Montreal to hold public meetings on racism

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada

The Canadian city of Montreal will solicit public opinion on the extent of racism after 20,000 residents signed a petition calling for consultations, according to reports Friday.

The city confirmed the 15,000-signature threshold had been achieved that, under municipal bylaw, forces the city to act on a petition.

The petition calls for the consultations to look at “the problems and the barriers, like the under-representation of racial and ethnic diversity in employment and in nominations to municipal and (municipality-created) organizations.”

Montreal, in the province of Quebec, is the second largest city in Canada and ranks eighth in North America, with a population around 1.7 million. About a third of city residents were born in other countries.

A Canadian Broadcast Company study in 2016 showed that despite the large number of visible minorities, they only make up 11 percent of the workforce.

Montreal in Action, the group that spurred the petition, and its spokesperson Balarama Holness said gathering the signatures in a 90-day period was comparatively easy.

“The real work begins now,” he said Friday in a press release to Canadian media. “This public consultation’s success and impact depends on the collaboration of organizations, leaders, academics and citizens from across the city.”

Holness said to fully explore the extent of systemic racism and discrimination in Montreal it will be necessary for individuals to come forward during consultations, even if some find it uncomfortable.

“I think this consultation will be a safe place where people can feel secure and come to voice their experiences,” he said. “Even if you haven’t experienced racial profiling, housing discrimination or (aggression) in the workplace, being cognizant of these (situations), we want these people to come to the table and support and supply solutions.”

It was not known when the consultations will begin.

Montreal is a diversified city with more than half the population French-speaking. Canada is an officially bilingual country of French and English but the official language in Quebec is French. Muslims make up about 6 percent, or 154,000 of Montreal’s population, Chinese 92,000 and 36,000 Jewish.

The Quebec government passed a law last year that would force anyone wearing a face covering to remove it while using or giving public services, such as riding a bus.

The law has been in limbo since a judge ordered a stay, ruling it could cause irreparable harm to Muslim women and that the law violates the freedoms guaranteed by Quebec and the Canadian charters of rights.