Mt. A. students, staff faculty and members of the public march to Convocation Hall on November 12 calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Since then, the group, Sackville Ceasefire Now, has held rallies outside town hall, made presentations to council and has emailed and spoken to individual members of council
Members of a Sackville group calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza have rejected arguments by members of Tantramar Town Council that the issue is outside their municipal jurisdiction.
“We were deeply dismayed to hear evaluations and comments made on the genocide in Gaza by council members and mayor which lacked any meaningful research and substantive reflection,” the group says in a news release.
Sackville Ceasefire Now was reacting to Tantramar council’s decision yesterday not to write a letter to the prime minister calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and an increased flow of humanitarian aid.
Their request for a letter to Trudeau came in a petition signed by 253 people that the group submitted to council on March 12th.
“We are a group of Tantramar residents united across diverse ages, faiths and backgrounds,” the release says, adding that their November rally of about 250 people calling for a ceasefire in Gaza was one of the largest in recent municipal history.
‘Emotional’ issue
Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell speaking directly to Mayor Black
When council discussed the petition at its committee of the whole meeting yesterday, only Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell favoured writing a letter to the PM.
“That seems like the right thing to do to help,” she said, agreeing with council colleagues who called the killings, injuries, mass displacement and starvation in Gaza an atrocity.
“At least it’s a little bit that we could do to show our support,” she added.
“It’s just so emotional that it’s even hard to talk about.”
Not our responsibility
However, Councillor Michael Tower seemed to sum things up for a majority of his colleagues when he suggested the group’s ceasefire demands should have been presented to the federal government.
“I don’t think us getting involved at that level is our responsibility,” he said.
Councillor Michael Tower
“I don’t like the killing that’s going on. It’s not good,” Tower said, adding that the federal government has already called for a ceasefire and is halting Canadian arms shipments to Israel.
He also suggested that the conflict is two- sided.
“When I hear, ‘Stop the killing,’ but then they blame the Israeli people and it’s not the Israeli people. They don’t like it either,” he said.
“So, I think this gets into a political area that I don’t think falls into our realm of governance.”
‘Contentious issue’
Councillor Allison Butcher called the ceasefire request “a very contentious issue within our community.”
She seemed torn by what she called a “complicated situation” in the Middle East, saying on the one hand that while she agreed it was one for other levels of government to deal with, it’s also a humanitarian issue.
Councillor Allison Butcher
“I don’t think that we should be calling for any other government to, — how do I say this? — to change the way that they are governing, but we should be standing up for ceasefires, for releases of hostages, for humanitarian aid to get through,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s our area of governance, but I think to send a letter to our federal government to say, we as a municipality believe that the horrors that are happening there should be stopped, without us even having any idea about how to fix it, is still something that we should consider,” she added.
After the meeting, however, Butcher told CHMA reporter Erica Butler that she would not be moving a motion to send such a letter.
Not ‘all Israel’s fault’
Councillor Bruce Phinney suggested that sending a letter to the PM calling for a ceasefire would amount to taking sides making it seem the war is “all Israel’s fault…
“Hamas was the one that started it on October 7th,” he said.
Councillor Bruce Phinney
“I know what’s happening in Gaza is certainly because Israel’s much stronger, but I truly believe that actually this kind of issue is something that should be left in the hands of the federal government and the other governments throughout the world.”
Phinney said a letter from Tantramar wouldn’t “make a big bit of difference” and that, in any case, Hamas would just keep on fighting anyway.
“I don’t agree with what’s going on, you’re right, it’s an atrocity, but that’s something that’s been going on for a long time,” he said.
“So, I think it’s best left to the hands of federal government and the other governments across the world.”
‘Muddies the waters’
“I think most people can agree that what’s going on in Gaza is atrocious, the loss of life is significant, some of the more recent atrocities around people trying to secure food and being killed for doing that is pretty extreme and pretty terrible,” said Mayor Andrew Black.
Mayor Andrew Black
“But getting down to the brass tacks of what the ask is, this really is not within our jurisdictional responsibility to do,” he added, referring to the request for a letter to Trudeau.
“So, I would suggest that ceasefire groups band together and push really hard for the federal and provincial government, I know that some of that work is being done, and that’s where this is really going to change,” Black said.
He added that “it confuses things and muddies the waters” when the municipal level of government gets involved in issues outside its “jurisdictional responsibility.”
Then, since no other councillors seemed willing to speak, Black said, “We’ll leave it at that and we’ll move on if council’s OK with that.”
‘Democratic clarity’
In their news release, Sackville Ceasefire Now objected to members of council arguing that what’s happening in Gaza is not their responsibility.
“Members of the Tantramar Council and Mayor Andrew Black may not feel that a letter to our federal government warrants uptake due to falling outside perceived ‘municipal jurisdictional responsibility,’ but we strongly disagree,” they write.
“Hundreds of municipalities large and small across North America have participated in putting necessary pressure on their respective provincial, state, and federal governments. These actions did not ‘muddy the waters’ but provided democratic clarity at an alarming and heightened time of crisis and misery.”
To read the group’s news release, click here.
To read a transcript of the council discussion, click here.
I “love” how these people want Sackville Town Council to punish Israel for being militarily stronger.
Maybe they could even things out by lending Israel some of their PR capability: Hamas clearly is stronger in that department. They really show their mettle in getting this whole crowd on their side, when most of them would actually be targets of Hamas, if they were in Gaza! That’s truly masterful.
