Two Saint John councillors say they were stripped of their committee duties after showing support for striking city workers.
On Tuesday night, council voted to relieve Joanna Killen and Brent Harris of “all their council committee duties and their appointments by council to different bodies.”
The move comes as both councillors face code of conduct complaints by a fellow councillor, which are still under investigation.
“I felt like due process was not followed in this. We did not have a chance to even share our side, talk about anything,” Killen said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
“Pure shock,” added Harris. “In the end, they committed to saying we were guilty before we were innocent because there’s still an investigation ongoing.
Both councillors said they are being targeted over their support for CUPE Local 486, the union which represents the city’s striking inside workers.
Harris and Killen have been outspoken about the ongoing negotiations since the strike began on Sept. 12 and both recently visited the union’s strike headquarters.
“We had no clue when we walked into the union hall with MLA Kevin Arseneau a few weeks ago, just to hear the union’s side, that this was the path that we were now on,” said Harris.
“I wanted the opportunity to hear from the people that are the most affected, which are the workers. I can’t believe, in a democratic society, that that is offside,” added Killen.
Harris said councillors have an obligation under the province’s Municipalities Act to listen to citizens and bring up their concerns around the council table, which is what he feels he was doing in this case.
“There is some decorum around strikes and things like that, so it can get grey about when you’re crossing the line of what’s appropriate, but that’s also hard to see sometimes,” he said.
“I would also expect that if we did cross it, people would give us the benefit of the doubt.”
The two councillors received the complaints on Monday and have 10 days to respond to the third-party lawyer appointed to review the alleged code of conduct violations.
Meanwhile, Saint John’s mayor is defending council’s decision to discipline the two members.
Donna Reardon said the decision was made “in light of concerns Saint John City Council has in relation to the behaviour of two of its members and the risk posed to the local government as a result of their behaviour.”
Reardon said all elected members are bound by the code of conduct, which “outlines the values and behaviours to which all council members must adhere.”
The mayor said Harris and Killen will be relieved of their committee duties until the investigation is complete. It is unclear how long that may take.
Our newsroom requested a copy of the complaints from the city but did not immediately receive a response.
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