A rookie Sarnia city/county councillor wants to give diversity training another go, after a failed attempt by council last term.
Speaking with Sarnia News Today, Chrissy McRoberts said Crystal Fach, the founder of Diversity Ed, has offered to deliver the training at no cost to the city.
"There was an attempt made with the last council to engage in the training, and unfortunately that was not completed," said McRoberts. "We need to represent the entire constituency, so if we're not educating ourselves in the diversity that we have in our community then we're not doing our jobs."
A Toronto based diversity consultant withdrew its proposals to deliver equity consultations and training in 2021, after completing an initial virtual training session with city council, which it says was met with hostility and belligerence by some members.
McRoberts refrained from commenting on the incident.
"We've got an opportunity here to go at it a second time. It's a different council by a couple of people. Including the mayor, if we could just move forward [and] realize it's just giving us more tools for our arsenal to better deal with everyone in the community and make us stronger as a council, that's the best answer I can give," McRoberts said. "I can't speak to what happened before."
McRoberts would like to see the training completed before the end of 2023.
"I've got a quote from Malcom X, 'Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights.' That's it," McRoberts said. "Everyone in this community has a right to be heard. If there's anyone on council that's [refusing] to speak with someone... we have a problem."
McRoberts said sometimes you have to be uncomfortable in a situation to grow.
"If we know how to better deal with people and maybe be a little uncomfortable for a while [to] learn how to be comfortable, and be able to sit down with anyone, and not judge anyone, that's our job. If we can get that education for free... we should be on board with that," McRoberts said.
McRoberts said it would be up to council to decide if the training was done in a public or in a closed session.
The motion from McRoberts will be considered at Monday's meeting.