St. Catharines mayor denied access to Washington D.C. conference

Two Canadian mayors – St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe and Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante – were denied entry to a conference at the White House this week.

Officials from the U.S. capitol say they didn’t have enough time to process the requests.

The two mayors are in Washington D.C. for a gathering of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative – a group of municipal and Indigenous government leaders who represent the region on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

The group is gathering with the aim of speaking to American lawmakers about the impact that tariffs could have on their cities.

“US and Canadian mayors from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative have regularly been attending meetings at the White House during the annual Great Lakes Day event in Washington for many years with similar timelines and no obstacles,” Siscoe said in a statement.

Siscoe says the White House was informed a month ago that a delegation of U.S. and Canadian mayors would be attending the conference in Washington.

“The Cities Initiative was informed on Wednesday, March 5th, 2025, for the first time and just 48 hours before the planned meeting, that due to diplomatic protocol, there wasn’t enough time to process the requests of the Canadian mayors,” he said.

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath and Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward are also in Washington D.C. for the same event, and have not reported any barriers.

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