Is your place a safe place?

Last night at Arcadia Coffee House on Queen Street, the Safe Places Initiative was launched to promote diversity and combat discrimination in Sault Ste. Marie.

Sean Meades, John Vincent, Brad Jones, Frank Meraglia, Megan Wigmore and Sarah Broad are just a few of the young individuals involved in making this campaign come to life.

A collaborative effort between the Sault Ste. Marie Gay-Straight Alliance and Unity and Diversity, the Safe Places Initiative is aimed at educating the public on all forms of discrimination, be it sexism, agism, racism or homophobia.

"About four years ago, Unity and Diversity established the Debwewin Report," explained Sean Meades, chair of the Safe Places Initiative. "They consulted a diverse cross-section of Saultites and asked them about their experiences with racism in the city. What they found was that over 50 per cent of visible minorities had experienced direct personal discrimination. More than 60 per cent of First Nations peoples had reported acts of discrimination."

What prompted the latest campaign was the ongoing problem of area businesses rejecting or ignoring First Nations tax-exemption cards.

Individuals have been made to feel uncomfortable in presenting their status cards or have been discouraged from using them altogether.

"Unity and Diversity has been looking for ways to combat that for the last little while," Meades told SooToday.com. "They were looking at developing a Safe Place Campaign. Meanwhile, the Gay-Straight Alliance brought up a similar campaign much like those in other cities across the country, so that queer folk know they're going into an accepting environment. When the two found out about each other, it just made sense to collaborate and work on something that attacked discrimination on all levels."

Participants in the campaign are asked to correct employee and client language and behaviour that may be viewed as threatening to any marginalized group of individuals.

Members of the public can identify participants by the Safe Places sticker that will be prominently displayed, marking the establishment as a hate-free space.

At the moment, the Safe Places Initiative is directing its attention to smaller area businesses in the hopes that their commitment to the cause will inspire others to follow suit.

"From here we want to look at larger institutions, places where there have been issues," said Meades. "We want to work with people to combat those issues and have them become safe places."

Last night's campaign launch featured guest speakers, food, music and fair trade coffee, as well as guests of honour from the Access AIDS Network, Algoma University Students Union, the Downtown Association, Métis Nation of Ontario, the United Way and many others.

For more information about Unity and Diversity, visit the official website.

To learn more about the Sault Ste. Marie Gay-Straight Alliance, visit their website.