No charges against councillor
SASKATOON — Coun. Pat Lorje said she is “very gratified” she will not face charges for sending a confidential council document to a member of the public.
“I have been judged not by my peers — who may have an in-house political agenda to discredit me — but rather by people whose job it is to interpret the law,” she said.
In June, Lorje emailed a private report about riverbank slumping in Nutana to former justice minister Eric Cline, who owns a home in the area. An independent investigator found she had violated the municipal code of conduct in doing so, and councillors voted to restrict Lorje’s access to confidential documents. The city clerk then turned the matter over to police because, under the provincial Cities Act, elected officials must “keep in confidence matters discussed in private at a council or council committee meeting.”
The Regina Police Service concluded an investigation in December and passed its findings on to the Ministry of Justice, which chose not to press charges.
“We looked at the evidence and determined there was no reasonable likelihood of a conviction,” ministry spokesperson Jordan Jackle said. “For us, the matter is closed.”
Mayor Don Atchison on Thursday thanked the Regina police for their independent investigation.
“What they determined in Regina, I guess, is what we will live with,” he said.
No one has been found guilty of breaching the Cities Act since it came into effect in 2002. If Lorje had been charged and found guilty, she could have faced up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
With the threat of prosecution no longer hanging over her head, Lorje said she will increase her efforts to fight “secrecy” at city hall.
“Transparency has become rather clouded over the years, and I believe the public has the right to know more about what’s going on,” she said.
“I will be asking questions about why certain items are in-camera. I’m not going to say any more at this point.”
A report from city administrators before council’s executive committee on Monday outlines some recommendations to increase public transparency at city hall.
It recommends that the city clerk’s office have a more rigorous process for determining which matters are considered behind closed doors.
It also recommends that in-camera agendas be included on public agendas so that matters deemed best discussed in public can be pulled off the private agenda and talked about in a public forum. Presently, in-camera agendas are not discussed at public meetings.
Lorje’s access to private documents was restricted after a unanimous vote by her colleagues last fall. The restrictions will remain in place until November.