City of Powell River councillors heard from two delegations regarding what was termed in a meeting agenda as misconduct and inappropriate statements for elected officials.
At the February 13 committee of the whole meeting, presentations were made from Shyanne Ashton-Hopkins and Emmy Corbett, and from Ethin Dubé and Emma Thomson, after comments were made at the January 30 committee of the whole meeting by councillor Jim Palm regarding a made-up Indigenous name for Powell River.
Corbett said she was appearing before the committee to express her deep concern for the January 30 committee of the whole meeting and the racist remarks around a possible name change for the city, and when Palm mocked the language of the Tla’amin people.
“Our community should be one of inclusivity, acceptance and empathy,” said Corbett. “I’m disheartened and ashamed of council for not intervening immediately because the tolerance of racist remarks is unacceptable. The racism is not only reflected within council chambers but in the community as well.
“While many people wrote to express their support for Tla’amin Nation, and tried to hold Jim Palm accountable, there were some who wrote in support of his actions. To some in the community, the comments made may seem small, and the intentions were not to harm anyone. Some said it was not a political discussion. However, these behaviours are dehumanizing and normalize racism in our everyday actions, beliefs and systems, which is the exact product of settler colonialism.”
Corbett asked what concrete steps the city was taking to follow the 11 recommendations of the joint working group into a possible name change for the city.
“We look to you for forward thinking and respect for the future of this community,” said Corbett. “For myself and many other youth who have grown up in qathet region, the actions of Jim Palm showcase why we do not want to stay within the city.
“Why would we want to live in a city that allows its council members to be blatantly racist and transphobic in council chambers. I hope to live in an inclusive and thriving community here, and without any municipal actions, I feel this won’t be possible.”
Corbett asked council to imagine what could be accomplished if this was a community where the leadership actively prioritizes transparency, collaboration, and most importantly, accountability.”
Shyanne Ashton-Hopkins said the most recent statement put out by the city in response to Tla’amin’s media release on the incident feels like minimal effort of damage control on behalf of Palm. Ashton-Hopkins said there is no accountability and it sounds dismissive of valid input from other communities that have been affected.
Ashton-Hopkins asked that Palm make a personal apology for mocking the Tla’amin language; that council members and mayor make efforts to attend relevant workshops on topics promoting inclusivity in the community; that all council members and mayor attend the restorative justice program offered by qathet Community Justice; and that the city follow the recommendations of the joint working group.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said council succeeds or fails together and they are all responsible for each other’s conduct.
“We need to do a better job of that,” said Elliott. “We are working really hard to figure out how to improve in our function. We are going to do better in the future. I want everyone here to feel safe.”
Council then heard from Ethin Dubé and Emma Thomson, who elaborated on many of the themes mentioned by Corbett and Ashton-Hopkins. They said they would like to see ongoing commitments and outcomes to reconciliation, learning and respect. They said they hoped this incident would highlight the importance of keeping name change a priority, and the importance of real action toward reconciliation, by respecting the wishes of Tla’amin and the city’s relationship with the nation.
“We hope to see out council take the incidents seriously, take the feelings of members of the community seriously, and to make a commitment to furthering their learning and our collective healing by attending relevant learning workshops and restorative justice processes,” stated Thomson and Dubé in a written presentation to council.
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