Niagara candidates in the upcoming Ontario municipal elections are being surveyed on their views on race-related topics that the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association considers priorities.
In its first such survey of municipal candidates, the association has reached out to hundreds of people running for city and town councils, and school board trustee positions to question them on five topics.
Trustee candidates are also being asked for their views on publishing race data related to suspensions.
“We don’t want to find out afterwards, after electing someone, that they have a position that a lot of people would disagree on with racism,” said Saleh Waziruddin, a member of the association’s executive committee.
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He said recent increased activity by white supremacist groups in Niagara, and former regional chair Bob Gale’s resignation over his ownership of a signed copy of Adolf Hitler’s manifesto, Mein Kampf, are examples of why it’s important for candidates to be transparent about their views on racism before the Oct. 26 election.
Gale resigned abruptly in March after the anti-racism association and Justice 4 Black Lives condemned him for owning the book signed by Hitler.
Waziruddin, of St. Catharines, said the fact many politicians in Niagara weren’t critical of Gale’s ownership of the book and some defended him drove home the need to ask municipal election candidates questions about where they stand on race-related issues.
“Even bigger than the scandal itself is the silence from so many elected officials on it,” he told CBC News. “Only a few that I know publicly criticized it.”
In the association’s survey, candidates are asked if they condemn Gale or think he did nothing wrong, and if they can confirm they don’t have and haven’t had Nazi memorabilia.
In announcing his resignation, Gale said he was merely the “owner of a historical book found in many libraries,” and noted he also owns a range of important historical documents.
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Last year, Second Sons, a self-described “Canadian men’s nationalist” group, held a rally at Queenston Heights in Niagara-on-the-Lake that prompted concern about rising anti-immigrant sentiment and recruitment efforts of extremist groups.
Researchers who study extremism have compared Second Sons to white supremacist and neo-Nazi active clubs.
“They’re here and they’re active,” said Waziruddin. “Niagara voters want to know where candidates stand on white supremacy before the election, not after they do damage.”
The survey notes groups such as the Dominion Society of Canada are putting up posters in Niagara that promote mass deportations, branded as “remigration,” and that until recently, some municipalities in the region have deliberately avoided publicly addressing it out of concern it would incentivize groups to increase their activity.
Candidates are asked if they believe it’s better to not give white supremacist groups attention by condemning them, if they’ll commit to publicly condemning them and if they support the idea of remigration.
They’re also asked their views on the recent controversy involving the former chief administrative officer for the City of Niagara Falls, who told city council that some residents may have the mistaken impression that Kashechewan evacuees staying at hotels in the tourism district are experiencing homelessness.
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The survey also notes that municipal governments in Niagara have shown support for Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia in February 2022, and for Israel following the attack on Israeli settlements by Hamas members.
Yet, it says, many elected officials in Niagara have shied away from expressing similar support for Palestinians, saying that it’s out of their jurisdiction, would be divisive or would be traumatizing. Candidates are asked if they’ll show the same level of support for Palestinians.
The survey also touches on the Niagara Regional Police Service, saying it has the second highest “disproportional use of force against Black people” in the province since publishing that data was made mandatory under the Ontario Anti-Racism Act.
It asks candidates if they would “condemn systemic racism in the Niagara regional police based on their own use of force by race data,” and if they’ll call for an apology from police.
Stephanie Sabourin, the police service’s manager of corporate communications, said it can be misleading to compare use-of-force data with population, noting that doesn’t capture factors such as behaviour encountered, the presence or perceived presence of weapons, threats to the safety of police officers and the public, and steps taken by officers to de-escalate situations.
Sabourin said police Chief Bill Fordy has acknowledged that “systemic barriers exist” within policing and with Niagara police, and acknowledging that is an important part of addressing them.
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In 2025, Niagara police had 150 interactions with people in situations requiring a use-of-force report, Sabourin said. Of those people:
Nearly half of the people in the report were perceived as having access to a weapon, and the vast majority of use-of-force encounters were de-escalated by police, Sabourin said.
In regards to school board trustee candidates, the survey asks if they’ll advocate and vote for publishing suspension rates by race data within a year of being elected.
The association plans to publish all the responses by Sept. 30, but is already posting online the responses that have been received so far.
