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Last night we told you about 3 Colombian Canadians who went to Hamilton City Hall demanding action after Councillor Lloyd Ferguson called Colombia a backwards country where chickens rode buses.
While the community says Ferguson never issued a public apology to all of the Colombians here in Hamilton, Councillor Ferguson called CHCH to tell us the exact opposite.
Carlos Vasquez, who was at City Hall yesterday, claims a public apology to the Colombian people in Hamilton was never issued by Councillor Ferguson. Vasquez does admit that Ferguson met with a small group of them and apologized but Vasquez said today that he doesn’t consider this a public apology to all members of the community.
Councillor Ferguson took us back to that small meeting on February 10th. The group set a list of demands. The first was a public apology from the Councillor to be released from his office. Ferguson said he did that with a letter addressed to the Ambassador of Colombia on February 17th. He said quote:
“I followed proper protocol for all elected officials” Ferguson copied the media and all members of council so they could pass it out. Ferguson told us that any elected official would issue a public apology in this manner.
He said quote:
“How much more public can you get.”
Carlos Vasquez said he will not accept this as an apology.
Ferguson isn’t sure what more the Colombian Community wants from him but says he is willing to talk and asks the group to visit him anytime. Councillor Ferguson wasn’t at the meeting yesterday as he was dealing with an important family matter.
Original Story:
In an emotional presentation today at City Hall three Canadian-Colombians living here in Hamilton called for a new code of conduct for councillors. This comes after councillor Lloyd Ferguson’s comments comparing Hamilton’s transit system to Colombia’s.
In February Ferguson was quoted saying: “the only wealthy people in Colombia are drug lords” and “when I was in colombia, all I saw was chickens riding the buses” Ten days later councillor Ferguson met with 12 members of the Colombian community.
Councillor Ferguson wasn’t at the general issues meeting today. We’ve learned from him that he’s dealing with an important family matter but issued us this statement: “after reflection on my comments I apologized to the Canadian Colombians on February 17th.” “I have nothing further to comment.”
Ferguson sent a letter to the Ambassador of Colombia but he hasn’t apologized to the community here and has yet to retract his statements.
Councillor Matthew Green put forward a motion to have the recommendations reviewed by the governance committee. In the meantime, the group plans to file a formal complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner.
