Hate Prevention & Mitigation Initiative
Consultation has concluded
Hamilton is a diverse community and Canada’s 9th largest city. With one in four Hamiltonians born outside of Canada, Hamilton has long been a welcoming city to newcomers, refugees, international students and people from all over the world. Hamilton strives to be a safe and supportive city for people regardless of their age, background, colour, religion, ability and gender identity. However, the equity, diversity and inclusion mosaic built for many generations in Hamilton also continues to be challenged by hate incidents, racism, discrimination, homophobia, and anti-Semitism. To address these challenges, it takes the entire community working together to reinforce shared positive values, create effective policies and build our community resilience.
Project Background
The City of Hamilton has retained Sage Solutions(External link), an independent consulting firm based in Guelph with over 20 years of experience supporting community projects, to conduct public engagement in the Hamilton community on hate prevention and mitigation. The consultant will also explore root causes, apply best practices and offer key recommendations on how to address hate and discrimination within the broader Hamilton community.
In June through August 2020, the consulting team engaged with equity-seeking groups, people with lived experiences of discrimination, residents and other stakeholders to inform the development of the City’s Hate Prevention and Mitigation Initiative policies, procedures and practices.
From this engagement, twenty recommendations were drafted and a survey is available to provide the community an opportunity to review and enhance them.
Community Consultation on Draft Recommendations
Twenty draft recommendations are ready for the community’s consideration within the Hate Prevention and Mitigation Initiative, based on the research and engagement done to date. Your feedback will help us to gauge the level of support for these recommendations and to gather input on how to make them even stronger.
Proactive Leadership
1. Accelerate decisive and well-informed City responses to stand against hate.
2. Create, resource and execute an action plan to confront systemic racism and other forms of discrimination in Hamilton.
3. Convene collaborative opportunities for productive dialogue amongst community organizations, businesses, and other local institutions, with the goal of building a welcoming city together.
4. Measure and report on progress.
Centering Communities
5. Deeply listen to the voices of those experiencing hate.
6. Follow through with actions that support what the City has already heard.
7. Incorporate more diverse representation at decision-making tables.
8. Support convergent strategies to coordinate and accelerate the work that community organizations are doing to combat hate in the city.
9. Shift funding away from punitive efforts and toward prevention, which includes increasing resources for social services partnerships to address mental health, addictions and affordable housing.
10. Invest in equity-promoting programming and re-evaluate City grants and granting processes to ensure they are equitable and accessible.
11. Invest in more safe community spaces.
Education and Early Intervention
12. Invest in public campaigns that demonstrate the City’s commitment to anti-hate, including effective ways to intervene when you see hate incidents occurring.
13. Partner with community organizations to develop educational curriculum to teach young people about justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, from the perspective of people living in Hamilton.
14. Invest in placemaking initiatives that encourage intergenerational and diverse community interaction.
Regulations and Enforcement
15. Be more firm in condemning hate activities in the city.
16. Leverage the municipal regulatory framework to stand against the presence of hate, beginning on City property but extending beyond that where legally possible.
17. Develop a Hate Incident Community Mapping Mechanism to better track and collect data for hate incidents happening in the city.
18. Build a coordinated community reporting mechanism
19. Embrace community-led responses to harm.
20. Rebuild trust in Hamilton Police Services.