'That disease is racism': To whom should Vaughan’s first diversity officer report?

After Black Lives Matter protests, Vaughan announced creation of new role

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 4
Dina Al-Shibeeb

A veteran politician has recommended to Vaughan’s council that its much-anticipated first-ever diversity and inclusion officer should have “direct access” to the city manager.

Jean Augustine, who was honoured and presented with the key to the city by Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua on Oct. 25, made her recommendations about the city manager during a committee of the whole meeting on Nov. 26 addressing diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

The meeting was held after the summertime Black Lives Matter protests in York Region following the brutal killing of U.S. citizen George Floyd. It was also held after the city itself was grappling with an 18-page anti-Black racism report sent to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario last year by the Vaughan African Canadian Association (VACA).

Some examples of anti-Black racism claims included in the report were how the Summer of Sound Festivals Inc. (SOS) was suing the City of Vaughan for $25 million for cancelling the Caribbean cultural festival in August 2018, as well as the City of Vaughan not flying Caribbean flags.

However, at the start of the meeting -- a unique meeting for the city known for being progressive by being the first Ontarian municipality to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and the first in Canada to endorse the leadership accord on gender diversity -- Vaughan's mayor denounced racism as a “disease that must be eliminated” and expressed solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

“While the world continues to battle COVID-19, there is another disease that is still far too present that has claimed far too many innocent lives and that must be eradicated, and that disease is racism,” Bevilacqua said.

So far, the city is in the “later stages” of finally announcing its pick for diversity and inclusion officer after it announced the creation of this new role in July when the U.S.'s protests against anti-Black racism reached Canadian shores.

While VACA didn’t attend the meeting, Augustine described how “popular participation in decision-making and policy formulation processes could be sought for at all levels of governance,” adding, “At the same time, there must be an effort made to achieve transparency and accountability by all decision-makers and stakeholders.”

After Augustine finished her address, Coun. Tony Carella, who is chairing the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, the creation of which Bevilacqua announced in late 2018, asked her who this new officer should report to.

“The individual must have access to the top leadership level,” said Augustine, who became the first African-Canadian to win a federal riding in 1993. She was also behind the introduced motion that led to the creation of Black History Month in Canada.

“That position must be high enough that there is direct access to the city manager, where implementation, where (planning) could be whatever, rather than going to two or three different levels,” she added.

Carella also asked the same question to Nisha Haji from the province’s Anti-Racism Directorate, who said that the police have reported an increase in hate crimes, about the future diversity and inclusion officer's relationship to the City of Vaughan.

In order to “influence decision-making,” Haji said, “I think it is really important to empower that kind of a position with the level of decision-making and autonomy that might be needed.”

York University professor Greg Albo, an expert in Canadian politics and social democracy, weighed in on to whom this new officer should report, which is dependent on the “choice of the functions expected of the new office.”

“If it is to just report as an external agency/office on the progress being made in hiring or even program evaluations here and there, it is best to report to Council as a whole, and given mandates of independence and capacity to review documents,” Albo said. “This frees the office from some political interference in judgment.”

However, if the new officer’s role becomes an “integral” part in “hiring and to expand program diversity and access, it is best to report to the City Manager, as it will be a cross-departmental role and require horizontal managerial practices extending across the public service.”

When Carella asked Haji how to diversity Vaughan’s recruitment, the former advised him to “identify barriers that are prohibiting, for example, the hiring of Black, Indigenous and racialized folks into the city.”

She also said to see what the “specific services and programs” offered to these communities are, as well as collecting data to “understand the baseline.”