This past weekend, the East Ferris Trade show took place, which led to some unhappy folks with the Ontario Health Coalition because they were denied access to the event to share their views on the Ontario healthcare system, which is currently operating under Bill C-60 which allows for privatization of our public healthcare system in Ontario and using taxpayer funds to help support private healthcare centres.
Why am I bringing this up, you may ask, especially being from the queer community?
It is quite easy, as being part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, we face discrimination every day, even in Canada and even in the year 2023. Ask any drag performer who read books to children recently. The second reason is about Gender Affirming Healthcare, which we all need access to, which is being cancelled by the Ontario Government as an irrelevant service.
What is Gender Affirming Healthcare?
It is probably not what you think. Yes, it supports the trans community in considering transition, yet it covers so many more things like women who have had a mastectomy, a man with erectile dysfunction, kids who are not developing correctly, non-binary care and so much more.
For all you protesting against gender-affirming care, you have most likely been getting gender-affirming care. If you are smart, you will sign the following support for the private member’s bill trying to protect gender-affirming care by MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam. It’s not about party lines either, it’s about ensuring everyone gets the proper healthcare they need for free, which we all pay our fair share of taxes to fund. Find the link to support this here.
Ontario Health Coalition paid for its booth space at the trade show but was denied the right to have access to the booth. Henri Giroux with the Ontario Health Coalition, said in a post on social media that the organizers said they were too political for their trade show.
I reached out to Jason Trottier, Chief Administrative Officer for East Ferris who said in his email response the following, “The East Ferris Tradeshow is an annual event where regional, and mostly local, businesses and organizations showcase their goods and services. It is also an opportunity for businesses to network with each other. Over the years, the event has turned into an event for all ages with children’s games and a youth tradeshow. “
Jason Trottier continued,
“The Health Coalition’s booth registration was not honoured because their intention was not to showcase any good or service. The organization advertised that our event was the location of a polling station for a referendum without getting any prior approval from the Municipality. This is not the venue for a referendum and we won’t allow the Health Coalition to turn our tradeshow into a political event. If the Health Coalition was honest with their intentions at the point of registration, they would not have been able to register a booth.”
Despite what Jason Trottier is saying, what the Ontario Health Coalition is doing can be easily argued as a service to all communities. The Ontario Health Coalition has to give information about a service we all have access to, and is providing the service by holding a referendum vote on whether people agree with the decision to privatize healthcare and people can vote yes or no.
One line that has me scratching my head is when Jason Trottier said the following, “We won’t allow the Health Coalition to turn our tradeshow into a political event. ”Our local MPP Vic Fedeli had a booth paid for by taxpayers, and he was sharing all his party platforms, including bill C-60, other work bills and information they are working on, which, if I am not mistaken, is very political.
If we look at a good definition of discrimination based on political associations, which is actually protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code, it can be defined as:
Discrimination based on political affiliation refers to the unfair or prejudiced treatment of individuals or groups due to their specific political beliefs, affiliations, or activities. It involves the exclusion, disadvantage, or mistreatment of individuals based on their perceived or declared political ideologies, party affiliations, or participation in political activities. This form of discrimination can manifest in various ways, such as denial of employment opportunities, unequal treatment in educational institutions, social ostracism, harassment, or even physical harm. Discrimination based on political affiliation undermines the principles of freedom of expression, association, and democratic participation, as it seeks to suppress or penalize individuals solely on the basis of their political opinions and affiliations, rather than evaluating them on their merits as individuals.
It was also suggested that Vic Fedeli, through comments on social media, had influenced this decision for the trade show to deny the Ontario Health Coalition access to the event, and the organizers caved to his demand. However, in looking into this, Jason Trottier and the office of Vic Fedeli deny this.
We received the following email from Keri Buttle, Assistant for MPP Vic Fedeli, “The extent of the Minister’s involvement with the East Ferris Trade Show was working with our team to set up and dismantle a booth for our constituency office to connect with constituents. Other than for the Minister to say ‘goodbye’ to one of the organizers late Saturday, there was no other communication with them this year.”
Jason Trottier made a similar statement in regards to MPP Vic Fedeli which was as follows, “I’m not sure where you get your information from, but there was absolutely no communication from MPP Fedeli regarding this matter. I made the decisions based on what the intention of our tradeshow is and stand by my decision. It is not a venue for the Health Coalition to host a referendum. There are community halls that can be rented for these types of events and that is where referendums normally are held. The Municipality will not be making any further comment on this matter.”
We did try to follow up on clarification but got no further responses.
It seems to me from my experience with discrimination and the proper definition of discrimination, that Jason Trottier allowed their personal views to interfere and discriminate against the Ontario Health Coalition, because of the political association aspect of what they are doing. The fact they still allowed our local MPP to have access to his booth shows you the Ontario Health Coalition was in fact treated differently, because what could be more political than an MPP or MP or any politician attending any event or trade show?
It also seems to me that this could be a claim with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal against the Municipality of East Ferris and Jason Trottier. But, I am no lawyer either, just seems to be common sense.
Now, if this was a group or organization spreading hate against anyone or community groups such as the 2SLGBTQ+, the municipality has the responsibility to protect those against hate which is not protected under the Freedom of Expression, however, sharing information, have a voting booth against something that they do not agree with, is clearly discrimination to me who has been on the end of discrimination many times for who I am.
I can only hope that a few things happen, which would be that East Ferris Municipality takes a serious look at what they have done here and does an inquiry into how this decision was made, based on what information was used, and learns from it.
The other hope is that our Ontario Government and Premier hear the call to not privatize our healthcare system on any level. We are already hearing of people paying user fees for their healthcare and that is the start of a USA-based healthcare system and I do not know anyone in our area that wants to lose their house because they fell ill.
If the Municipality of East Ferris does nothing, I believe that the Ontario Health Coalition could make a claim against the Municipality of East Ferris and specifically Jason Trottier who clearly made the decision based on his belief against the political aspect of the Ontario Health Coalition in the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal for discrimination, which forces the accused to listen and learn on what they did, plus they could end up paying the Health Coalition a lot funds they could use to further their cause.
If you decide to deny someone access to goods or services, make sure it’s not just your own inhibitions to accept other’s opinions that differ from yours, because at the end of the day, it can cost you money, your time and it causes everyone to lose in some form or another.
You need to truly think things through and when you work as a chief administrator for a city; you have the duty to act in a way that is inclusive and with no personal views interfering with your decision. If you cannot do that, you cannot work for a city. It is as simple as that. It’s clear to me that the city council for the municipality of East Ferris has some work to do regarding discriminatory behaviour.
Jason Maclennan
