London councillor should have pay suspended for 30 days for bullying city staffer: Integrity commissioner

An independent oversight body for the City of London says an east-end councillor's pay should be suspended for one month after an investigation found that she harassed and bullied a high-ranking city staffer responsible for addressing homelessness.

The integrity commissioner received a complaint on May 30 alleging Coun. Susan Stevenson targeted Kevin Dickins, deputy city manager for social and health development at various council meetings and made a social media post that incited the public to target Dickins. 

However, Stevenson told CBC News that the report's findings and financial penalty are quite serious and imply that she shouldn't ask questions about issues that matter to her constituents. 

The complaint followed a post Stevenson made on April 29 on X, formerly Twitter, where she quoted two lines from a CTV News London article attributed to Dickins, while questioning the city's strategy to support and address homeless encampments, using block letters and emojis. 

After the incident, Dickins emailed Stevenson asking her refrain from using his name in her social media posts in such an inappropriate manner. 

"Hello councillor, can you kindly keep my name off your social media platforms. I'm a member of your staff team. It's not appropriate or welcomed," Dickins wrote in an email. 

"I do ask that as someone who is on the same team as I am refrain from using it in such an inappropriate manner and to position me in such a way personally. You'll notice staff do not do this to any member of council.  "

Dickins declined to comment on the matter when reached by CBC News on Friday.  

Stevenson responded to Dickins's email by saying she just copied and pasted quotes from the article and intended no harm or disrespect toward him. But shortly after the post was made, graffiti was found on a pole downtown that blamed Dickins for hundreds of homeless deaths. 

This isn't the first time that Stevenson, a frequent and vocal critic of the city's homelessness response and encampment strategy, has come under fire for her social media posts. In December 2023, she was reprimanded by councillors after an integrity commissioner report found she breached council's code of conduct.

After this reprimanding, the report said the integrity commission cautioned Stevenson to tone down her "provocative" posts but said that advice has generally been disregarded.  

In July, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, a police oversight group, also reprimanded Stevenson for her "denigrating use of language" in social media posts about homelessness and addiction.

The report said Stevenson has regularly "doubled-down" when given an opportunity to review its findings and defended her behaviour as necessary to carry out her duties. It said she's shown herself to be unapologetic and defiant and that training won't bring about meaningful change in her behaviour. 

Why is it dangerous to ask questions? says councillor 

The report also pointed to five different council committee meetings where it found evidence of the "badgering nature" of Stevenson's questioning of staff and the "repetitive and antagonistic nature of her approach."

Stevenson told CBC News on Friday that the recommendation is quite alarming and set a bad precedent for elected officials wanting to ask important questions.

"Why is it so dangerous for me to ask questions, for the public to be informed and to question policies that our city is getting worse ...? In my ward, there's a ton of suffering for the unhoused and in the business area," she said in a phone interview. 

"For questions asked to be deemed as dangerous or bullying or harassment. I don't know where that leaves the public in terms of their representation if they're elected. Representatives cannot ask questions about policies that have a huge impact on their lives. That's very alarming in my opinion." 

Stevenson's ward represents London's Old East Village neighbourhood, which has seen an over-concentration of social services and homeless encampments. 

She believes a monetary penalty doesn't serve public interest and could deter others from running for council in the future, Stevenson said.  

"The citizens of London can never allow their elected officials to be silenced and in this case financially penalized for asking questions in response to legitimate concerns of the citizens," she said.

"This is much more than about just me. This is about the rights of citizens to have their concerns expressed through their elected representative. And that seems to be at risk here to a very serious degree."

Councillors will decide on Tuesday whether to revoke Stevenson's pay for the recommended 30-day period. If suspended, Stevenson can still attend meetings but not vote on any matters.