A Quinte West Councillor will lose one week’s pay and must attend further sensitivity training following an Integrity Commissioner’s report into an incident this past summer.
The comments by Councillor Fred Kuypers were directed to the Black owners of the BBQ food truck JERKebago, Joshua Blake and Saiqa Sheikh, during a virtual council meeting in June, during a discussion on neighbours’ complaints about smoke and garbage from the food truck operation in Carrying Place.
In his report, Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming had made it clear that Kuypers’ comments were discriminatory and that during an interview about the incident, Kuypers didn’t seem to understand that.
Despite issuing an apology shortly after the incident and taking sensitivity training, along with the rest of council, Kuypers will have to undertake more sessions and take the one-week pay cut, worth about $495.
There was not much discussion on the case prior to council confirming Fleming’s decision, other than a few questions about the investigation process, given that there have been very few such incidents in Quinte West.
Kuypers, naturally, declared a conflict of interest and did not take part in the discussion, but later in the meeting did say that he “hopes the remuneration that is being withheld goes to the foodbank”.
Mayor Jim Harrison tells Quinte News that the city will follow the legal process to allocate those funds as they should be.
Following the meeting Mayor Jim Harrison issued the following statement to media:
“I am pleased that Council voted to accept the Integrity Commissioner’s recommendations for Councillor Kuypers. This is our first experience working with Mr. Fleming, and I am satisfied with the outcome.
Councillor Kuypers was elected by the people of Trenton Ward to represent them. It is our responsibility to make sure he has the tools he needs to be an effective and inclusive representative of their interests.
It is my hope that with more training, Councillor Kuypers will be able to understand and accept the hurt that was caused by his words. As was mentioned by Mr. Fleming in his report, words have power, especially from elected officials.”
