The report’s proposed changes to council rules and procedures were overwhelmingly adopted, with only St. Catharines Councillor Haley Bateman and Pelham Mayor Marvin Junkin voting against. Pictured: Councillor Haley Bateman. Photo Credit: Niagara Region.
After a clash over the Israel-Gaza conflict and the role Niagara Regional Council should, or should not, play in it, regional councillors have voted to change procedural rules to try to avoid future disruptions at council meetings.
Last fall, at the direction of Regional Chair Jim Bradley, the Israeli flag was flown over the Niagara Region headquarters following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Israel.
Citing that precedent, Councillor Haley Bateman sought to have regional councillors endorse a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict that broke out after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Bateman’s efforts were made at a Jan. 25 council meeting.
However, Bateman was stymied by St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe, who proposed to council that Bateman’s motion be taken off the agenda. Regional councillors overwhelmingly voted to support Siscoe’s motion and Bateman’s motion was never considered.
This prompted major protests from Gaza sympathizers, who were attending the council meeting as members of the public. Bradley at one point had to suspend the meeting and have all members of the public removed.
Earlier this spring, regional councillors voted to ask the integrity commissioner to examine what went wrong in this series of events and to propose changes to council rules to try to avoid such events in the future.
The report notes that the January uproar was “considered by many to be an exceptionally challenging meeting that revealed numerous opportunities to strengthen the Region’s policies and procedures in the interest of more efficient meetings, stronger agenda management and more appropriate decorum.”
Councillors voted on a number of the recommendations put forward by Regional Clerk Ann-Marie Norio and Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Dan Carnegie last week.
Among the recommendations approved includes no longer allowing members of the public to bring signs, props or flags to meetings; removing individuals who applaud, heckle, or make disruptive noise; discouraging council members from engaging with members in the gallery during sessions; and encouraging councillors consult with city staff before bringing forward a motion considered outside of the Region’s jurisdiction.
The report also encouraged council to require delegates to provide advanced briefing notes to demonstrate the relevance of their presentations to the overall agenda before being allowed to address council.
One additional suggestion was to require that motions put forward by councillors that don’t relate to the Region’s core mandate have a seconder. This might have meant Bateman’s motion would never have been considered had the rule been in place at the time.
The report’s proposed changes to council rules and procedures were overwhelmingly adopted, with only Bateman and Pelham Mayor Marvin Junkin voting against.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He previously served as a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
