ROTHENBURGER: Latest council investigation a strange prelude to bringing in a referee

On Thursday, a copy of a resolution passed at that meeting was released. It talked of a “legal duty to provide a safe workplace for its employees, free of bullying and harassment.” It pointed out that, on May 12, all members of council and senior management received an email from the City’s human resources manager with a reminder that “secretly or openly recording conversations of others in the workplace” was “cause for concern” and was “strictly prohibited.”

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Employees failing to comply may be subject to discipline including dismissal, it said. No mention of council members or consequences for them.

The resolution itself noted that Hamer-Jackson disclosed at the Sept. 5 open council session that a phone conversation between him and CAO David Trawin had been recorded without Trawin’s knowledge.

Not mentioned was that the conversation took place in March, and was on the issue of the Noble Creek water system. There was nothing about the conversation — recorded by his wife as he drove — that needed to be kept secret, the mayor says.

He also now says he sometimes dictates notes to himself and accidentally left the recorder on one day when a staff member knocked on his door. “I don’t make it a practice to tape conversations,” he said yesterday, though he does “take notes all the time.”

(As an aside, he says City Hall rumours about him threatening to fire Trawin aren’t true.)

The councillors’ resolution also objects to conversations with City staff members while non-staffers are present, an apparent reference to Hamer-Jackson’s wife taking notes.

Though recording conversations without people’s knowledge isn’t illegal in Canada, it’s not the best idea for a mayor to do it. People are very sensitive about that sort of thing, probably because we tend to be less guarded in verbal conversations than we are in writing.

However, one wonders why this couldn’t have been resolved with a request/ demand — by resolution if councillors so wished — that he stop, rather than hiring a consultant to carry out another expensive investigation. (At least there wasn’t a leak this time.)

Based on his responses in the past when staff or councillors object to something he’s said or done, it’s highly likely he’d commit to doing it.

Hamer-Jackson is reluctant to turn over material to Human Resources director Colleen Quigley as the councillors are demanding. He’d rather give it to Municipal Affairs as part of the ministry’s look at the broad situation.

Holding another closed-door meeting without the mayor present to order up another investigation is a strange way to begin the path toward what was supposed to be a new attempt — with help — to find common ground. That’s the optics, and the reality.

Just who the ministry will assign to the task, and what it will include, is vague at this point. Will it be done by a bureaucrat in Victoria, or by a hands-on mediator/ facilitator who will set up shop in City Hall?

Let’s hope it’s the latter, because whoever the ministry sends in is going to have their hands full.

‘WEYTKP’ AND ALL THE BEST on National Truth and Reconciliation Day and Orange Shirt Day commemorating “the history and legacy” of residential schools.

This day, of course, has its origins as a statutory holiday in the national trauma that followed the discovery of 215 suspected burial sites on the grounds of the Kamloops residential school.

Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc explained yesterday it’s not hosting a major public event in order to focus on “a safe and intimate space for our band members directly impacted by the legacy of residential schools.”

There’s certainly no lack of events here and across the country, though. While still in need of definition, reconciliation is finding its feet, and Kamloops is leading the way. Symbolically, the City and TteS were jointly honoured at UBCM last week for the work they’ve done together on reconciliation.

But there are tangibles as well. Yesterday, TRU announced construction of a $22 million Indigenous Education Centre. Earlier this year, federal funding was announced for a $12.5 million healing centre on the South Thompson near Sun Rivers.

Every day, there are reports about new initiatives towards reconciliation. The Kamloops residential school is even on a new stamp. There are many hurdles, to be sure, but also reason for optimism.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by Mel Rothenburger

ROTHENBURGER: Latest council investigation a strange prelude to bringing in a referee

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