‘We still have to shame them into doing the right thing’: Vaughan is taking steps, but is it doing enough to fight racism?

Thestar.com
Sept. 24, 2020
Royson James

he city of Vaughan is coming late to the anti-Black racism party.

This past week, the York Region District School Board relented and voted to change the name of Vaughan Secondary School. Back in June, city council succumbed to pressure to change the name of the August civic holiday, removing the Vaughan Day name that council attached to it in 2013.

Better late than never, one might say.

The slavery legacy of Benjamin Vaughan is the “What’s in a name” problem. The Jamaican-born Brit, it was revealed by students doing research, did more than own slaves in Jamaica in the 1790s. He actively campaigned against the ending of the slave trade, arguing it would end civilization as we know it.

That revelation, coming after George Floyd and the rekindling of advocacy against anti-Black racism and ongoing trauma faced by people of African descent -- and specific local complaints by Black citizens of Vaughan -- made the school board vote a slam dunk. Ditto the city’s vote to return the August civic holiday to its original Simcoe Day name.

Except we are talking about Vaughan. And Vaughan is proficient at turning gold into dust.

In a stroke of pure advertising genius in the 1990s, the pitchmen positioned Toronto’s northern emerging countryside as “The City Above Toronto.” The slogan’s accompanying jingle and cheeky claims caught everyone’s attention. Yeah, Vaughan!

The marketing success turned out to be fool’s gold -- thanks to Vaughan’s politicians, who could not get out of each other’s way. For a stretch, more than a decade ago, there was not a more dysfunctional council in the history of the Greater Toronto region -- and that’s saying a lot, considering the scandals of the city of York council when Mayor Fergy Brown proved incapable of rooting out the rot in the preamalgamation era.

Vaughan was pure political theatre of the absurd. The city’s first mayor, Lorna Jackson, was a gem for some 19 years. Two mayors later, her daughter, Linda, scrubbed the name clean of any lustre, due to rank unprofessionalism. In between, the name Michael Di Biase became a byword for impropriety, inviting council censure, court conviction and everyday ridicule. In 2008, during the younger Jackson’s term, the entire council, including some of the very scoundrels responsible for the mess, held a news conference to declare non-confidence in Jackson.

So, when Maurizio Bevilacqua arrived from his 22-year sojourn as the city’s rep in the federal Parliament, the people of Vaughan were indeed looking for a saviour. For a decade now, he may not have been the perfect mayor, but Bevilacqua has restored, well, at least repaired, the city’s image.

And then we found out about the Vaughan name -- in the midst of international protests against anti-Black racism -- and started looking at Vaughan again.

Bevilacqua’s staff last month sent me a list of the city’s bona fides which, the email said, “reiterates the mayor’s and council’s commitment to combat anti-Black racism in all its forms.”

For example:

A school, community centre and district park will be renamed the Jean Augustine Complex after the first African Canadian female MP and cabinet minister. Council proclaimed Aug. 1 Emancipation Day, July 18 Nelson Mandela International Day and Jan. 21 as Lincoln Alexander Day. Council approved hiring a diversity and inclusion officer and set in motion the creation of the diversity and engagement task force.

Spread over three pages, the accomplishments seemed impressive. In an interview, Bevilacqua made it clear he has been a long-time ally, not a Johnny-come-lately.

So, what was the trigger for council’s flurry of motions addressing racism, following years of deafness?

“The trigger was my personal awareness,” he said. “I was talking about these issues long before anyone was. I don’t need to be pushed. I listen and act on what is important.”

With such a woke presence, Bevilacqua should have been one of the first politicians to respond to the George Floyd video, the one with a cop’s knee on the Black man’s neck as he died, sparking global outrage last May.

It took Bevilacqua three weeks -- and he had to be pushed, said Shernett Martin, executive director of the Vaughan African Canadian Association (VACA). She said she contacted the mayor, urging him to make a statement because his residents were suffering trauma from the video, as it stirred up memories of the perennial complaints about discrimination and racism in Vaughan.

Since 2004, VACA has been badgering the city to hire a more diverse workforce and provide community space where African-Canadian culture is celebrated, embraced and valued. Bevilacqua has been mayor since 2010. A measure of the relationship is this: VACA has sued the city for $25 million, claiming damages when the city cancelled a Caribbean festival event in 2019 after it started. And there is an outstanding Ontario Human Rights complaint about anti-Black racism from Vaughan staff and councillors.

The battles with the school board are equally divisive. The most sensational clash involved parent Charline Grant, who a school trustee referred to using the N-word. Trustee Nancy Elgie later apologized and resigned.

So Martin and Grant and other advocates are not inclined to praise the city or school board for suddenly moving on recommendations they’ve pushed for during Bevilacqua’s three terms.

“The city of Vaughan has to be shamed into doing something good. They don’t move until we shake the tree,” said Martin. “The oppressed has to constantly teach the oppressor, and in 2020 we still have to shame them into doing the right thing.”