In the wake of several hate-related incidents reported recently in Stratford – including the vandalism of a pro-LGBTQ+ restaurant in its downtown core – representatives from some of the city’s most influential institutions want to talk.
In the wake of several hate-related incidents reported recently in Stratford – including the vandalism of a pro-LGBTQ+ restaurant in its downtown core – representatives from some of the city’s most influential institutions want to talk.
An important conversation about equity, diversity and inclusion will happen during four upcoming public meetings, a new local committee representing nine prominent Stratford organizations announced this week.
The virtual sessions beginning Jan. 23 will be open to everyone and, if you ask Daviorr Snipes, the director of equity, diversity and inclusion at the Stratford Festival – one of the Southwestern Ontario tourism hub’s largest economic drivers – they will be “essential to the future of the city. ”
“People are often surprised when they hear that Black people can come to a city like Stratford and will have racial slurs thrown at them, or someone who’s a part of the 2SLGBTQ community can come to Stratford and have homophobic slurs thrown at them … because it’s something that they’ve never experienced,” Snipes said Thursday.
“The worst thing that can happen is people become aware of it but nothing’s ever done and it just continues to fester,” he continued. “That’s detrimental to the city of Stratford, especially a city that’s such a tourism destination. Why would people want to come visit here if they’re going to feel unsafe?”
Stratford hasn’t been immune to hate-motivated incidents many experts say are on the rise during the past couple of years.
In June 2020, not long after the murder of American George Floyd inspired a racial reckoning in communities across the continent, actor EB Smith spoke out online about a Confederate flag he noticed flying in the window of a Stratford home. The backlash Smith received afterwards was so harsh, Stratford police launched a hate speech investigation and the story received widespread media coverage.
More recently, the co-owner of Sirkel Foods, an LGBTQ+ advocate in Stratford, arrived at work to find homophobic graffiti spray painted on the restaurant’s rainbow-coloured rear door, a window and a dumpster. The nasty display of intolerance – not unlike many others reported in Southwestern Ontario this year – happened about a month after Sirkel Foods was pelted with eggs and a year after vandals similarly defaced Stratford’s first rainbow-coloured crosswalk hours after its installation.
Police launched investigations into those incidents too, but no charges have been laid.
Plenty of organizations in North America have recently been taking internal steps to make workplaces safer for people who may be vulnerable to systemic inequality, particularly after the death of Floyd. From those efforts have come positions for people like Snipes, who was working in a similar role for the Alliance Theater in Atlanta before he joined the Stratford Festival nine months ago.
“I’ve been very much active in inclusive and accessible spaces for about the last 10 years … and what I find is that, whether it’s in the States or whether its here in Stratford, everyone is dealing with the same problems,” Snipes said . “Everyone is asking the same questions. They’re trying to connect with communities in the same way.”
What’s different about Stratford’s upcoming project is the buy-in from stakeholders across the city, Snipes added.
Along with the Stratford Festival, the committee organizing the meetings includes representatives from city hall, the Downtown Stratford BIA, the Stratford Public Library, InvestStratford (the city’s economic development corporation), United Way Perth-Huron, the Stratford & District Chamber of Commerce, Stratford-Perth Pride and tourism developers Destination Stratford.
“A consistent issue in (equality, diversity, and inclusion) work is the siloing of organizations that do things within their own structures,” Snipes said. “There has to be a collective effort. It takes a village to make real cultural change in Stratford so that these … policies actually have some real substance. That was the impetus in us coming together and starting these early conversations about what that looks like and how we do it.”
The goal of the meetings is to collectively define what it means for Stratford to be a “welcoming community.” A draft definition based on input gathered over the next several weeks will be sent to city hall in the future for official recognition.
“What we’re really excited about … is that the citizens of Stratford get to be involved,” Snipes said. “It has to be a city-wide collective that does this work. That’s how we truly create a more equitable city and a more inclusive city – by everyone bringing their experiences to the table.”
Anyone interested in signing up can register online at visitstratford.ca/welcoming-community. A survey featuring the same questions being asked at the meetings is also available on Engage Stratford, engagestratford.ca/welcoming-community.
“The more open and honest these conversations can be, the better,” Snipes said. “We really want to get to the truth of what people’s experiences have been and really have, honestly, some tough conversations. What this is about … is bringing greater awareness to what people deal with on a day to day basis in this city. Once we have that awareness, then it becomes (about) what are the actions we can take together to fight back.”
Upcoming public meetings
- Jan. 23 at noon
- Jan. 28 at 10 am
- Jan. 31 at 4 pm
- Feb. 1 at 6 p.m.