An Edmonton city councillor found to have violated council’s code of conduct by discriminating against and harassing an employee wants a court to intervene and toss the findings.
Earlier this month, Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi Coun. Jennifer Rice filed an application with Edmonton’s Court of King’s Bench, seeking a judicial review of the investigation by city Integrity Commissioner Jamie Pytel and the findings Pytel made against Rice.
According to court documents filed by Rice, in October 2023 Pytel’s office informed Rice that an investigation was underway after the commissioner received a complaint from one of Rice’s former employees.
Pytel completed her investigation and prepared a report that is dated March 19, 2024, making findings that substantiated one instance of discrimination and four instances of harassment, Rice alleges in her application to the court.
Rice argues that all of the findings are unreasonable, and that the employee who filed the complaint wasn’t offered a permanent position at the end of her three-month probationary period.
None of the allegations made by Rice have been proven in court.
Edmonton Coun. Erin Rutherford has concerns about planned revisions to the Council Code of Conduct bylaw. City officials say the changes will ensure transparency around investigations but Rutherford worries they will have the opposite effect.
During a brief hearing in an Edmonton courtroom Wednesday, Rice’s lawyer Janice Agrios explained that her client is planning to challenge the jurisdiction of the findings, and that she will argue there was a lack of procedural fairness during the process and that the commissioner’s findings in the report were unreasonable.
Rice did not attend the hearing.
Agrios sought and obtained an order Wednesday that prevents city council from proceeding with a sanctions hearing for Rice over the commissioner’s findings until after the judicial review application has been dealt with by the court.
If and when a sanction hearing takes place, it will be up to city council members to determine the appropriate sanction for Rice.
Lawyers for the commissioner and for the city also attended the hearing and didn’t oppose the order.
Allegations of discrimination and harassment
CBC News has not obtained a copy of the commissioner’s report.
According to Rice’s court filings, Pytel dismissed two allegations of discrimination but found discrimination had occurred in one instance related to the employee working a second job. Rice alleges what happened is not discrimination.
Rice also alleges that the commissioner dismissed a number of harassment allegations but found there were four instances of harassment. Rice disputes all four of the findings.
Rice also alleges that Pytel made recommendations for possible sanctions of Rice. She argues that some of those recommendations are beyond the scope of the complaint. Her filings do not detail what those recommendations are.
Procedural unfairness
In her court filings, Rice alleges that Pytel has so far only shared a portion of the original complaint filed by the employee.
She says the commissioner interviewed her twice during the fall of 2023, with the city’s ethics advisor present, and alleges she was told that none of Rice’s other former employees would be interviewed due to confidentiality concerns.
However, when she received Pytel’s report in March 2024, she learned the commissioner had interviewed seven witnesses, all staff from other councillors’ offices during the investigation.
She also alleges that she has learned that Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and three other unidentified councillors contacted the commissioner about Rice.
Rice alleges Pytel has refused to share the identities, statements or even redacted statements of the seven witnesses, and has declined to share more than general comments about what Sohi and the three unidentified councillors said about her.
Rice alleges that based on what she can tell from Pytel’s report, all of the witnesses’ statements were based on what the former employee told them, and thus is hearsay.
She also argues that there is a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the mayor and the unknown councillors without knowing what they said about her.
Remedy sought
According to Rice’s application, she wants a judge to order:
- That Pytel’s findings that Rice violated the code of conduct be quashed.
- That the commissioner provide Rice with all the evidence that she received about the complaint, including witness statements and recordings.
- That the commissioner reveal which members of city council communicated with Pytel about the complaints against Rice.
- That the city also reveal any information it has about which councillors talked to the commissioner about the complaint against Rice.
- And directions as to which members of council are disqualified from participating in the sanction hearing.
No date has been set yet for the judicial review to be heard.