Hamilton’s 2021 newsmakers were victims, rule breakers, defendants and advocates
It was a year not likely to be remembered for uplifting news (with a few tugboat and non-tugboat exceptions). Hamilton-residents may remember 2021 as a year of disparity, but also of compassion. Some of the year's local newsmakers were victims of cruel systems and also advocates fighting to make the world better.
Here are some of the people and groups that made the news this year:
When most folks were holed-up in their homes, a few lucky (and unlucky) individuals decided instead to travel. In early January, the news that some politicians headed south during the second wave was scandalous. That scandal included one local, former MP David Sweet. The revelation of Sweet's Mexico trip forced him to retire from politics. Travel also cost Dr. Tom Stewart, the CEO of St Joseph's Health System, his job. However, Steward's trip was approved and his departure came with a $1.1-million payout; a slap in the face" for health care workers fighting the pandemic. Since then, travel has rebounded, but not before some creative border-hopping snowbirds took elaborate and expensive measures - including helicopters and personal vehicles shipped by truck - to bypass public health orders.
Controversy continued in McMaster University's Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour (PNB) department. In January, a date for Scott Watter's sexual assault trial was set. In March, another staff member was charged. Meanwhile, advocates and victims continued to speak out against the sexual violence crisis and the school faced a lawsuit from a victim of sexual misconduct. By the new school year, McMaster had concluded several investigations against staff members ... investigations that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The late May announcement that unmarked graves were found at a B.C. residential school sparked renewed calls for action, and anger. Advocates worked to strip church-run school system founders Edgerton Ryerson and Sir John A. Macdonald of their accolades; including the removal of the Ryerson name from a local school, removal of his head from a Toronto statue to its new home at Land Back Lane, and toppling the Gore Park statue of Canada's first prime minister. Meanwhile, Six Nations activists including residential school survivors, organized a search at the former Mohawk Institute in Brantford. That search started in November.
Steven Snively and Christopher Marchant
A landmark trial of two paramedics, scrutinizing their treatment of gunshot victim Yosif Al-Hasnawi, concluded in June. Steven Snively and Christopher Marchant were convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life in the December 2017 slaying. The trial was believed to be the first in North America where paramedics have been criminally convicted of failing to properly care for a patient. Sentencing for Snively and Marchant is expected in January.
With a housing crisis plaguing Hamilton, and a court established protocol for dealing with unsheltered individuals in effect, tent encampments continued to be a predominant issue and talking point for some residents and city councillors. The situation escalated in August when councillors scrapped the protocol agreement with homelessness advocates, allowing homeless residents to live in tents in certain situations. And in November, the city won a court challenge aimed to prevent the uprooting of homeless people. Later that month, tensions boiled over. An encampment fire and eviction led to altercations with police and city workers where some advocates were injured.
An exercise in municipal planning followed the Ontario government's announced growth target in late 2020: 820,000 Hamilton residents by 2051. A grassroots group Stop Sprawl HamOnt was formed to fight urban sprawl, after city staff recommended an expansion plan into roughly 3,240 acres of agricultural land. Following a municipal survey, anti-sprawl activism from residents, and pro-expansion opposition from developers and the Ontario government itself, city politicians ultimately voted in November to reject urban boundary expansion. It remains to be seen if the province will respect the local decision.
Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com