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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-09Clarftwn If this information is required in an alternate format, please contact the IDEA Officer at 905- 623-3379 ext. 2563. Clarington Diversity Advisory Committee Meeting Microsoft Teams Need help? Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 241 379 956 663 Passcode: Crdbfd Dial in by phone +1 289-274-8255„384371305# Canada, Oshawa Thursday, January 9, 2025, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. CDAC Members: Tenzin Shomar Rochelle Thomas (CDAC representative of CABRTF) Koren Kassirer Bev Neblett Lauren Reyes -Grange (CDAC representative of CABRTF) Pranay Gunti Vincent Wong Ron Hooper Starr Lee Grace Councillor Anderson CABRTF Members: Dione Valentine Hawa Mire Nadia Nembhard-Hunt Jodie Glean Angela Todd Anderson Absent: Joseph Adesanya Also Present - Pinder DaSilva (Municipality of Clarington), Donnalee Smith (CLMA), Clarington's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Mary -Anne Dempster, Mayor Foster and Councillor Woo Meeting started at 7:04 pm Clarbgton 1. Land Acknowledgement: The Land Acknowledgement was read by T. Shomar 2. Review and Approval of agenda Moved by B. Neblett; seconded by V. Wong That the agenda for January 9, 2025, be accepted with the following changes: • Agenda item 9 (Review CABRTF Terms of Reference), be moved up to agenda item 7. • New agenda item, Motions to vote in new CABRTF members, be added after agenda item 9. • Add `Other Business' as an agenda item as it was left off in error. Carried 3. Declaration of interest There was no declaration of interest by members. 4. Review of draft Nov 14, 2024, meeting minutes Moved by R. Hooper; seconded by R. Thomas That the minutes from November 14, 2024, CDAC meeting, be approved. Carried 5. Welcome New CDAC Members Introductions of all members, new CDAC members and guest speakers were completed. 6. Guest Speakers: CAO, Mary -Anne Dempster, and Mayor Adrian Foster The CAO, Mary -Anne Dempster, provided an overview of the reason for attending the meeting along with Mayor Foster. M. Dempster shared that some of the Deputy CAO's are presenting at other Committees of Council to discuss and clarify the role of Council committees, sub -committees, Staff Liaison, and Council members. M. Dempster shared the following information: • When CDAC and CABRTF were established one of the primary roles for the Staff Liaison was to help set up the CDAC and CABRTF committees, but the Staff Liaison role was not intended to only support Council committees and sub -committees. • The Staff Liaisons have full-time jobs, and the IDEA Officer is responsible for supporting the organization's inclusion and diversity initiatives. Additionally, the Accessibility portfolio also reports to the IDEA Officer. Clarftwn • CABRTF is a sub -committee of CDAC and there should be someone from CDAC who acts as the representative and secretary for CABRTF. • There have been many requests from different committees, including CABRTF, for Staff to attend meetings but Staff don't have the capacity to attend all the requested meetings. • Any issues and recommendations raised by the committee must follow protocols. Specifically, any recommendations from CDAC need to be put forth as a motion in their minutes which would be pulled by the Council representative at Council meeting for consideration. For CABRTF the motion would go to CDAC and then CDAC would approve the motion and request the Council representative to pull that motion at the next Council meeting. Then it is up to Council to decide and direct Staff on the motion. The direction to Staff to move forward with work does not come from any Council Committees or sub -committees but from Council. M. Dempster further clarified that it has not been R DaSilva who is preventing the Staff from attending the requested meeting but due to capacity it has been difficult for the Staff to find time to attend. M. Dempster shared that she recognizes there were requests for the Communication Manager to attend the CABRTF meeting to discuss the process for moderating social medial remarks and it was M. Dempster that stated this meeting needed to be delayed given that the Communication Division was scheduled to complete a social media audit in 2025. There are procurement procedures that must be followed to find the right consultant to support the audit. M. Dempster shared that the Communication team will attend committee meetings to request feedback on the audit when they are ready. Mayor Foster provided the following overview of the role of Council, specifically Council representatives on committees: • The committees are thereto provide advice to Council and bring expertise and knowledge to help Council with decisions but the recommendations do need to come through the committee's Council representative not directly from the committee. • There will often be constraints on what can be approved or implemented. • There is recognition that the way things are structured today is not optimal and the budget constraints are real. • Clarington is an exceptionally lean municipality and there were significant changes that needed to be made to meet the Council budget. • Budget and resource constraints greatly impact the capacity of Staff to meet the significant requests for Staff time, but the first responsibility of Staff is to go to Council who will determine resources. Clarftwn • That most, but not all, Council committees have a Councillor and Staff Liaison, and the Staff member is there to complete clerical duties only (arrange meetings, agendas, minutes). Question and Answers The role of Staff Liaison was further clarified, specifically that Staff do not take direction from committees and that if Council wants to look into something further, they have to pull the motion from the minutes and then direct Staff. The Municipality has seen that the request for Staff time is growing to an unrealistic expectation, and the Staff have other commitments and work plans. M. Dempster shared that there is not enough capacity to provide continued Staff resources to the CABRTF. Some CABRTF members shared that everyone on the sub -committee is volunteering