The Ontario Liberals announced another plank to their platform, pledging to tackle racism in schools and policing.
Leader Steven Del Duca says his party would immediately pass Bill 86 drafted in the wake of the murders of four members of a London Muslim family last June.
“We will work closely with the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the entire community to pass the Our London Family Act as quickly as we possibly can,” said Del Duca.
The family of five was intentionally run down on the evening of June 6th and according to London Police, the motivation for the attack was because they were Muslim. They had been out for a walk when a pickup truck jumped the curb and hit them.
Four members of the family – a 74 grandmother, a 46-year-old father, a 44-year-old mother, and a 15-year-old girl – were killed. The fifth family member, a 9-year-old boy, suffered serious injuries.
Bill 86 was originally tabled by the NDP and yesterday that party issued a release saying they too would immediately pass the bill. Yesterday’s release says the bill would “require a provincial review of hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents in Ontario in order to reduce their occurrences; create safe zones around religious institutions; provide new tools and strategies for Ontario schools to combat all forms of racism, including Islamophobia; empower of the Speaker to ban protests at Queen’s Park that incite racist, homophobic, transphobic or xenophobic hate; dismantle white supremacist groups by preventing them from registering as societies; establish an Ontario Anti-Racism Advisory and Advocacy Council.”
Del Duca criticized the current Conservative government for not moving faster on the bill.
“When they had the opportunity to work closely with organizations like the National Council of Canadian Muslims to support and ultimately pass the Our London Family Act, that they chose not to get that job done,” he said.
Del Duca promised a Liberal government would also ensure police services across the province have funding for ongoing training on anti-racism and cultural sensitivity, de-escalation, and mental health.
“We’re also going to be refreshing the Ontario Anti-Black Racism Strategy and we are going to be providing more funding to support Black entrepreneurs and small businesses,” promised Del Duca. “And [provide] five million dollars to support Black historical sites.”
The Liberals would also end streaming in grades nine and ten in Ontario publicly funded schools, a practice the party said in a release “perpetuates anti-Black racism and further segregates students from marginalized backgrounds.”
“The number of hate crimes rose during the pandemic – especially toward Asian, Black, Jewish and Muslim Ontarians. Hate and intolerance have no place in Ontario,” Del Duca said. “The Ontario Liberal plan will enhance Crown Attorney units dedicated to advising police and prosecuting hate crimes and extend the period for putting forward human rights complaints from one to five years. And we will also make it a punishable offence to engage in intimidation within 50 metres of religious institutions.”
The plan also includes extending the amount of time a person can file a human rights complaint from one year to five and appointing a cabinet minister to fight racism.
**with files from Craig Needles
