Transcript: Tackling White Supremacist Activity - Emergency and Community Services Committee - March 26, 2026 | Summary 236

Tackling White Supremacist Activity - Emergency and Community Services Committee - March 26, 2026

Sound check. 1 2 3. Sound check. 1 2 3. Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the Emergency Community Services Committee meeting for March 26, 20126. I have in chamber with me um Councelor Cretch, Councelor Nan. I have online with me councelor Wang and councelor Morin Wilson. We do have quorum reminder that all electronic devices are to be switched to a nonaudible function during the committee meeting. Much appreciated. May I have a move and second or to approve the agenda as presented. Moved by councelor Nan, seconded by councelor Wang. Um are there any amendments from the committee members to the agenda? Seeing none, it's a vote by hand. All those in favor of the agenda, please. Thank you. That's unanimous. Are there any declarations of interest today on anything? Seeing none, we'll move on to item number five, which is the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. 5.1 is February 5th, 2026. May I have a mover and a seconder to adopt the minutes of the February 5th, 2026 meeting with the Emergency and Community Services Committee. Moved by Councelor Wang, seconded by Councelor Crutch. This is any discussion on the minutes. Seeing none, with a show of hands, please. All those in favor? And that is carried. Thank you. We're now moving on to item six, uh, which is delegation. 6.1 is Kjo Dampy McMaster University respecting report HSC260005 hate and violence prevention response update citywide item 8.1 and this is an in-person presentation folks in the virtual world. We're just getting the presentation set up on the computer and Kojo is ready to go. There we go. Good afternoon, Kojo. We'll just get your microphone on there. Thank you. Good to see you again, sir. You know the process. 5 minutes. 4 minutes. At the four minute mark, there should be a little ding. Um if not, I'll let you know where you are. Okay. Yes. again whenever you want. We'll start timing from there. All right. Thank you. Um yes, so the purpose of my delegation today is to um add some context to the reports that you're going to be receiving and also to speak to the urgency of the matter. I think one of one of the challenges is that when we talk about hate um many are not understanding what exactly we are talking about. So today I just wanted to kind of focus in on some of the things that are also happening in community, not just the things you might see uh in the in the in the headlines which are are very important. The mouse is not working. It's a gremlin from councelor C. Thank you. Okay. Okay. There you go. So, um, when we talk about hate, the hate is happening everywhere. It's happening in the park. This is Metal Park, downtown Hamilton. Um, and these groups are targeting specific populations right here uh in in Hamilton. And I think it's important for us to also understand as the city that some of this activity is taking place on city property. So when folks are gathering in parks um that that is a problem. There's also uh reporting from the police that also state that there's an increase in hate crimes. And I want to position this comment by saying, you know, the numbers from the police are ones that have to do with criminality. The ones that do not have to do with criminality are never seen or are never addressed with the agency that um we need. I also want to comment that for some of us, we've been talking about hate for a long time. This is uh 2019 right here on the forcourt of the city where uh in the picture we literally have uh declared white supremist that run for mayor in this city in this picture. Right. So they are it's here. We shouldn't be saying there's no place for hate in in in Hamilton. It is here and it's staring us right in the face. We can also take a broader look. This is information from stats Canada that also says across the country hate is also increasing. Right? So whether we're talking about the specificity of Hamilton or in the broader context we have some real issues. Let's focus in on Hamilton. So, one of the groups um that is notorious for uh some of the hate that we will not see in the Hamilton police reporting is a group by nationalist 13. They've done some demonstrations on city property right here in front of the Hamilton sign right in front of uh Gore Park. And you can see in the middle picture they are actually putting their posters on the little description of the landmark. So defacing public property and these are pictures of them right here on city property. So the question also becomes when the hate is happening on city property what is the city going to do? The next thing that I wanted to draw your attention to is that these are the comments on Facebook, right? These are the comments. Some of them are encouraging for uh these languages to continue. Some are saying we need to do something about it. So the hate is also spreading online. On the third picture are some takeaways about how some of these groups are also using political um distrust to recruit members into their uh their groups. I hear my bell so I'll go to the recommendations. Uh just how much how much time do you have left in your presentation overall? Uh, I mean I I could I could say one more thing. Uh, so let's give him a couple more minutes. Okay, couple more minutes. I promise I won't go over a couple more minutes. I also wanted to draw your attention to the middle uh picture here where you have close to 273 people liking the post, right? So the engagement is also spreading, right? and the the the distrust in public institutions, the political conditions that we are in. Uh you know, the the the the demonstration that was done right in front of the sign said no pedophilia in reference to Epstein files and they're using that to recruit people. So on on their Facebook post, what was happening was not the uh the talking of the the the the hate but saying that hey anybody can say no to pedophilia but that is not the actual reason why they were there. They're using it as recruitment. So the hate is also spreading. That's something that I I uh I want I want to draw your attention to. And if this would go to my last slide. Okay, I think there it is. Yes. So I I leave I leave you with a couple of points, right? One, what is the response when these incidents happen on city property? What are the bylaws that are in place to ensure that they don't show up and then nothing happens? And I would also mention that these uh public demonstrations are strategic. They show up for a certain period of time, make their statement, make sure that there are pictures and then they leave. Right. So that is done deliberately. Your report is saying that there should be some support for some community groups and there should be money that should be used for public education awareness prevention initiatives. Yes, that is all great 100%. But with the the recruiting that they are doing, some of this m this money might not be enough. I want you to think about it this way. 50,000 to address hate that is spreading like wildfire. I don't think $50,000 is enough. And also within neighborhoods where we are seeing some of these posts happen, community members are asking what can they do to prevent some of these uh uh uh uh public displays of hate in their neighborhoods. So that is something to that I want the city to pay attention to cuz people are also saying, "Hey, um I don't want my kids seeing that. I don't want other community members seeing that." and they want a response. So those those would be some of my comments. And the last thing I have been saying this from time, we need to also fund the community safety and well-being plan. Not just with with staffing, but with funds that allow neighborhood groups and community organizations to actually respond to the spreading of hate in Hamilton. And I will end it there because I hear too many dings. So the dings were not about the editorial comment on your re presentation. Your presentation it was great. It was just timing. Okay. So um we're going to ask some questions. So stay tight there, please. Councelor Cameron Cretch, you're up first and your microphone is now on. Thanks. I have a notice of motion on the agenda. So if you wouldn't mind sending your recommendations to me, make sure I have them. happy to work with anybody who wants to make improvements to that. That's meant to be something that addresses the recommendations and if we think we can improve them, I can bring something forward next um meeting. I'm leaving it as a notice because I want to be able to invite some feedback about it. You said a bunch of things that are really important there. And when you talked about hate specifically and naming that, you know, where does that word fall short? I mean, it seems people have trouble saying the words white supremacy, right? like that seems to be a difficult two words to put together. Do you think if we were talking about it like that it would have more of a residency? Do we need to have simpler words to talk about this? What is the language that you're identifying you know doing as a barrier here? Yeah. Um so uh my my presentation I did send it to uh Jessica and so Jessica can get it can get it to everybody on the committee. Um I I would I would say that yeah, white supremacy, some of the the uh some of the numerous videos that the nationalist 13 have been posting um they are also couching it as um support for white workers, right? So I think some of the language is also racially based and that is why I think it's important for us to pay attention to that. So when the police also report that racial communities are the ones that are experiencing hate, that is that is that is the connection there that the language has a a a racial undertone. It might not lead to the criminality but that is the undertone that is being used and it's saying that I think uh I'll quote one of the videos um uh one of the leaders said you know Canada is a a European country and so there shouldn't be any non-Europeans uh in this country right so that is the the ideology that they are spreading so then when you mix in uh the discussions around immigration Now that becomes the mass deportation uh uh public uh uh protest that they are doing to really hone in uh people that might be uh discontent and they're using it as recruitment. And the the the other piece is that their recruitment also involves going to the gym and then also doing outdoor activities like barbecuing and talking about stuff, going on hikes. So that's the unseen part and we are always focused on the public uh display. So that's like the purpose of my presentation here is to say that like there's actual recruitment going on and the city really needs to pay attention to that component of uh these um this hate rhetoric that is racial um describes white supremacistic uh white supremacy ideas. Counselor. Yeah. Two more questions from me. As a member of the police board, I've been there when there's been presentations about hate crimes, hate bias reporting, hate incidents. We could talk about this and continue to fragment that idea. There are official ways that the laws of our country uphold how hate works. In my experience, and I'm looking for your comment on this, it ain't working for describing it. I mean, there may be a legal way or a criminal way to address these issues, but we need a social way to address these issues. We need to be able to talk about these things plainly and when they happen, uh, it doesn't seem like we have a vocabulary yet that we're using consistently. Can you speak about that because I think we get trapped into a place where we're talking about a very specific legislative thing which is not the majority of the kinds of things that are actually happening or doesn't rise to the bar. And I'm not going to spend time here. Neither is anybody else trying to change the federal law. It's not our role here. So then what are we doing in that space otherwise I have one more question for you. Yeah. Yeah. Through the chair. I I think that's that's always been the challenge, right? That was the same discussion we're having here in 2019 when we heard that Hamilton is the hate capital of uh of Canada. Um and for for municipal purposes I would just say that like the the hate the the type of hate that we are talking about when it happens on city property what is going to be the response right I think like that's like number one and then the second one is when we have community members that are literally seeing some of these folks march down in neighborhoods posting these signs in their in their in their mass ask like what are we going to do? Um people have responded yes call the police but if if the police show up and again there's no criminality then nothing nothing happens and they know that. So they they they are they are making sure that whatever they do they don't cross that line but again they will say the most um xenophobic racist islamophobic