DRYDEN — A grassroots advocacy network is asking municipalities across the province to support legislation that would hold elected officials accountable to the same violence and harassment policies as staff.
Bill 5 — The Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act — was a private member's bill brought forward in Queen's Park that would give municipalities the ability to remove members from city council if they commit code of conduct violations, but was voted down in May.
During a Dryden council meeting earlier this month, council heard a delegation from Women of Ontario Say No representative Amanda Fellows.
"This is not acceptable. The ask is simple. Let's make things better," Fellows said to council. "Let's introduce legislation that will ensure the basic human right to go to work and not be harassed is respected. Let's increase public trust in publicly funded elected positions.”
Although many municipal councils have a code of conduct policies for bullying and harassment in the workplace, elected officials are not held to the same standard as their staff.
The Municipal Act has mechanisms for the removal of an elected official from their seat; however, those mechanisms only involve if an elected official is found guilty of a conflict of interest or failure to file their financial information after an election.
Currently, if an elected official is found guilty of egregious and substantiated acts of violence and harassment by an integrity commissioner, the punishment is a 90-day suspension without pay.
After Fellows' presentation, Coun. Ritch Noel pointed out that the City of Dryden’s bullying and harassment policy is fairly progressive in its code of conduct.
“I took the time before your delegation tonight to print off our policy and the principles upon which this code of conduct is issued. That's the municipal council code of conduct 5.6 “as a council member may become disqualified and lose his or her seat by operation of law including being convicted of an offence under the criminal code or being found to comply with the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act whether or not the conduct in question involves a contravention of this code of conduct,” quoted Noel.
Noel pointed out that Dryden’s extensive human rights policy is 22 pages long, calling it “exhaustive and inclusive.”
“I think what you're asking us to do is reinvent the wheel,” Noel added.
Coun. Catherine Kiewning quickly pointed out that Dryden’s municipal harassment policy isn’t what the advocacy group is trying to change.
“This is just to inform us that there are other municipalities that have people in those municipalities who've experienced different forms of harassment and violence perpetuated by their city councillors. And, there is no due process for them to be held accountable for that. So, there is nothing really in place right now saying because this is an awful thing to have to experience, but the penalty right now is like three months without pay," Kiewning said.
Women of Ontario Say No lead advocate Emily McIntosh told NWOnewswatch in an interview that there seemed to be mixed feelings from councils during their delegations.
“It's been very mixed. I think those municipalities that have been affected. So, for example, we have one municipality where a former mayor, I think, has four counts of sexual assault. And so, I think those municipalities that have been adversely affected are very much in support of this legislation,” said McIntosh.
“In other instances, we've had quite a bit of pushback, which is fascinating because when we look at the framework that we're advocating for, it's actually about bringing elected reps up to the same standard as every other employee in the workplace.”
McIntosh compared this framework to the same harassment policies employees working in a meat packing plant, where those employees would likely be immediately released from their jobs.
“It's really not meant to be controversial, but about ensuring that there's a safe workplace for all. And in the current situation, there really is immunity for elected representatives. We've seen this play out. Ottawa is the most infamous example, but it's been very interesting because we are seeing pushback,” said McIntosh.
Although the name suggests that they are an advocacy group for women, the organization is a non-partisan collaboration of all genders, organizations, and groups.
“I think what's important around this movement is that this is not about touching our most sacred foundation of a healthy society, which is democracy. This is not about undermining that. This is about ensuring that people who engage in egregious harassment and violence are held accountable and can no longer keep that position of power,” McIntosh said.
“The movement is called the Women of Ontario Say No, but we recognize that this actually affects all of us irrespective of background, but when you look at the facts, women are 52 per cent of the population. We are grossly underrepresented in the political sphere and 100 per cent of the victims reported in the media are in fact women.”
On Monday, Mayor Jack Harrison presented a notice of motion in support of the Women of Ontario Say No, where council will discuss the motion and decide if Dryden will become the 183rd municipality to support the movement.
“I think it's important that we hold our leadership accountable and share same similar mechanisms that we have with our employees. We should be held to the same or higher standard regards to these activities. Really, it'll be a process that will be fair and equitable,” said Harrison in an interview with NWOnewswatch.