their personal time as they have a passion for the work, and they bring lots of talent and skills to CABRTF. They shared that historically; they felt there was great commitment from E. Mittag and Councillor Hooper. They were receiving advice and support from them, and they would Like to bring that level of support back so that it is part of the sub -committee. Some CABRTF members requested clarification on who would be responsible for the clerical duties if the Staff Liaison is removed. They shared that as a volunteer group they do not have the time or capacity to take on the duties that the Staff Liaison has been supporting them with. It was explained that one of the sub -committee members would need to take on the role of secretary. Some CABRTF members stated they would like to better understand the municipality's key performance indicators (KPI's) and alignment with CABRTF and CDAC work plans. They stated they are not trying to tell the Staff what to do but perhaps the Staff can provide some guidance related to CABRTF work that Clarington is doing. M. Dempster further explained that committees do not do the work of the Staff and the role of CABRTF is to support and make recommendations to CDAC, not Staff. It is CDAC who makes the recommendations to Council and then Council makes the final decision. M. Dempster stated there has been confusion about the structure of CABRTF, perhaps because it is the only formal sub -committee for Clarington. It appears that in the past CABRTF operated like a Council Committee with a Council representative and Staff Liaison and that clarity should have been provided to CABRTF on their role and structure as a sub- committee of CDAC earlier. It was explained that it is not the norm to have Council member on a sub -committee or have a Staff Liaison. Clarftwn Some CABRTF members shared that there is a high caliber of intelligence, talent and lived experience on the sub -committee and they want to ensure that the Municipality isn't taking this talent for granted. They want to ensure that the work they do doesn't become performative like attending community events and sitting at a booth during an event. Mayor Foster shared that it appears that the CABRTF is asking for a Council Committee structure, not a sub -committee structure and requested feedback on whether this is what the members wanted. Mayor Foster further shared that if that happens, the Municipality will likely need to look at an Anti -Racism Advisory Committee, not an Anti -Black Racism Advisory Committee. Some of the CABRTF members shared their hesitancy to dissolve the CABRTF for an Anti - Racism Advisory Committee, including, • The Terms of Reference would clearly need to differentiate the work that is currently being done by CDAC, including providing support and recommendations to Council on all other forms of racism, and the future work of an Anti -Racism Advisory Committee. The members shared that there would be a lot of gray areas as to what initiatives would be supported by which committee. • Although there are many anti-EDI initiatives coming forward, there is still so much anti -black racism in Clarington that the sub -committee would be hesitant to dissolve it. • When the Black community comes together to do this type of work, there is always a sense of urgency, to shift policies and to represent other Black individuals and families who may not have the voice. This sense of urgency would be lost if it became an Anti -Racism Advisory Committee. • If the work falls under the umbrella of an Anti -Racism Advisory Committee, then the supports and initiatives required to address anti -black racism will not be available. • An Anti -Racism Advisory Committee would not necessarily be able to address all racism related issues in the community and likely would result in creating multiple working groups focused on specific types of racism (anti -Black, Islamophobia, antisemitism etc.). • It is important to not to make anti -black racism more invisible by calling it anti - racism. Mayor Foster shared that as the mayor, he sees the broad needs of the community that need to be addressed, and we do want to hear from other racialized individuals who are experiencing racism in the community. Some CABRTF members stated that if there was a motion put forward to dissolve the CABTRF, their preference would be to form an Anti -Black Racism Advisory Committee. Clarbgton Both Mayor Foster and M. Dempster agreed to take this motion to Council but stated that the current Staff do not have capacity to take on another Council Committee so they would need to request additional Staff be hired to support the IDEA portfolio. This individual would also act as the Staff Liaison for the new committee. Some CABRTF members requested that the mayor also be part of the new committee composition, even if he is only able to attend the meetings on a quarterly basis. Mayor Foster stated that he could not make the commitment to attend every quarter given the busyness of his schedule. He stated he is not saying he will not attend but it will depend on his schedule. Additionally, the January 91" CDAC meeting included the selection and voting in of new CABRTF members as the term for some of the CABRTF members ended December 31, 2024. Some CABRTF members requested that given the conversation regarding governance and structural issues, would it be possible to defer adding new members and instead keep the composition as is? Moved by B. Neblett; seconded by K. Kassirer That CDAC dissolve the CABRTF and request that Council create an Anti -Black Racism Advisory Committee with a Council member and Staff Liaison. Carried Moved by R. Thomas; seconded by L. Reyes -Grange That CDAC defer selecting and voting in new CABRTF members and that all current members of the CABRTF be appointed to the Anti -Black Racism Advisory Committee and have their term extended to the end of this Council term. Carried Due to the length of the meeting, the decision was made defer all other applicable agenda items to CDAC's February meeting. 7. Adjournment Moved by L. Reyes -Grange; seconded by B. Neblett That the CDAC meeting be adjourned at 9:45 pm Carried Next meeting- February 13, 2025, at 7:00pm (Virtual)