stuff which is driving the recruitment. So we have to pay attention to it and uh outside of changing federal law I think those are the things that the municipality can at least uh look at and then when um in the report they talk about uh public awareness campaigns. So how can we uh uh I see Hark is here they might have some some uh some input um about what that that would look like. Yeah, that's I'll leave that notice of motion conversation for later, but I've got one one question left. Bluntly, when we've seen on city property recently, white supremacists organizing, and that might be Gore Park, could be city hall, could be public sidewalks in the Corktown neighborhood. I mean, those are three examples that just happened recently. Um, I've taken the voice I have and tried to say, "Hey, this is a huge concern. Elected officials across every spectrum should be coming out and and condemning this behavior publicly in whatever means they have to do so. Everyone communicates publicly differently. What's the role that we should be playing and what do you think what do you think happens when a third of us are the only ones speaking out?" Thank you. And that's your time. Counselor Cojo, please. Yeah. Through the chair. I think that's why it's important for the municipality to to uh to to come up with actions that respond to that because one of one of the challenges too is that when these incidents happening even if it's like a third of elected officials say there's no hate uh Hamilton has no no place for hate it it doesn't do anything right because people are experiencing the thing already so for me it's like where is the accountability? I think on my last slide I was like, "Yeah, let's do the pre um pre-prevention, the public awareness, all of that." But then where is the accountability when folks like that do these white supremacist uh protest? Who is holding them accountable? And what uh policies and bylaws are in place to ensure that they don't show up? Because if some if if there was an internal policy that says messages that uh uh uh uh could be deemed as white supremacists are not allowed on city property. Now you have something that uh uh connects to the accountability piece. But if we don't have anything then it's always going to be a challenge. And even if elected officials um like yourselves and the mayor even make a statement, they laugh at the statements. We need we need action and accountability. Thanks. Those are my questions. I'll have comments later. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Nan, you're up next. Don't you just put your mic on? There you go. Thank you uh through you, chair. Thank you, KJO, for your delegation. um really appreciate the recommendation around funding neighborhood responses to ongoing threat to more than just alt-right hate groups. Straight up white supremist organizing taking place in our communities. Um as W three city councelor, you mentioned Myrtle Park in your slideshow that is in W 3. Gagege Park was the other location that was identified and witnessed as having hate uh activity through the fight clubs. Um, we've had a number of new to the community, not new when you know this issue, but new to the community hate symbols that are a little more obscure than the ones that the general public is aware of. So, generally speaking, most residents in the community can identify a symbol and say that is a form of hate. But now it's getting to uh nuance. And can you speak a little bit to the nuance of these symbols that are occurring in our community that uh the regular general public is not aware of and what you think the municipality could be doing differently around that? Those symbols have shown up in our city property but also on private property. Yeah. And I think this is where um my recommendation or the suggestion around like how we supporting neighborhood groups could play um a role because one of the one of the things that we are seeing you know myself and a number of folks in Hamilton are connected with uh some other groups in Niagara. So when some of these things happen in Niagara they they let us know and we are sharing information about some of the some of the concerns. So, I think it's definitely important for um neighborhood organizing and public awareness to happen so that when these signs show up, we can share it with folks and when people know about certain signs that are coming up, they can share it with uh with with other folks. So, I think that that would be one way of trying to um address it and make sure that community members know what's happening. Thank you for that. Next question is um you talked about um some of the recruitment language chair shifting among some of these white supremist organizations and I would say extremist organizations uh shifting their language very carefully. Uh again the strategy is uh they're upping their game in talking about supporting white workers. Now, uh, historically speaking, chair, I know that every surge of white supremist activity in this country has been correlated during times of economic insecurity. Point blank. All you need to do is take a look at history and documentation of hate crime, hate incidences. Can you speak to that in terms of today's context, Cojo? Yeah, I I think even in today's context is is even uh u how I think that the the language that is used is now we in in a accelerated process because when there's uh large um gaps of income inequality uh the discussions around immigration whatever uh they might they might be and then just the anks um in community you mix all of that up and then this is what you get. And so again, that's why I think, you know, on a place like Facebook, which they use a lot because it's easier to spread misinformation and disinformation, right? So that's why I'm like this is an agent problem. Uh we need everybody uh um to pay attention to it. And if we don't, it's going to get worse. They're going to recruit more people. They're recruiting uh folks that have military background. Uh they're recruiting um uh folks that have been laid off. They're recruiting folks that had issue with the uh coid9 situation. So they are really trying to uh uh build uh kind of all rights coalition that that really um shakes things. So that's why it's very very important. And again, uh, my my the purpose of today is just to let you know that there needs to be some urgency and $50,000 is not going to fix that urgency and we need a more expansive um, response to some of these challenges. Thank you. Final question, chair. Um, you talked about hate, criminality versus all the other forms of harm uh that our community is enduring as a city with the presence of white supremist organizing uh continuing to proliferate. The unseen, the unfelt perspective. Um, my sense is from residents who are seeing it and experiencing, they're talking about fear. They're talking about feeling intimidated. They're feeling no longer comfortable going into those parks that are known to be used in these ways. Um, and I so I think I what I heard you say in your presentation, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is connecting that dot back to the community safety and well-being plan. So if you could just help us understand that in the perspective of evoking fear, evoking intimidation, residents no longer feeling comfortable going to their parks, how does that fit into the community safety and wellbeing plan and your perspective given your participation in developing the plan? Yeah. Uh thank you through the chair. I think, you know, I've been on record numerous times saying that um the community safety and well-being plan needs to be funded beyond um staffing and and uh support for all the folks that are at the table. I think there needs to be funding that is made available to uh some of the priorities that are going to be coming up or that have already come up because if we don't if we don't do that, we're leaving a vacuum for all of this stuff to be taken up by uh these alt-right and white supremacist uh groups. So for me uh the province has mandated community safety and well-being plans. all municipalities have them. Uh if we know it's tied to safety and housing and hate crimes and all of the things that we have, then we should definitely be funding it and and using that that vehicle to support community organizations and and neighborhood groups that are already um in some cases doing the work or are asking for support to respond to what they are seeing in their neighborhoods. Thank you. No further questions. Thank you. Um before I ask any questions, are there any questions from anyone online virtually? We're good. Okay. Uh Councelor Wang, do you want to take the chair from the virtual world, please, if you don't mind? Um uh you your presentation was excellent. Um I appreciate it. uh my questions and and feel free to to tell me if you haven't read it, but bill C9 um at in parliament, it went through third reading yesterday, I believe, and it is a a bill that um is trying to define in the criminal code the willful promotion of hatred, terrorism, and hate symbols. Um if you have read the bill, would you care to comment on it in terms of whether you feel this is going to be a useful tool or not? uh through the chair. I do not think it is going to be a useful tool because it it focuses on places of the promotion of willful hate. And that has been um one of the challenges. And this goes back to again what uh I think councelor Crutch was referencing about you know the social aspects of the the all the uh how do I say this? The the where does the hate come from? the intention, right? So, when somebody says, uh, if you're non-European, you don't deserve to be in this country, that doesn't rise to a level of any form of criminality or criminal code or all of that stuff, but it it it is saying something that is that is hateful, right? So I think uh the the current federal bill misses the point on majority of the the the hate extremism that we are talking about and it focuses mainly on like specific locations of protest as it pertains to certain um demographics of people that also experience hate in different forms. Yeah, they I don't know whether or not they changed the bill or added this, but there's a clause in the bill which I thought um might help us and I'll be asking the police also. So, I just thought I'd share it with you first. Uh 2.2 in the bill. Everyone com everyone commits an offense who willfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group by displaying in a public place a a symbol that is principally used or principally associated with a listed entity defined under a specific section. uh the Nazi symbol, the Nazi double uh sig rune, which is like the SS bolts, a symbol that so nearly resembles a symbol described in paragraph, etc., etc. Um it it it seems to have made that behavior in a public place a violation of the criminal code. Um it the the questions I'll be asking the police is um do you feel that this is going to be enforceable? Because when I look at this now it hasn't been passed by the Senate to be fair. It it seems to me that the demonstration that we had in in the forcourt with the the um white supremist group, they would be um violating the terms of the criminal code if this is passed. So would that help do you think in terms of first off um educating the public as to what is inappropriate behavior and secondly um indicting people who are committing these crimes in public? Yeah. through the chair. I think that's always going to be the challenge and some some groups have mentioned this already that we're commenting on uh bill CC C9 is that it's going to be a challenge and one of the learnings or one of the things that I think white supremacist groups do uh uh is is is that they are able to um play around with that thin line, right? So even if uh in their Facebook videos they are doing uh or showing some signs that we would deem hateful uh but then they would then uh speak to freedom of expression all of that. So again, how do you how do you bridge those those two and and when they show up and you don't know their faces, which is another another thing they are very uh good at doing is they claim they don't want to be dusk. So they have ski masks on. So in that case, how how are you able to file a charge against a uh an individual like that? So I think those are some of the the challenges of the of of the bill and it it it focused more on like you know protesting at at at at a location where you can say oh a group of people are protesting against another group of people and they are saying hateful stuff. So that is a hate a hate crime. But then majority of the the hate in incidences that we see don't happen in a large h um a large location where you have so many groups of people protesting. Right. So I think that's the challenge with um bill bill C9. Thank you. I appreciate your insight. It's it's very helpful for me to understand the potential of the bill and the challenges of the bill. Thank you. That's uh uh all my questions and uh I'll take the chair back. Councelor Wang, thank you so