#metoo
By John Mutton      
  As we see the #metoo campaign hitting elected officials across Canada and the USA in droves I decided to talk to some folks and delve into possible prevention vs only having reactive measures to deal with accusations both real and fictitious such as the Patrick Brown accusations that he has cleared his name on.

So l looked at some Code of Ethic policies for the municipal elected officials and while some are very strong with items pertaining to "gifts" and "conflicts of pecuniary interest", they were all virtually silent on Human Rights and issues of racial, gender or sexual harassment. While our Ontario Human Rights Act does cover this off, I believe we can go further.

What I am going to propose is a complete overhaul of the Code of Ethics polices and engage a process that not only outlines that racial, gender specific or sexual harassment is not tolerated by anyone including elected officials, but to put in a formal process that will immediately outline the steps if a complaint is launched. This way we have clarity around the victims rights and the path and process that will be automatically followed for anyone accused of a violation.

My goal is to establish a working group of industry experts to draft the gold standard, best practice policy that all other regions and municipalities will follow. One thing we have seen is that without a standardized process, the victims remain afraid to come forward for fear of reprisal.

Not many know this and I won't go into it in this column, but I speak on this issue from deep knowledge. Yes I was a #metoo that used the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to deal with a sexual harassment by a former employer on me. Yes, bodybuilder and competitive fighter me was serially harassed and I would not wish this on anyone. I for one thank the Ontario Human Rights tribunal for helping me cope being a victim. In fact, to this day, I believe I am one of the only men that has brought their complaint to the tribunal and been made an award against a female employer at the time.

The time for a clear policy and complaint mechanisms is now, our staff and residents deserve it.
Till next week