Hamilton city council has committed to taking an equity and inclusion lens to municipal decisions going forward.
Two weeks ago, Mayor Fred Eisenberger brought a motion to city council to implement a new equity, diversity and inclusion lens into city policies.
The motion passed unanimously and calls for a report to be brought forward on how to introduce an EDI lens to all city initiatives.
Attached to the motion was a draft version of an equity, diversity and inclusion handbook.
The motion also includes an allocation of $5,000 for city council to hold an EDI summit.
The new lens builds on the recommendations highlighted in Hamilton’s equity and inclusion policy implemented in 2010.
Ward 1 councillor Maureen Wilson said an EDI lens will require the city to be more specific and concrete when it incorporates equity and inclusion into different policies.
According to Wilson, it is not about quotas and targets, but about a shift in decision-making that will require city council to include the perspectives of all communities.
The EDI lens will first be applied to issues concerning housing and homelessness.
However, Wilson sees potential for it to affect how the city envisions issues like transit, helping to consider the ways that different communities, like women or bikers, get around in Hamilton.
Eisenberger’s motion followed debate at city councillor over the city manager search committee and interview process, which some individuals, including Wilson and Ward 3 councillor Nrinder Nann, criticized for not taking a diverse and inclusive approach.
Denise Christopherson, the CEO of the YWCA Hamilton and chair of the status of women committee, has called for city council to adopt an EDI framework for years.
Christopherson said she is encouraged by the support for the motion at city council and appreciative of the efforts of Wilson and Nann in pushing this forward.
“It’s been in the works for a long time,” Christopherson said. “To develop a framework, this is going to be a multi-year work project that hopefully gets ingrained in everything they do at city hall. So when they're putting forward a proposal, it’s about, have they gone through the lens of inclusion? Who have they consulted with?”
The YWCA Hamilton currently runs multiple programs providing housing for non-binary people and women without places to stay.
Christopherson is hopeful that the new lens will result in more funding for programs like these.
“I like to say that the city should have a hand in all marginalized communities,” Christopherson said. “Hopefully we see more investment in those necessary programs.”
Community organizer Sophie Geffros is also optimistic about the new lens and what it could mean for current city council issues.
“I’m cautiously excited about it, because it signals to me that the city is at least beginning to acknowledge that designing a city around the needs of straight, white, middle class, able bodied men is not just ineffective but can be actively harmful for its marginalized citizens,” Geffros said.
As the city still awaits a report on how the lens will be implemented, activists and supporters of the motion are hopeful about the many policy areas a city-wide EDI framework could effect change in.
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Following a month marked by hundreds of missed hours of Hamilton Street Railway service, Environment Hamilton, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for environmental protection, held a meeting at Hamilton City Hall.
Environment Hamilton’s Emergency HSR Riders Meeting, which took place on Nov. 14, called for HSR users to voice their concerns about the transit system.
The meeting included presentations from a number of relevant speakers and a question and answer period.
Sara Mayo, a social planner from the Social Planning Research Council of Hamilton, spoke about the need for increased HSR funding in Hamilton.
While she noted that, between 2013 and 2016, there was a 15.1 per cent increase in municipal HSR funding, Mayo acknowledged that there are still areas to improve.
Ryan Deshpande, McMaster Students Union vice president (Education) and Stephanie Bertolo, MSU associate vice president (Municipal Affairs), spoke about McMaster students’ persisting problems with the HSR.
“For many of us — low-income students, international students, working students — the HSR is our only option for transportation.”
Stephanie Bertolo
MSU associate vice president
(Municipal Affairs)
“A commute from the mountain to McMaster can be anywhere from 40 minutes to over 1.5 hours.… Our students on the mountain and amalgamated parts of Hamilton are not properly served by the HSR,” said Bertolo. “For many of us — low-income students, international students, working students — the HSR is our only option for transportation.”
Deshpande proposed that Hamilton City Council make substantial investments into transit, arguing that the hiring of 58 additional bus drivers is only a short-term solution with the lack of funding being the core problem.
“We would like our contribution to the HSR system to be valued. More than that, we want every rider to get the HSR service they deserve from every part of this city,” said Deshpande.
Two other speakers included Don McLean, co-founder of Environment Hamilton, and Dennis Guy, the Manager of Customer Experience and Innovation at the HSR.
McLean talked about the nuances and expressed concerns of the HSR funding system and how residents who live in suburbs pay increasingly less compared to residents who live in the City of Hamilton.
