May 6, 2024<\/p>\n
Good evening Mayor, Councillors, Staff, Wilmot Citizen Viewers<\/p>\n
I\u2019m here to supplement some Correspondence, appearing on the agenda as Item ______. The correspondence addresses items arising out of staff reports submitted to the Council. The items are the need to change the decision-making process used by the Council and staff regarding the rare issues of significant concern, and well as the decision-making process around the Prime Ministers Path project specifically.<\/p>\n
The staff report, CAO-2024-03, was publicly presented to the Council on February 26, 2024. On March 25, 2024, Report CAO-2024-04 was presented and discussed and the Council chose Option #1.<\/p>\n
Option #1 was, \u201cMaintain Current Direction<\/em> and Create a Working Group Comprised of a Balanced Representation of the Individuals and Communities within Wilmot Township.\u201d<\/p>\n The March 25th<\/sup> verbal presentation to the Council included the statement that the CAO office intended to hire a consultant to lead a Strategic Planning process that may or may not include the PMP project. Subsequently, it was acknowledged that, in fact, a firm, Linton Consulting, had already been awarded a contract to conduct a Strategic Planning process, and in fact that firm had already started its consultations with staff and Council members, and was imminently going to progress to wide public consultation meetings throughout the Wilmot community.<\/p>\n The presentation also included a couple of times, the statement, \u201cIf Council chooses to change direction, then\u2026.<\/em>\u201d. The implication appeared to be if option #1 was not chosen, then the July 5, 2021 motion by the previous Council would have to be rescinded and replaced with a new direction. The statement was made that option #1 was the best option of the 3 presented, as it would include a working group of citizens. Because the working group was confirmed as being the driver of the revised process, the Council voted to accept option #1.<\/p>\n CAO Report-2024-03 and CAO Report-2024-06, both include a project timeline. The wording in the Report CAO-2024-06 (April 8, 2024) was this:<\/p>\n \u201cThe proposed timeline will stage the work in conjunction with<\/strong> the Township\u2019s strategic planning process, as follows;<\/em><\/p>\n I tried to imagine how this would be operationalized \u2013 put into practice. I reviewed the information available in the presentations:<\/p>\n As usual, I have recommendations for the Council to act on:<\/p>\n xx.x\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Councillor (_____________) Regarding Prime Ministers Path Project: Next Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Councillor (_____________) has given notice to introduce the following motion for consideration on this date:<\/p>\n RECOMMENDATION<\/strong><\/p>\n WHEREAS Council recognizes the importance of transparency, accountability, and public consultation in municipal governance;<\/p>\n WHEREAS Council recognizes that broad-based community consultation on issues of recognized high public interest, such as the Next Steps regarding the Prime Ministers Path Project, requires a process which is not directed top-down but provides for full Wilmot citizens\u2019 participation;<\/p>\n WHEREAS Council recognizes that any confusion about which direction the PMP project is moving toward must be avoided;<\/p>\n WHEREAS Council recognizes that the implications of its present \u201cMaintain the Current Direction\u2026\u201d statement may not be clearly understood by all in Wilmot;<\/p>\n THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that staff is directed to:<\/p>\n BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT staff is directed to:<\/p>\n This working group will develop and suggest plans for the implementation of the next steps, centred on community cohesion and healing, which will;<\/p>\n BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED THAT the By-Law No. 2021-35 is rescinded immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Personal Addendum<\/u>:<\/p>\n THIS IS NOT AN INDIGENOUS ISSUE \u2013 ONLY<\/strong><\/p>\n The reaction of some people by vandalizing one statue of a Prime Minister was stimulated by grievances of ONE identifiable group, Indigenous people. They associated a statue with resurrected information about a Canadian government policy that extended over many \u2018eras\u2019. They \u201cblamed\u201d one statue as a symbol of their grievances. It was probably easier to focus their message on one statue rather than dump paint on all statues of all P.M.s during whose leadership these grievances perpetuated.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat factual information do we have about our history?\u201d \u201cWhat knowledge do we have as a result of that probably incomplete and inaccurate information?\u201d \u201cHow does that incomplete knowledge result in making inaccurate conclusions about our present?