In the wake of the racial profiling allegations made against its police service, the City of Repentigny will hold a large forum on “living together” annually to encourage the inclusion of minorities in all spheres of the municipal apparatus.
A sum of $ 50,000 has been provided for the holding of this event in the City’s 2022 budget, adopted Thursday evening.
“This forum will not only concern the police service, but the entire municipal administration, because diversity and living together must be reflected in all directions of the City of Repentigny”, explains the new mayor, Nicolas Dufour.
Citizens and community and economic organizations will be invited to come and discuss inclusion, not only of the black community, underlines the mayor, but of the LGBTQ + community, people with disabilities, the Maghreb community, young people, etc.
“A fresh look”
Repentigny has also hired a “strategic advisor in social innovation”. “Its mandate is to change the organizational culture so that it reflects our desire for inclusion and diversity,” reveals Mr. Dufour.
He gives the example of the sports and recreation department, which recently invested in new tennis courts – and Repentigny has only one basketball court on its territory, while this sport is very popular among young people. of Haitian origin, he points out.
“Our strategic advisor will arrive with a fresh outlook, to ask us if our investments in sports infrastructure are meeting the [aux besoins de] all layers of the population, ”says the 35-year-old mayor.
A few months ago, a report commissioned by the Service de police de la Ville de Repentigny (SPVR) found that black people were nearly three times more likely than white people to be stopped by its officers.
However, “the people arrested belonging to the black community do not have more criminal history than those coming from the white community”, underlined the experts who wrote this report.
The SPVR responded by putting in place an action plan comprising 50 measures to try to turn the tide.
No salary increase for elected officials
In addition, Repentigny’s elected officials adopted a budget of 157 million on Thursday evening, which represents an increase of 2.6% compared to 2021.
Nicolas Dufour was delighted that 63% of taxpayers will see a decrease in the amount shown on their tax notice, up to $ 300, while 18% will face an increase of less than $ 50.
On the other hand, the non-residential sectors will experience an increase in municipal taxes of 8% on average. For buildings with six or more dwellings, an increase is also expected, of 10% on average.
The city council succeeded in limiting the tax increases by postponing some projects that had been planned by the previous administration.
Elected officials have also chosen to forgo the planned increase in their salaries. “We should have had an increase equivalent to the consumer price index, so 5%,” says the mayor. But I found that a little indecent given the context: we have just arrived in post, we want to send a clear message that we will be rigorous when it comes to expenses, so we could not see ourselves increasing our salary after a month. . ”