TRENTON – A business owner who received a public apology from Quinte West council this week says more needs to be done to address racial discrimination in Quinte West.
“I do not feel like it is just (Coun. Fred) Kuypers that needs to be reprimanded for what has been happening with our business,” Saiqa Sheikh, co-owner of the seasonal outdoor food establishment JERKebago, said.
“I feel like the mayor, as a team leader, needs to sit down and really evaluate himself as the leader, and the rest of the team, because instances like this should not be happening.”
Sheikh made the comments in an interview with QNet News after city council accepted a report from the Integrity Commissioner this week recommending that Kuypers lose a week’s worth of pay and attend more sensitivity training after making a racially discriminatory comment toward Sheikh and her partner, Joshua Blake, at a June council meeting.
But Sheikh says she does not feel like sensitivity training needed to happen in the first place, or that it will be enough.
“It is not just Kuypers that needs ‘sensitivity training.’ This human kindness and compassion needs to come from quite a few members on council,” Sheikh said, after explaining that she feels that she and her partner have had to jump through extra hoops just to start their food truck business in Carrying Place in June 2017.
Previously, Sheikh and Blake were denied a business permit in 2018 based on complaints made against them in 2017. But Sheikh says the complaints were never brought to their attention nor investigated.
One of the complaints was about the smoke from their smoker, but Sheikh says these claims were never investigated to see if they were valid.
“To run a business in the city of Quinte West – it’s a daunting process to even think dealing with staff, and elected officials, now, based on my experience.”
Sheikh says she also does not believe that Mayor Jim Harrison has been very supportive of their business either.
“If the mayor really wanted an inclusive space and wanted to support the diversity that Canada brings, where was, for instance, JERKebagos’ ribbon cutting? When you issue a statement saying that you love diversity, where are you at? How come you haven’t visited our business?”
QNet News contacted Harrison to ask him to address what Sheikh had to say. He sent the following statement in reply.
“I don’t feel like 12 grand needs to be dropped on sensitivity training for council people that are grown adults. I feel like that $12 thousand could have gone back into the community to help the high dropout rates that Trenton is known for within the Hastings-Prince Edward District School Board.” Sheikh also said that the Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) community could have benefitted from this money.
“That $12 thousand could have gone into a BIPOC initiative to help the BIPOC community in Quinte West thrive. Instead they sat in on a module and did virtual training. And I don’t see how that helped when, based on the report, Fred Kuypers doesn’t feel like he did anything wrong.”
QNet News reached out to Fred Kuypers for a response. He declined to comment.
Going forward, Sheikh is hoping that council will start taking action, instead of issuing apologies for the sake of optics.
“Actions speak louder than words and so far, all we’ve seen are words. We haven’t seen any actions taken in order to actually support the BIPOC community in order to sustain thrive in this neighbourhood.”
She said she questioned whether she made the right decision when her partner and two kids at the time, moved to the area in 2016.
“Rural spaces should accommodate BIPOC individuals; it’s not just a space for white settlers.”
Sheikh says keeping her business, JERKebago, up and running is ‘daunting’ when dealing with the city of Quinte West.
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