When referring to the gas station owner in Chamberlain, Councillor Bob Bennett called him a pejorative term that is not fit for print. It was an offensive compound term for a person of perceived Chinese or East Asian race. In a completely separate discussion during the same meeting, Councillor Lorrie Zinn referred to a former Bethune postmaster as a ‘bimbo bitch’.
When asked what the legislation says in regards to the conduct of Councillors and how a Reeve should respond, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Government Relations responded;
• The Municipalities Act states that the reeve presides over the meeting when in attendance unless provided for by bylaw to be a different council member.
• The Municipalities Act requires that a municipality’s council procedures bylaw must include the rules for the conduct of council members to be followed when conducting business at council meetings.
The Municipalities Act legislates that municipalities must have a code of ethics and procedures to handle complaints. At the time of the meeting, the RM did not have its code of ethics on its bylaw page. While not required to be displayed publically, the Chief Administrative Officer, Rodney Audette, has since put an unsigned copy of the Code of Ethics on the RM’s website under bylaws. While the code appears to be for the RM of Dufferin, it refers to the Council for the Village of Bethune enacting the bylaw.
The Councillor’s Handbook for Municipalities, which all Councillors have, lays out the prescribed code of ethics and standards;
1) Honesty - Council members must be truthful and open.
2) Objectivity - Decisions will be made carefully, fairly and impartially.
3) Respect - Treat people with dignity, understanding and respect.
4) Transparency and Accountability - Council business and all other duties shall be conducted so that citizens will be able to clearly see how and why a decision is made.
5) Confidentiality - Confidential information learned during the course of performing your office is to be kept private. - Council members shall not benefit from information obtained in the course of their municipal duties.
6) Leadership and Public Interest - Council members will serve their citizens and always act in the best interests of the municipality. - Acting for personal benefit, wrongdoing or unethical conduct will not be tolerated.
7) Responsibility - Council members shall act in accordance with legislation, disclose conflicts of interest, follow policies and procedures of the municipality and exercise powers strictly for the purpose intended.
According to the Handbook, Council is required to establish a process to deal with contraventions of the code that will outline the remedial actions available to Council and that the complaint handling process needs to be based on the principles of fairness, accessibility, responsiveness and efficiency. The Code of Ethics Bylaw does include the complaint handling process on the RM of Dufferin webpage.
Newly elected Reeve, Russ Kirzinger, made the following statement regarding the conduct of the Councillors. “I discussed with both Councillors their comments. Councillor Bennett acknowledged that it was inappropriate, and Councillor Zinn is aware that some people could find it offensive. Hopefully, it won’t happen again. If it does, we will have to address it with more gravity the next time.”
When asked to comment, Erson Choi, owner of Old Sunny Boy Esso in Chamberlain, explained that he is not Chinese. He’s Korean-Canadian. He went on to say that generalizing like that is a big mistake. Euro-Canadians originate from many different countries such as Ukraine, Ireland, and England. One can say the same for Asian-Canadians. He finished by saying that “it’s unreasonable.”
When asked for a comment, the former Bethune postmaster said they had no official comment but added that they were a nice person and “What people think and say... that’s their level of intelligence.”
Jennifer Argue, Civic Reporter, LMT - LJi
Note: These reports are abridged for content