Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman, widely criticized for his comments about Africans, may “look at” taking a multicultural diversity course offered by the City of Toronto, which all civic employees are required to take.
But this may not be enough to appease those critics that want the Mayor’s resignation.
The Mayor has answered his critics by saying, “I’m not going to resign. I’m not considering it at all. The people of Toronto have elected me and I have a job to do”, he said.
Lastman added, “I have made mistakes in the past, I will make mistakes in the future. I am not perfect. But I will work as hard. I will work my best to be the best mayor this city has every had’.
He also vowed to continue drumming up support for Toronto’s Olympic bid and said he has been urged by TO-Bid members to continue helping to sell the city to members of the IOC.
When asked if his comments could derail the bid, he replied: “No, I am positive (they won’t)”, adding that he would be going to Moscow and be part of the presentation.
Among Lastman’s critics is Hamisi Mboga, town clerk of Kenya’s Mombasa tourist resort, who said he would ask Kenyans living in Toronto to write letters of protest to Lastman and demand he apologize to them in public. “The people of Mombasa have received the news with shock and will not accept anything less than a public apology”.
State-run newspapers in China haven’t yet published anything on the Mayor’s gaffe. A Western diplomat said it’s also possible they never will. “China knows that it will likely win the IOC delegate vote. There is no percentage now, at this late stage, in getting into a war of words with another competitor, especially not a major trading partner”.
But a local radio station in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, treated the mayor’s comments about his fear of being stewed in a pot by dancing natives as a joke item.
Meanwhile, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Daniel Igali, a Nigerian-born wrestler, is anxious to meet with the Mayor when the two travel to Moscow with the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid Committee in early July, to ask him just what he meant. He said that while Lastman’s remarks “weren’t cool”, things can be taken out of context.
And Kwaku Boateng, a Canadian Olympic high jumper who was born in Ghana and now lives in Montreal, said people in Africa will read the remarks differently than Canadians. “They would think he’s just a joker. Some people would take it seriously but most would just think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about”.
