Calling on the community to sign the petition
Contact Staff
Several community organizations including the Côte-des-Neiges Black Community Association and the Jamaican Association of Montreal are among several groups and individuals around the city involved in an initiative to get the municipal government to hold public consultations on systemic racism and discrimination.
To make it happen the groups have to get 15,000 names over a 90 day period ending July 29, for a petition to force the City of Montreal to “launch a public hearing in front of a neutral non partisan body on the issue.”
The move is being spearheaded by Balarama Holness who ran for Project Montreal in the last municipal election in Montreal North and lost, together with Center for Research -Action on Race Relations (CRARR) as well as the Council of South Asian Communities and the Concordia Student Union.
They are driven by the fact that statistics continue to show a extensive under representation of visible minorities at both the public and private sectors in the city.
Marvin Rotrand, opposition city councilor for the Snowdon district, is also behind the initiative and also on the move collecting signatures.
He says all visible minorities should recognize the urgency of the situation and sign the petition.
A valid signature is anyone aged 15 and up who lives in the city of Montreal (e.g. Lasalle, Lachine, NDG, St. Laurent and Cote des Neiges but not if you live in a suburb such as Cote St. Luc, Westmount, Hampstead, off island, etc.)
He says students as well as non-citizens can sign the petition.
