Brampton Mayoral Candidate Nikki Kaur accepted a ringing endorsement by controversial “white values” activist and former politician John Sprovieri.
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Leading in the polls, Mayor Patrick Brown has secured additional support from Black trailblazers Jean Augustine, and Zanana Akande, who endorsed Mayor Brown for re-election this week.
October 21, 2022
Sprovieri posted a photo on his Facebook Page on August 14th, and wrote “I received a pleasant surprise from Niki (sic) Kaur who is a candidate and will hopefully become Brampton’s next Mayor”.
Sprovieri’s shining moment is a violation of the city’s Code of Conduct when he replied to a constituent’s email with racist remarks, as concluded by the city’s Integrity Commissioner. Sprovieri replied to a constituent saying, “I hope that the newcomers will learn the values of the white people so that Brampton and Canada will continue to be a favourite destination.”
The remarks were widely condemned and made national headlines in the Toronto Star, Global News and City News:
• Brampton councillor under fire for racially insensitive email.
• Brampton councillor’s email says newcomers should ‘learn the values of the white people’
• Brampton councillor sanctioned for racial comments
In February 2021, City Council made a decision to overturn naming a City park after John Sprovieri. The move comes after local community leaders, largely from the Black community, rallied together to have the naming stopped.
As reported by the Brampton Guardian, Kimberlee Shelley, and other concerned residents, said Sprovieri’s comments were praising white supremacy and was shocked to learn City Council picked him for the park naming. “For someone who is unapologetically racist, there are things we can pardon and there are some we cannot. His career doesn’t overshadow all the comments he made.” Chezlie Alexander, worked with Shelley to raise the matter with Council, said “I think there is something that needs developing, a tool or process, across various levels of government policies to understand how these actions that we take impact different residents in different ways”.
The Board and members of AdvocacyPeel wrote their concerns to Council, saying “The diversity of the population in the Region of Peel and particularly The City of Brampton is quite noteworthy. The decision to name a future park after Councillor Sprovieri who espoused White Supremacy is quite problematic and unacceptable, as the City of Brampton will be sending a message that ‘whiteness’ is THE standard in Canadian society. This conveniently erases the impact of colonialism of the Indigenous people and the caretaking of the land.”
Mayor Brown Receives Endorsement from Black Community Leaders
Leading the mayor’s rece, Patrick Brown has secured additional support from Black trailblazers Jean Augustine, and Zanana Akande, who endorsed Mayor Brown for re-election this week.
Akande, a daughter of Carribbean immigrants and the first woman from the African Diaspora to serve as a cabinet minister in Canada, serving in Ontario’s government from 1990-1994. Referring to Brown, she said “he does not compromise excellence for inclusion, or the other way around, he brings his people from various centres of the population, many races, positions, ideas, and he focuses all of his talent to make the best progress possible.”
Jean Augustine is a Grenada-born Canadian politician who was the first Black Canadian woman to serve as a federal Minister of the Crown and Member of Parliament. She served as the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women in the Cabinet of Canada from 2002 to 2004 and was the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien from 1994 to 1996. She said that “Patrick Brown has shown leadership in representing the cultural, ethnic, racial, religious groups in his City, let’s re-elect Patrick Brown to continue the important work of Leadership as Mayor.”
The Bramptonist encourages residents to carefully consider their choice for Mayor and select a candidate that supports the Black, African and Caribbean diaspora and one that will fully support Brampton’s multicultural diversity, now and during the next four years.