much. I I do hope you're feeling better soon. Um we are now moving uh I need a motion um to mover and seconded to receive the delegation. U moved by councelor Cretch, seconded by councelor Wang. Uh that's a hand hand vote. So all those in favor, hands up. Thank you. That's everybody. Okay. Now we're moving on to um items for consideration. Item 8.1, HSC260005, hate and violence prevention response update. Citywide outstanding business list item. I'd like to call upon Jessica Chase, the director of children's and community services to provide a brief overview of this report. Jessica, through the chair. Thank you very much. Um, my name is Jessica Chase. I'm the director of comm children's and community services. Uh, this report that's before committee today provides uh an update on the city's hate and violence prevention and response efforts and seeks council direction for staff to strengthen coordination and intentionally align this work and the data reporting associated with it with our community safety and well-being plan, which identified hate prevention as a key priority within that plan. The report seeks council approval for $50,000 in funding in 2026 to support public education and prevention initiatives for those communities that are most impacted by hate. And the intent of that would to be to work with those communities that are most impacted to maximize the use of those funds and support things like Black History Month celebrations or Pride Month, for example. And lastly, the report seeks council direction for staff to assess and report back on options for trauma-informed and bystander response training, which would build on the existing uh idea training that exists within the city. The report does highlight work that has been done to date, such as the annual investment of 190,000 in the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Center, but it also identifies opportunities for improved coordination and ensuring that the public and staff are aware of reporting mechanisms that exist. Everyone in Hamilton deserves to feel safe and welcome, and this work is about strengthening how the city helps to prevent hate, support those that are impacted, and make sure that residents know where to turn if something does happen. This work, while our our division in children's and community services is the lead author on this report, this work touches many many areas across the city, which is why we're supported here today by a number of different divisions and departments that are available, some here in council chambers, and some online. Um, I'm going to apologize if I miss anyone. Um, but we do have representatives here from human resources, legal, indigenous relations, recreation, communications and engagement, transportation, corporate security, municipal licensing and enforcement, environmental services, and transit. The community also plays an incredibly important role in this work. And I want to thank our partners that are here today behind me from Hamilton Police Service as well as from HARK for being here today. And they're also available to answer any questions that you may have. And lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't take a moment to thank manager Rashelle E-higuabo and senior project manager Muhammad Al Cahb who have been leading this work on our team and were the authors of this report. We'd be happy to take any questions that you have. Thank you, director. Uh, councelor Crretch, you're up first. Your mic is now on. Thank you. I think this is important work. I'm glad we're making some efforts to move it forward. I'm glad we're thinking about how we can work with people who are doing this work in the community and it's always good to celebrate things and to put some funding behind committing to celebrating things to telling positive stories about what's happening in our community. I have a notice of motion that's going to be coming forward in April, so I will try to speak to it too much, but for me what we're doing here doesn't make sense. I see a very riskaverse approach to how we're addressing this. And what I mean to say by that is we're used to calling these issues complex, challenging, difficult legislatively. But for me, right, and the stuff I see in the community, especially downtown, it's really simple. If you see a white supremacist on the forcourt, why is the city not releasing a statement the next day saying white supremacists were on the forcourt of city hall? We have all kinds of powers as a municipality. If we see nationalist 13 congregating in our community or posting things online in our community, we can report those things to um social media platforms. We can report those things to the police as the city of Hamilton has the ability to do that. No, it may not rise to the level of a crime. Um doesn't stop the city from speaking out about it. So for me, what happens is there's a vacuum. Politicians are then left to speak out about these things. And as the delegates said and other people have said, kind of sounds hollow after you say, you know, thoughts and prayers for the 55th time. And that's that's understandable and I get why people are upset about that. So I don't know that we have a plan here at the city to really address that. I don't think we have language, frankly, that we can use that's plain. It's plain enough to be able to speak to the public about what's going on here. But I think it sets us up for basically taking our idea policies, inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and essentially just disregarding them. If those policies are important, not only for city property, but for our community, we have to find a way to live those policies in some reality. So, I don't think this report gets there. And I'm not suggesting that like the work that we're doing is not important. The work in this report is not important, but what I am suggesting is that we have to go farther. what are you currently lacking in able to make this happen? And for me, I don't I don't think it's helpful to say straight up to make it easier. I don't think it's helpful to hear an explanation about all these things. Um, as a person who's experienced these situations and community members who've talked to me about them and you know, some of our colleagues who have also experienced these situations, I know what's up. I know what's going on here. Um, what I'm asking is what what do you need from this council to be able to do something that highlights the issue, addresses the issue, um, tackles the issue, because I'm just talking about layer number one at this point, right? Which is publicly talking about this stuff. How we address it and deal with it, I think, is is is another part of this project. But I want to give you a chance to respond to that. Then I had some comments. Thank you, Director Chase. Through the chair. Um, thank you for the question, counselor. I think there's two things that come to mind. Um, and this report is seeking that direction from counselor uh from council. One is what we've heard is that there are there's work happening across the city to respond to these things that happen. But where we we have some gaps is around the coordination. Um, so depending on where that I'll use graffiti as an example. If there was hate graffiti where it occurs, there may be a different division that's responding to it. Um so I think there's an opportunity for us to better coordinate that going forward. This report is seeking that direction from uh council to undertake that work and identify opportunities for it to be more efficient. Um as well as to make sure that the public and staff are aware of when these things do happen and what are the reporting mechanisms that are available. I think the other really important piece around this is training. Um so we've heard that clearly in the conversations we've been having um across the corporation. Um, so this would give us the direction to be able to work with HR and others uh to develop a plan and come back to council with recommendations around how do we support staff across the corporation for training that is trauma-informed and what to do um when they do see these things. Thank you counselor. Thanks. I think also an area which needs to be explored more closely. I think firstly we need to talk to experts about this who can give us information and talk about what it looks like to not only speak out about these things publicly but come up with a policy internally as to how we address them. I'll personalize this for a moment if it's okay. In my experience here as a counselor, this organization has not been prepared for this change in the temperature. I've seen so many things happen over the course of this term of council that this organization wasn't prepared for. From people storming in here and uttering transphobic comments while people are chairing meetings um and us not really having an ability to respond to that right away. And I guess that we're get that this is some of this is numer for some organizations and the level of hate is rising and maybe that's difficult but if we can't corporately as a city right come up with a plan for how we address this when it happens in these spaces then I think it's going to be difficult for us to stand up for residents who are also experiencing that problem. And so I'm trying to address this from two ways I hope in the future which is one um looking at what we can be doing better to try and come up with a plan here. And I don't care if it means we have to lead as a municipality and we do a comparison of other municipalities and find out no one's doing it. Um that's their problem as a hate capital of Canada. It's our job to do something about this. It's just our job unfortunately. It's not a moniker I'm happy about. It's not something I'm proud of as a Hamiltonian, but it's a reality we have to contend with. And secondly, I think that we don't have a policy or place for how to deal with this when it comes to elected officials. And I've talked about this publicly, but I'm going to take this opportunity to speak about it again briefly. This is my workplace. If I can't go through the course of my day in a workplace without being harassed, uh, without being discriminated against, and there not really being a concrete, easy, quick plan to to to come up with, it doesn't involve, frankly, an extraordinary amount of my own personal labor to, you know, see that it happens. I think that we're not we're not serving. There's not faith, I think, from people inside the organization as employees if we can't even protect the members around this table that that's going to that's going to happen for them as well. I know we have policies in place. I understand that it's a gray area a little bit because we're not technically employees of the city and so, you know, there's all these human resources uh philosophies about that. Regardless, you know, Kojo showed earlier a some Facebook posts about nationalist 13. um they've posted about me personally and coming after me personally, you know, and then they showed up here on the doorstep of our workplace. And guess how many emails I received about that from anyone? Zero. So we don't h like it cannot be down to the person who's facing discrimination or individuals in our community who are facing discrimination and hatred. It can't be down to them to do this work. So I'm not here to make a plea for myself. I'm just trying to point out that at this level also we have a real struggle trying to address that issue. And if we leave this in the hands of politicians and and it's going to continue to go down the same road it's always gone down. We need to have a corporate way to deal with this. And so that's where I'll leave it for now. I have lots of concerns about how this organization addresses these issues. I do think we have to stop talking about hate. We have to start naming what what the issues are. Uh because I think what it's doing when I see online, I'll tell you right now, I'm I'm very online, right? Very online. So I'm there. I respond to people. I engage with people constantly. For some well-meaning folks out there, this word just doesn't make sense to them. They think it means being mean. I think it means being angry. Um, no, it doesn't. If we're talking about racism, we're talking about homophobia, we're talking about transphobia, if we're talking about misogyny, whatever we're talking about, white supremacy, we need to be able to say and name these things. And right now there seems to be, as far as I can tell, this whole organization and other cities across the province, an aversion to take the risk, an aversion to lean out there. And so I'm going to be putting motions forward, I hope, that are bold and asking us to do something different. Um, and I'll leave it there for now. Thank you. I know that GM Mater wanted to say something. GM Mater, uh, through the chair, Grace Mater, general manager, healthy and safe communities. Um, so just to follow up on that, so the report that's before you today is talking about a more general response to to hate in the community and how both