Ottawa Valley residents demand mayors face up to racism

Racism in the Valley is a series of stories stemmingfroma violentassault on an 80-year-old womanin Pembroke, Ont., earlier this year.CBC Ottawaspoke to Black, Indigenous and people of colourin the region about their experiences, and to local leaders to find outwhat's being done.

Some mayors in the Ottawa Valley are promising to do betterafter residents called on them to acknowledge and act on systemic racism in their communities.

This follows a CBC Ottawa series on racism in the Ottawa Valley, where five Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) shared their experiences with racism and called on local leaders to do something about it.

Mayors in Renfrew and Arnpriorinitiallytold CBC they don't believe there's systemic racism in their towns, and suggested racist incidentsare isolated.

Katie Perfitt penned an open letterto each of the mayors and launchedonline petitions, which hadhundreds ofsignaturesas of Thursday night.

"It is deeply disappointing in your response to that article where, on the one hand, you condemn the racist acts, and on the other deny that systemic racism exists in our town," reads the letter.

Outrage on social media

The letter calls on both town councils to undergo anti-racism training, fund anti-racism training for the publicand to publicly apologize for their earlier statements to CBC denying there's a racism issue in their towns.

I admit that I was not as aware or as educated as I should have been.- Renfrew Mayor Don Eady

"I was seeing a lot of outrage on social media," said Perfitt, who grew up in Arnpriorand lives in anearby town.

Perfittsaid she wanted to give people a way to speak up, and is "heartened" by the response so far.

"Systemic racism that was outlined in the CBC article is not a problem for Black, Indigenous and people of colour to fix. It's a system that was created and upheld and perpetrated by white people," said Perfitt, who addedshe's trying to be a white ally."It's so imperative that white people join the fight."

Tiffany Smiley lives in the County of Renfrew and was one of several residents who wrote directly to Renfrew Mayor Don Eady this week.

"I reached out because I felt his words were incorrect. I felt it was coming from an uneducated and uninformed place," said Smiley. "Being a person of colour, we most definitely dealt with this ...It's just not OK anymore."

Mayor apologizes

Eadydeclined an interview but said in an email thathe will add the topic of racism, discrimination and exclusion tothe agenda for the upcoming Renfrew council meeting on Dec. 15.

"I would like to apologize to anyone I have offended," said Eady. "I admit that I was not as aware or as educated as I should have been about the existence of racism and exclusion in our communities."

Eady said he's committed to educating himself on racism in his community, and will encourage his council colleaguesto do the same. He said he will contact Pembroke Mayor Mike LeMay, who has committed to creating a diversity committee.

• Read the full statements from Mayor Eady and the Town of Arnprior here

Arnprior Mayor Walter Stack declined an interview, but referred to a town news releasestating it's"committed to incorporating equity, diversity and inclusion." Stack didn't address the specific demands outlinedin the petition.

"As much as we may hear that racism doesn't exist in the Ottawa Valley, unfortunately that is not the case," states the release.

• Read Part 1 |The Ottawa Valley has a racism problem. These people have beenliving it
• Read Part 2 |Granddaughter of Pembroke assault victim tackles racism issue
• Read Part 3 | Ottawa Valley mayors speak out about racism in their towns

"We hope to identify meaningful opportunities to incorporate the values of inclusion and diversity in future plans for the town of Arnprior in the coming months," the statement reads.

Bonnechere Valley Mayor Jennifer Murphy, who said it was up to leaders to eliminate systemic racism in the valley,told CBC she will raisethe issue at a committee meeting next week.

Read the full statements below: