NIPIGON – A unified safety policy will save municipalities a lot of money, says lawyer Chantelle Bryson.
Bryson gave a presentation on workplace harassment at the Thunder Bay District Municipal League conference on Thursday.
Her panel didn’t just focus on harassment between staff or council members, but harassment by members of the public.
Bryson says it’s becoming a huge problem.
“It’s interfering with governance. It’s interfering with recruitment and retention. People aren’t running again. It’s risen to the level of death threats, having to close municipal meetings and offices as a whole to in-person attendance for significant periods of time. So, now we’re getting into infringing on the actual democratic process,” Bryson said.
Her presentation provided league members with regulatory, civil and criminal solutions to help mitigate the legal cost to the municipality.
“You have to have an Occupational Health and Safety Act and human rights code harassment policy, but you can do more than that. You can tie those policies into the council code of conduct, the staff code of conduct, collective agreements, and employment contracts for senior officials that aren’t unionized. If you’re unionized, create a whole culture that’s speaking in one voice of zero tolerance,” Bryson said.
She advised seeking legal advice immediately, not before the proceeding. By taking a multi-pronged approach and being swift to act, more often than not, it will “get rid of the more frivolous or vexatious” issues.
For the more serious criminal issues, like uttering death threats, Bryson advises that municipalities should have a good relationship with local police and ask them what they require to build a case.
“Take a case of criminal harassment to the crown or intimidation to the crown, what do you actually require from us and then having a policy around that when a situation like that arises against staff or a member of a local board or council who’s in charge of gathering that evidence. Are you going to go as far as giving people dash cams, cameras for their homes, stuff like that, recording calls, emails are coming in?” she said.
“What are you doing with those social media posts? Someone gathering that? Meet the expectations of the police, because it’s the crown attorneys who make that decision, not the police, and they need a really serious documentary package to get those charges.”
Jim Vezina, mayor of O’Connor, said the main takeaway from the presentation was when a municipality is looking for a solution to an issue, “take her advice and reach an outside independent legal advice.”
For instance, if there is an issue between staff or council members, the municipal lawyer has a working relationship with the senior administration, she said.
“Who do you think they’re going to bend towards if it’s a staff member complaining? This is very fundamental human nature. And the problem is they do bend like that and those reports don’t hold up in formal legal processes of having much weight or value. If you’re at the human rights tribunal or the Ontario Labour Board in a court of law or criminal court, it’s much better to have someone completely independent … if it’s actually a serious allegation,” Bryson said.
When it comes to complaints against council members that would be brought before an integrity commissioner, Bryson says municipalities should be careful who they appoint to that role.
“It’s a big money-making game. You want to appoint someone who’s got a track record of being timely and effective,” she said.
She advises writing a policy in the contract regarding timeliness and whether or not the result of the investigation is fact finding or recommendations.
“Is this actually a valid complaint or frivolous and vexatious? Not just to run away with the horse and cart for a bunch of money. Do we even need to do this?” said Bryson.
“Because I often see frivolous harassment complaints taken through a full investigation that I would never say justified an investigation in the first place,” she continued. “And that gives a lot of fuel to people. Now they feel very justified in whatever their upset is and very disappointed when there’s no remedy at the end. So, take some time, make sure you appoint good people and have clear expectations for them regarding timeliness.”
