Seven out of 12 mayoral candidates running in this year’s municipal elections squared off in debate over gender-based issues at Carleton on Oct. 2.
NowWhat?—an alliance formed to highlight gender-based violence to those running and voting in the 2018 municipal election—hosted the event at Carleton’s Minto theatre, and asked organizations such as Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre and the City for All Women Initiative to prepare questions in advance of the debate.
Candidates participating at the debate were provided one minute for opening and closing remarks. They were also given one minute per question, followed by another for rebuttal.
Throughout the debate, moderator Patricia Harewood—the oppression prevention coordinator for the Public Service Alliance of Canada—reminded the candidates to answer the questions more directly.
“I’m going to ask and insist that all candidates actually answer the questions with concrete steps,” Harewood said.
In the first half of the debate, candidates were asked what their position is on making Ottawa a “sanctuary city,” so that everyone in the city can access essential services such as support for domestic violence without fear.
A sanctuary city allows a municipal government to depart from federal legislation by allowing refugees, asylum seekers, and new immigrants to enter the city to seek safety, regardless of immigration status.
Moises Schachtler, a recent university graduate, answered first, calling the question “loaded.”
“At the moment, I would oppose making the city a sanctuary city with this type of policy,” Schachtler said, “but I’m open to hear more about it . . . I totally support providing everyone with basic essentials, though.”
The crowd booed in response.
Craig MacAulay, a self-proclaimed “anti-politician,” said he would be in favour of the idea.
“Of course, I would want Ottawa to be a sanctuary city,” MacAulay said. “There are issues with new immigrants that need to be addressed.”
The candidates were also asked about what steps they are taking to ensure public transit is made safe for Indigenous people, LGBTQ+ people, and women in the wake of multiple reports of harassment and violence in the past year.
Hamid Alakozai said he would employ the Ottawa police forces to resolve the issue.
“If we have a police force that can look at the violence and be able to monitor it, we will be able to make our home safer,” Alakozai said.
Joey Drouin, a businessman in favour of consolidating Gatineau and Ottawa, said the city needs to “look at both sides of the river” when solving this issue.
“We need to look towards certain funding in the budget that can allow us to establish more safety strips that can make people feel safer when they travel,” Drouin said.
Bruce McConville, another candidate and lifelong Ottawa resident from Vanier, said he agreed with Drouin.
“I think introducing safety strips are a good idea, along with more awareness of the issue,” McConville said.
The next question was whether candidates would support making information about “violent men” public to hold them accountable. The question was asked in light of multiple reports, according to NowWhat?, that suggested women reporting sexual violence to the police are not taken seriously.
This question was opened up at the request of a member from the audience to all candidates participating.
Clive Doucet, a former city councillor for Capital ward, said he thinks the process to report violence is “agonizing.”
He said the city needs to make people “aware of where exactly violence stems from in the first place.”
He added that he would like to make as the information about the process of reporting violence as public as possible, if elected, and would like to challenge incumbent mayor, Jim Watson, who is also running for re-election, to a “one-on-one debate” over the issue.
Ahmed Bouragba, an Ottawa public school teacher, said he wants city residents to “wake up” and look at the issues deeper.
“You want the quality of the police not the quantity of the police, [but] the dictatorship of this government wants more police, so what do we do?” Bouragba said.
Prior to the debate, there was pressure from social media on Watson to show up to the event, including an open letter from NowWhat?.
But, Watson declined to come to the debate and attended a dinner with the Ottawa Fire Fighters’ Community the day of the debate.
Candidates who were present at the debate all took quips at Watson’s absence, and criticized his campaign.
In his closing remarks, MacAulay said that all candidates are worth voting for, even if he loses.
“Watch out, Mayor Watson,” he said.
Carleton residence students can begin to vote in Residence Commons through advanced polling on Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Photo by Meral Jamal
