An apology was made by Niagara Regional Chair Alan Caslin during a lengthy special session of Regional Council to address an Ontario Ombudsman's report.
"I'd like to apologize whole-heartedly and unreservedly to Bill Sawchuk and Preston Haskell for the actions taken by the Niagara Region on December 7th, 2017. Both Niagara Region staff and council take this situation very seriously. We strongly believe the freedom of the press plays an integral role in Canadian democracy."
During the December council meeting St. Catharines Standard reporter Bill Sawchuk and citizen blogger Preston Haskell were accused of surreptitiously recording a closed door portion of the meeting. In the ensuing chaos, equipment belonging to both men was illegally seized and the pair were escorted out of the building. In his report, Paul Dube calls the actions taken by Regional officials that night 'unreasonable, unjust, wrong and contrary to law.'
The Ombudsman's report went on to suggest several recommendations for council and staff including the public apology issued last night.
Dube also noted that despite the fact the Regional Chair pledged full co-operation with the investigation, external counsel attempted to influence the investigative process and dictate the content of the report.
When Councillor Walter Sendzik questioned why this specific external legal counsel was chosen to deal with the Ombudsman on behalf of the region, CAO Carmen D'Angelo said, "I asked some colleagues and this firm was recommended to me because it had dealt with the Ombudsman on other matters with other municipalities, and so I chose them."
Sendzik then called into question the counsel's experience with municipal law. "By her CV we don't seem to have gotten a very good lawyer who actually understands municipal law like this."
In response to his statement, D'Angelo asked for caution about disparaging comments made about identifiable individuals.
Later in the meeting, councillor Dave Augustyn asked a similar question. "I understand we were given notice on January 4th that we hired this external legal. When was it that the region actually hired this lawyer with no municipal experience?"
D'Angelo once again said he could not comment on the reputation of the legal firm in an open session. Augustyn rephrased his question but staff could not provide a date.
Toward the end of the meeting, council went behind closed doors to discuss a letter from legal counsel about the allegations that the lawyer was adversarial when dealing with the Ombudsman.
Several councillors also asked how much it cost to hire the external counsel, but staff could not provide an answer at the time.
Another issue highlighted during last night's meeting was the lack of an official response from Niagara Regional council to the draft report. When Paul Dube joined CKTB to discuss his report, he called the silence from council 'exceptional.'
Last night council was told there was not a regular meeting scheduled between the time the draft report was received and the deadline for a response, and so a special session would be required. A special session was not called within the time frame. Councillors were however able to pick up an individual copy of the report and send their thoughts along to external counsel who would put together a report for the Ombudsman.
Officials for the region say they have already started to implement changes and will be reporting to the Ombudsman on a regular basis until recommendations are met.
At the end of the special session council approved a motion to receive the Ombudsman's report, direct the Chair and CAO to issue a full and frank written apology, implement several recommendations from Dube's report, and provide regular updates to the Ombudsman's office about those recommendations.