Red Deer city councillor withdraws notice of motion for EDI Committee

Brisbois said it was also the result of community backlash.

“I did not expect the backlash of diversity, equity, and inclusion to be what it is,” she said. “It is because people are thinking about it in terms of policy change and filling quotas. This is not what this is about. It is about bringing in different perspectives, different lived experiences from across our community. What does that look like? I’m not sure. That’s what this motion is

She said the purpose of the committee was about council access to different lived perspectives and subject matter expertise.

“I believe our responsibility on council is to make decisions for our community. While we are a fairly diverse council in terms of our backgrounds, we are also only nine individuals, so we can’t possibly be experts in every issue that comes before us, nor can we personally understand every experience that exists in our community of over 100,000 people,” Brisbois said.

Brisbois explained she didn’t come into the discussion with a predetermined model and is open to exploring other ways than a committee to make this happen.

The purpose of the motion was to ask administration if there’s value in having this type of resource for council and whether a committee is the best model for it.

The original idea for the committee came in July when Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership presented an anti-racism recommendation to Red Deer city council’s Committee of the Whole.

The recommendation was for the committee to accept the creation of an anti-racism committee aimed at tackling the issue.

What sparked this action by the Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership was what the organization described as the racist and xenophobic demonstrations held in Red Deer in March 2025 outside the offices of Care for Newcomers and the Central Alberta Immigrant Women’s Association.

During these demonstrations, a group of people displayed signs such as ‘Deport them all’ and ‘White lives matter.’

Councillor Chad Krahn said he felt many groups within the community do a lot of great work on this topic already and felt it was important to continue to uplift them rather than form a council committee on it.

Councillor Kraymer Barnstable said that it would be a better choice to start over from scratch rather than change the name of a committee based on negative community feedback. He also agreed with Krahn’s thoughts.

“Trying to build more committees tells everyone else that we have all the answers when we don’t,” Barnstable said.

Councillor Jaelene Tweedle said changing the name completely disconnects from what the Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership shared with them during their proposal in July.

“It was specifically targeted towards anti-racism… I think for us to just back away because that’s an uncomfortable conversation to have doesn’t do anyone any good,” Tweedle said.

Councillor Dianne Wyntjes said it’s important for the community to know this conversation doesn’t end here. She said every councillor should have conversations with different community groups and bring them back to council. That may help determine their next steps.

Dieulita Datus-Hall, Program Manager of the Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership, told rdnewsNOW that she hopes council can have a deeper conversation and recognize that anti-racism should be a part of every fibre of council as an institution.

“It should not be a conversation that takes place in isolation from everything else. It’s supposed to be embedded throughout every fibre of conversation that council has in governing the municipality,” she said.

“I am disappointed that we did not come out with any clear action, and I am disappointed that it seemed council did not have as much information on the needs of various members of communities as they should have.”

Datus-Hall said they’re open to exploring other ways to find solutions. She added that changing the name of the committee also speaks to the importance of the need for the committee.

“It reaffirms what a lot of us live through,” Datus-Hall said.

by Ian Gustafson

Red Deer city councillor withdraws notice of motion for EDI Committee

What's Trending