowvale Muslims,” said Tahir I Qureshi, calling Crombie a “symbol of connectivity.” Turning to the non-Muslim citizens in the council chamber, he pleaded:
“We are Canadians. We are nothing without you.” After 13 years of going from church to school to community centre to parks — anywhere possible to conduct daily prayers, often with prayer mats rolled up and slung over the shoulders of grandfathers and mothers and children, the centre will give Muslims a home in their home community.
The group has donated $250,000 to the Credit Valley Hospital, donated to Somali and Haiti relief efforts and other charities, given blood and donated to the food bank. They want excellent relationships with everybody, he told me after council gave the project the green light.
The good deeds did not cut them any slack with Silbert, who said the mosque has prompted his neighbours to form the Meadowvale Residents Community Association, and they will become a political force.
“It’s simple math. If you approve this, you are alienating more votes than you are appeasing. Is that a wise political move?” he asked council.
This day, the Meadowvale Islamic Centre found allies on council. Justice aligned with them — though arrayed against a stubborn mix of parochialism, fear, NIMBYism and intolerance.
That’s why Qureshi spends so much time promoting the Canada he loves — one with wide open arms. Royson James usually appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: rjames@thestar.ca