\u201d \u201cHow do we change our bag of information, our knowledge of events in a broader perspective about all that information, and how do we discuss our different perspectives before coming to conclusions and designing plans of action so as not to repeat errors of the past?\u201d<\/p>\n Answer: The PMP Project<\/strong><\/p>\n The PMP project was organized around eras of history; potentially before the 1st<\/sup> PM, and during the \u2018era\u2019 of each PM. A statue served as the attraction\/focal point and an educational component to facilitate learning, discussion, and comparisons of \u201cera values\u201d. There was the potential for reconciliation with all of our past \u201cgrievances\u201d. The educational component was to be essential. It was intended to complement and supplement the viewers\u2019 experiences. That educational component was in the process of development by Nipissing University and a significant portion of that educational component existed. (Hopefully, it still does.)<\/p>\n There are numerous examples throughout the world\u2019s history, and thus in Canada\u2019s history of identifiable groups being targeted\u201d or feeling aggrieved about their treatment by fellow citizens.<\/p>\n It should be noted that all \u201cbad\u201d actions that result in \u201cidentifiable\u201d individuals or groups feeling \u201ctargeted\u201d or \u201caggrieved\u201d do NOT reflect the views of any particular Prime Minister. Some events DO reflect the personal views of a Prime Minister. There are some events that reflect the views of a particular Prime Minister because they are COMMONLY HELD VIEWS of the Canadian population AT THAT TIME in our history.<\/p>\n We should avoid \u201ccherry-picking\u201d examples of grievous events (as some listed below are) without first putting them into the context of the views of the time they occurred.<\/p>\n This applies to events BEFORE Canada became a \u201cnation\u201d and there were no Prime ministers, as well as after July 1, 1867. We should distinguish between events that are \u201cone-offs\u201d and \u201cpatterns\u201d of behaviour.\u00a0 I suggest that individuals Municipalities and the courts can deal with the \u201cone-offs\u201d in a practical manner. Sociologists and psychologists would probably advise that \u201cattitude and behaviour change\u201d in large groups is extremely challenging. I suggest that long-term \u201cpatterns\u201d of behaviour require more complicated strategies with significant support resources over long periods of time. We should recognize the difference between things we can influence and the things we can control. I believe the PMP project has the potential to \u201cinfluence\u201d attitudes and thus behaviours. It will not eliminate racism in Wilmot, and nothing this Council does or does not do (dispose of the statues) will control that.<\/p>\n Some random selections of events in Canada\u2019s history when identifiable individuals or groups were targeted or aggrieved<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n P.M. all of the first 13<\/span><\/p>\n 1848-1960 \u2013 Africville was a derelict neighbourhood on the edge of Halifax. It was where escaped African slaves from the US, & their descendants were located. Nearby were relocated railroad tracks, sewage disposal pits, an open dump, with 70 negro families living in deplorable conditions. The city removed them from their homes, moved their belongings in city garbage trucks into the city, paid them $500 for their houses and declared the end of racism in the city of Halifax.<\/p>\n P.M. J.A. Macdonald<\/span><\/p>\n 1880 \u2013 1885 – 15,000 Chinese were brought to B.C. to build the C.P.R. and paid $1\/day to do the most dangerous work with thousands being killed at work.<\/p>\n P.M. John Abbott<\/span><\/p>\n 1900 – A Chinese head tax of $500 was placed on immigrants. Gangs riotously attacked Chinese and Japanese neighbourhoods. Chinese were forbidden from voting.<\/p>\n P.M. Robert Borden<\/span><\/p>\n 1913 Women were forbidden from voting.<\/p>\n P.M. Robert Borden<\/span><\/p>\n 1914 \u2013 Ontario decided that the only language of instruction in its schools would be English. (In opposition to the Canada Act)<\/p>\n P.M. Robert Borden<\/span><\/p>\n 1915 – During the First World War, many were interned in prison camps near Kapuskasing as perceived enemy aliens: Germans, Ukrainians<\/p>\n 1914 – 1920 \u2013 Berlin renamed Kitchener, 80,000 \u201cenemy aliens\u201d were forced to report monthly or were interned, (Ukrainians, Germans, Bulgarians, Turks, Croats, Serbs), a further 8,579 were interned in 24 work camps scattered across Canada (1,200 prisoners including 60 women & children were prisoners, held at gunpoint, at Camp Spirit Lake near Amos, Abitibi Region, with 100s of km of forest surrounding them)<\/p>\n P.M. Robert Borden<\/span><\/p>\n 1919 \u2013 Winnipeg General Strike anger based on inability to find work, and blamed recent immigrants for taking away their jobs<\/p>\n P.M. William