we internally and externally can address that. I think counselor, what you're talking about is the the responsibility for senior leadership team here at the city of Hamilton to address as well about the safety of of all people that are working in city facilities and whether you're a counselor, whether you're a staff person. Um, we also know that, you know, your your comments about um the the uh maybe the lack of preparedness um from the city to address this. You know, I would totally agree. I think it's something that we've had to, you know, step up on. I mean, you know, Martin Dambo is a a prime example. I mean, a few years ago, we didn't have a security group at all. Now it has you know through through the requirements it has grown beyond the kinds of level of relationships we have with you know our community partners and police you know has has increased tenfold so it is something we need to address and that's something from the senior leadership team's perspective I can take back as well followup coun that is in part what I'm talking about but I think I'll just briefly say as someone who studied language and history for a decade in postsecary various institutions. I really strongly believe that it matters that the way we talk about things matters. And I think right now there's an apprehension or an anxiety around all this. We are generally speaking, I'm not saying just the corporation, but I'm saying when we're talking about this issue, there's an anxiety that we're going to say the wrong thing, that we're going to uh accuse the wrong people, um that we're going to that we're going to say because we're not comfortable. We don't have a we don't speak about this often enough. we don't have the experience maybe uh or the strength of staff in terms of a department departmental you know uh group that can address these issues. The highlight for me of that is I remember when the LGBTQ advisory committee was meeting and we wouldn't have any staff to report to that were experts that could actually speak to us meaning we'd be referring to people that may be in human resources or that kind of thing but there wasn't like a team of people here who were doing outside of human resources who were doing work on issues related to the LGBTQ community at the city. Meanwhile, at the cycling committee, which I also attended a fair number of times, you had a row of public works staff who were all there to support everybody on how to get their bike lane installed. Like, as a city, we just don't take this seriously from a budget perspective. And I'm not blaming anybody here. I'm just saying these are these are sometimes political decisions. And I think what the community is saying is we need to be the ones to be leading here in lots of ways, right? And yes, um, we need to be the ones coordinating here, working with HARKC to try and develop a plan that makes sense. And frankly, what I think I'm touching on in my notice of motion, 247 responses, uh, it happens in my inbox and happens in councelor Nan's inbox when there's graffiti in the area, right? We get tagged, we're responding, we're we're coordinating. That's not a sustainable way to do this work. And when the weekend and the evening happens, when I would say all of life actually happens outside of our work, most of it, right? We don't have a robust program for non 9to-5 activities. Um, our jobs, sometimes your jobs lead you outside of 9 to5. I know I'm looking right at general manager Mater who I know has been in some dicey situations this term of council with um after hours meetings like it's not something that we have u preparation for and are ready for. So for me, this is helpful. It's a good step in the right direction, but we really have to not only urgently do more um but just lead in the way I think the community wants us to. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. I appreciate your input. Um I also thank you for your willingness to share personal examples that you've experienced. So it's it's very helpful from that standpoint. Thank you very much. The next speaker will be councelor Nan. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, chair. Um through you just a couple of questions to staff and appreciate the opportunity to speak on this prior to today's meeting as well. Um, from staff's perspective, how do the recommendations enable council and the community to have a deeper understanding of the hate-based activity that is occurring on city property and subsequently what the city's going to do about it. Thank you, Director Chase. First, uh, through the chair. Um, so the recommendations that are before you, I I think there's an opportunity here with um a couple of components. One is, and I'm going to go back to training again because I think that's an important part. Um, that in order for um staff to be able to respond is ensuring that they have training and feel empowered to do that and know how to recognize these things and what to do about them when they see them. Um, so that will be an important part that we need to consider um when we think about the training components. Um so that I think is an important part. I think the other piece too is about public education. Um and so that's why um we've recommended um funding for this year to be able to support public education and awareness campaigns. Um so that we can support getting the word out. Um I think there are different reporting mechanisms that exist um right now for the community to report when hate incidents do occur. um they can report to uh to Hamilton police or they can report um through the online hate reporting tool that HARKC manages. Um but making sure that the public is aware um of what those mechanisms are and promoting those things I think is an important component of this as well. Thank you director counselor. Thank you chair. um appreciating that and um perhaps uh perhaps the answer to this question comes from the recommendations being implemented or perhaps it's language I might need to consider working with my colleague around the notice of motion around integrating to provide further direction to staff. But how do we how do we report back to our community in very clear terms when a hate-based white supremist, intimidating, fear evoking activity has taken place on city property? How do we tend to the community by being transparent and honest about what has occurred and then subsequently work with the community to restore trust, confidence and comfort? The we in your question is the collective we and then also like uh what are some thoughts around how city staff as a corporation the city of Hamilton as a corporation could potentially uh take that on? Thank you. clarify um through the chair. Um I think as we start to have some of these conversations about how do we better coordinate the response um we could look at the communications component of that and work with our colleagues in communications um to flush out what does that look like. So, um, part of the response and how we coordinate, um, is how do we remove graffiti? Um, but it's also, I think, looking at what's, uh, the communications approach and and how do we address these things and the language that we use. So, we could include that as part of the the work that we're undertaking around, um, identifying opportunities for better coordination. Thank you, counselor. Thank you. uh through you chair uh work at AMO, work at FCM, um and work with I believe it's the anti-hate network of Canada um several different organizations are trying to get ahead of the spread of misinformation and part of uh the learnings and best practices of preventing misinformation is by being proactive in your communication and that proactive communication also has to face the issues on headon. So, I had a really great conversation with Hamilton Police Services um last fall when we were seeing an activity or rise of activity in Ward 3 with those fight clubs. Sorry, I know they have a different name. Active Clubs. Thank you very much. I got confused with the movie. Um and I stressed to Hamilton Police Services the importance of using the words white supremist. If we know these groups are identified as being white supremist organizations through federal listings, then we should not be shying away from using that language. I understand for police services from an operational perspective, they have their, you know, requirements to fulfill in order to be able to declare that. And I believe as a corporation we have the ability to work with Hamilton Police Services to also declare that right. So Active Clubs Nationalist 13 Dominion Society of Canada or whatever that group's name is that has been plastering all over Westale and in Ward 1 their little insignia on city trash cans on city poles on HSR bus stops where our residents are taking them down and then throwing them in the trash. diagolon um insignia nailed onto trees in Gage Park where my residents literally took it down and said council nana took care of it. Um those incidences and that kind of activity that our residents are engaged in doesn't have a doesn't have a home to land in with the city of Hamilton. Could staff speak to that in terms of how do we empower and also coordinate with our community that is directly responding on the front line? Director Chase through the chair. I'm going to start on this one and then maybe um check and see. I'm looking over my shoulder here if Lindon George from HARK wants to add anything to it. Um because I think that that's an important role that HARK plays um around uh the work that they do around prevention activities. Um, one of the things for instance that we've, um, talked about is, um, making sure that the community and staff recognize hate symbols. Um, and so, um, I think that's where we could look at education, but we would want anything that we're doing at the city, I think we want to do in partnership with community. Um, so maybe if it's okay with the chair, we'll invite Lyndon to maybe share a little bit more about the work that uh, his organization is doing to prevent these things. Thank you. I'll use the chair's prerogative. Lyndon, please. Uh, through the chair to the counselor. Thank you for the question. I think when we see the the uptick um particularly around hate symbols in the community, it's a coordinated effort by white supremacist groups in our and active in our community. And when we're seeing that uptick, we need to coordinate both with city council, with staff, and with HPS to be able to respond adequately to what we see happening. Uh this is intentional. uh they are um their intention is to oftentimes intimidate community in the way in which they're spreading uh their ideology and you mentioned particularly around um Ward One in the Kirkindale neighborhood engage park um and that uh when you go online similar to what Kojo had mentioned before um with regard to their content being posted they are actively then promoting what they've done later on um and so there is a coordinated effort that we need to we need to acknowledge is happening. And I think the active fight club series that CBC brought forward was to expose what is going on and to um and to be able to inform community to say this is this is not just individuals going around with a sticker on a on a Friday night. This is a coordinated active group. Um they're active in the Niagara region as well. Um and we need to start to develop our strategies in that way. And uh at HARK what we see is that uh for our reporting data that these hate symbols over 2025 period over the reporting is that that's what we see happening across the city is that it's a coordinated white supremacist movement of sharing their ideology and community and then we get the reports. And so when we look to educate community about what these symbols look like that's one step. Um, I think we need to also then start to talk to our elected leaders around bills like C9, whether or not they're going to be effective, how these symbols can adopt and change. And then we need to start to hold these individual individuals accountable for what they're doing in community. And I think that's a part of the work that we have to do. So, uh, education is one part, but accountability, I think, is also part of it. Thank you, Director Chase followup. Um, so just in followup to that and and thank you, Lynon, for sharing that additional information. Um, I'm just wondering as well, um, if Hamilton police also want to speak to this because I think they also play an important role in terms of how we're responding. Um, I know that we have Staff Sergeant Hashimoto here and, uh, just wondered if, uh, there was anything additional he may wish to add. Thank you, Sergeant. Put your microphone on. Hi there, Staff Sergeant Ryan Hashimoto from the uh I oversee our hate crime community engagement and EDI unit. Um I agree with what uh what Lyndon says around and and what Jessica says around education. Um I I I think for for us it's equally as important that we are training and properly equipping our frontline officers to identify and respond and investigate quickly