Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ) Canada say they’re willing to do whatever it takes to ensure Bradford residents are accommodated during their proposed 2025 convention, which is expected to attract about 8,000 people each day.
That was the message from Asif Khan, national director of public relations for AMJ, during a public information meeting at the library on Jan. 14 about the group’s application for a special events permit to host the annual Jalsa Salana convention at its 3078 Line 11 property (and now also listed to include their neighbouring properties at 3999 Sideroad 10 and 2912 Line 11). The conference is slated for July 4 to 6 of this year.
“Whatever it is that our neighbours ask us to do to make life easy on those three days we’ll do it,” Khan said. “That’s a promise.”
This was the first such meeting since council referred the matter back to staff on Nov. 5, after initially denying the permit on Sept. 17. As it began, about 90 people were seated in the Zima room, with roughly another 25 eventually joining and standing in the back and into the library lobby.
Town chief administrative officer Geoff McKnight kicked off the meeting and explained a special event permit is typically needed for any event at which more than 5,000 people are expected to attend on a property that isn’t already zoned for that activity.
He said the town had already received about 200 comments about the event, with common themes including traffic, impacts on agricultural land, cell service and emergency response.
Those were also common themes in Khan’s slideshow presentation in which he explained a private consultant is reviewing AMJ's traffic management plan, and the group is hoping to increase their use of shuttles by 60 per cent to reduce the amount of added vehicles.
That’s in addition to other previously reported efforts, including plans to continue paying to hire off-duty police officers, increasing the number of staff managing traffic and implementing staggered departure times to prevent all vehicles from leaving at once.
He said AMJ wants to avoid the sort of bottlenecks seen in Toronto as sports fans try to leave Scotiabank Arena all at once and hopes to one day have parking and traffic management akin to what visitors see at Disney resorts.
When it comes to the agricultural land, Khan explained that, of the more than 101 hectares the group owns, only about 24 is used for the event, and once that’s over each year, they plan to revert to a state which will support agricultural activities, such as growing hay.
When it comes to cell service, Khan explained the group worked with Rogers to set up a communications on wheels (COW) mobile cell tower during the 2024 event and are in discussion with Bell to add a second COW for the 2025 event to help Bell/Telus customers.
He also explained the group had their own Starlink internet connection to ensure the streaming of the event wouldn’t impact bandwidth for residents using local infrastructure.
When it comes to emergency services, Khan said the group has already met with fire, police and EMS for further suggestions about their plans and while three guests required medical services during the 2024 event, they were all handled on site by providers hired by AMJ and they did not rely on any municipal services for EMS.
AMJ still have more work to do in developing those plans, though, and Khan explained about 65 residents attended and provided suggestions during a meet-and-greet hosted by AMJ at the town’s leisure centre on Jan. 7, and the group has already met with councillors one-on-one to gather their feedback as well.
Residents respond
When it comes to suggestions from residents, Khan said they're always welcome, and more than a dozen residents took advantage of that invitation to speak out during the question-and-answer portion.
Several suggested that no matter how hard AMJ tried, Sideroad 10 and Line 11 simply weren’t designed to handle the increased traffic, as Cynthia Riley recalled the 2024 event resulted in “bedlam,” and a man who identified himself as Jason worried about how the issue would be compounded by construction of Yonge Street as part of a road widening project and the future interchange on SR 10 with the Bradford Bypass.
In response, Khan asked for patience as the group works with the consultant and town on the traffic management plan.
Several residents said they had nothing against the event in general, but simply didn’t want it held so close to their homes, including Mara Aron.
“The event is wonderful — we don’t want it in our backyard,” she said.
Other residents, including Matt Keenan and Denis Jakac, suggested it would be better to host the conference at a proper space like Burl's Creek Event Grounds, and while Khan previously explained the group had considered and ruled out that option, he didn’t answer why the Bradford location was preferred.
“If there’s no religious importance to the territory, then why are you doing it here?” Keenan asked. “The community here is saying 'no.'”
