B.C. municipality says councillor is not an employee after he was accused of inappropriate advances
Posted November 22, 2023 4:08 pm.
Last Updated November 22, 2023 4:11 pm.
A woman in B.C. is seeking damages from a local city hall through the BC Human Rights Tribunal after she accused a sitting city councillor of inappropriate advances.
According to tribunal documents, the woman — a city employee — complained in 2019 that the councillor engaged in several instances of inappropriate behaviour. The documents say these include an instance in an elevator when he either touched or came uncomfortably close to her.
Due to a publication ban, the name of the city councillor and municipality have not been released.
The tribunal documents show the city acknowledges the basic facts of the complaint did in fact happen, and then forbade the councillor from interacting with her.
But now it’s arguing it’s not liable for the councillor’s behaviour because technically, he was elected by the public and did not work for the city.
The woman’s lawyer, Clea Parfitt, says that’s a flawed argument.
“Not only is it the administrator’s responsibility, but it’s also city council as a whole, including the mayor’s responsibility to ensure that no one in its membership is imposing themselves improperly in a sexually harassing way on staff,” she told CityNews.
Parfitt says that as the accused man did take responsibility at the time, the administrative wings of local government can’t be separated from their political leaders.
“How do municipal governments manage their elected officials to make sure that they too are compliant with the Human Rights Code. Who has that responsibility and how should that responsibility be carried out?” she asked.
“Saying city administrators don’t control the city councillors — I have a different view, which is that indeed they did control some aspects of his access to … the city hall facility,” she added.
Political scientist Stewart Prest says the tribunal case is asking an interesting question — how much control does a city hall have over a municipal politician?
“In city councils, at times you have seen councils act to censure one another, even to pass motions holding individual members to account,” he said.
But Prest says in cases like this, the tribunal itself can be an important accountability tool.
A date for the final hearing has not yet been set.
