Newmarket council backs report to dismantle anti-Black racism

Task force says Black community living with "trauma and pain" in Newmarket

Newmarkettoday.ca
Dec. 7, 2021
Joseph Quigley

Newmarket council committed to dismantling anti-Back racism within the municipality as it backed a report highlighting systematic discrimination in the town.

The Newmarket anti-racism task force delivered its final report Dec. 6. It includes 117 recommendations toward supporting the Black community and addressing inequalities. Council agreed to work towards fulfilling those recommendations and directed staff for an implementation plan no later than the second quarter of 2022.

Task force chair Jerisha Grant-Hall said she wants the report to lead to action.

“We hope this report won’t sit on a shelf as some sort of achievement,” she said. “There is still a lot of trauma and pain that has been experienced and is still being experienced in silence by the young and old in Newmarket.”

The report highlights issues such as representation within the town, discrimination in health care, housing, community culture, education, emergency services and more. It asks the town to advocate to address wide societal racism, as well as internal changes such as an employment equity plan and more honouring of Black people. The report also recommends an implementation committee, a racial equity tool for routine decision making and quarterly reports on the file with key performance indicators.

The report features many quotes from Newmarket’s Black community, highlighting the impacts of discrimination.

“People of Colour are not part of the town’s identity right now. Newmarket is a ‘White town’ as far as the perception goes but when 40-50% of the town is racialized ...so we need representation,” one interview said in the report.

Every council member commented in support of the report and expressed appreciation for the effort.

Councillor Grace Simon said it was important to discuss racism in the home and with those we love, even if difficult.

“We thank you that you’re bringing a voice to the people that don’t feel heard,” Simon said. “I want us all to encourage one another to sit at our table at our homes and have a greater discussion with our children.”

Mayor John Taylor reflected on Grant-Hall presenting before an entirely white council, with a wall of former municipal leaders in council chambers, none of whom are diverse.

“This is a table of white people. People that come from a place of privilege and advantages,” he said. “These are things we have to have conversations about. It’s going to be awkward, and people are not always going to agree, and we need to have those conversations.”

He said some will point out other groups also experience racism beyond the Black community. He said those conversations should happen, but separately.

“These are experiences, discrimination, racism, rooted in a particular history, and we need to respect that,” Taylor said. “We need to have conversations with as many people as we can have in the community.”

Grant-Hall thanked councillors for their comments but said there is uncertainty about what comes next.

“This is deeply wounding. I know that there is a deep sense of mistrust in the community as it relates to getting the work done,” she said. “I know that the community is cautiously optimistic, as is myself.”

Grant-Hall added there is confidence in the town leadership but there is more to be done.

“I am always suspicious of the word progress,” she said. “Anti-black racism is violence, and so when we say we have made some progress, it feels like what we’re saying is, ‘It’s okay, a little less racism today, is better than a lot of racism yesterday.’”