CENTRAL MANITOULIN—A report from the Central Manitoulin integrity commissioner into a complaint made against Councillor Dale Scott was accepted by his fellow councillors, under protest.
Mayor Richard Stephens put the question of receiving the commissioner’s report forward, but it required several moments before he could secure both a mover and seconder for the motion. Mayor Stephens noted that the commissioner found no fault in his report.
Councillor Derek Stephens opened comments, saying, “I have a big problem with this report and our whole process and how it works, investigations and everything else. This particular incident caused an awful lot of havoc in the municipality and to have it come back with no findings, I find that very hard to fathom. I was never questioned. I don’t know who was, but, as far as I’ve seen in the report, there were only two proponents that were questioned. I don’t know how they came to these conclusions.”
Councillor Stephens continued on, noting, “I don’t know if we can change the process or what we can do but I have a big problem with this particular report and the findings in it.”
Councillor John Bisaillon agreed. “I’ll follow along with Councillor Stephen’s comments,” he said. “I’m in the same position where there were known facts and the conclusion in this report doesn’t lead us to what I believed was received as facts and the conclusion as I see it? I’m not happy with the report. I’ll just leave that.”
Integrity Commissioner Zachary Courtemanche’s report is as follows. “During the month of July 2024, the Integrity Commissioner received a complaint naming Councillor Dale Scott as respondent and alleging breaches of the Municipality’s Code of Conduct. The allegations related to the disclosure of comments made in closed session in violation of the applicable provisions of the Code of Conduct. Further, the allegations suggested that subsequent conversations in the municipality’s offices by various individuals were violations of the Code of Conduct attributable to the respondent. The complainant confirmed following the submission of the complaint that the respondent was Councillor Scott. Following receipt of the complaint the Integrity Commissioner interviewed the complainant, requested relevant documents from the municipality, and conducted interviews with the respondent and other relevant witnesses identified through review of the documentation or arising from the prior interviews (including members of council and municipal staff). Where appropriate, the Integrity Commissioner interviewed witnesses suggested by parties/other witnesses in order to determine the relevant facts. Following the completion of the inquiry process, the Integrity Commissioner provided a preliminary copy of the report to the complainant and respondent for comment. The complainant and respondent were invited to provide comment if desired, but neither did so. The Integrity Commissioner does not find that there has been a violation of the Code of Conduct by the respondent as alleged in the original complaint. The pivotal question in this complaint was whether the respondent can be determined to have shared confidential comments arising from a closed session with an individual not party to the closed session. It was clear following interviews that there was no direct account of any specific comments being shared with a non-party individual by the respondent (or anyone else present in the closed session). Accordingly, no recommendations are made for council on any penalty as no violation of the Code of Conduct is found.