An alternative to security guards at Thunder Bay City Hall.
Not One More Death held their demonstration Wednesday night to protest police violence along with systemic and institutional racism in the city.
The group is proposing to replace guards with Anti-Racist Grandmother care teams, who could be paired with social workers to assist those in need in the area.
“So we’re kind of on the far end of the spectrum, what can we suggest? We decide grandmothers, it’s like a negotiation,” explains spokesperson Kate Rookes. “We’ll start all the way over there and maybe we can meet somewhere in the middle, somewhere better, but this is what we’re imagining as the best solution. It’s a collaboration with the community, it’s a conversation, so if people have better ideas we’re absolutely open to that.”
The demonstration featured a panel of three grandmothers, including two-spirit elder Ma-Nee Chacaby, Indigenous filmmaker Michelle DeRosier, and journalist Jody Porter.
They carried out a conversation while taking questions from the public, focusing not just on security but systemic issues in the city as a whole.
DeRosier says young Indigenous people within the city have nowhere to turn when in need.
“All the places where First Nation young people could turn for help… police, security guards, the hospitals, we have seen those are not safe places,” DeRosier notes.
DeRosier stressed a lot of change that must happen in the city before we can see a fair community for everyone.
“The whole community can be responding, and there’s a lot of room,” mentions DeRosier. “When we talk about issues of safety, when we talk about issues of security and police, and anti-Indigenous racism in this city. There’s enough work for everybody to do.”
Chacaby agreed Indigenous youth have few comfortable places in Thunder Bay, and believes that extends beyond the younger generation.
“We need a center for young people to hang out, to do what they need to do,” added Chacaby. “Even for grandmothers, a place for grandmothers to hang out when they want to do something.”
Rookes is hopeful that this will inspire the city to consider alternatives or adjustments to the current security guards at city hall.
“The city can get creative if they want to. Once they see this conversation has happened, they can rethink their policy,” Rookes noted. “We proposed a team of grandmothers that are their own team, so they would not be run by Not One More Death, they would be their own council. I don’t know where this is going to go, but I’m hopeful things will change.”
The demonstration was peaceful, and allowed questions from the public.