L.M. King<\/span><\/p>\n 1938 \u2013 Kristallnacht (Broken Glass) in Berlin > Jewish immigrants were refused entry to Canada, raised the amount of capital required to enter Canada to $15,000, had to prove they were farmers, P.M. King bought all the land around his house to prevent Jews from becoming a neighbour, 907 Jewish immigrants on board the St. Louis<\/em> ship were turned away<\/p>\n P.M. William L.M. King<\/span><\/p>\n 1941 \u2013 WW2 \u2013 1.200 fishing boats belonging to Japanese Canadians were impounded and sold<\/p>\n Jan. 14, 1942 \u2013 all the male Japanese Canadians between 18 & 45 were taken to camps in the B.C. interior, intent was to remove all Japanese from B.C. forever<\/p>\n Feb. 26, 1942 \u2013 21,000 Japanese Canadians were allowed 1 suitcase each and \u201ctaken to livestock barns, photographed, finger-printed, given ID numbers\u201d and after months of being herded into confinement in Vancouver were put on trains and relocated with families split apart, some to B.C. interior, others to Manitoba and Alberta to work on farms.<\/p>\n Jan. 19, 1943 \u2013 Fed. Gov\u2019t. passed a law authorizing the sale of all seized Japanese properties without their consent.<\/p>\n P.M. Louis St. Lau<\/span>rent<\/p>\n 1949 \u2013 the gov\u2019t. removed the prohibition against Japanese-Canadians settling in B.C.<\/p>\n P.M. Lester B. Pearson & P. Trudeau<\/span><\/p>\n 1967 & 1978 \u2013 immigration laws were revised to remove most of the racist barriers to immigration > large inflow of East Indians, West Indians, Portuguese, Greeks, and Italians > racist reactions<\/em> to Sikh beards, turbans, saris > RCMP permitted Sikhs to wear turbans<\/p>\n P.M. Justin Trudeau<\/span><\/p>\n June 6, 2021 \u2013 the Afzaal family of 5 was walking on a sidewalk in London, Ont. when they were intentionally run over by a truck. 4 adults were killed and a young boy was orphaned. The Judge said at sentencing, \u201cThe offender did not know the victims. He had never met them. He killed them because they were Muslim.\u201d<\/p>\n Etc.<\/p>\n The 2018-2022 Wilmot Council\u2019s reaction was myopic. It associated this grievance targeted at one past Prime Minister with all Prime Ministers, all their statues, and the entire Prime Ministers Path project.<\/p>\n The Council\u2019s choice was to acquire some \u201coutside\u201d advice and it hired a consultant. I believe that their choice of a consultant was prejudiced by the fact that the identifiable group that acted out to attract the world\u2019s attention to their grievances was \u201cIndigenous\u201d. The previous Council did not do its \u201cdue diligence\u201d in analyzing the fundamental nature of concern. The Council jumped prematurely to the conclusion that the issue was \u201cIndigenous\u201d. I allege that the issue was NOT INDIGENOUS ONLY. I suggest that the accurate issue is: \u201cA lot of \u2018bad\u2019 stuff has happened to a lot of identifiable individuals and groups before and after July 1, 1867, and it is NOT JUST an Indigenous issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Hiring an Indigenous consultant was prejudiced<\/u> in that the Council assumed it was ONLY an Indigenous issue. When they hired a consultant, I suggest that a myopic Council did not, or maybe cynically it did anticipate the result. At least 3 of the previous Councillors suddenly reversed their long-held positions becoming vociferous advocates focused on the Indigenous aspect of a much larger issue, it ignored the statistical input from delegates to the Council, and had their written comments prepared before any delegations and it voted on the issue.<\/p>\n The public identified this flaw in the decision-making process and the election results directed the new Council to restart this decision-making process by consulting with them before making a decision about the statues and the entire project with an educational component. They spoke clearly that they wanted a \u201cdo-over\u201d, not a \u201cmaintain the direction\u201d process. Option #1 as it exists is NOT a \u201cdo-over\u201d, it is a \u201cmaintain the direction\u201d which is to get rid of the statues because the July 5, 2021 \u201cdirection\u201d mandates that everything else is a fait accompli > no expansion, no further investment = the PMP project is dead. Option #1 is a fiasco!<\/p>\n How do we learn, discuss a path forward and reconcile our understandings maybe resulting in some larger degree of cohesion than presently exists in Wilmot? How can we \u201cinfluence\u201d a potential change in attitudes?<\/p>\n See pages 7 \u2013 11<\/p>\n Thank you for your interest.<\/p>\n Barry Wolfe<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 6, 2024 Good evening Mayor, Councillors, Staff, Wilmot Citizen Viewers I\u2019m here to supplement some Correspondence, appearing on the agenda as Item ______. The correspondence addresses items arising out of staff reports submitted to the Council. 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