UPDATE: Arnprior councillor will not be punished for Facebook comments
Posted Feb 9, 2021 08:30:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An Arnprior town councillor is off the hook after facing a 30-day suspension for comments she made on Facebook, which breached the town's code of conduct.
Council met Monday, February 9, where they received an official report on the matter and a recommendation from the town's integrity commissioner.
Councillor Lisa McGee then spoke on the matter.
“Members of council, Mr. Mayor, staff, and the community of Arnprior, I am sorry for the choice of words in the post that I put up on Facebook,” she said. “I also feel a need to apologize to the community of 'What's Up Arnprior.” And the reason for that is that — we've all seen it — there's sometimes comments [that are] negative, you know, the negativity of keyboard warriors out there takes away from constructive discussion.”
After the apology, council voted to accept the recommendation as 'information,' rather than moving forward with the suspension.
According to Integrity Commissioner William Hunter's report, McGee posted in the Facebook group 'What’s Up Arnprior' on December 18:
“Let me get this straight. [The mayor] blindsides council with his 'plan' on Monday, plans to apologize to the BIPOC community for his CBC blunder, turns his racist shovel into a backhoe and leave council shocked and unprepared to deal with a plan we haven’t seen, and then openly criticizes us and suggest that WE are holding this up? No. Just no. Gloves off.”
Arnprior's code of conduct asks that councillors refrain from making judgmental or critical comments about other members of council or staff, refrain from speculating or reflecting upon the motives of other member of council or staff, keep all confidential information confidential, and treat every person with dignity. Engaging in any form of violence or harassment also goes against the policy.
