Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow cited miscommunication, a lost email, and a busy work schedule as some of the reasons behind her glaring absence at a memorial and vigil marking the anniversary of the October 7 massacre on Monday.
Chow began a news conference before Wednesday’s city council meeting with a statement in which she “acknowledged the deep pain and anguish in our city.”
“Monday was a difficult day for so many people,” she said. “It was the grim anniversary of the October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel which claimed the lives of 1,200 people and the abduction of over 200, many of whom are still held hostage.
“For Toronto’s Jewish community, it was a deeply painful day.”
Listen to my statement before today’s City Council meeting below: pic.twitter.com/YAH4TvNF3B
— Mayor Olivia Chow (@MayorOliviaChow) October 9, 2024
When asked by a journalist why she was just making a statement now, days after the anniversary, Chow shot back that she actually released a statement on Friday, days before the anniversary.
“It’s a very extensive statement,” she said.
“There’s a lot of grieving and emotions are very high and I regret that I missed the Jewish memorial, the anniversary … I think there was some miscommunication from my office and the organizers. But that’s in the past.”
Chow said she’s hoping to meet with Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto — the Jewish organizations that put on Monday’s vigil in an effort smooth things over.
“We will talk about how we will not miss each other again and yes I will apologize for not being able to make Monday evening’s event. It is important to mourn and grieve together. It was a deeply painful day.”
When asked to elaborate on what she meant by “miscommunication” she added: “I don’t know the details but my office did not get the email (about the event) that was sent to us.”
Chow said the City’s IT department was looking in it, but she tried to shut down questions that sought further detail.
“I wasn’t there and let’s do better,” she said, before also adding that a heavy work load ahead of this week’s council meetings played a role.
“Our office, as you know, was getting ready for council on Wednesday,” she said. She also noted that there were “several shootings” in Toronto.
“Myself and my office, we were stretched,” she explained. “There was a substantial amount of work that was in front of us.”
Not long after Chow’s conference, CIJA released a statement calling her excuses “embarrassing exercises in avoiding accountability for her and her staff who disappointed thousands and thousands of members of Toronto’s Jewish community.”
CIJA also cited an interview Chow gave to a local radio station where she reportedly said she was “exhausted” after a meeting about bike lanes that went late on Monday.
“As exhausting as discussing bike lanes may be for the Mayor, we assure her the Jewish community is more exhausted. Over the last year, Toronto’s Jewish community has had to justify their right to exist as Jews, feeling unsafe as constituents in the city Mayor Chow is purported to lead. Although she claims she wants her city to be safe and inclusive for everyone, her persistent inaction says otherwise.”
During Wednesday’s press conference, Chow said she accepted an invitation by Coun. James Pasternak to attend a Rosh Hashanah event.
“Let me be clear,” CIJA responded. “Showing up to a Rosh Hashanah event to celebrate the Jewish New Year is not the same as paying respects to the 1,200 lives lost and the 101 hostages remaining in Gaza since October 7, 2023.”
‘Disappointing’: Councillors weigh in on Chow’s memorial absence
Several members of Chow’s council weighed in on her controversial absence and the way she’s handled it.
Coun. Jon Burnside called Chow’s lost email excuse “a bit embarrassing.”
“I know Coun. Pasternak already inquired if she would be going to the vigil,” he said. “(A lost email) is not the answer I would have liked to heard. Missing an email about a really important event seems like you have either a real problem in your office, you aren’t aware of the days of the week, or there’s something more going on. It was a pretty disappointing answer in my opinion.”
Burnside admitted that he didn’t attend the memorial either, saying he was at a long-planned community town hall on Monday night. “Quite frankly I’m not the mayor,” he said, stressing that the mayor’s job is to represent all of the city.
Coun. Brad Bradford, one of Chow’s most vocal opponents, also wasn’t buying the missed email story.
“She’s known about October 7 for 365 days. Nobody else didn’t get the email, didn’t get the memo,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s disappointing, it’s heartbreaking. There are so many people in the Jewish community who are reeling right now.”
“Leadership is about showing up.”
Coun. Diane Saxe wasn’t so quick to judge. “I don’t know what happened, certainly I would have been grateful to have her there. I know that she has many other demands on her time and there can be mix-ups. I just don’t know what happened.”
Coun. Pasternak says while there’s no point in harbouring bad feelings towards the mayor, he’s skeptical about her reasons for missing the event, confirming that he personally spoke to Chow about attending, and says he’s seen evidence of multiple emails that were sent to her office.
“I must admit it was disappointing she wasn’t there,” he said. “This was a major community event. She is the mayor of all Torontonians regardless of various beliefs. At the same time I see no point in carrying a grudge or going beyond that. We are disappointed but I hope we can get her out to future events.
“I asked her whether she was going to come,” he explained, adding that organizers sent at least three email invites. “I think the organizers did everything they could to make her realize she was welcome.”
“I don’t know the operations of her office. If these emails didn’t make it to her desk … I can’t speak to that. The invitations were expressed and were given and it was our hope that she would be there.”
