At the Strategic Priorities and Policy Standing Committee meeting on April 2, there was a long discussion on the Community Grants process. Towards the end of debate, Mayor Cleveland moved an amendment to a motion which would deny any grants to “either Green Wood Coalition or Moms Stop the Harm for the remainder of this term of Council.” The amendment was supported by Councillors Mutton and Darling but not by other Councillors so it failed. Further, after the main motion passed without this amendment, Miriam spoke passionately about the issue. She said that these organizations “harm people”. At tonight’s Council meeting, Missy McLean presented on behalf of Moms Stop the Harm and described the goals of that organization which she said had 4000 family members across Canada. She too was passionate but strongly disagreed with Miriam and demanded an apology from Council.
Missy pointed to a resolution unanimously passed by Council in December 2020 which supported a Moms Stop the Harm declaration of an overdose crisis and which asked the Federal Government for action. Missy particularly objected to the accusation of harm – she believed that Moms Stop the Harm had the opposite impact.
Judging by comments on this blog, there is strong support in Cobourg for the Mayor’s motion despite it not being passed. There is also a letter to the Editor supporting the Mayor’s motion. Go here.
Missy spoke as a “speaker” concerning the agenda item at tonight’s meeting which called for decisions on handling of community grants and called for approval of grants per “January 2024 budget deliberations”.
She finished her talk with the following request:
Tonight’s ask of Council
- A public explanation from Mayor Cleveland as to why he targeted Moms Stop the Harm at the April 2, 2024, meeting of the Town’s Strategic Priorities and Policy Standing Committee.
- A public apology to Moms Stop the Harm, its members and volunteer Board of Directors from Mayor Cleveland, Councillor Miriam Mutton and Councillor Brian Darling.
She then asked when would she get a response? – Lucas answered “That’s up to Council”. But Council did not respond and simply approved the motion on the Agenda. This included approving $33,025 in cash and in-kind grants. An amendment directed staff to “develop a draft Community Grant Program for 2025 that would identify a decision making protocol for a Task Force to be appointed by Council.” No response to Missy’s demand. In case you missed it, Green Wood Coalition are also unhappy with Lucas.
Resources
Related blog posts
- Community Grants Process Stirs up Council – 3 April 2024 – see Addendum dated 5 April at foot of Post which reports on letter from Green Wood Coalition.
- Community Grants get Trimmed 18 January 2024
Print Article:
wpDiscuz