Petition calls for Calgary to address systemic racism
Posted Jun 5, 2020 7:08 pm.
Last Updated Jun 8, 2020 9:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (CityNews) – A petition calling for the City of Calgary to address systemic racism continues to grow.
As of Monday morning (June 8), nearly 60,000 people have signed the online petition.
“We want the city of Calgary to take some initiative and more responsibility in creating some more concrete change by addressing systemic racism in our city,” explained Aashna Josh, Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation (CCMAF).
The CCMAF partners with culturally diverse communities to eradicate racism. They see opportunity in the global movement happening right now.
“This is a push that maybe is needed to get the city of Calgary to be more proactive in creating some more structural and systemic change around racism in our city.”
At least one councillor could be on board. Councillor George Chahal is interested in its momentum, but he says all groups raising alarm on the issue need to be involved.
“We need to be very collaborative on how we do this work to understand and to get all voices that are concerned with racism to be part of that process,” explained ward 5s councillor.
A victim of racism himself, Chahal knows racism occurs in the city. One reason he’s not going to shut down any move to address the issue.
“Playing ice hockey not even two years ago as a councillor, there was a lot of inappropriate language used towards me.”
In 2017, CCMAF created a documentary speaking to Calgarians about the racism they faced.
The petition is calling for a public consultation that would hear Calgarians of different backgrounds discussing racism going on in the city. It would be followed by policies and legislative changes.
“Discomfort often happens when there is learning to be done and the only way we can create change is through learning,” said Josh.
