What began as a seemingly innocuous debate on Brampton council over committee chair term lengths quickly devolved into a screaming match after wards 7 and 8 Coun. Charmaine Williams suggested longer terms would disenfranchise racial minorities.

At its Oct. 23 meeting, council voted in favour of extending committee chair terms from two to four years.

But not all members of council agreed longer terms are better, with Coun. Jeff Bowman questioning the need and urgency to change the system a year into this term of council, while Williams argued the motion was aimed at marginalizing people of colour in the political process.

“One of the major influencers to change for members of racialized and marginalized communities is opportunity … and when you take opportunity away you are taking away growth (and) platforms for advocacy. You’re taking away all of the things that help give us the chance to be here. And also, straight up, you’re messing with democracy,” she told council.

“I as a black woman am disappointed this motion was one: moved in the first place, and two — supported by other members of council who are of colour.”

Wards 9 and 10 Coun. Gurpreet Dhillon, also a person of colour, took exception to Williams’ characterization of the motion and attempt to bring race into the debate.

“It’s the will of the people who they select as their councillors, and it’s the will of council that selects the direction of the city. The people themselves chose us. So, I don’t really know how to respond to some of the comments you made. I’m not sure why you took it to that level,” said Dhillon in response to Williams’ comments.

“If you want to be the head of a committee, you can make your case and it’s the will of council that will select it. It has nothing to do with anybody’s colour. I’m almost offended that we’re bringing it to that because there are three people of colour who are committee members.”

The discussion eventually descended into a yelling match with insults being hurled across the chamber before council finally voted 8-3 in favour of four-year terms.

“The spirit (of the motion) was around what’s the most effective way to run these committees. The City of Toronto and other organizations do (four years) and we looked at a best practice. Second, the feedback we got from staff was that they found this more effective when you have a longer duration for chairmanship,” said wards 3 and 4 Coun. Martin Medeiros in an interview.