After nearly five months of silence and stonewalling by the mayor and Council, an article, “Mayor says there’s no need for another framed charter in town hall”, by Noel Edey of Cochrane Now finally succeeded in getting the mayor to respond. Disappointingly, various other avenues had failed in eliciting a response, namely, email queries, a request to appear before Council that was denied, hoping that one of the councillors would bring forward a notice of motion, and, finally, a protest at a Council Meeting, as occurred on Monday, September 12th.
The effort by Deborah Murphy to appear before Council to get an answer from the Mayor and Council illustrates how that avenue to engage with our Town Council can be thwarted by the Town’s Administration acting as a gatekeeper. On July 4, 2022, Deborah Murphy contacted Jaylene Knight, Manager, Legislative Services, asking to come before the Mayor and Council at their last meeting on July 11, 2022, before the summer break. Deborah indicated that it would only be for one minute to ask the Mayor and Council a question. When asked as to what the question would be, Deborah replied she would first ask if they were ashamed of the Charter and if they answered no, she would follow up with, ‘then why have you not hung the Charter?’ Ms. Knight said that she would get back to Deborah about her request to appear before Council. Four days later Ms. Knight got back to Deborah, apologized for taking so long as she had to look into the policies and bylaws, according to which she claimed that Deborah’s request “did not meet the criteria for delegations”, thereby, blocking another avenue of getting a response from the Mayor and Council.
Contacted by Noel Edey in response to an article he was putting together on the protest that took place on September 12th, Mayor Genung could no longer say, as he had indicated way back in May, that ‘he hasn’t decided where the framed charter of rights will be displayed’. However, as the framed Charter was not presented as a gift to the mayor on April 27th, but, rather, as a gift to the Town of Cochrane, it was deemed important that the entire Town Council weigh in on this matter. Accordingly, the following email, “Framed Charter Gifted to the Town”, was sent to the mayor and entire Council on September 19, 2022:
The stonewalling that has occurred over the last 4-5 months in response to the questions I raised as to the status of the framed Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was gifted to the town, has been very disconcerting and, frankly, disrespectful; tantamount, in my view, to passive aggressive behaviour.
After nearly five months of silence, an article being prepared by Noel Edey of Cochrane Now finally succeeded in getting the mayor to respond, when, disappointingly, various other avenues had failed in eliciting a response, namely, email queries, a request to appear before Council that was denied, hoping that one of the councillors would bring forward a notice of motion, and, finally, a protest at a Council Meeting, as occurred on Monday. Contacted by Noel Edey in response to an article he was putting together on the protest that took place on Monday, the mayor could no longer say as he had indicated way back in May that ‘he hasn’t decided where the framed charter of rights will be displayed’.
After all the elapsed time of refusing to answer my queries as to the status of the framed gift of the Charter to the town, for the mayor to say in one breath that he takes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms “very seriously” and, in the next breath, say that he rejects putting it on the wall of the Council Chambers, where decisions are made by the entire Council, because there “just so happens” to be a copy hung on the wall in the Town’s administrative offices “in a very prominent spot in our public facility” (in fact, behind locked doors), frankly stretches credibility. More than one copy of the Charter in the Ranche House is one too many according to Mayor Genung.
Nonetheless, I appreciate that Noel Edey’s article in Cochrane Now was able to finally elicit a response from the mayor and break the silence. This stonewalling had gone on for far too long.
When Deborah and I presented the framed Charter in April, we made it very clear that it was not a gift to the mayor, but, rather, a gift to the town, and he accepted it graciously with a big smile. As such, the decision as to the placement of the Charter gifted to the town does not rest solely with the mayor, but the entire Council. Accordingly, having now heard from the mayor, I would like to hear back from each councillor with respect to the following question:
Do you reject placing the framed Charter that was gifted to the Town (not the mayor) in the Council Chambers? Yes or No?
Given my disappointing past experience with your unwillingness to reply to my queries as to the status of the framed Charter, if I do not receive a reply to my query above by end of day on Friday, September 23rd, I will take a non-response to my query to be a “Yes”, namely, a rejection of placing our gifted framed Charter on the wall of the Council Chambers.
I look forward to your replies.
It was satisfying that all six of the councillors replied to my query within a week, and, especially, that five of them, namely, Councillors Wilson, Fedeyko, Reed, McFadden, and Nagel were okay with the gifted framed Charter of Rights and Freedoms being posted in the Council Chambers. Councillor Patrick Wilson was the first to respond on the same day, September 19th, that I sent out my email, expressing appreciation for the “thoughtful gift to the town” and indicating that while he “would prefer to see it hung in council chambers”, he would “defer to the wisdom of the group on this matter”. He also indicated that after reflection, he didn’t “see the utility in making this item a Notice of Motion”.
