FORT FRANCES – After an anonymous complaint against Fort Frances Mayor June Caul was brought to the municipal council back in February, the Fort Frances council perform their due diligence to ensure that the Municipal Act was upheld.
In Heayn’s report, Caul violated leaking confidential information to the public without the expressed consent of her council and staff. The document, which was presented to a resident who in turn made it public, was a document about the sale of Gowlings LTD.
In January 2022, Caul publicly apologized to council and her continuants after the last time she was found guilty of violating the Municipal Acts Code of Conduct about the same issue. At that time, council decided her public apology was excepted; however, to the complaint, it “was characterized as a“relatively ‘light’ approach to this misconduct,” as stated by Heayn.
Therefore, a fifth integrity commission began against Caul.
During the proceeding, Heayn found Caul was in violation, once again, of the council’s code of conduct about the leaking of confidential documents.
The most serious allegation against Caul is her breach of trust under the criminal code of Canada. Caul could see five years in prison if she meets five elements outlined by the Supreme Court.
These elements are:
- The accused was an official
- The accused was acting in connection with the duties of his or her office;
- The accused breached the standard of responsibility and conduct demanded of him or her by the nature of the office;
- The conduct of the accused represented a serious and marked departure from the standards expected of an individual in the accused’s position of public trust; and
- The accused acted with the intention to use his or her public office for a purpose other than the public good, for example, for a dishonest, partial, corrupt, or oppressive purpose.
Out of the five elements, Caul violated four.
Heayn found that Caul was not in violation of acting with the intention of disservice to the town, but acting in a manner she found was for the public good.
“I do not believe that Mayor Caul released this document to harm the municipality but was hoping to clear up some misconceptions that became the subject of many articles in the local newspaper. In Mayor Caul’s words: the member of the public “continued the plight relentlessly, I finally gave the person a copy of the 2019 draft investigation report from Gowling WLG (which was indeed useless to our cause) to show him the ad hoc committee had felt there was no further reason to investigate”,” stated Heayn.
At the Special Council Meeting on Aug. 18, Caul took the stand with a prepared statement in response to the accusations.
Caul said, “This is the fifth integrity commissioner complaint filed against me in the last year. Along with these I’ve been threatened with legal action four or five different times. Had my emails searched and sequestered, and now just lately my town cell phone scoured for text messages regarding what I think might be possible texts to and received from Mr. Kirchner. For the record, since last fall when I apologized the first time, I have not been in contact with Mr. Kirchner. I have not even seen his emails that have been sent to myself and council members and regarding this leak, I have not been in any way involved with this subject of concern. At the time, council had made it obvious that they were not going to pursue any further investigation of the issues that Mr. Kirchner has been concerned with. As any good councillor should I did not continue any further actions on the subject to respect and follow what the majority of council had decided to do. I have met each challenge with grace, respect and integrity. I have repeatedly apologized without question and complaint. I have met all requests and demands, complaints and legal threats as asked and yet the person or persons involved have still not expected and dropped all the cases expressly the one involving today. They have made me feel like I am in my very own personal kangaroo court proceeding. I don’t know if I am being continually attacked because I am a woman, a senior, because I am the least educated on this council, or because I am a disrespectful schoolmarm as I have been referred to. But I remain very proud of what I’ve accomplished being part of these last four years on this Fort Frances town council.”
Caul, then, promptly excused herself from the rest of the proceeding, citing that she understood what was outlined in Heayn’s investigation.
At the end of the proceeding, the council decided the fate of Caul by Heayn’s recommendations.
“It is my recommendation that Council reviews this complaint and the results of my investigation and consider if they wish to hand down any further punishment after reading the complaint and my investigation. This is a chance for Council to give a sober second thought to the mayor’s action and provide either further punishment or file this report as received,” stated Heayn.
In a vote of seven to two, the Council receive the report from the Integrity Commission and that the mayor must apologize to staff and contractors who are affected by the mayor’s actions.
