A letter criticizing the city's pursuit of grant money to develop an anti-racism strategy was perceived by Salmon Arm council as an endeavour to promote division.
At its June 24 meeting, council supported submitting an application to BC Healthy Communities for $15,000. If successful, the city will work with the Shuswap Immigration Services Society (SISS), School District 83 and Interior Health to develop an anti-racism strategy to be called Embracing Equity and Inclusivity. The application included a letter from Mayor Alan Harrison who explained the city is "deeply committed to promoting equity, inclusivity and social justice within our community."
"We recognize the significance of creating a city where all individuals feel valued, respected and empowered," reads the letter. "The proposed Anti-Racism Strategy aligns perfectly with our organizational values and goals by seeking to build relationships across sectors, develop engagement objectives and strategies, research best practices and co-develop an action plan with key partners."
Council, at its Aug. 12 meeting, received a letter from a Salmon Arm resident stating they do not want the city to fail "due to the naivet茅 of its decision makers." Arguing against the pursuit of equity, the writer stated "oppression is not real," that we are all equal under the law and that "Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud of the society he fundamentally changed." The writer is also critical of practices/policies for DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), and argues equality comes at the cost of "tearing down the successful."
In response, Coun. Tim Lavery said there is no "naivete in play here," and referred to himself as a proud DEI hire, a "democratically and duly elected incumbent" who will "always stand up for, and protect inclusionary approaches for all our Salmon Arm residents to the best of my abilities all of the time. And that鈥檚 what I feel I鈥檝e been elected to do."
Lavery described the letter as an import of the culture war being led by the far right, seeking to "create political conflict and division in order to divide us."
"In my view ,this letter is just such an endeavour and I personally, completely repudiate both the points that were made in this letter as well as the non-stated, underlying implications behind this."
As Lavery, Coun. Sylvia Lindgren challenged the writer's intent, calling the letter a "thinly disguised denial of social wrongs against particular social and economic groups."
"There鈥檚 a multitude of falsehoods and misrepresentations that I wish we had time to deconstruct one line at a time, and i would love to do that for anybody who calls me and asks for more information on this鈥�," said Lindgren. "Suffice to say, I support diversity, equity ad inclusion in all of its forms. I believe there are political and social constructs that have oppressed groups of people based on, among other things, gender, sexuality, colour, place of origin, etc."
Coun. Louise Wallace Richmond said such letters often make their way to council, and that they are a reality of elected local government officials.
"They can be upsetting, disturbing, sometimes even frightening, but I will tell you this," said Wallace Richmond. "To anyone who is listening, letters like these make me work harder, make me do better, make me support more. So I hope people who consider this as a tactic that鈥檚 effective recognize the irony in that.
"I鈥檓 grateful to my council for the work we have done as a group, supporting vulnerable people of all kinds because we all have the same need to belong to our communities and that work is not going to stop because of letters like these."
