New policy aimed at countering Islamophobia was put on hold by Region of Waterloo council Wednesday evening, after the group that helped draft the motion said integral components were left out.
The Coalition of Muslim Women of KW (CMW) submitted recommendations to council, which included long-term regional funding to the Hate and Discrimination Reporting and Support Program, once funding from the federal government expires next month.
The group said its request for regional funding was left off the table ahead of Wednesday's vote.
"We provided data information about our model and even a yearly budget, at the request of the region. However, the final report submitted completely omitted the funding piece and closed the door on the exploring anti-harassment bylaws by suggesting an existing bylaw be used instead," Fauzia Mazhar, executive director of the Coalition of Muslim Women of KW said during Wednesday's meeting.
Mazhar added that the group was excluded from the report writing phase completely and did not see the final report until it went public.
"This act of omission and exclusion has shaken my own belief in the region's own assurances of systemic change and commitment to anti-racism."
The Hate and Discrimination Reporting and Support Program was designed to allow anyone to report incidents while also offering support for victims.
The coalition said the program is unlike other recommendations because the service offered can make a real difference in the community.
"This third party community based program is cost effective, it is prevention work, it is upstream work and it is proven effective. This is a great chance for the region to take up this fully functional system to make a difference in the community safety and well-being. This will be precedent-setting action for other Canadian municipalities as well," said CMW member Sarah Shafiq.
“What we were asking from the region is to test out investment in an upstream, community lead, community-based, community safety intervention,” said Mazhar. “The community needs to be engaged in the whole 360 of the process. Not just at the initial knowledge gathering phase.”
Council agreed to add the funding request to the table and reschedule the vote to another meeting in the future.
“We know people are really traumatized by the acts of racism and hatred,” said regional chair Karen Redman. “We believe that we can always enhance our communication. I know there was lots of consultation over a series of months. We need to continue to keep talking and we need to continue to keep listening.”
Redman added they want to step up to support the community to combat Islamophobia.
“We know there are many acts of violence that are happening specifically around Isalmophobia. We are happy to step up with our community support in battling that,” Redman said.
The Coalition of Muslim Women of KW also proposed that the region evaluate the usage and effectiveness of by-law enforcement in dealing with racial harassment for a suggested timeframe of one year, then release the relevant data to the public.
Here are the recommendations tabled by the Region of Waterloo:
- Commitment to recognize Jan. 29 as the National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and annual day of commemoration of the victims
- Continued participation in the Green Square Campaign
- Regional staff collaborates with CMW and other local groups on strategies to counter Islamophobia
- Establish anti-Islamophobia training for regional staff
- Explore existing programing and services to offer better anti-Islamophobia education
- Utilize recommendations in alignment with the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan
- Ensure regional facilities and services are safe and welcoming through enforcement of existing bylaws