and appropriately uh anything that's reported to us on our end. Um, hate symbols, like Linda mentioned, are constantly evolving. Um, so for us to be able to continually update our front line through training, through presentations, we, our hate crime unit, uh, presents to all new recruits, uh, new cadetses, uh, new special constables, uh, to help better equip them, uh, to respond to hate incidents when they're out on the road as new officers. The other thing for us that's really important is the and we we we say this all the time is the the encouraging community to report hate to us. Um as you know and I I I Linda and I have have spoken I I understand the the reporting mechanism and why there needs to be a a different kind of reporting mechanism but for us it's important for us to see these symbols and what they're what they're posting because they're constantly changing. Um, and so having the community be our eyes in the community as well and helping to report so that we can stay up to speed with um the various changes that are that are happening as far as hate goes is really important. Thank you, Staff Sergeant Counselor. Go ahead. Uh, thank you. Thank you for those responses. Um, I think the last area that I just wanted to drill in on was recommendation E. Um, no, it wasn't E. my apologies. Uh is the one that allocates $50,000 C. Uh supporting public education awareness and prevention initiatives addressing hate in Hamilton. Um having that be directed to those communities that are um impacted the most. Uh was wondering if staff could share any thoughts about neighborhood based activity. So I appreciate those who experience hate the most and I think there's a role for those who don't. So, a really big part of white supremist uh countering is when other white allies speak up on the issue. And in fact, that's actually one of the most effective strategies in terms of maintaining safety for those who otherwise fall victim to hate based criminality, violence, and targeting. So, any thoughts? Director Chase through the chair. So, I think the first step um if this were to be approved by council would be to engage those communities that have been most impacted by hate. Um we really want to make sure that we're maximizing the use of those funds. Um but hearing them in terms of um what would be most impactful for them. Um some of the examples that potentially come to mind here is um supports that we could provide for instance to Black History Month activities and how do we celebrate um the community and is there an opportunity to not only bring in the communities that are impacted by hate but how do the then do we invite in the rest of the community to also see and celebrate um at these types of events. So we could certainly I would suggest that we start with those most impacted by hate but could take that away and have some conversations with them around how do we then ensure um that this is being um that's supporting the broader community and all residents across Hamilton um in addressing this from a prevention perspective. Appreciate that chair. I have no further questions. Thank you very much councelor Wang. Um go ahead. Thank you uh three of you chair. Just a question on the report around the internal jurisdictions and the internal consultations. You talked about how there was um strengthening training and supports for staff as well as providing clearer guidance for incidents involving staff. I wonder if you can just help me understand um how this 50k might help with some of that work. Uh I'm mindful that the city of Hamilton is 7,000 strong. Uh, a lot of our City of Hamilton's staffers are City of Hamilton uh, residents. So, I see this as an opportunity to not only strengthen uh, our own understanding but also be good advocates and um, cheerleaders uh, or potentially anyway good communicators out into the greater community. So, I wonder if you can just share a little bit more on your thoughts on that part. Director Chase through the chair. Um the intent of the $50,000 would be to really work with community. It would be more externally um focused. The there is a second recommendation around developing training and supports internally. Um and we have recommended that we work with HR and other internal partners to flush out what that looks like and come back to um council with recommendations which may include um what would be the resourcing to support the internal training components. Um so that would be work that we would undertake and there would be a report back with uh with recommendations to council. Thank you director counselor. Okay. So, thank you for that. And I also wanted to draw attention that um in this report you did outline all of the different groups that were negatively impacted. And in particular, you did mention the indigenous community and then there is a separate line that speaks about the indigenous relations team and the um the potential of duplication. And so I wonder if you could just expand upon that a little bit just to ensure that we get it on public record that the indigenous community has has suffered a significant amount of um a lot of this hate. Uh but we're we're we're coordinating in that effort ensuring that we're making sure that they're being supported as well through the director through the chair. I'll perhaps start um and then might invite my colleague uh Kate um the director of indigenous relations if she wishes to add to it. Um so there are five different groups that we see are most impacted by hate. Um the Muslim community, Jewish community, black community, indigenous community and the 2SLGBTQ plus community. Um we have not included the indigenous community specifically in the 50,000 because we don't want to duplicate the efforts um that are already happening with the indigenous relations team. there is a separate team um and work that's happening to support that community and we would of course work in close collaboration uh with the indigenous relations team um to ensure um and just recognizing that it is a community that is most impacted by hate as well. Um I will however invite my colleague um to share a little bit more about uh the work that the indigenous relations team is doing. Kate, there you are. Hi. Hi. Good afternoon. Uh, yeah, through the chair. So, the indigenous relations team, we mostly focus on the education um piece for the community as well as celebration. So we host a number of events throughout the year um to accomplish this including you know um national indigenous people's day as well as truth and reconciliation events in June and then in September. We've also collaborate collaborated with councelor Moren Wilson's ward to host a few um events during treaty week for again additional education about you know um w homes and treaties um in this area. We've also collaborated with different community partners on uh missing murder indigenous women and girls um events with native women's center um Louis real day. So that's the bulk of where our um our advocacy lies is the education and celebration. We are very again very open to um focusing on um in other areas when it comes to hate prevention. uh and we will we can work closely again with Jessica and her team to do so. Thank you. Chair, I thought it was important to list out all of the different work that is happening at a variety of different departments that are happening here within the city of Hamilton. So, I'm thankful that this report does talk about it from a coordinated approach. I do hope that we can really focus on our own staff. One of the challenges that I see is that from uh again we are 7,000 persons strong in terms of this organization. So if there is a way for our staff to feel empowered and also to help facilitate some of this anti-hate mitigation then I think that that is a a great deal of work that can happen internally. So I'm thankful for this work today. Uh I think that there's still a lot more that we can do and I know that this is taking a multifaceted coordinated approach but I know that there is more that we can do. Thank you chair. Thank you councelor councelor Moren Wilson please. Thank you uh thank you for the report um and for the discussion thus far. Um, you've talked about the importance of of public education and I I guess maybe just for my um understanding if someone could walk me through what is practiced at present because there's been considerable reference to the importance of of upholding the public uh sanctity and safety of public space and the importance of upholding um and identifying ing uh public assets. So my first question then is is is it permissible for anyone to post anything on a city-owned asset through the chair? Director Chase, we start with you. Through the chair. Um I'll start, but um some of my colleagues u may wish to add on to this. Um if there are um hate symbols, uh there are processes depending on where that is. Um and this is why there may be a few of my colleagues that want to add to this piece. Um if there was something on a bus shelter versus a street pole, um there is a response where the city does um move to remove those things um as well as engage police as needed. Um I will look perhaps um to some of my colleagues who may want to speak specifically about some of the processes. I don't know if we want to start with If I could just clarify my my question a little more because I'm trying to get to it in stages and I apologize very much for interrupting. One of the disadvantages many of them of um attending virtually is you sometimes don't know when you're dis disrupting. Um no apology necessary. Um, I'm I'm not at this point in my question seeking clarification on the action in relation to uh a hate uh symbol. I'm just seeking clarification. If it's a city-owned asset, is anyone allowed to deface it with the attachment of anything through the chair? I don't think so, but we'll go to someone up top there. Good afternoon. Uh Dan Smith, director of licensing and bylaw services. So, City of Hamilton has a sign bylaw that regulates posting of some of signs in the city of Hamilton. There are certain regulations around city assets like street poles for instance. Um uh that regulate what can be posted, how long it can be posted and and certain uh criteria that's required to be on that um I'll call it a sign or posting. uh we do do enforcement related to that and we work closely with public works when there is a requirement to remove it. Thank you counselor. Thank you. So if if the city through ask city I think that's the portal if you are in receipt of a query that there's something attached to um a particular sign the city is obliged to come and remove it because it is a city asset. That's just simp my my question my first question boiled down very simply and I think I heard a yes but just looking for affirmation please confirmation through the chair that is correct. Okay thank you. So when uh the crews are out and about and uh they see of their own valition or they are in receipt of a public report through a public portal that there is something attached to a public asset. Um, what's the does the city account for the the nature of that sign, that sticker, that poster, that graffiti? Um, is it inventoried? And where I'm trying to understand is um if we're looking for just like crime statistics, how do we account for community patterns or particular growth of a maybe a a group? Some of them have uh been mentioned earlier today like who who does what in that regard. So, who keeps records on what they've done of what we're seeing as our city employees are out and then how is it inventoried and then how is it tracked and assessed for whether it's hate or not. Let's start with director Smith and then we'll come down through the chair. Thank you for the question counselor. So, there are two groups, three groups that look after these types of situations. Um, one would be our municipal law enforcement team, uh, and then two groups through, uh, public works, which would be, uh, the transportation team or the, uh, waste waste group. Um, we don't track we don't track locations of these instances outside of when we receive a complaint uh, from a resident. So we would be able to check history on the complaints that we receive but not an inventory of locations where maybe a poster had been posted on a light standard. Uh if further to that and when we do receive a complaint, an officer would investigate it and if it is uh either determined or there is u a risk that it could be hate related, we would share that with the Hamilton Police Service, allow them to do their investigation. Following their investigation, we would receive information back from them that we are able to action it and either do our own enforcement with the group that may be listed or uh have our public works team go and remove the sign from the post. councelor. So I I think I I heard one of my colleagues or it may have been delegate Dampy note that often these groups um they adopt new emblems or images um as they progress or as they a different perhaps arm of the group. And so I'm looking for how will our staff