In response to questions from Steve Antonarakis about the timing, Khan explained the first weekend of July wasn’t chosen for religious reasons and the group have had to host the event on different weekends in past years.
When asked if AMJ had ever faced similar opposition to the event in other places, Khan pointed only to Pakistan, where Ahmadi Muslims are persecuted, but said to the best of his knowledge, no Western government had prevented the group from hosting the event on their own properties.
“We’ve never faced this in Canada,” he said.
Safwan Choudhry, director of media relations for AMJ, noted the United Kingdom branch also hosts the annual event on farmland in that country. While they have continued to work to improve that event and meet conditions of that council, they’ve had “no comparable backlash.”
One audience member, who identified as a resident of town and member of AMJ, suggested some of the comments imply racism and that Bradford residents don’t want AMJ members living in Bradford. The audience exploded with shouting in defence.
“I’m sick of it,” Jakac later said in response to accusations of racism, before walking out of the meeting.
Khan did not directly answer when asked if AMJ has a backup plan, should Bradford council deny the permit.
“In life you have to be an optimist, and we are optimistic that we will get these approvals,” he said.
Brent Fellman said he had concerns that Khan had donated to three members of council who had not recused themselves from the discussions about the event, and asked if that should be considered a conflict of interest, but McKnight suggested it would be better to address that issue with council.
According to financial records from the 2022 municipal election, Khan and other members of AMJ made campaign donations to Mayor James Leduc, Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu and Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott with amounts ranging from $300 to $1,000.
However, the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act makes no mention of campaign contributions as a pecuniary interest for which members of council would need to declare or recuse themselves.
Keenan also suggested that several members of AMJ had visited and “menaced” Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie at his downtown Bradford jewellery store, but in speaking with BradfordToday after the meeting, Dykie refuted that claim.
He explained six members of AMJ did come to visit him at his shop in the hopes of having a meeting, and he has always had an open-door policy for residents to come discuss issues. However, when it comes to official meetings, he prefers to have them in a professional capacity, so they scheduled something for the next day at town offices.
He clarified there was no menacing involved.
Other allegations made during the meeting could not be verified in time for publication of this article.
Some show support
Throughout the feedback portion of the meeting, Khan responded to constructive criticism and suggestions by periodically asking residents to provide the group with contact information so they could discuss ideas further. Among others, those included suggestions from Stephanie Sinclair on making the event more welcoming, and Kim Shaw on how to better make use of the agricultural land.
One resident in particular tried to offer a more positive outlook on the situation.
Bradford’s retired Lt.-Col. Ferguson Mobbs said residents should thank council and the mayor for being willing to ask for more information and taking the time to collect more public feedback.
He also emphasized the 2024 event was the first full-scale convention held in Bradford, that nothing is ever perfect on the first attempt, and that AMJ have committed to making improvements.
“These people are fantastic. They bend over backwards,” Mobbs said. They’re learning and trying to do better all the time. What else can you ask of anybody?”
He also pointed to the event’s ability to make 8,000 people feel better each day, and said he was proud to have it hosted in Bradford.
The veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force noted several of the major conflicts in which Canadians gave their lives to protect our freedom and way of life.
“These people want to do this for their community,” he said. “Many people died so they would have the right to do that. Let’s open our hearts and support them.”
At the end of the meeting, the mayor thanked residents for their feedback and assured them council wants to make the right decision while emphasizing that AMJ did nothing wrong.
Khan asked residents to try to put aside their negative emotions to work collaboratively, again promising the group would continue to improve the event each year.
“I sincerely want everyone here to be friends,” he said. “I hope when we meet again, we can meet on better terms.”
A report from staff on the concept of permits specifically for “mega events,” such as the Jalsa Salana, was requested by Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano on Oct. 1, and is expected to come back to council on Jan. 21.
Anyone who couldn’t attend the meeting can still submit comments to [email protected].
