The exterior of Saint John City Hall is pictured in this file photo. (Staff photo)
Saint John council has voted unanimously on a motion to lobby for racist discrimination to be made punishable under the Criminal Code.
Mayor Don Darling introduced the motion which was accompanied by a presentation by Dr. Timothy Christie at Monday night’s meeting.
With the motion passed, council will now petition the federal and provincial governments to make racist acts punishable offences. City staff will also look for ways to enforce punishment locally.
Christie explained how the onus of proving racist actions is on the victim.
“If I’m caught fishing illegally, our society has a very clear and efficient way of dealing with that,” Christie said. “But we don’t have the same method for dealing with racial discrimination.”
Darling said he was inspired to create the motion due to the thousands of people who attended last month’s Black Lives Matter rally in King’s Square.
This motion was about representing thousands (hundreds of thousands) of people who know we can and must do better. So grateful to a community who stands up and together for change. #BlackLivesMatter #WeHearYou #Action
— Don Darling (@dondarlingSJ) July 7, 2020
Councillor David Hickey was among the council-members who took time to applaud the motion. He compared the killings of Chantel Moore and Rodney Levi in New Brunswick last month to the treatment of the Rideau Hall gunman by police as an example of the pervasiveness of racism in society.
“We see two deaths of unarmed, Indigenous New Brunswickers, and yet a white man can drive his half-tonne truck through the gates of the governor general and prime minister’s residences, armed with an AR-15 and walk away unharmed.”
Matthew Martin, the founder of the Saint John Black Lives Matter movement, will bring a letter from council to Premier Blaine Higgs at a meeting later this week.
