Public consultations into systemic racism, discrimination begin in Montreal

When she was only four years old,Tiffany Callenderbecame the target of a racist incident in a Montrealrestaurant, and despite that having been in 1986, she said the city hasn't changed much since then.

She told her storyat the first meeting on systemic racism and discrimination in Montreal Wednesday night.

She was joined byBalarama Holness the two are credited with spearheading the initiative to gather 20,000 signatureslast summer, demanding the public consultation.

The night served as a general information session from the Office de consultation publique de Montral (OCPM) and was followed by a question and answer period.

Facing a packed room of about 150 attendees, organizers said the meeting would continue with another session Thursday evening.

"We are ecstatic and happy to empower Montrealers," Holness said. "We are happy to ensure that our city becomes more inclusive, more diverse."

After statements by Holness and Callender, representatives from the city spoke, then the floor was opened to a question and answer period.

Attendees took the microphone and presenters had to occasionally interject, to ask for acalmer tone as people delivered impassioned statements about their experiences.

Linda Gauthier, the head of the Regroupement activistes pour l'inclusion Qubec (RAPLIQ), a coalition of disability rights groups, said that nowhere in the documents handed out by the city are people with visible disabilities explicitly mentioned; even though they suffer discrimination for how they look.

Holness replied that any time discrimination is mentioned in the documents, people with disabilities are included in that.

Natasha Luttrell, who is deaf and advocates for the deaf community in Quebec, asked what would be done to make sure the deaf community hasaccess to services in Montreal.

She also said that the consultations themselves weren't accessible to the deaf community, becausethe English interpreter was using American Sign Language (ASL) and the French interpreter was using Quebec Sign Language, which she said many people wouldn't understand.

The hearing lasted for more than threehours and ten more are planned between now and October. Afinal report will be released at an unspecified date after that.