Parrish chose not to attend even though the event was billed as an opportunity for the four front-running candidates to speak directly to Muslim voters about their key concerns and most pressing priorities for City Hall ahead of the municipal election on Monday, October 26.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of addressing issues raised by community members and debating her key rivals in the race, Parrish left a letter at the beginning of the debate apologizing for her absence, stating she had only chosen to attend three other debates and would not change her plan to limit her appearances.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s incredibly telling that the current mayor chose not to show up tonight. I think it’s incredibly disappointing,\u201d challenger Alvin Tedjo said.<\/p>\n
At a debate later last week during one of the events Parrish chose to attend, she was asked to address Muslim residents who expressed their disappointment over Parrish\u2019s choice to skip an important chance for community members to interact with a politician who has counted on the Muslim community\u2019s support throughout her career.<\/p>\n
“Well, they were probably voting for someone else,\u201d Parrish responded. \u201cAnd then they got themselves all upset. I have a very strong commitment in the Muslim community. I do very well with them. They like me, I like them, we get along very well.”<\/p>\n
Several residents The Pointer spoke to during the debate organized by Muslim Network TV questioned Parrish\u2019s support for the community. \u201cHow can she say she supports us, but not show up to the debate to answer questions on how she will protect and support us?\u201d one attendee asked.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6ad816a4281be.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A letter left by Carolyn Parrish at a mayoral debate organized by Mississauga\u2019s Muslim community. (Benjamin Steeves\/The Pointer)\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Residents who saw the letter Parrish had left on the seats were heard questioning, \u201cWhat is this?\u201d after reading it.<\/p>\n
Another asked, \u201cWhy did she leave this letter?\u201d<\/p>\n
As reported by The Pointer in 2024<\/a>, when Parrish won a by-election to become mayor, she spoke about the importance of transparency and the need for community engagement.<\/p>\n Bonnie Crombie, who is running to win back the mayor\u2019s job, has also received support from the city\u2019s growing Muslim community, particularly when she faced off against Islamophobes inside City Hall during her first term after a hate-fueled campaign was launched in opposition to a proposed new Mosque in Meadowvale. Crombie aggressively supported the new Mosque.<\/a><\/p>\n Parrish has also shown her support for Mississauga\u2019s Muslim community, however, an episode early in her tenure as mayor sparked national controversy.<\/p>\n In late 2024, Parrish had responded to a proposed vigil at Celebration Square<\/a> that planned to honour a Hamas leader killed in the Gaza conflict. She condoned the event and said using the City space outside Mississauga City Hall would be allowed, as several Jewish organizations across the country condemned Parrish<\/a> for her comparison of the former Hamas leader to Nelson Mandela and community groups criticized the inexperienced mayor for creating divisions among residents instead of bringing them together.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to point out, and I\u2019m not being facetious, Nelson Mandela was declared a terrorist by the United States of America \u2018til the year 2008. Your terrorist and somebody else\u2019s terrorist may be two different things,\u201d Parrish said during a council meeting in November of 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hamas has long been recognized officially by the Government of Canada as a terrorist organization and took responsibility for the terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023 that left approximately 1,200 Jewish people dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following fierce backlash<\/a>, the planned vigil was cancelled by organizers.<\/p>\n Following the debate, as attendees were shuffling out, they were again given the opportunity to read Parrish\u2019s letter being distributed by a gentleman, as one referred to it and said, \u201cI don\u2019t care about that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Email: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories\u00a0to ensure every resident of Brampton, Mississauga and Niagara has access to the facts. For those who are able, we encourage you to consider a subscription. This will help us report on important public interest issues the community needs to know about now more than ever. You can register for a 30-day free trial\u00a0HERE<\/a>. Thereafter, The Pointer will charge $10 a month and you can cancel any time right on the website. Thank you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Benjamin Steeves – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Oct 20, 2026 – Brampton, Mississauga Incumbent Carolyn Parrish\u2019s absence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[49,48,55405],"class_list":["post-940854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mississauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}