Calling for a ceasefire is hardly “punitive”. Asking to restore humanitarian aide ought to be…humanitarian. It’s worth pointing out that restricting civilian access to food and water is considered a war crime under the Geneva convention.
Imagine being a troll on a blog in Sackville NB. What a sad little life you must have.
Does the council, do our neighbours understand that Israel is a nuclear state and that Palestine which is just territories does not have even a standing army? Can we grasp what it means to have 35,000 of us murdered, many while waiting for food? There is a long, long history of Israeli occupation, stealing land and imprisoning Palestinians. That history is there for the reading.
So let’s see: “does not have even a standing army” but invades their neighbour and murders about 1200 Israelis on October 7th? Because… it’s fun? What about the rapes? What military goal does that have by the “non standing” army? Why is that okay?
Then the “nuclear state” proceeds to engage in a land invasion, in order to remove the non-“standing army” that engaged in that massacre. While trying to minimize uninvolved casualties. Instead of, say, nuking the place, as an opening volley.
Just because one party to a conflict is weaker doesn’t mean that they’re morally superior. Think about it: if Hamas had nukes, their opening play would probably be to nuke Tel Aviv. The only reason it doesn’t happen is because they don’t have nukes. The Israelis have nukes, and didn’t nuke Gaza City.
Interesting decision to not report on the hate mail received by one of our councilors.
CHMA’s Erica Butler talked to Councillor Butcher after the meeting about her comment re “hate mail.” Here’s what she said and I’ll leave it to you Tim to judge my reporting:
Councillor Butcher: “Hate mail I guess is a subjective term. In the past, I was the only councillor who spoke up about the coalition coming forward and I guess when people feel strongly about things then they react strongly. So, perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything, but there are people who feel very strongly about this on both sides and atrocities are happening so I can understand that people are very upset about them and I guess they feel like they wish that we could all do more. I’ll leave it at that.”
Q. “Obviously, you’re open to hearing from people about things, but you want to put in a good word for how people should approach that?”
Councillor Butcher: “Well, I understand that when people feel strongly, they react strongly and you know, I signed up for this job so, yeah I don’t want to suggest that people should not be reaching out to us. Perhaps I shouldn’t have worded it that way, but when people feel strongly about something, they react strongly and sometimes that comes across in a way that is perhaps a little seemingly aggressive. But no, I wouldn’t want to say that people shouldn’t reach out to elected officials when they feel strongly about something. Like I said, I signed up for this job, so by all means they should.”
Q. “There’s nothing that made you feel worried or afraid?”
Councillor Butcher: “Oh no. Absolutely not.”
That’s a relief. I’m grateful for the elaboration.
At the March 25th Town Council meeting, Mayor Black, in reference to the request that our Town Council issue a public statement of support for the call for a ceasefire in Gaza in the form of a letter to the federal government, stated “…this really is not within our jurisdictional responsibility to do…” I recently asked Mayor Black to explain exactly what the difference is between this request for an official statement of support for a ceasefire in Gaza and Town Council’s actions at the Mar 12, 2022 meeting (just two years ago) when Mayor Mesheau made an official statement of support for Ukraine. His response was “I have gone back and listened to what was said by Mayor Mesheau and the list of what was being done for Ukraine was operational…..not governance as is the case with the ceasefire group. I don’t recall ever having discussed with all of council the remarks that Mayor Mesheau made at the time, nor the steps that were taken to support Ukraine and those affected.” I agree that Town Council’s instructing town staff to light Town Hall in Ukrainian colours and purchase and fly the Ukrainian flag at Town Hall would be considered operational. However, Mayor Mesheau making an official statement on behalf of Town Council in support of Ukraine is definitely governance since the decision to make this official statement of support was made by our elected representative(s). How is that not governance?
Mayor Black’s response seemed to indicate that the decision was made by Mayor Mesheau himself without consultation with the rest of Town Council. I asked Mayor Black to clarify if that was indeed what he had implied and his response was “…I cannot speak to what the former Mayor did or did not do. That may be a question for Shawn himself if he is willing to answer”, so it is unclear whether this was a decision of all of Town Council or just Mayor Mesheau. Either way, even if Mayor Mesheau made the decision on his own and the rest of Town Council didn’t agree with him that it was within the town government’s jurisdictional responsibility to make such a public statement they could/should have expressed their disagreement with the public statement of support but they did not.
Our Town Council must be consistent in its decisions and actions in cases like this. Otherwise the decision of whether or not to make public statements on these issues appears to depend on whether our Town Councillors agree with a request for issuance of a public statement rather than whether it is in Town Council’s jurisdictional responsibility.
It is of interest to note that in the roughly 21 months of conflict in Ukraine, there have been approx. 10,000 civilian deaths (including approx. 560 children) and approx. 18,500 civilians injured. In the roughly 5 months of conflict in Gaza, there have been approx. 30,000 civilian deaths (including approx. 12,300 children) and approx. 70,000 civilians injured.
Just a note to the Ukrainian numbers you mention. The Ukrainian military isn’t using them as human shields and correct me if wrong but didn’t Ukrainian civilians get out to neighbouring countries or flown to others like here in Canada? Can’t really compare as Hamas is keeping them there as well as neighbouring countries not allowing them to enter.
Not only civilians since Hamas does not differentiate between civilians and Hamas fighters, as well those who died because of Hamas misfired rockets. And the number of children includes those up to 18 years old. Those above 15-16 could be fighters as well. At least some of them.