The Town of Newmarket has opted to delay declaring Christian Heritage Month in December out of concern for being inclusive to different faiths.
Council was set to make the declaration at its Dec. 9 council meeting after the idea was brought forward by Councillor Grace Simon last week. An ongoing public campaign has led to more than 30 Canadian municipalities declaring the month, including York Region, Aurora and Toronto.
Residents Dave Kempton and Peggy Stevens made a deputation and expressed concern about the idea. They said that it could be exclusionary.
“Newmarket is to be a diverse, inclusive and welcoming community. We feel that the proclamation ignores other religions,” Stevens said. “This time of year is significant to other religious and cultural communities.”
Newmarket and other communities recognize various heritage months via proclamations based on community requests, generally without any funding requirements. For instance, Newmarket has previously proclaimed a Jewish Heritage Month in May.
Christian Heritage Month is a recent movement led by Jay and Molly Banerjei, who founded Christian Music Festival. The two have led a nationwide campaign to get places to recognize December for this month.
“Recognizing December as Christian Heritage Month honours the shared values of service, charity, and community building that unite us, making Canada the most inclusive nation in the world,” the campaign said on its website.
The Town of Aurora voted to recognize Christian Heritage Month in December, along with Jewish Heritage Month in May and several other ones like Italian Heritage Month, Persian Heritage Month, Asian Heritage Month and Korean Heritage Month. Newmarket does make dozens of proclamations relating to various months and organizations, but has not recognized any such heritage months in 2024.
But Kempton and Stevens raised concerns about whether this proclamation would raise one faith above others. They also said this resolution was getting rushed, with it only coming into new business, not on the agenda, of the Dec. 2 committee of the whole meeting.
Stevens said it could be polarizing.
“The last thing we need to do is have polarizing issues in this town. We have enough issues, so if we can manage to build bridges, work together, make people truly feel included and welcome, I’m totally supportive of that. But we don’t feel this proclamation, at this time, does that,” Stevens said.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor pushed to defer the motion to January and suggested looking at figuring out a way to recognize different religious heritage months throughout the same calendar year.
He said it is a good point about finding ways to be less divisive, but it would require compromise.
But he said it would be less inclusive to not recognize anyone, and it is important for groups to see and get recognition.
Recognizing multiple heritage months in the new year “would be a great way of showing balance and comprise and inclusiveness,” Taylor said.
Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh agreed and said doing it this way would “ensure we don’t even give the impression we’re weighing one more than others.”
Council voted to examine the issue again in January. Staff said such proclamations typically rely on groups coming forward to the municipality, but Taylor said he would personally see to the matter as a resident of Newmarket.