understand uh what is or is not even though they have to remove everything from a public asset. What is or is not um a a new uh club, if you will, a new white supremacist club. Who does that assessment and is that part of the education that we're looking at through the chair? I think that one will go to Director Chase. Through the chair. Um that would be part of the training that we would be looking at and coming back with recommendations. Um and we would work closely with community partners like HARKC um as well as looking at other resources that may exist um outside of Hamilton. Um what are different provincial and national organizations doing to collect um an inventory of hate symbols recognizing that these things are often involving. So that would be part of what we would look at uh as training for staff counselor. Okay. And my thank you. My my final question, a comment was made about, you know, hate doesn't respect bankers hours. Um, so if if there is graffiti reported on a uh or seen on a on a Friday night, when are we able to as an organization action it through the chair? Director Smith, through the chair, uh Vincent Sprass, our director of transportation services. Uh so we do have staff that are available on standby um between now and actually into April. We have staff on 24/7 throughout the week uh weekend and weekends and then through the spring and summer. We also have staff available on the weekends on standby. So we have a service level of 24 hours to remove any hate graffiti on the rightway. So we um we certainly strive to achieve that level of service throughout the weekends and after somewhat regular hours. Thank you for that. And my final question in so doing in that instance is that um I is that image documented um and is it collected? Do we take a picture of it? Is it documented? What what do we do to ensure it's just I mean erasing it is really important but document documenting it is equally important. Director, do we keep records uh through the chair? Um excellent question. Yes, we do take a photograph of the graffiti and we work in collaboration with Hamilton Police Services in an investigation. So, uh, we will record, um, and document the hay graffiti prior to applying paint and then removing it. Thank you, Director Smith. Uh, thank you through your chair and I just would like to add to that. So, there's the other aspect of this is um graffiti which could be hate related on uh private property as well. Uh so to speak to the earlier question um our team last April or May I believe expanded some of our hours of service. Um so we are doing enhanced I would call it enhanced enforcement of graffiti or we're available more frequently now to receive complaints that would be coming in. Complaints can be called in at any hour and we as I said more frequently have staff available to address these a hate potential hate related graffiti uh complaint would get a priority response from us. We would go and attend it immediately. We would notify Hamilton police immediately of what we are seeing. They would document, do their investigation, return it to us. And the expectation is to that graffiti on private property be removed within 24 hours. and we would utilize either the assistance of the property owner or a city uh procured contractor to have that removed. Thank you, General Manager Mater, please. Thank you very much. Through the chair, um I think what you've heard is the current level of responsiveness that we have. I think what we are lacking is a coordinated approach to this and where we are also having the opportunity to exchange that information across the corporation. there are silos of information that are available to that area and there's a response approach to this. I think we've got the opportunity with this report and with the education and that to to do a much better job of learning from each other and that reporting and making sure that all that reporting is through with the police and with HARK and that so that it's a it's a more wholesome approach to it. Thank you. Back to you, Council Wilson. Oh, thank you, GM Mater. I I think that's where I was landing. Um, I mean, when I'm dealing with the Hamilton Police Service, they and when the Hamilton Police Service deal with community groups, there is rightfully a good emphasis on the importance of data um and data collection to um that they use in informing their investigations and their strategies because they're they're looking for trends and locations and um within the organization itself, the city organization that is. I I guess that's what I'm interested in in learning more about and hoping to hear um in the future about this uh coordination of information of of data of action um to be used uh in our in our efforts to ensure public servants when they're out and about um are as fully informed as possible. Thank you for the opportunity to ask the questions. Thank you very much, councelor. Uh, Council Wang, if you'd like to take the chair, please. Sure, please go ahead. Thank you. Just a few questions um to our staff. So what's in the discussion and the questions that I've heard here this morning or this afternoon now already um and in the appendix that was provided to the report that showed I think 12 different 12 different offices um in the city all doing their own thing when hate incidents occur. Um and then we have four I think it was community groups and there may be many others that are not listed here. Um how do we coordinate so that each one of those divisions and community groups are aware of changing trends or what is happening at any given time in the community. Not sure who would want to tackle that uh chair Wang, but we'll give it a go. Director Chase is going to do it. I can I can start through the chair. Um that would be work that we would undertake. Um so I think and you've noted it in the report. Uh the work that we've done to date is to have conversation and understand what is the community doing, what is police doing, and what are all of those different divisions within the city doing. Um and there is good work happening. Um but as you said, we recognize that those are often happening in silos. So I think there's a lot of things that we could look at um in terms of how can we better coordinate it? um how do we make sure that staff know how to respond to these things? How do we better coordinate the tracking of these incidents when they occur? Um would be um two components to that come to mind. Council, I'm not sure if I've answered your question though. Can you repeat the last? You started you've started anyway. So um I'm cognizant that each division is doing their own thing. chair. Um, but it's how are we keeping everyone informed, including the elected officials, when a hate group is demonstrating, when a hate group is now putting up symbols in your community, please be aware. If you see it, contact. Um, so do we have at the present time any coordinated team? I know we have the senior leadership team. That's different. I'm not talking about putting it in, but there should be in my mind some coordinated effort to have everyone in including HARK and all of the community all at the same table, every every few months or so. Here's what's going on and email blast going out. Be aware that this supremist group has now changed their symbol to this. if you see it, please alert the police and HARK or whatever the case is. Yeah. Are we doing that um through the chair? I would say that those conversations are happening, but they're happening in silos right now. So, I think that is a gap that you've identified um and could certainly be work that we um take away as part of our coordination efforts. How do we improve the communication both internally and externally uh when these things are happening? Okay. So, um, at the appropriate time, I think we would need an amendment to make sure that that is captured, uh, from today's meeting. Um, the the next question that I have is around the $50,000. Um, but the question, chair, I'd like to put to executive director George from his experience at HARK. I I I'm going by memory. I think it's $190,000 you receive annually. Um, and are you properly resourced for the work that you're doing? And if we create a coordinated team, is there a need for resources for you to because it's a small group that you're running and you're doing a remarkable job, but we don't want to overburden anyone. Thank you for the question. I think coordination is is key. Um it helps when we get a a report in uh of hate graffiti and community. Um and then there's an effort to inform the counselor, reach out to city staff, um connect with HPS. Um when we have that coordination, it means that we can do that in in in one email or one conversation rather than three separate conversations. And I think also um making sure that community is aware of how they too can report is really part of that conversation. You know, we we do have that advertising on the web city website to be able to say if you see graffiti um but we need to include hate graffiti in that in that communication piece as well and be able to communicate with um uh with constituents about uh what we're seeing as those trends so that they can also be better equipped to identify. And then from our end um you know we do apply for grants and funding at the provincial and federal level to be able to have a greater impact. Uh we are grateful for the funding that we have. Uh we recognize that the 50,000 is a additional piece of engaging community to be part of a process. So, if they have um when we're talking not only about Black History Month, but other community events that are happening, to have a positive um presence and response with the city is a part of that engagement process that I think will play out in community in positive ways. So, I think that's the right funding. Do we have enough resources? I think for what we're seeing in community, we're a small staff. We'll continue to do what what what we have. any funding that the council would would approve for us, we would we appreciate and we will we will do our best with what we have. But it's a it's a we are small very small team. Thank you. Um, chair, I I guess the concern I have with many groups gathering hate data and then presenting the data, you end up having conflicting reports. So, you could have 250 reports last year, another group only has 50 reports. Well, what's the true presence in in our community? So, if we're going to to look at some form of coordination share, uh, which I think is important and and we can move that today, there needs to be in that coordinated group who's going to take all of that data. So when a public works is out transportation and they see and remove hatred signs, it has to be reported to a central body and and it has to get reported to HARK because we're missing the mark if we're not getting all that data into one data set. I'd like to hear from Executive Director George. I I would say the the first part is making sure that city staff is aware of that training and education to identify it properly and then by creating that environment at city hall to say this is an important metrics that we need to be tracking I think it it starts to instill in city staff that this that they're part of that process. So that's that's key and I think sharing that data with us is something that then we can include in our annual reporting so people get a the community gets a full picture of what is actually occurring in neighborhood community to community. So and then the last part I would say this data is about people. Uh we know the numbers but this can be an impact to communities directly and we need to be mindful of how that data reflects to communities to newcomers to those who are directly impacted by hate. Exactly. Okay. Last question chair I think I still might be over I can't tell because mine shows how long I've been speaking all day. Um so if I I've been talking for 42 minutes it's a filibuster. Um, so a question to to staff sergeant. Um, bill C9 is passed through third reading. It's now going to be head to to the Senate. It is changing the criminal code if the Senate approves it. It's been my experience with the Senate that it's a it's a given. It's a rubber stamp and it's very rare that they change um the bills. Um, so how does the police department train the police officers in the changes to the criminal code? And secondly, how do you ensure that all of the police officers are up to date with um the evolution of the white supremist groups that are in our community? Um thank you and uh through the chair. Um I mean training is is always ongoing and so we are constantly as we get information in our hey crime investigators are putting that out to like through email through bulletin boards to the service so that uh we can stay updated from that. When there's changes in legislation then obviously the Ontario Police College uh would immediately adapt to what their curriculum would be. um and would update uh would update them as well as our hate crime unit who goes out and trains our our members once they're