Councillor Marni Fedeyko was the next to respond shortly afterwards. While indicating that she had “no problem with the Charter in Chambers”, she also expressed having “a problem with…feeling bullied or threatened to hang it or else”. Not sure what she meant by feeling bullied or threatened, I replied as follows:
I am puzzled by your saying that you are feeling bullied or even threatened on this matter. Because after 5 months of being stonewalled from receiving an answer, we came out in protest to a town hall meeting, which, by the way, we have every right to do according to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As I clearly pointed out below, that was the last approach that was tried to get an answer with other approaches disappointingly having failed. There was no threat, nor “or else” as you say. All you as Council had to do is say yea or nay.
Alex Reed promptly responded that he agreed with Marni Fedeyko.
On September 23rd Morgan Nagel replied that he had sent an email to the Council “asking them if we can just hang it up”. Also on September 23rd, Tara McFadden advised that she would have “no problem to having a copy of the charter in chambers”, but wondered if for greatest public viewing, if that was our intent, it would best be displayed in the main floor lobby of the RancheHouse. The latter perspective needed to be corrected so I wrote back the following:
You suggest, however, as an alternative “for greatest public viewing” that it be hung in the main floor lobby of the administrative offices. Mayor Genung has already referenced a copy hung on the wall in the Town’s administrative offices “in a very prominent spot in our public facility” as being sufficient. However, on the day when Mayor Genung graciously accepted the framed Charter as a gift to the Town on April 27th, the point was for it to be hung in the Council Chambers, where decisions are made by the entire Council, and not for it to be posted at the Ranchehouse for public viewing, as you suggest.
For example, in my May 10, 2022 email, I wrote the following, “Hopefully, the Mayor and Council will respect our wishes to have the framed Charter, placed in the Council Chambers preferentially below the photo of Queen Elizabeth II our head of state, as a reminder that the actions taken, where our entire Town Council is collected together, should be guided by the Charter, the supreme law of the land”.
I would remind the Mayor and Council of your oath when you took office on October 25th, 2021, namely, ‘I ……… swear that I will diligently, faithfully and to the best of my ability, execute according to the law, the office of mayor (or councillor)’. Surely, that commitment to execute your duties ‘according to the law’, would apply to the supreme law of the land, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and a reminder of such a commitment, a framed copy of the Charter, would be best positioned in the Council Chambers, where our elected representatives make decisions on behalf of our community. According to the Guide to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, “All other laws must be consistent with the rules set out in it. If they are not, they may not be valid. Since the Charter is part of the Constitution, it is the most important law we have in Canada.”
Disappointingly, Councillor Susan Flowers joined the mayor in opposing the posting of the framed Charter in the Council Chambers. In her reply on September 19th, she indicated, “Our discussions were held in private. I have nothing to add to the string of emails. The bullying started during the COVID days. Neither that or putting conditions on a gift does anything to move us forward as we serve the Cochrane community”. As far as ‘bullying’, did she consider the bullying during the COVID days by the Senior Leadership Team of the Town’s Administration demanding that the town staff reveal their private medical information as far as their vaccination status at risk of being terminated for not doing so, and then require proof of vaccination to be employed or hired by the Town? That survey as far as vaccination status was also sent to the Town Council. Did she submit to such bullying?
As far as putting ‘conditions’ on the gifted framed Charter, on April 27th we presented it to Mayor Genung, as a gift to the Town of Cochrane, a framed copy of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedom, the supreme law of the land, “with the expressed expectation that it will be mounted in the Council Chambers”. The hope and expectation was that the Mayor and Council would agree to do so and not stonewall in giving an answer yes or no as to that expectation.
Having overall received that encouraging response to my September 19th query with five of the seven Town Council members being supportive, on September 29th, I sent the following email to the Mayor and Council:
The Mayor finally had made his position known on this matter known through an article, “Mayor says there’s no need for another framed charter in town hall”, published on September 15 by Noel Edey with Cochrane Now.
I appreciate that the remainder of Town Council have subsequently made their view known on this matter by replying to my query (below) sent out on September 19. I am especially pleased to learn that a majority of the Town Council members, namely, councillors Wilson, Fedeyko, Reid (correction: Reed), McFadden, and Nagel are okay with posting the gifted framed copy of the Charter in the Council Chambers.
I note that the next Regular Town Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 11. Noting that your next Regular Council Meeting takes place a day after Thanksgiving, I wait with thankful anticipation to finally see the gifted framed copy of the Charter mounted on the wall of the Council Chambers, thereby respecting the wishes of the majority of Town Council.
After nearly five months from the time that the framed Charter was gifted to the Town of Cochrane, I look forward with great anticipation to finally seeing the Charter on the wall of the Council Chambers by October 11th, a day after Thanksgiving!