Guy spoke about the 10-year local transit strategy and where the HSR sits under the status quo.
During the question and answer period, HSR users voiced a number of concerns with Hamilton transit.
One commonly highlighted issue was the inconsistency of wheelchair accessibility on the HSR.
Another critique concerned the HSR’s lack of accountability when it comes to racism and islamophobia within the HSR, particularly against Syrian and Somali newcomers.
Most of the complaints, however, stemmed from the fact that HSR drivers continue to be overworked.
During the question and answer period, Sheldon Albricht from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107 stated that it is not uncommon for HSR drivers to work 10 hours without leaving their seat.
In addition to criticizing the HSR on a number of grounds, many attendees proposed ways to improve it.
One attendee, for instance, encouraged all councillors and HSR employees ride the HSR to and from work for a month.
Another attendee emphasized the need for drivers to receive more robust accessibility training.
Others suggested that the HSR schedule more breaks for drivers and encourage drivers to ensure that all seats are occupied before deeming their buses full.
The HSR’s most pressing problems won’t evaporate anytime soon. Nevertheless, users and MSU representatives are voicing their concerns and working to improve the transit system.
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By: Joey Coleman
Hamilton city council isn’t anti-student, it’s pro-vote. Since students don’t vote, city council doesn’t care about your issues, and the result is they make decisions against your interests.
In the 2006 municipal election, only 10 students voted at the on-campus polling. The city did not repeat the experiment of on-campus voting in 2010 or 2014, citing the high cost for so few votes.
Considering the damage this low turnout did to student power at city hall, this was probably a good thing.
Since 2006, for the past decade, whenever the HSR lacked drivers, buses were pulled from the 51-University. Five seniors on a grocery shuttle charter take priority over hundreds of McMaster students left waiting on the university line.
Why? Because that grocery charter had five more voters than the university line.
Writing for this newspaper from 2006 to 2009, I regularly opined on anti-student sentiment in the community. I was especially critical of over-policing and targeting of the student community by mayor Fred Eisenberger and councillor Brian McHattie.
I thought as an undergraduate that council was anti-student and it wasn’t until a 2009 discussion on Parliament Hill with a McMaster professor that I realized they were not anti-student, they were pro-vote. The very small anti-student minority in Ainslie Wood and Westdale vote, and they put more ballots in the box than students.
Traditionally, McMaster Students Union presidents have shown up at city hall to declare their position as the “Chief Executive Officer of a multi-million dollar corporation and major employer in our community”, bought tickets to civic events and participate in photo ops.
In the 2006 municipal election, only 10 students voted at the on-campus polling. The city did not repeat the experiment of on-campus voting in 2010 or 2014, citing the high cost for so few votes.
This spring, that changed. This year’s MSU president is regularly at city hall challenging the status quo, representing students and acting on students’ material interests.
Wisely, he empowers the vice president (Education) and associate vice president (Municipal Affairs) to challenge city hall’s targeted bylaw enforcement of students, lack of consideration of student housing issues at the rental housing committee, and starting to plan to mobilize student voters.
The combination of Silhouette coverage and MSU action is already seeing results. The HSR stopped removing the 51-University bus from service as city hall legitimately fears this year’s MSU will take actions and not merely use words to protect student interests.
On Oct. 26, the Silhouette published an editorial suggesting that it is time for students to reconsider the UPass in light of the city failing to live up to its obligations.
The day prior, Oct. 25, the MSU president, Chukky Ibe, stood in front of the Ontario Municipal Board to testify against a city attempt to split Ainslie Wood into two wards and remove the ability of students to effectively influence Council races.
Ibe told the board that students are “often scapegoated for political gain”. He provided an excellent statement on behalf of MSU members, one that I expect will be cited in the pending ruling if the OMB rules against the split.
The MSU standing up to city council in a quasi-judicial hearing is unprecedented — it made the MSU a legitimate force at city hall.
Students are a significant source of revenue for the HSR, and the only new revenue this year. All HSR fare categories, except post-secondary students, were frozen this year. The HSR cannot afford to lose your money.
Both the Silhouette and the MSU have started planning for the October 2018 municipal election. city hall is hedging their earlier bet that students don’t vote.
It is no coincidence that the HSR reversed its decade-old practice of always cutting buses to McMaster first when buses weren’t available — effective student journalism, MSU representation, and the possibility of students voting next year combined to create his reversal.
The city doesn’t care if thousands of students are not getting bus service, but it does care if those students become voters.
