Municipal workers will “respectfully remove” poster photos of missing people, some of them children from the Israel-Hamas war, from city poles, says Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall.
Speaking at Wednesday night’s city council meeting, Nuttall said poster photos have been both attached to city poles and removed during the past week.
“With dialogue and consultation and work … we’ve been able to sort of get a plan going forward and there’s been an agreement for our city municipal workers to respectfully remove the (poster) photos,” he said. “We thought it was really important that we consult with members of the Jewish and Israeli communities prior to taking any action.
“They were very supportive that the city’s bylaws needed to be adhered to and we certainly offered any opportunities for creating places for memorials or for a vigil and those things continue to happen,” Nuttall added.
“We will begin the process in the coming days,” Michael Prowse, the city’s chief administrative officer, said of removing poster photos.
BarrieToday counted four of them taped to city poles at the bottom of Bayfield Street and near Heritage Park on Wednesday afternoon.
Barrie city clerk Wendy Cooke said the municipality has regulations for posters.
“The sign bylaw prohibits signs posted on utility poles,” she said. “Unless there is a health and safety risk, or the poster impacts the operation of the utility pole, it would not be removed immediately. Addressing removal of posters would be triaged in relation to our other calls and limited staff resources.”
Nuttall thanked members of the community for helping with the plan, saying he’s had conversations with both the Barrie Mosque and Am Shalom Synagogue.
“(It’s) ensuring everyone is able to mourn and grieve in the way that they see fit, while also respecting the greater community at large in the city of Barrie,” he said. “I’ve been really encouraged by the ability to work with communities who are hurting right now.”
On Oct. 7, Hamas struck southern Israeli communities, killing more than 1,400 people and taking 239 hostages, some of them children.
The poster photos were first noticed on city poles more than a week ago in downtown Barrie, and gained notice following a confrontation between two women after posters were removed.
