Deep divisions between the city and grassroots advocates for an anti-racism centre are threatening to undermine the initiative before it even gets off the ground.

Comments by Coun. Brad Clark about the "dismissal of people because they were white" in the anti-racism discussion at a city committee has only inflamed the charged issue.

"That trust has already been broken," warned Kojo Damptey, who heads up the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI) during a recent audit, finance and administration committee meeting. "If that trust is not built, then moving forward this is not going to be a smooth transition."

Months of extensive public consultation overwhelmingly favoured the independence of the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre (HARRC).

However, the committee passed a controversial set of recommendations Dec. 5 that would see the city assume full responsibility for the interim operations of HARRC and play a major role in establishing an independent board of directors, governance model and terms of reference.

"It strips away the autonomy of the centre, the trust of the community and the legitimacy of HARRC," Mouna Bile said during a delegation to the committee. "At every turn, the very communities the centre was to help are constantly denied a voice."

Bile is part of a grassroots working group advocating for HARRC and said city staff recommendations show the community consultation process to be "disingenuous."

Clark questioned such accusations going so far as to suggest that white people can also have experiences with racism and shouldn't be automatically counted out of the discussion, particularly citing his work on the committee against racism (CAR).

"One of the things I have experienced is the dismissal of people because they were white, and the perception or the expectation that since they are white, they haven't had any lived experience," he said at the meeting. "From this committee, I have learned that's not the case."

He went on to say: "There is many white people who are married to racialized individuals and experience it every single day of their life ... It bothered me when I was reading emails and social tweets that (were) dismissing the involvement of whites in this process because they had no lived experience and yet that in itself was telling because we didn't really know what their lived experience is unless they actually shared it."

His comments provoked a swift backlash on social media.

"This is exactly why the city shouldn't oversee it or set up the board," tweeted Sarah Jama, co-founder of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario. "They don't understand that love does not equal lived experience with racism, race fuelled hate crimes, or fear of white supremacists."

Clark responded to the firestorm Dec. 6 by tweeting: "I was speaking to my concern that white allies, staff and volunteers, have been dismissed and disparaged without knowing their family experience. My intent was to state that they have witnessed the pain of their loved ones facing racism. I sincerely apologize. I am still learning."

The only councillor present to vote against the staff recommendations was Maureen Wilson, who said the community's anger at the consultation process "weighed heavily on me."

"We have heard from the very marginalized communities that we're purporting to want to give service to and there was unanimity in what we heard," she said at the meeting. "I feel a very great sense of unease if we are going to move forward with a recommendation that is counter to those voices which we are hoping to work in partnership and serve. I think that would be an unfortunate beginning."

Coun. Nrinder Nann, who had to leave before the vote, also expressed concern about the recommendations.

"It appears to me that this report and the recommendations in the report got something wrong," she said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

One of the issues is how the city would oversee at least $100,000 in funding to an independent HARRC.

"This is a really important initiative that we need to get right," said Coun. Judi Partridge. "But it's taxpayers' dollars, so we need to be accountable wherever we invest those dollars."

But Damptey said there are ways for the centre to be independent and transparent regarding public money.

"Community members are not asking for a blank cheque and a lack of accountability," he said. "What they are asking for is that their needs be listened to."

The centre opened in April 2018 as a three-year pilot project jointly funded by the city, McMaster University and HCCI to gather racism-related information. But it was temporarily shut down 10 months later in February to be reassessed. It is expected to reopen, at least in part, by February 2020.

City staff say the community have and will continue to have a voice regarding the reinvented HARRC.

But those consulted say they don't see themselves reflected in the recommendations that will now go to council and they are not convinced those making the decisions understand "the real impacts of racism."

"It's important for white people to understand that they might not feel the impacts of racism so then when they are engaging in anti-racism work, they need to understand when to step back and when to listen to things that might make them uncomfortable," said Damptey.

jfrketich@thespec.com

905-526-3349 | @Jfrketich