By Pepper Parr
May 17th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Tuesday afternoon, tomorrow, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward will take her seat in Council Chambers as Chair of a meeting of city council.
Along with her is the City Clerk, the audio visual technician – who should be referred to as the magician given the way he manages to keep the video feed stable. It is no small matter.
Part of getting a Council meeting underway is to read a land acknowledgement and to read out any proclamations that are to be made.
The following are the proclamations that are to apply for this meeting of Council
Proclamations:
Day of Action Against Anti-Asian Racism: May 10, 2021
Apraxia Awareness Day: May 14, 2021
National Public Works Week: May 16 – 22, 202
National AccessAbility Week: May 30 – June 5, 2021
World Sickle Cell Day: June 19, 2021
Senior Volunteer Appreciation Week: June 1-8, 2021
Hidradenitis Suppurative (HS) Awareness Week: June 7 – 13, 2021
Month of Play: June 2021
National Indigenous History Month: June 2021
National Deaf/blind Awareness Month: June 2021
Pride Month: June 2021
Her Worship speaks frequently about her 22 years as a journalist and when there were people in the council chamber the Mayor would acknowledge the presence of media.
One would have thought that the Mayor would have chosen to recognize the National News Media week and take up the opportunity to support local news media.
A web site organized by a group of senior journalists with the humorous name inkstainedwretches took on the task of asking municipalities across the country to support local news. The “wretches” are asking Canadian municipalities to pass a journalism-support resolution between May 3, 2021 and Canada Day.
The petition read:
Given that the creation and distribution of reliable information is crucial for our individual and collective well-being, democracy and civil society;
Given the point to which digital platforms have evolved during the past decade has severely damaged an ecosystem that enables news outlets to provide reliable information (the damage is evident from the number of established news media outlets that closed or merged in Canada since 2008, and has become more critical due to the novel coronavirus pandemic).
We encourage our elected leaders to enact legislation to shape an ecosystem that supports one of the crucial foundations of a functioning democracy: reliable, local journalism.
The following is a lost of all the municipalities that passed a resolution of support to date – look as hard as you may – Burlington is not in the list.
City of Winnipeg, Man. (April 29, 2021)
City of Kamloops, BC (April 20, 2021)
City of London, ON (April 13, 2021)
Chatham-Kent, ON ( April 12, 2021)
City of St. John’s, NL (April 5, 2021)
City of Prince George, BC (March 22, 2021)
City of Toronto, ON (March 10, 2021)
Town of Saugeen Shores, ON (Nov. 23, 2020)
District of Tofino, BC (Oct. 27, 2020)
City of Kitchener, ON (Sept. 14, 2020)
Town of Essex, ON (Sept. 8, 2020)
Town of LaSalle, ON (Sept. 8, 2020)
City of Cambridge, ON (Sept. 8, 2020)
City of Kingston, ON (Sept. 1, 2020)
City of Windsor, ON (Aug. 24, 2020)
City of Hamilton, ON (July 17, 2020)
Township of Wellesley, ON (June 30, 2020)
Township of Woolwich, ON (June 23, 2020)
Township of North Dumfries, ON (June 22, 2020)
Township of Wilmot, ON (June 22, 2020)
City of Waterloo, ON (June 22, 2020)
Region of Waterloo, ON (June 3, 2020)
While quick to talk about the importance of the media Mayor Meed Ward has yet to hold a press conference since donning the Chain of Office. Requests to her office for a comment on an issue results in someone from the communications department who ask what it is we want to know. The Mayor has a full time communications operative working for her.
The Gazette has served the city for ten years. Before becoming Mayor there were numerous interviews with Marianne Meed Ward; nothing since taking the Oath of Office.
Her Worship might surprise us all and produce a resolution before Canada Day.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
