The Israeli-Gaza War Dominates Council Meeting. Council supports letter to PM urging a ceasefire.

The January 8th city council meeting began with a presentation from Fraserside Community Services retiring CEO Linda Edmonds. In it, she talked about the nonprofit's work to tackle homelessness, rising addiction rates and helping those struggling with mental health problems. 

The thrust of the presentation was to present the next "big idea", as it was called by Councillor Ruby Campbell. They would build a hub in uptown New Westminster to centralize social services. Edmonds emphasized that this would be a home for not only the services offered by Fraserside. She envisioned it as a central hub for a variety of organizations with similar goals. Several council members commented how this concept dovetails perfectly with the goals of the two-year pilot project the city had announced at the October 30th city council meeting.

Following this presentation, a large queue of delegates stepped up. Before they began, Councillor Jaimie McEvoy, acting Mayor for this meeting, set out a few rules. He pointed out that his job was to keep order, and he would. Speakers were to keep to the topic they submitted. They were to speak no longer than five minutes. He would cut them off if they strayed from their stated subject. He apologized as he did it, but he kept his word. The ten delegates were then allowed to speak. Initially they began with their various stated subjects: youth rights, Ukraine refugees, local demolitions, and indigenous justice. 

In truth, each speaker would in time segue into a call for a ceasefire in Gaza. When it became obvious that the subject had changed, McEvoy would calmly and politely warn them and then cut them off. All of the speakers accepted this, though some took it better than others. The final two delegates spoke each on the topic on everyone's mind: the war: one spoke to a  call for a ceasefire, and one opposed. 

When the delegates completed, council discussed a motion and an amendment on the table. The Council unanimously agreed to a letter to the Prime Minister of Canada to call for a ceasefire in the Isreali-Gaza war; to immediately support unrestricted access to humanitarian aid; to have hostages in Gaza and Palestine prisoners released and to stop the Canadian export of arms to Israel.

Before the vote, acting Mayor Jaimie McEvoy gave a very strong affecting speech regarding his beliefs regarding war and the needs of the downtrodden, based on his many years in politics and in helping others in a variety of contexts. 

He said: "I'm often asked which side I'm on. I am on the humanitarian side. On the side of the doctors, the aide workers, the peace campaigners. As someone who has been involved in politics for my entire adult life, I have worked to help break cycles, whether they be cycles of poverty, of generational pain or in this case, violence."