back here. Um then that would be updated as well. So all of those new offenses that they're talking about adding um would uh would be updated upon that and and and the and greater explained to the officers so that they knew what what the what the facts and issue were for those for those offenses. Thank you. That's very helpful. Okay. Uh, chair, I'll take the um the chair back. Um, councelor Moren Wilson. No, sorry, my apologies. Sorry. Uh, councelor Cameron Cretch is next, please. Yep. Coordination is the most important part. And I think it's important to unpack a little bit of what's been said here. Again, these are my experiences as a city councelor. When you when residents call in during non- peak, as councelor Morning Wilson says, banker's hours, when they call in, they're not greeted with a message that says something that indicates that a hate incident is a priority. They're often told through the different messaging, depending where you call in, if this is an emergency, you know, stand on the line. The average person doesn't understand the difference between an emergency and a hate incident, if those are the same thing, who they should be calling. our systems at this city as JMater has identified quite aptly there are so many gaps I think it's not reasonable to say to residents yep we have people around here 24/7 we can deal with liquidity split I can tell you it does not happen in practice so theoretically it's possible and when all the stars line up it does happen but in practice what happens is uh maybe someone doesn't know where to call they send an email to their counselor's office well what if I'm at an event I'm at an event I get an email later. Oh, okay. This is happening because you know, staff doesn't work 24/7 in the counselor's office and despite popular mythology, other either do I. And um you know, so then that gets passed along or someone emails a member of staff who's away or on vacation and it bounces or someone emails um ask city but someone's not picking up that email at the time or the person that they email about it doesn't understand what the issue is and doesn't understand that it's serious. There are so many easy ways at the city of Hamilton for all this stuff to be ignored for much longer than 24 hours. I just want to say that on the record, like that's just what's happening here. It's not that we're not trying our best up to now with what the tools we have in front of us, but I don't want to portray to the public that everything's just going fine here and that we have a completely working functional system and there are no gaps. There are lots and lots and lots of gaps in terms of priorities. We also have a, as far as I'm concerned, a very skewed sense of them. Our bylaw officers right now are not prioritized to deal with hate incidents. It's just not the way it's functioning. If staff want to correct me, that's fine, but I don't think that's a mandate that that our municipal law enforcement services have. There are competing requests to deal with bylaws, and we have many, many, many bylaws. So, if someone's offending a bylaw in uh Ancaster, right, whatever that may be, and it could be something that's not seen as as important as a major hate incident happening here, but we need that one bylaw officer to get to attend here, right? That's maybe not a they're not going to be able to leave what they're doing to come here because we haven't set up a priority sequencing at the city for that. Lastly, what I'll say is that this idea that it has to rise only to the level of a hate crime under the federal law in order for things to be dealt with is just not true according to lawyers who written on the subject. when the Pride report was written in 2019 in response to what happened here. Here's what Scott Bergman said, a lawyer who wrote the recommendations to the police board that there are many other ways to to deal with this kind of behavior. Mischief to property, threats and criminal harassment causing a disturbance and unlawful assembly. Right there in this report, there are legal examples of where this has happened and he actually includes legal precedent here where this has happened in other places. So, there are ways to address that and there are ways to deal with these things outside of it. Also, bylaw has some tools at its disposal, too. Things like the parks bylaw or other kinds of bylaws that mitigate not allowing to have amplified sound. And if you appear somewhere and someone is speaking in the megaphone saying hateful things, you can absolutely as a bylaw officer say, "This person doesn't have a permit to be on this property using amplified sound." And if the person won't leave, you can call the police and have the person trespass and have them removed today, right now. Tomorrow. So yes, it's complicated, but by coordinating, getting these things in a place where everybody can see them and making sure everyone has a train to understand how to do that is vitally important to us taking action. I just don't want anyone to leave here thinking that we have absolutely no tools at our disposal and that the system is all locked up the way it's supposed to be. No, there's much more we can do and we should. Just just to be clear though, the police have the discretion to make the decision as to how they act. We can't direct them to do anything. So, Oh, no. I'm not saying we're directing them. I'm saying to you that's what a lawyer wrote in the Pride Report that police can do. I'm not speaking about us as counselors or members of staff. I'm saying that's what he said. That was his opinion I read out today. Yes. Right. He said those are the things that you can do and working with our bylaw folks and allowing police to trespass people from certain property. There's all many other things that can be done here. Again, it's coordination that needs to happen. It's working with Hark. working with other people, working with lawyers like this who have these expertise to develop a plan that we can go 1 2 3 4, you know, go through the plan, deal with it. But I'm just saying those tools exist already. Thank you, councelor. Appreciate that clarification. Councelor Moren Wilson, I have you on my list, a list to speak, not on my other list. Thank you very much. Um so uh my the first series of my questions uh I appreciate councelor Crutch's comments were kind of like on um reporting mechanisms and prioritization collecting and collating and using that information for the purpose of getting a sense of where and how and what um and who's doing what. The second series of questions is I I found it interesting chair um that this morning at our AFNA meeting there was an attached letter um from some of the folks I think um Dr. Martin from the social planning research council and another individual and I beg their forgiveness because I cannot recall their name. Um and it was talking about the immigrant and refugee advisory committee that had been disbanded and now under the the this is within the domain of the liaison community liaison activity. But I found it interesting as part of that letter um a very cogent and meaningful statement that it should not fall on the hands of um an unpaid voluntary advisory committee to talk about the impacts of anti-immigration um racism and hate. um and that every division, every department in their consideration of policy, their assessment of value needs to be considering these things. So much of the discussion today has been about, you know, naming um naming groups properly for what they are, inventory and identifying hate. But I'm wondering if I could perhaps get a comment um from GM Mater on the training that's um that we're talking about is you know we've heard the comments when we're talking about a housing crisis that uh new Canadians are to blame. We heard during COVID that certain group um are to to blame. um like what kind of training uh is going to be provided uh that strict that addresses this anti-immigrant um new Canadian um hatred that is like we see it everywhere it's quite palpable through the chair is that going to be part of the curriculum I guess is my question I'll start with GM Mater then we may bring HR into it through the chair thanks very much councelor Wilson for that question That is one of the areas that we do have to address. That is a gap. I think the other is that you know we've the city's come a long way. I mean with the creation of our idea office within HR at the present time we've got a foundation that we can look to to to start that work. We also want to make sure though that we're we're pulling in together all of the learnings that we've had in a variety of different you referenced the housing area. we've referenced, you know, the information that we're we're hearing um all the time from a lot of the different areas about gaps that we we have to look to address. And so I think we've got an opportunity. Um so with that though, I will turn it over to Jod Cotch from human resources. Jody, please identify yourself. Thank you through the chair. Uh Jod Kosh, director of talent and diversity uh within the human resources area. Uh so with respect to training we do have four modules of idea training that have been developed or in the process of being rolled out. Uh those modules uh include an overall introduction to idea uh module one module two is cultural awareness in the workplace. Module three is bias awareness and module four is anti-racism anti-opression. And with respect to the councelor's most recent question, that's the module that deals more specifically with this particular topic area. Um, module, just to give council a bit of an understanding of of training numbers to date. Module one, we have uh about 5,500 employees that have already gone through it. Module two, we have over 3,000 that have completed. And module three, we have over a thousand that have completed. Module four will be launched to people leaders in the very near future and then rolled out to all employees later this year. So with that training and building that competency level within staff, we believe this will help prepare our staff to be more aware and also better able to address that. All of this training is in addition to the respect in the workplace training that is required training and all of the idea module training is required training for all staff including members of council and the elected officials and and your respective staff as well. So um we we are recognizing it is a large group of folks to get through the training but through the uh introduction of our online learning management system that has allowed us to advance that training uh in meaningful numbers over the past year and a half. Thank you counselor. Thank you. Um thank you. I I note that uh a lot of the the the message um that these white supremacist groups are are taking is an anti-immigrant um message and uh the blaming of of immigrants um and uh it's also a historic always Jews blamed for economic dislocation of others as opposed to the macro uh changes going on and I just think we really have to be conscious of it in our the way in which we write our reports um the way in which um we define certain problems in um our public reporting um and the way of course in which we we we we seek to respond and make things better. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, councelor Moren Wilson take you off the list and councelor Nan please second time. Thank you. Um, just on the last points raised by councelor Wilson um if I could through you chair to staff. Um, historically HIPSY has played a pretty significant role addressing this. They've been very vocal. It's not their primary mandate but they've integrated it in. They've done an excellent job uh being consistent and vocal when incidences do cur occur. they are among those community stakeholders uh that are often posting when incidences occur. Um and then they also had the campaign back in 2021 Hamilton for all. Uh so as as the listing of community partners are indicated in the report. Um just curious if there was consideration of HIPSY. Thank you Director Chase through the chair. Um I think there's definitely opportunity for us to continue to engage with HIPSY. Um, we did list the Hamilton Anti-Hate Coalition of which Hipsy is a member and we have consulted with them. Um, but we will certainly take that away and uh ensure that uh we include their important role in this going forward. Councelor, thank you. Okay, so that's just looking around. I think that's the end of the questions and all those questions were excellent and we had a very good discussion on this. Um I see in the report in the recommendations uh General Mater um the concept of of coordination um it looks like it's internal coordination if I recall the statement. Yes. Uh item two that health health and safety communities department red directed to lead internal coordination with the city's hate and violence prevention and response efforts. Um we have not included external parties that are a part of the process in our community that we are actually funding. Um so when it comes back to council um can you modify that language to include external partners? Absolutely. Okay. Thank you through the chair. Thank you councelor Crutch please. And to that end there's a reason why the notice of motion got got done this way. It also contemplates and addresses that issue. So, we could have just put an amendment forward. So, let me rewind the tape. First, it had to be determined whether the notice of motion was in contradiction of the recommendations. And when it was determined that it wasn't in contradiction with the recommendations, it was fine to either put it as an amendment today or leave it as a notice of motion. And I thought, well, leave it as a notice of motion because it's not in contradiction. It can be added to later. This gives a chance to incorporate any feedback we might hear at today's meeting because I didn't give a lot of notice for putting this forward and I think it's not fair to do that. I can also check in with folks like the delegate like Clark to make sure there's things that are included in the motion. So that's also going to be in there. Councelor Clark anyways inherently in the motion is ex the whole point of it really is talking about how a 247 coordination can work. Thank you. And and it's it's my fault. I my apologies. I did not have your notice of motion in front of me on the screen because it's a notice. Yeah, that's why I'm leaving it for next month so we all have time to chew over it as it goes. Uh so let's leave it the way it is. GM Mater please and team and then next month when this motion comes forward and hopefully we can all have a discussion um privately to make sure that we've we've captured everything and we'll reach out to our partners to make sure that we've captured everything. then that motion can come forward uh to make sure that the appropriate parties and appropriate resources are there. So my apologies, council crutch, I did not mean to do that. Okay, so the motion I don't believe I have a mover and a seconder. I need a mover and a seconder um to approve the report. Moved by councelor Nan, seconded by councelor Kretch. Any further comments on the report? Seeing none, we'll call the vote. This one should be electronic, correct? Thank you. So, watch your screens. It's one of the gremlins that we have. We're just waiting for our technology to catch up with us. Sit back, have a coffee. It's okay. I'm just teasing. If not, we can do it the oldfashioned way. No, there it is. See, I I threatened it and it popped up. Oh, now it's letting me vote multiple times. And that carries unanimously. So, thank you very much, Koil, for attending today. Thank you, Executive Director George, for attending. And thank you, Staff Sergeant, and all of the police for attending. We appreciate it. Thank you to all of our staff. Um, you heard the discussion. This is a serious issue that we want to deal with appropriately. So, thank you very much for all of your work. We're now going to move on to the next item on the agenda, which is 8.2 HSC260009, aquatics equipment and supplies single source. I'd like to call upon Steve Savor, director recreation, to provide the committee with an overview of this recommendation. Thank you through the chair, Steve Savor, director of recreation. Uh essentially this report is seeking to gain approval to single source aquatic equipment from Aquam uh aquatic specialists for the next 18 months as we work with procurement staff to develop a detailed request for proposals. Currently there are only three vendors within the aquatic sector that source the equipment necessary for our operations. Recreation staff have followed procurement processes and have previously issued requests for quotations on multiple occasions over the past three years. And in all of those instances, staff continually continually uh were not successful in obtaining three bids uh for the the request for quotations. We have exhausted our ability to proceed through procurement approval of policy 11 single sourcing as we have hit the threshold of $250,000. uh that has um the general manager's approval limits. As we work with procurement to develop an an extensive uh request for proposal, we are seeking today as council uh committee approval for another policy 11 in order to proceed for the coming months uh through you chair uh clerk if if I can provide a bit more information to the committee on the work that we have done with our uh colleagues in procurement. It might provide helpful context. Please. Thank you, uh, chair clerk. Um, requests for proposals represent the best method, uh, to secure services as we are able to ask vendors more detailed questions which will ultimately uh, lead to more competitive pricing and better terms. Uh, requests for proposals are led by our procurement staff and at the time uh, they did not have the capacity to do this for us within the timelines that we needed uh, at that moment. So we did uh, proceed in 2021. We work with procurement staff to issue a request for quotations. We were successful at that time in selecting a vendor based on receiving the minimum number of bids and subsequently uh selecting the lowest bid. In 2022, when we again initiated a request for quotations, there were no longer three uh vendors on the market who could provide their bids. At that time, our staff took the steps to see if there was anything we could do to ensure that we did in fact obtain uh three biders. So, some of the things that we uh ended up uh achieving is completing a an in-depth uh market scan. We took efforts to benchmark with other municipalities to ensure that we were not omitting any known uh potential vendors. And we also uh through our operations team refined the list of items to be bid on in an attempt to broaden the vendor list. Despite these efforts uh no new vendors were identified at that time and with procurement approval uh the contract was awarded to the lowest of the two bids received at that time which was AAM aquatics specialists. A new request for quotations was uh issued again in 20 uh in the spring of 2023 following the expiry of the previous purchase order. However, again, only two bids were received. Given the l uh the limited vendor market procurement supported uh our staff in issuing a policy 11 non-competitive purchase order to once again the lowest bidder Aquam uh again through the GM approved uh approved limits of spending. Uh they did note procurement staff noted that any future council approve council approval would likely be needed uh to continue uh securing these products. So that brings us to today. We are now nearing the end of our current uh purchase order and we have reached the GM authority limits of $250,000 which uh automatically requires council approval uh to proceed. Our market research conducted in the fall of 2025 confirmed that there are still no additional vendors capable of supplying the required aquatic equipment. uh but procurement uh staff supports the recommended uh single source approach today for up to up to 18 months to allow sufficient time to develop and issue a request for proposals. Uh with uh without this approval, we would not be able to purchase critical supplies to sustain operations. I should note that procurement staff have committed the necessary resources to support the request for proposal at this time and so proceeding with a request for proposal following this um is uh is policy compliant and will position us for long-term operational stability. I'm able to answer uh any questions that uh the committee might have. Thank you very much, director. Are there any questions? I am seeing none. That means your report was well written and you've done a good job explaining it. I need a move in a second, please. Move by councelor Nan, seconded by councelor Cretch. Uh, this is an electronic vote, please. Bolts up. Was it five? Councelor Wang, can you vote please? Thumbs up. And that's carried unanimously. Thank you very much. The next item on our agenda is item 8.3, seniors advisory committee, transition to a community leazison group citywide. I'd like to call upon Holly Odady, director long-term care and seniors to provide committee with an overview of the recommendation. Holly, please. Through the chair, Holly Odardi, director of long-term care and seniors. This report provides details on when and how the current seniors advisory committee will transition to a community liaison group, ensuring that this work continues to support older adults and advance Hamilton's age friendly plan. Based on engagement with our seniors advisory committee and alignment with uh council direction, staff are recommending that the transition to the seniors community liaison group take effect January 1st, 2027 and that the long-term care division staff bring forward an information report in November 2026 to emergency and community services outlining the complete terms of reference for the new community liaison group. City council had directed that all volunteer advisory committees move forward to a new civic engagement model rooted in resident le and staff facilitated community liaison groups for our seniors advisory committee specifically our committee members emphasized the importance of completing key deliverables connected to the 20 to 21 to 2026 age friendly Hamilton plan including age friendly plan milestones seniors kickoff event in June, senior of the year awards event in October, and ongoing engagement and consultations. To support this work, the senior's advisory committee would continue its current form until December 31st, 2026, allowing the committee to finish its term and contribute to the foundation setting for the 2027 to 2031 age friendly Hamilton plan. During this period, the long-term care division will continue to provide liaison support after which the group will formally shift to the community liaison group model and continue to be supported by the division. Over the next several months, we will work closely together with the seniors advisory to co-develop the terms of reference for the new seniors community liaison group. This collaborative process will ensure that the community lison group reflects their experience, priorities and the rich history of the contributions that sack has provided since its since its inception. Their work has been vital in shaping our age friendly initiatives and we are confident that the new community liaison group model will continue to support strong engagement, meaningful collaboration and impactful outcomes for seniors across our community. Thank you very much, Holly. Any questions? Councelor Cameron Cretch, please. Just very briefly, just making sure I understand what's happening is like another advisory committee, the climate change advisory committee, which is not having its mandate shifted until the next term of council. This is similar. You've obviously consulted with the seniors advisory committee about this. They're fine with that approach, I'm assuming. I just wanted to confirm that. I know there's been some anxieties about that expressed at this committee before. Director through the chair uh counselor, we had the conversation at our December seniors advisory group. group. I believe councelor Jackson was president and counselor Paul's and we had understood that the direction from council is to move to the volunteer advisory group and we engaged about uh timing and transition and the uh discussion was around carrying out the term of uh the sack committee with the term of uh this council and to help get through the work of the age friendly plan. And so the desire is to keep uh the SAC committee uh till December 31st, 2026 uh with the CLG effective January 1st, 2027. Thanks very much. I'm supportive of that. Just wanted to make sure I understood. Thank you. Any other questions? Uh councelor Wang, if you'd like to take the chair for a second, please. Um I appreciate the report. I still don't agree with what council has done, so I'll simply vote against it. Thank you. Back to you, chair, or back to me, chair. Um, who's moving and who's second? Did I do that already? Councelor Crutch is moving it. Councelor Wang, you're seconding it. Perfect. Thank you very much. No further comments or questions there. So, we'll call the vote. Vote is up. And that vote carried unanimously to 5 nothing. Thank you very much. There are no motions today. There is a notice of motion. Councelor Cretch, would you like to introduce your notice of motion? I think it's been thoroughly introduced. Um it's on the agenda for people to review. Just following protocol. I'll bring it back in April with councelor N as my seconder. And I'm open to anyone's feedback with respect to how to tweak it a little bit or change it. That's why it's here as a notice of motion to ensure that everyone has noticed in the community and people can delegate if they wish. Thank you. Thank you. Much appreciated counselor. Uh any other notices of motion from anyone? Seeing none, that concludes our business. Have a wonderful afternoon. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you everybody.

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