Multicultural council backs out of City of Windsor anti-racism project, saying it's become 'divisive'

An organization tapped to lead a $200,000 anti-racism initiative in Windsor has backed out, saying the city-funded project has become political and divisive.

The Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County (MCWEC) said Thursday that as an apolitical group, it was in the organization's best interest to withdraw.

"What [Windsor city council] was presented with was a proposal; an opportunity to join us in developing a comprehensive community-wide anti-racism initiative," executive director Kathleen Thomas said in a statement.

"It is unfortunate that this initiative has now become divisive when our goal was to bring people together. The very heart of this proposal was inclusion."

The initiative, funded by council in wake of the reckoning on anti-Black racism last year, was to include anti-racism education as well as grants, scholarships and mentoring opportunities.

The withdrawal of MCWEC from the project comes after criticism from the City of Windsor's diversity committee, which was blindsided by the news that MCWEC was approved to run the project.

Diversity committee chair Peter Ijeh said in an interview Thursday he's excited that other organizations will now have the ability to submit proposals.

He previously explained to CBC News that a few months ago, the diversity committee had been given the green light by city council to put together a similar anti-racism initiative in partnership with the Windsor-Essex Local Immigration Partnership (WELIP). 

Ijeh said the two organizations were in the process of establishing strategies and methodologies when they learned about the proposal from the MCWEC, which was approved by council earlier this month.

The Black Council of Windsor-Essex also said its members were not adequately consulted on the project.

Withdrawal 'truly sad,' Dilkens says

In a statement on Thursday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said it was "truly sad" that the MCWEC officials felt as though they need to withdraw from the project.

Funding for it was already budgeted, and city council will have to consider how to proceed from here, Dilkens said.

"The immediate result will be a delay in proceeding with bursaries, academic scholarships, mentorships and grants to support minority-run small businesses," the statement said.

He said comments made about the organization and its staff "crossed the line and took on an increasingly personal and nasty tone."

His statement did not specify which comments he was referring to or indicate who made them.

Ijeh said he was sad to hear the mayor's comments.

"This is one of the ways that the system has managed to disguise their inability to understand the communities that feel the brunt of racism," he said.

"And then they mask it by suggesting that it's creating political divisiveness. What it's doing is trying to villainize the communities that are actually affected."