Yellowknife's options to discipline councillors too limited, says woman behind complaint

A Yellowknife resident who filed a complaint against a city councillor says she feels the city's disciplinary options for elected officials are too limited. 

Last month, Yellowknife city council voted to censure Coun. Cat McGurk, who borrowed and lost a member of the public's laptop and then tried to get the city and two contractors, through an invoice to the city, to reimburse them for it. 

"They didn't really seem to care too much — it was more of an empty gesture, " said Geraldine Maloney, the resident who filed the complaint. 

"Censure doesn't really mean anything."

Censure is essentially a public shaming, but it has no implication on the roles and responsibilities of the councillor.

Maloney said it was her partner who owned the laptop. She said she filed the complaint and that her partner doesn't want to be in the public eye and wasn't interested in speaking with CBC News. 

What disciplinary action was available?

Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty wrote in an email that council has two options for discipline: censure or removal of the member for one meeting. 

"Council chose to issue the censure in this case," she wrote.

"I can appreciate that some folks always want consequences above those two options when a council member breaches the code of conduct, however, in the Northwest Territories those are the two options and anything further would require a territorial legislative change."

That legislation that governs the city and every community in the N.W.T. is called the Cities, Towns and Villages Act.

It gives council the ability to create a code of ethics that councillors must uphold. If they don't, the only recourse is the options Alty outlined. 

"I'm just frustrated that they don't have a lot of options to hold them [accountable] other than like a public shaming and saying the word censure," Maloney said. 

CBC News reached out to Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Vince McKay about the legislation and Maloney's frustrations. 

Damien Healy, ministerial press secretary for McKay, wrote in an email that "at this time, we aren't considering any changes to this legislation."

Healy said there has not been a request from a municipality or the N.W.T. Association of Communities to change the legislation.

N.W.T. discipline 'minimal to the extreme'

John Mascarin is a municipal lawyer in Toronto and lead of the Aird & Berlis LLP municipal accountability team. 

He said his team looks after accountability measures in municipalities across Ontario of all sizes. This can be in the form of integrity commissioners, ombudsmen, closed meeting investigators and as lobbyist registrars. 

Mascarin said the use of censures "once upon a time may have had an effect on some politicians." 

"But you know, in this era that we're in now with the polarized, divisive political views, I don't know that it goes very far," he said. 

Mascarin said he can understand why a person who filed a complaint would be upset by this end result. 

"You can see why some people just don't want to go forward with it," he said

In Ontario, the legislation includes a reprimand — the same as a censure — or councillors' pay can be suspended for up to 90 days. Even those options are considered weak, Mascarin said.

Comparatively, Mascarin said the N.W.T.'s disciplinary options sound "minimal to the extreme."

Alberta can recall a councillor; Iqaluit has multiple disciplinary options 

But what other options are out there?

Alberta has passed legislation that allows for a councillor to be recalled if someone feels that councillor isn't upholding their duties.

The person taking issue with the councillor would contact the chief administrative officer on their plans to start a recall petition.

They'd then need to gather signatures from eligible voters that represent 40 per cent of the population of the municipality or ward within 60 days.

"If the petition is successful, at the next municipal council meeting, the chief administrative officer would make a declaration of the successful recall petition, and the official would be removed," the legislation explainer reads. 

Iqaluit has a Councillor Code of Conduct bylaw that gives council numerous disciplinary options.

This includes ordering a council member to personally apologize to the person affected by the code violation or to get counselling. Council can also limit the councillor's access to city hall and other facilities, and can remove them from their role as deputy mayor or seat on a committee.

When asked what Maloney would like to see happen, she said requiring a councillor to take training would be beneficial to educate the councillor. Iqaluit can also order this. 

Mascarin said he's had situations where councils will choose to not discipline a fellow member to avoid worsening their work relationship. 

"Many, many councils, instead of being enforcers, have become enablers and that has become incredibly disappointing," he said. 

Nearly all Yellowknife councillors did vote in favour of the limited discipline measures after analyzing the integrity commissioner's report.

CBC News reached out to McGurk about Maloney's complaints. McGurk said they have taken accountability for their actions.

In an earlier statement to CBC, McGurk said they have since paid the person $750 for the missing laptop.