UPDATE – JAN 6: Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto pastor Brent Hawkes told Xtra the names of the Toronto city staff members at the Community Advisory Panel targetted consultation on Jan 5.
The staff members include Mike Williams, general manager of economic development; Chris Brillinger, director of social policy analysis and research; Lori Martin, senior affairs officer; Rita Davies, executive director of culture and Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, the former manager of diversity and community engagement, who has since left the city for a new post but asked to attend the meeting, Hawkes says.
JAN 5: The list of groups and individuals requesting targeted consultations with the Pride Toronto (PT) Community Advisory Panel (CAP) has been posted publicly.
The release of the list on Jan 5 comes after vocal demands at the five consultation sessions in December as well as on the CAP Facebook page.
There are 36 groups and organizations on the list. Some come as no surprise: Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA), Pride Toronto staff, Church Wellesley Business Improvement Area (BIA) and Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam.
Then there are unnamed members of Toronto city staff.
Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto pastor Brent Hawkes didn’t have his notes from the panel’s meetings with the city in front of him, so he could not provide Xtra with the names of the city staff members that attended, nor could he provide their departments.
There were two meetings between the panel and city staff, he says. One meeting was held about a month ago, and the most recent meeting, with five city staff members, was on Jan 5.
“From the city’s perspective, we heard what some of the key issues are, what the city feels Pride needs to work on,” he said. “For the city there are two issues: policy issues and political issues.
“But at the policy level, the city has requirements of all grant recipients. And finding out what Pride needs to do to ensure the funding is not in jeopardy because of a policy issue.”
Hawkes said the panel came away from its meeting with the city with much more clarity on policy issues.
This is a developing story.
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