At the city council meeting Wednesday, councillors had their hands full with a full agenda that included restrictions on salt use, approving a by-election for Osgoode ward, the purchase of a rural property, and the definition of racism and colonialism in City policy.
Starting off strong, council debated whether or not the City of Ottawa would proceed with the purchase of 5689 Ferry Road for $1,950,000. The waterfront property has been a point of contention among council; a report to committee in January recommended the city acquire the land for environmental stewardship and conservation, but councillors raised concerns.
After deliberation, council approved Coun. Clarke Kelly’s motion to purchase the land and parcel it up to sell two smaller pieces of the property in the future. Councillors Shawn Menard (Capital ward), Marty Carr (Alta Vista ward), Jeff Leiper (Kitchissippi), Rawlson King (Rideau-Rockcliffe) and Jessica Bradley (Gloucester-Southgate) voted in opposition.
Council also voted unanimously to proceed with a by-election for Osgoode ward to replace former councillor George Darouze, who was elected as MPP of Carleton in the provincial election last month.
One of the more controversial discussions of the meeting sparked debate over the definition of racism.
The motion tabled by Coun. Wilson Lo (Barrhaven East) sought to remove the definitions of racism and colonialism in the City’s Cultural Funding Policy, but was ultimately withdrawn.
The current definition describes racism as “a rooted system of power hierarchies based on race—infused in our institutions, policies, and culture—that benefits White people and hurts racialized people.” In his remarks, Lo argued that suggesting that racism benefits white people is divisive, which was supported by Coun. Matt Luloff.
However, Councillors King, Sean Devine (Merivale-Knoxdale), Glen Gower (Stittsville) and Ariel Troster (Somerset) spoke in opposition and encouraged Lo to withdraw the motion.
King, who is the council liaison for anti-racism and the first Black city councillor in Ottawa’s history, said the motion would create “a harmful gap in policy language.”
“It would remove established definitions from a policy that directly impacts diverse communities without proper consultation,” he said. “Removing this language without replacement or consultation really does undermine the very communities this council claims to support.”
Troster echoed his concerns and encouraged the councillors to oppose the motion.
“We can’t ignore the political context of a motion like this coming in where we’re seeing attacks on anti-racism policies and on diversity, equity and inclusion strategies, not just in the U.S. but here in Canada,” said Troster “When we do community consultation, specifically with impacted groups…part of the social contract is that we use that feedback to help make policy better.
“To come at the last minute to council with a motion to arbitrarily strip definitions that were created after a tremendous amount of community consultation, to me, fundamentally breaks the trust between local government and our residents and is really, really unfair,” she continued. “And it’s just a really bad look in the political context that we’re in right now.”
The current definitions in the policy are scheduled for review by council this spring, likely in May, city staff said.
Coun. Tim Tierney, who seconded the motion, also asked Lo to withdraw, saying that there were larger priorities on the table, and that this discussion could wait for the scheduled review.
Meanwhile, Luloff argued that the motion had been “misunderstood” and was not an “attack” on the policy itself.
He also commended Lo for “sticking his neck out” to criticize the definition.
“To use a definition of racism that describes it as benefiting a certain group of people specifically, both untrue and kind of blind to the reality of what we’re seeing in the world and what we’ve seen in the world,” he said.
Lo ultimately withdrew the motion and said he would leave the “bigger conversation” until the lexicon is reviewed later this spring.
During the meeting, the council also approved re-zoning to clear the path for several developments in Kanata, Westboro, Hintonburg and Stittsville.
The meeting honed in on a variety of local issues, from recreational facilities and watermains to public transit, and speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he’s prepared to continue advocating for Ottawa with a federal election on the horizon.
With the federal election campaign underway, Mark Carney will be seeking a seat as a Liberal MP in the House of Commons to represent the Ottawa riding of Nepean.
The Liberal party confirmed the move on social media late Saturday.
The Nepean riding has been held by Liberal MP Chandra Arya for the last decade, but the party recently revoked his nomination.
Sutcliffe met Carney for breakfast in Ottawa on March 10. On Wednesday, he said he’s planning to meet with Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, the mayor of Gatineau, on a “shared vision” of the National Capital Region in the election.
He said he hopes to hear issues like public transit and federal payments are addressed during the campaign.
“As well, we need some action on downtown Ottawa,” he added in response to a question from Ottawa Compass. “And the fact that the federal government is talking about reducing its footprint in the downtown core by as much as 50 per cent, the fact that fewer people are coming downtown every day because of decisions of the federal government…We need to work together on a plan for downtown Ottawa, and they need to support that plan.
“They’re the major employer and the major landowner in downtown Ottawa,” he continued. “So if they’re going to make big changes, they’re going to have an impact on our local economy. We need to work together on the solution.”