The question now is: are you going to vote next year, or will you leave the next decade of McMaster students standing at the curb waiting for buses that won’t come?
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Following multiple speeches in favour, city council has voted to implement a city-wide protocol aiming to protect trans people in Hamilton.
Trans rights have been a topic in Hamilton ever since the city reached a legal settlement with a trans woman after she was denied entry to a women’s washroom in April 2016, and when anti-trans ads were put up in bus shelters in August 2016. Following these experiences, the city created a working group to codify gender identity into the Hamilton bylaws to ensure equality for all individuals.
On Mar. 6, city council’s audit, finance and administration committees approved the protocol following various presentations from different groups both in favour and against the protocol.
The protocol saw immense support from the McMaster, with delegations from the McMaster Students Union’s Queer Students Community Centre and the Equity and Inclusion office, among others.
“I have never felt safe or secure in this city. Even now, as I’ve listened to past presenters, I sat trembling in my seat, fearful for myself and my own well-being,” said Daniel Blum, on behalf of the MSU’s Transgender Community Group. “This cannot be the safest place to raise a child nor to be a child growing until all children, including transgender children, may feel safe and secure in all areas of our city.”
“We say that trans rights are human rights, so why must we come up here and prove that we are human enough, that we feel pain enough for this protocol to pass?” said Tai Jacob, on behalf of the MSU’s Women and Gender Equity Network. “The protections granted to trans and gender nonconforming people, through this protocol, tell us that we are welcome in city spaces.”
Multiple groups reviewed this protocol, namely the Ontario Human Rights Commission and an independent lawyer who specializes in human rights and trans rights.
The protocol aims to protect trans people employed by the city and to provide a clear set of guidelines in order to foster a more inclusive environment.
It includes policies giving trans employees the right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to their gender. The protocol formally ensures all information concerning health, and especially sex reassignment surgery, is kept confidential unless completely necessary to share such information.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="49" gal_title="Trans Protocol"]
The protocol formally states individuals have the right to choose their own pronouns, a thought in line with the supposition that all individuals are able to pick their gender.
It also limits the data that may be collected about gender, arguing that this information must prove to be crucial in order for such a survey to be allowed in these settings. It also states when information concerning gender be collected, that it is collected in an open-box format rather than forcing individuals to choose between “male” and “female”.
The protocol entitles individuals to dress in accordance with their gender identity or gender expression without receiving backlash. The protocol commits the city to allowing individuals to use the washroom that corresponds to their gender identity and provides all-gender, single-stall bathroom for those who desire it.
The passing of this protocol marks a historic moment in Hamilton’s LGBTQ history, and illustrates a push towards support for marginalized groups in the city.
Compiled by Karianne Matte and Alex Rockingham
Cane-wielding phone bandit arrested
Hamilton Police have arrested a woman who they say is a cane-wielding phone bandit. Around 1 p.m. last Tuesday, a 21-year-old woman was robbed of her cell phone and beaten with a cane by a woman at the corner Mohawk West and Upper Paradise road. The police located the woman, a 50-year-old Hamilton native, suspected of committing the robbery within the area and charged her with robbery with a weapon. Police declined to reveal the suspect’s name as she was released on a promise to appear in court on Nov. 7.
Pan-Am velodrome project axed
The Hamilton City Council has decided to kill the controversial velodrome project. After a lengthy debate at City Hall, the council decided to cap its proposed contribution to the cycling centre at $5 million, a mere fraction of the $22.5 million that was requested. Pan-Am Games CEO Ian Troop said the city’s offer was not enough to go through with the project. He then said the 2015 Pan-Am games “will pursue discussions with other municipalities who have expressed interest in this significant legacy facility.”
More Ontarian students are choosing to go to college
Colleges Ontario recorded their highest ever first-year enrollment this fall. Colleges Ontario says that student enrollment in Ontario’s 24 applied arts and technology colleges has risen more than 20 percent than five years ago. More than 116,000 first-year students have enrolled in full-time classes this fall. Colleges Ontario released statistics that showed that, even during a recession, more than 83 per cent of college graduates were hired within six months of graduating.
Ghosts, goblins and ghouls for half price?
While the Waterdown Rotary Club’s haunted house has come to an end, its contents are being sold and all the proceeds will be collected for charity. The haunted house, a long-standing Waterdown attraction for decades, had helped raise money for the alleviation of worldwide poverty. The owners have said they will continue to donate all the money they’ve earned from setting up these household haunts to charitable funds.
