Waterloo councillors reaffirm condemnation of racism, hate-motivated attacks

City of Waterloo councillors voted to reaffirm their condemnation of racism and hate-motivated attacks during Monday's council meeting.

It comes after Ashwin Annamalai, a Waterloo resident, took a video of a woman yelling at himand ranting about the South Asian community. It was an issue Annamalai raised with Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe in a video posted to social media. McCabe called it a "horrific racist attack."

Coun. Julie Wright brought forward a motion on Monday calling on residents in the city and the whole of the region to oppose racism and hate, and foster a sense of belonging for all community members.

Wright's motion also noted recent data from Statistics Canada showingthe cities in Waterloo region have the highest rate of police-reported hate crimes in the country.

"Combatting hate and racism is a continuing effort. We don't suddenly arrive at our destination and say we did it," Wright said during the meeting.

"As an elected official, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to stand with the members of our community facing racism and hate-motivated incidents and to commit to the work ahead to foster this sense of belonging."

Wright also mentioned the case of a man who pleaded guilty toa hate-motivated attack on an instructor and students at the University of Waterloo in June 2023 as well as ongoing geopolitical events around the world.

"We can continue to say that hate has no home here, but importantly, we must continue to use every tool in our toolbox to push back on it publicly, link our words to actionsand deepen our collaborations across the community," she said.

Coun. Jen Vasic said it's important people in her role are "speaking up when we see injustice occur."

Council voted in favour of continuing work on preventive measures to combatracism and hate, which includes working with city staff and community groupson community safety and well-being.

As well, the motion, which was passed unanimously, will be shared with other local politicians, including MPs, MPPs, councils, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, and the presidents of Conestoga College, University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.