Introduction
Mat Siscoe is a Canadian politician who is the current mayor of St. Catharines, Ontario. Previously Siscoe sat on St. Catharines City Council for twelve years, before being appointed to Niagara Regional Council to fill a vacancy left by the death of councillor Sandie Bellows.
He ran for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in St. Catharines in the 2014 Ontario general election.
He also was a Teacher at St. Paul Catholic High School until he became Mayor in 2022.
Controversy
On January 25, 2024, Mat Siscoe prevented a motion to Support Israelis and Palestinians in Niagara Region. Shortly after reading the Land Acknowledgement, Siscoe moved a motion seconded by councillor Laura Ip to remove agenda Item 13.2 and all associated items from the agenda. This resulted in the removal of the motion to Support Palestinians and Israeli and the silencing of a delegation of 18 people which included Palestinians with family in Gaza, Jewish residents of Niagara and their allies. Siscoe claimed that the matter did not pertain to Niagara Region business or mandate, though the Region had previously discussed international eventsand unanimously passed a motion in 2022 in support of Ukraine.As a result, councillors voted to cancel the motion. Community members in the chamber began to chant "Ceasefire Now" at which point Jim Bradley called recess and the stream was cut.On January 29, 2024, Siscoe used his platform in city council to claim that supporting Ukraine was different because according to him everyone in the community supported that cause while "The war in Gaza is different in that respect....we need to represent the entire community, and we can't pick sides".