Records relating to Sarnia council's diversity, equity and inclusion training session held last November have been disclosed publicly and are being presented Monday.
Toronto law firm Aird and Berlis has compiled a redacted report after advising against releasing the records -- citing concerns over the possible release of personal information -- during a closed meeting in March.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said the more information disclosed in regard to the meeting, the better it is for the public.
"I welcome that council gave direction to review the release of information," said Bradley. "I believe we should waive our privilege and release every bit of information that we possibly can to the public and I think it's important that the public trust be there that when councillors are meeting in camera, that they are being responsible, they are taking actions, and if they're not then the code of conduct should apply."
The records include a letter from the KOJO Institute's Director of Client Services Craig Peters to Sarnia's Chief Administrative Officer Chris Carter.
"After careful consideration following the events that occurred in the council training on November 15, 2021, KOJO Institute has elected to withdraw our proposal to train city management and the police services board," Peters said in the letter. "The undisrupted, uncorrected, and unabated hostility demonstrated by some members of council toward our Principal Consultant Kike Ojo-Thompson was wholly inappropriate. To this end, multiple members of council have reached out to KOJO Institute independently to apologize and express regret for the behaviour of their colleagues, thank KOJO Institute for the learning opportunity, and provide additional information pertaining to ongoing discussions about the training within council. Unfortunately, in view of all of these factors, we believe the environment is unsafe for KOJO Institute and Ms. Ojo-Thompson to provide the upcoming training sessions. We will not be countersigning the other agreements."
A transcription of the discussion was not included in the records.
"There are no recordings from the meeting and it really was a technical issue, as I understand it, when we switched over to ZOOM," said Mayor Bradley. "I had brought a motion to council years ago that all of our meetings be recorded in camera for investigations. However, when they moved the technology over to ZOOM they couldn't do it at that time. So, that will return once we're through the ZOOM era. But, that was only for investigations and that would have fitted particularly in this situation."
The mayor's role during the closed meeting has been questioned publicly and Bradley admits he would have handled some things differently.
"Well, first of all, I wasn't chairing the meeting, it was turned over to the facilitator, and in hindsight I wish I'd met with the facilitator to find out exactly what approach they took on dealing with the individuals who were participating. I'll take any responsibility in that area. The reality is, every member of council was equal in that meeting and could have spoken up and some of the critics of myself and my role are the very ones that remained silent during the discussion."
Integrity commissioner Paul Watson told Sarnia News Today he has received two complaints with respect to the matter.
Information on the complainant or the defendant(s) was not disclosed.
The records released from the meeting can be viewed here.