Bonfield Mayor Randy McLaren says a letter circulated through the community equating drag strip noise concerns with police killing a black man in the USA “a sad event” and asked the OPP to investigate Friday.
McLaren also said Canada Post should review the situation because they distributed a flyer through the mail system that “willfully promotes hatred” of business owners, council members, and police officers.
Residents who received the letter Thursday reacted in disgust and were quick to call it “disgraceful” on social media platforms, including the Bonfield Community Watch Facebook Page.
“First of all, it's a cowardly act because there's no identifier of who sent it out,” McLaren told BayToday.ca Friday morning. “That's shameful in its own right … there's no comparison to the George Floyd situation at all.”
(The audio file of Mayor McLaren's comment is below:)
Some residents of Bonfield and several neighbours of the Bonfield Event Park on Development Road have been complaining about noise emanating from drag races for more than a decade. The first public event to be held this year, tonight through Sunday, as well as two previous smaller events this summer, rekindled those concerns.
“We have complained many times about the excessive offsite noise from the racetrack and its associated activities,” the letter states. “But it has come upon deaf ears. We, like George Floyd, the African-American man who was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis are pleading the Township to stop kneeling on our necks because we can’t breathe, we are suffering because of this.”
The letter followed a Tuesday meeting of the community’s Emergency Response Group that had the event on its agenda, partly due to concerns about noise mitigation as well as COVID-19 pandemic concerns.
On Wednesday, McLaren said the noise concerns were addressed after a bylaw officer made a site visit “and confirmed everything was in order.” He also said the property owners responded to their written request to confirm noise mitigation was being managed. He said the group members discussed the risk of COVID-19 spread by visiting racers and attendees, although they are limited to 100 spectators with masks or social distancing required.
McLaren said he read the letter several times and came away feeling the person who wrote the letter is not in a good state of mind.
“It’s apparent to me that the writer of this is in some kind of a crisis and needs medical attention,” he said, describing it as a “cry for help … So I'm going to this morning reach out to the OPP and work with them to identify this person and get that person the help they need, amongst other things.”
McLaren said he also feels a law has been broken.
“If the person … doesn't willingly accept medical attention, there's a charge under the Criminal Code of Canada of willfully promoting hatred .... This is willfully promoting hatred against … a business … It portrays the municipal council as … accepting previous violations. And none of it is true.
“And…it's painting police, as in Canada and in Bonfield Township, as being equivalent to what we saw, unfortunately, in the United States. So there's a whole bunch of avenues with this. None of them are good ones.”
Most of all, McLaren is worried the situation may escalate.
“It's a sad event, really is what it is, because it speaks to a number of problems. But (I have) concern for this person that's done this because … it speaks to somebody on the verge of doing something more rash than that type. So that's where it could end up.”
BayToday.ca asked Canada Post to explain how a letter such as this can be delivered through its system.
The response indicated it’s a Charter of Rights and Freedom issue and started with a qualifier that it doesn’t promote or condone the views expressed in the mail it delivers.
“As a Crown Corporation, Canada Post is obligated by law to deliver any mail that is properly prepared and paid for, unless it is considered non-mailable matter under established postal regulations,” the media relations comment states. “This is a notable distinction between Canada Post and private sector organizations. Canada Post, as Canada's postal administration, has the constitutional obligation to not censor free expression guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedom.”
Former Bonfield mayor Narry Paquette told BayToday.ca that she has filed an Access to Information request to find out who wrote the letter. She also considers it as ‘hate’ mail.
“Where does this stop? If you’re going to distribute it, put your name on it,” she said.
Bonfield resident Shelby Taylor posted the letter to the Bonfield Community Watch page Thursday. Her introduction captured the mood of most who thought the letter-writer was out of line: “Who has the nerve to send out a letter like this,” she stated, noting there was no signature. “What a disgrace this person is.”
A letter circulated in Bonfield equating drag strip noise to the oppression of BLM and the police killing George Floyd was widely panned on social media Thursday.