Ontario City Councillor Receives ‘Most Severe’ Pay Penalty in Sanction
The city council of Pickering, Ont., has voted to sanction one of its members for the third time in just over a year.
Coun. Lisa Robinson faced a 90-day pay penalty last month, following a 60-day penalty in October 2023 and a previous 30-day suspension in September 2023. This recent penalty is considered the most severe that the council can impose.
The initial sanction in September 2023 was due to social media posts made by Robinson that identified certain residents, leading to an integrity commissioner investigation about cyberbullying and intimidation allegations.
Disputing these findings, Robinson rejects the accusations against her.
Related Stories
The integrity commissioner investigated complaints against Robinson, which included violations of the Code of Conduct and the Human Rights Code. The commissioner concluded that Robinson’s actions breached the Code of Conduct.
Robinson contests the report’s findings and states in an interview with The Epoch Times that there were inaccuracies in the report.
Published Commentary
Alongside complaints from the mayor, individual public complaints were made regarding a commentary published by Robinson in a local newspaper on Feb. 6.
“Is the celebration of one race over another in the pursuit of equality inherently racist?” she wrote.
Robinson also expressed in the piece that she felt council was treating her like a “modern-day slave.”
“Now, I feel I was persecuted and punished and that my rights and freedoms were violated to the point where I felt discriminated,” she wrote.
The integrity commissioner found Robinson’s use of the term “slave” in the commentary to be “provocative.”
Robinson is accused in the report of “denouncing and attacking Black History Month” in the commentary.
Robinson stated to The Epoch Times in a phone interview that claims of racism in her commentary are baseless.
“There was absolutely nothing in there that was racist or anything else like that. Nothing at all,” she said. “I had a lot of people from the black community reaching out to me and saying so.”
She was also accused of associating with a politician known for racist and Islamophobic views due to her attendance at an event with German politician Christine Anderson. Robinson clarified that she only spoke at an event alongside Anderson.
Robinson was additionally accused of publicly criticizing the mayor in a social media post where she questioned his attendance at church despite voting against prayer at council meetings.
Robinson explained in an email to The Epoch Times that the post was intended to highlight the mayor’s inconsistency.
“My social media post was not an attack; it was an expression of concern regarding the inconsistency between personal beliefs and public actions,” she said.
‘Breaches of the Code’
The commissioner’s report confirmed all complaints against Robinson, determining them to be “breaches of the Code.”
It recommended a 90-day pay suspension, noted as “the most severe sanction which may be imposed by a council under the Municipal Act.”
The report acknowledged Robinson’s request for a judicial review of her previous sanctions.
Robinson mentioned in a phone interview that there was an Integrity Commissioner report filed against her, but it was not investigated due to allegations of being retaliatory.
Robinson expressed disappointment at the system targeting those who “dare to speak the truth.”
“They’re doing everything they can to kick me out of council, basically,” she told The Epoch Times.
The integrity commissioner assured in the report that the decision was impartial and independent.
“As a precautionary measure, key steps in the investigation, including the drafting of the findings set out in this report, were assigned to an experienced municipal expert with no prior engagement in matters involving Councillor Robinson,” the report mentioned.
In an email to The Epoch Times, the integrity commissioner stated that “the report speaks for itself.”
Second Sanction
Robinson’s second sanction in October 2023 involved statements made to a crowd at a May 15, 2023, meeting of the Durham District School Board regarding motions she intended to bring to council.
Outside the meeting, Robinson shared the wording of the proposed motions with the crowd.
The motions included banning drag shows and Pride parades where children could be present, restricting flags in public areas, and altering the universal changing room policy at the Chestnut Hill Developments Recreation Complex in Pickering to allow non-members to use gendered change rooms.
At that time, complaints were made by other councillors and a Durham District School Board trustee about Robinson’s conduct promoting “homophobia and transphobia,” leading to an integrity commissioner investigation.
The subsequent report indicated that Robinson had promoted homophobic and transphobic attitudes, in violation of Ontario’s Human Rights Code.
Robinson refuted the findings in the report.
Regarding her motion for an age restriction on drag shows, Robinson clarified that claims against her were unfounded.
First Sanction
In her first sanctioning in September 2023, Robinson was reprimanded for a Facebook post naming residents who had attended a city committee meeting about her property application.
The post was seen as inciting supporters to attack these residents on social media, as stated in the integrity commissioner’s report.
Robinson argued that her post did not link the individuals to the denial of her application.
“No one knows whether any of these men actually want to complain because, for all we know, the complaints are people using the code of conduct to object to my political opinions and suppress my freedom of speech,” she added.
At that meeting, council voted to suspend Robinson’s pay for 30 days.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
