The Trent Central Student Association is incredibly disheartened to learn that the Peterborough City Council Integrity Commissioner has found Mayor Jeff Leal’s use of the N-word at Trent University on March 19, 2025, to be in accordance with the City of Peterborough Council Code of Conduct. The fact that his comment was not directed at one individual has provided a loophole for the City to not find these actions to be a violation of the Code of Conduct. This is a disappointing excuse that diminishes the incredibly harmful nature of his racist actions. The Mayor’s use of a heinous racial slur is unacceptable, and the City should hold their public representatives to a higher standard of conduct.

The Mayor being “unaware that it was unacceptable to quote the [N-]word directly”, given that he was “70 years old at the time of the comment” (Giorno, 19) is a disappointing excuse for blatant racism, that violates his duty to “treat members of the public … appropriately and without abuse” (Code of Conduct, Section 10). Ignorance and age are outdated excuses that do not remove the harm that was caused, or the violent history associated with the N-word; A man with over 15 years in public office should be aware that you cannot use a slur. The results of this investigation are offensive to the students at Trent who were harmed by the Mayor’s actions, and to every racialized person in this City. Peterborough continues to experience high levels of hate crimes against racialized individuals, and the condonement of anti-Black behaviour, and the use of many outdated excuses for this behaviour, sets a precedent that allows racism to thrive.

We are pleased that the City has voted to adopt our original recommendations to:

Mandate all city counsellors and city staff to receive anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
Review and amend their 2023-2050 Strategic Plan to include anti-racism and race relations as a strategic priority under their Community and Wellbeing pillar. This should include but is not limited to addressing anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Asian racism, xenophobia, anti-immigrant sentiments, antisemitism and Islamophobia within the Peterborough community.

Given this Report, we additionally call on the City to review and amend their outdated policies surrounding Councillors’ use of harmful language, to ensure a higher degree of accountability in the future. Hate speech should not have to be directed at a specific individual to be considered hate speech; if this incident is not in violation of the Code of Conduct, then the Code needs to be changed.

In Solidarity,

The TCSA Executive Team