Richmond Hill residents slam decision on Indigenous land acknowledgement

'Land acknowledgement has become a casualty of political connivance,' residents claim

Yokregion.com
March 27, 2019
Sheila Wang

It was an emotional night for Richmond Hill residents at the council meeting on Mar. 25.

Residents who packed the council chamber gasped and booed as they watched as councillors decided not to start council meetings with an Indigenous land acknowledgement.

Councillors voted unanimously to adopt a motion that directs staff to create a course to provide education and training on the history of Indigenous peoples to employees of Richmond Hill, replacing a motion that proposed to begin council meetings with a land acknowledgement statement.

The new proposal was put forward by Deputy Mayor Joe DiPaola as an amendment to Ward 4 Coun. David West’s original motion on acknowledging the Indigenous people and the traditional territories at the beginning of council meetings.

“An action asked for and supported by the Indigenous community is the best way to move forward,” DiPaola said as he introduced his amendment which made no mentioning of the land acknowledgement statement.

“This is not doing a land acknowledgement. It’s doing something else,” said West whose motion had been deferred from a council meeting on Feb. 11. “This is a motion in and of itself. It’s actually a good idea, but it’s entirely contrary to that.”

West's original motion, seconded by Ward 5 Coun. Karen Cilevitz, had won support from Mayor Dave Barrow and Ward 6 Coun. Godwin Chan.

Mayor Barrow overruled DiPaola’s amendment on the grounds that it was contrary to the original motion.

DiPaola immediately challenged the mayor’s ruling, which led to a vote on whether council supported the overruling.

A majority of council members -- Deputy Mayors Carmine Perrelli and DiPaola, Ward 1 Coun. Greg Beros, Ward 3. Coun. Castro Liu, Ward 2 Coun. Tom Muench -- voted the ruling down, which allowed DiPaola’s amendment to go forward.

“Disgusting!” “Shameful!”

Cries of “shame” echoed throughout the council chambers as soon as the clerk announced the result of the vote.

“It’s not an amendment. It’s elimination,” yelled Kianoush Farahani, a Richmond Hill resident. “You’re not representing your people at all.”

Farahani was one of the 19 delegates who spoke in support of the land acknowledgement at the council meeting and urged council to adopt West’s motion.

West said he found it "unbelievable" council came to this decision even after a great number of community members showed their support.

“This is obviously choreographed,” West said. “Interestingly, a motion like this could be introduced any time. It could’ve been introduced any time within the last six weeks and I'd have been in full support of this. Obviously, I’m gonna have to support this because this is a good idea.”

The council members who supported West's motion shared the same sentiment.

“This is not something we can vote against because it is a good idea. But it is not a good idea as a replacement of the land acknowledgement,” Cilevitz said.

Most of the audience left the meeting in frustration and indignation after council adopted DiPaola’s motion.

“This is an embarrassment to Richmond Hill at the hands of a group of councillors who seem to have abdicated their mandate of serving their constituents with integrity and honesty,” resident Adriana Pisano Beaumont wrote on Facebook after she spoke in favour of the land acknowledgement before council.

“Sadly, the land acknowledgement has become a casualty of political connivance and manipulation.”

Visit richmondhill.ca for the complete video.