In the seemingly never-ending game of dominoes between Stratford city hall and Get Concerned Stratford (GCS), the latter is gearing up to take on the former in court.
Mike Sullivan and Sharon Collingwood spoke on behalf of GCS about the pending legal fight over the appeal of a ban against three citizens – Sullivan being one of them – the city handed down last spring. The group has taken their case to the Ontario Ombudsman in an attempt to get some kind of explanation on why the city was allowed to deny their appeal of the ban.
“We are going through the ombudsman, and until I hear back from them that they were unsuccessful in appealing, I won’t be filing any legal action against the (respectful workplace) policy,” Sullivan said. “It doesn’t mean I’m not going to file legal action of defamation, because there was certainly a fair bit of that going on.”
Sullivan went on to clarify that what he and the rest of GCS are doing with their legal challenge is saying that the city’s recently re-drafted respectful workplace policy is unconstitutional. Asked if the re-drafting of the policy – now termed Stratford’s Respectful Conduct Statement – will complicate things due to its rewording, Sullivan said the effect of the policy hasn’t changed.
“You can still be banned for words they don’t like, not for actions they don’t like,” he said. “The law is very clear and has been settled many times that, short of physical altercations, you can’t be banned from a public space when that use of the public space is to speak to politicians.”
Should their legal challenge come up short with the ombudsman, Sullivan and Collingwood acknowledged the next step is taking the city to court.
“It’s our hope that the Ombudsman will say, ‘you can’t have a policy that does this, and here is what you did and what you did was not legal’,” he said. “So if there’s a policy that you think allows you to act this way towards a citizen, then redo your policy because you can’t do that. If the Ombudsman is not capable or is unable to get Stratford to agree, then my option is to go to the courts in Ontario and say ‘here’s a city that is acting ultra vires (beyond power)’. They can’t do what they want, what they have done. And my experience is the example of how they applied the policy – nobody objects to them having a policy that says you have to behave, but how they applied that policy is wrong on so many levels.”
Given how both sides have dug into their respective positions, an element of mistrust can be felt from GCS’s position: how can they question their elected representatives and those who work on behalf of the public without it being taken out of context. Collingwood pointed out that Get Concerned Stratford started out as an environmental advocacy group but now has to factor in the challenges that come in addressing the municipality’s actions.
“Politics gets in the way every time you want to do something, but I’ve got kids and I’m determined so I don’t think this is going to stop us from asking questions,” she said. “I don’t think it will lessen the appeal of going after answers because (city hall) has taught us how to approach it. Every time something like this happens, the next time we’re better at it. It’s become muscle memory.”
Given how the city’s lawyers are picking through his words, Sullivan said he’s been taking extra caution to choose what he says carefully since things escalated to this point.
“I have made deputations to the city since the banning and I am painfully aware of the threat that is there from the staff based on the words I use,” he said. “So I have to be extraordinarily careful that my words can’t be misinterpreted. And the new policy means I can’t be critical of politicians anymore because they are now captured by the policy and can’t be complained about. The new policy exempts the council from complaints from the citizens about their behaviour but it gives the council the ability to complain about citizens. It’s become a one-way street now.”
In an emailed statement responding to a request for comment for this story, Joan Thomson, the city’s chief administrative officer, said: “Thank you for reaching out, however it would not be appropriate for us to comment or speculate on potential litigation involving the City of Stratford. Any correspondence related to the city’s Respectful Workplace or Public Conduct Policy remains confidential to the involved parties.”
