City councillor Brian Skakun and the City of Prince George will be before the B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday to determine if, and when, city council can hold a censure hearing against Skakun.
In August, Skakun filed a petition seeking an injunction from the Supreme Court to prevent council from holding a censure hearing against him until the appeal of his conviction under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act is resolved. According to court documents filed in the case, Skakun's petition will be heard on Tuesday and is expected to take two days.
Skakun declined to comment on the issue, but his lawyer Jon Duncan said the timing of the hearing is suspect.
"The city demanded we do it now. We would have done it after the election," Duncan said.
The current city council has two regularly-scheduled meetings - Oct. 17 and Nov. 7 - prior to the Nov. 19 municipal election. Depending on the result of Skakun's petition, it may be possible for city council to schedule a censure hearing before election day.
City communications manager Mike Davis said the city is not commenting on the petition while it is still before the courts.
City council moved to proceed with a censure in July, but delayed the hearing until the B.C. Supreme Court rules on the injunction petition.
Under a censure, council has the authority to remove Skakun from committees, boards, municipal commissions and the rotating acting mayor and chairperson of the committee of the whole list. In addition, council could restrict his travel on council business to municipal events only.
New details emerge
The call for a censure hearing came as the result of Skakun's May 24 conviction under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for releasing the Heller Report - a confidential city human resources report detailing alleged harassment of three city employees working at the RCMP detachment - to the CBC in 2008.
In an affidavit filed with the court, one of the complainants identified in the Heller Report, Linda Thompson, provided copies of correspondence sent to her by the city and e-mails obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
Thompson was the executive assistant to former Prince George RCMP Supt. Dahl Chambers in 2006 and 2007 when the alleged harassment occurred. According to her affidavit, she and co-worker Sheri McLean-Smith complained to City of Prince George administrative services director Rob Whitwham about the conduct of Chambers and assistant manager of police support services Ann Bailey - who was the common-law spouse of Chambers.
In October and November, 2007 Thompson and McLean-Smith went on short-term disability because "the situation in the detachment became unbearable and I felt my position was in jeopardy for reporting bad behaviour," Thompson said in her affidavit.
In a letter dated April 21, 2008 city corporate services director Kathleen Soltis offered Thompson $30,000 in severance to leave her position at the RCMP detachment. Thompson was also offered the opportunity to return to work or take a different position at the city - although no position was available at the time.
However, in an e-mail dated April 18, 2008 to Soltis, city director of administrative services Rob Whitwham made it clear that he did not want Thompson or McLean-Smith back at work.
"I'm concerned about the potential for them [Thompson and McLean-Smith] to drag this out. At the same time, I don't want to do something that might bias them toward the option we don't want (i.e. going back to their old jobs,)" Whitwham wrote to Soltis. "On the subject of them dragging this out, what happens if they come in next week with new notes from their doctors that extend their stress leave? [Redacted] was certainly very stressed."
Duncan said many of these details were not allowed to be presented during Skakun's trial, so council would not have the whole facts in front of them if they proceed with a censure hearing.
"The judge finding that he wasn't a whistleblower wasn't fair, without reviewing this information," Duncan said. "They're not going to understand why Mr. Skakun did what he did by just looking at Judge Ball's judgment. None of this material was before them."
Council should hear the rest of the story, which is also the subject of Skakun's appeal of Judge Ball's ruling, before deciding if Skakun deserves to be censured.
"If they want to censure Brian, go ahead, but the rest of the public won't agree with them," Duncan said.
An internal RCMP investigation confirmed some of the allegations of harassment and Chambers was later forced to write letters of apology to Thompson and McLean-Smith. The Heller Report cleared Bailey of any wrongdoing, but identified her and Chamber's relationship as a conflict of interest.
