The City of Windsor has released an online survey to gather input from the community and help stop systemic racism.
Mayor Drew Dilkens and Windsor Police Service Chief Pam Mizuno were two of 11 panellists for the Black Lives Roundtable Discussion on June 19 and after leaving the discussion, Dilkens says officials wanted to find out what they can do better.
"We really want to hear about life experience and we want to improve, so we want people to share their experience with what they've seen in the community where they're seeing issues related to racism... areas we can tackle," he says.
Dilkens wants to keep dialogue open moving forward.
"Let's just see if we can broaden that conversation and include others in the community and see what the next steps are," says Dilkens. "This wasn't just a onetime conversation to say we did something and now we've moved on. We can't to see if there are ways to improve and create some positive momentum in the community at the same time."
He tells AM800 News the protests have to result in changes right here in Windsor.
"We want to capture some of this energy and see if there are ways for us to do better. At the end of the day the mayor 100 years ago, this mayor, or the mayor 100 years from now should always be striving to make their city better," he added.
When asked about a recent move to disband the police department in Minneapolis, Dilkens says it's not something he wants to see locally.
He says Windsor police does a great job in the community and doesn't agree with defunding the department.
Dilkens did say there needs to be more funding for mental health experts from upper government.
— With files from AM800's Rob Hindi