Hope says no to anti-racism stickers on parks vehicles

Image from video by District of Hope Ratepayers Association/Facebook

The District of Hope has rejected a request to have anti-racism bumper stickers placed on parks vehicles. Peter Bailey had made the request on behalf of the Hope Inclusion Project at an October meeting. The stickers would have read “Let’s End Racism and Hate: Our Right. Our Responsibility.” Bailey had told council: “I think that it speaks to our community and says to people that we do not tolerate racism in our district. We draw a line here, and who better to draw that line than our municipality.”

He had continued: “There’s always that danger that people will think ‘If we do it for you, we have to do it for everyone.’ But we need to reflect on this as individuals, as community members and members of councils that, if we always stop doing things because somebody else might ask us as well, then we’ll never do anything.”

But when council made a decision two weeks later, those were exactly the concerns cited by those who voted down the idea. Coun. Victor Smith said it “opens up the door to too many other things,” and also cited issues with cleaning and maintenance. Coun. Dusty Smith agreed, adding that: “If we push anything onto our property, we’re going to be asked about it. We’ve been down this situation with sidewalks and everything like that too so I think the district needs to stay neutral on it as well.” Mayor Peter Robb said he agreed.

Council ended up passing a motion prohibiting bumper stickers for other parties on district vehicles. Coun. Scott Medlock, who spoke in favour of the stickers, and Coun. Heather Stewin were opposed to the motion.

You can watch the discussion here: