Statement from Mayor Bigger on Greater Sudbury's Position for Newcomers to our Community

January 31, 2017

Greater Sudbury is an inclusive community, one where newcomers, immigrants and refugees are welcomed. I am proud of our legacy, which can be seen in the many nationalities represented on the Bridge of Nations. As a community, we will continue to welcome all new residents to this great City, regardless of ethnicity, citizenship or religion. Due to the global nature of the work we do in Greater Sudbury we are home to residents from around the world, and we are a strong and more resilient community thanks to their contributions.

Our Diversity Advisory Panel worked hard to provide advice and a plan to Council on how to continue to make our community more inclusive. The plan, endorsed by the previous term of Council in May of 2014, includes a Diversity Statement which incorporates the following:

“Equality and inclusion are fundamental human rights for every individual, as prescribed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code. Throughout our City, we support diversity in all of its forms, including but not limited to age, disability, economic circumstance, marital status, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and gender expression, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Leading by example, we aspire to make diversity a core and abiding strength of the City of Greater Sudbury.

Our strength is found in our differences and we strive to embrace diversity in all that we do. Our mission is best fulfilled when we honour diversity as a value and a practice. In doing so, our community will attract and retain the most talented and skilled people to the City of Greater Sudbury, and this will benefit our economy and our quality of life. Achieving diversity requires an enduring commitment to human dignity and inclusion that must find full expression in our organizational culture, values, norms and behaviours.”

The City also now has a Newcomer, Immigrant and Refugee Advisory Panel picking up on the good work of the former Diversity Advisory Panel, and was initially created by this Council in response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis.

While there is always more to be done, I am proud of our work as a community. Greater Sudbury has accepted 5 refugee families from Syria and will continue being open to doing so. I have spoken to our MPs and have communicated Greater Sudbury's ongoing support in welcoming new Canadians, in line with the Government of Canada's immigration policy. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated over the weekend, “To those fleeing persecution, terror and war, Canadians welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength.”

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Contact:

City of Greater Sudbury
Melissa Zanette, Office of the Mayor
705-671-2489 extension 2521