SANCTIONING SPEECH
MUNICIPAL COUNCILS OVERRIDE DEMOCRACY BY USING CODES OF CONDUCT
Nearly three years ago, many Canadians were horrified to learn of the apparent discovery of a “mass grave” containing 215 children’s bodies outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The news prompted protesters to topple statues of Sir John A. Macdonald and Queen Victoria. Churches burned to the ground. Cities cancelled Canada Day celebrations so that people could mourn. The Maple Leaf was lowered to half-mast in Ottawa and Parliament declared Sept. 30 the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Yet, a municipal councillor in Prince Edward Island is now facing sanctions and possible removal from council for trying to set the record straight.
As Terry Glavin laid out in the National Post in 2022, aspects of the residential school system were shameful, but reports of “mass graves” printed in publications like the New York Times were not backed up. Glavin traced the frenzy to a news release from Chief Rosanne Casimir that said 215 children’s bodies had been located using ground-penetrating radar. It’s more likely they were lying in unmarked graves: ground-penetrating radar is inexact, and death by disease was a tragic but frequent fate during much of the school’s century of operation. There is to this day scant evidence for the image many Canadians had in their minds of murderous nuns and priests tossing bodies in a mass grave.
John Robertson, a municipal councillor in Murray Harbour, P.E.I. (pop. 282), wanted to set the record straight. On the eve of the third National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2023, he changed the plastic letters on the sign outside his home to spell out a provocative message: “Truth: Mass grave hoax. Reconciliation: Redeem Sir John A’s integrity.”
Robertson wanted to start a conversation about what he viewed as a media-perpetrated hoax. Did he ever. The sign prompted dozens of emails and phone calls to the village from angry residents accusing him of residential school denialism. He also received messages of support. But rather than recognizing Robertson’s constitutional right protected by Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, his fellow councillors decided to burn him at the proverbial stake.
On Oct. 4, Robertson was informed of an official complaint by three fellow councillors under the village code of conduct. The council hired a former RCMP officer to investigate the sign. She found that he had breached the code’s provisions against “unethical behaviour,” “inspiring public trust and confidence” and “discrimination, intimidation and harassment.” Village council voted to impose a maximum penalty: a $500 fine, a six-month suspension and a forced apology. The provincial minister in charge demanded he comply or resign. When Robertson refused to do either, the minister launched proceedings that could lead to his removal from village council.
That’s when my organization, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF), stepped in to provide Robertson with pro bono counsel to challenge the sanctions in court. The CCF is concerned code of conduct bylaws — rules meant to deter bad behaviour like conflicts of interest and abuse of staff — are increasingly being weaponized to silence constitutionally protected speech.
Last year, a municipal councillor in Pickering, Ont., was punished for comments on drag queen story hour in public libraries and mixedgender change rooms. In January, a Kelowna, B.C., city councillor was threatened with sanctions for writing “NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh won’t break up with his ‘manfriend’ Justin.”
Also last year, a London, Ont., councillor was investigated for sharing an article from CNN that advocated drug addicts be arrested if they don’t accept drug counselling and free shelter. No sooner had she been cleared of that wrong-think than she was investigated and sanctioned for posting a photo of apparently homeless people on X with the statement: “NOW let’s address the problem. The needles, the feces, the garbage, the encampments, the open drug use, the erratic and violent behaviour, the CRIME, the VANDALISM … the lack of safety.”
It’s not just right-leaning politicians being punished. In 2021, a Fort Frances, Ont., town councillor proposed to rename the town’s Colonization Road as a reconciliation initiative, prompting an anonymous letter to the editor criticizing the plan in the local newspaper. He alleged that the writer was a “white senior citizen,” and for this, an integrity commissioner recommended sanctions against him. Last year, Ottawa school board trustee Nili Kaplan-myrth was disciplined for petty speech crimes including calling the code of conduct’s enforcement a “bloody waste of money, time and energy.”
In P.E.I., Robertson’s sanctions are especially egregious. He expressed an opinion on a matter of public interest and did so on his private property. There’s no doubt his comments were controversial. But we wouldn’t need constitutional protection for expression if everyone agreed.
The whole point of free speech is that today’s controversial speech is sometimes proven correct tomorrow, and the only way to get to the truth is to let people speak their minds. If voters are offended by Robertson’s speech, they have every right to vote for a different candidate in the next election. But Murray Harbour’s council and the minister have no right to censor him. This must stop.
THE ONLY WAY TO GET TO THE TRUTH IS TO LET PEOPLE SPEAK THEIR MINDS.