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An integrity commissioner is urging members of Regina city council to sanction one of their own and require her to get training “on how to communicate effectively in a respectful and courteous manner.”
Documents included in the agenda for Wednesday’s city council meeting say Coun. Andrew Stevens initially filed a complaint against Coun. Terina Shaw under The Code of Ethics Bylaw in March.
Executive committee looked at the commissioner’s report on July 6 and council has to respond within 90 days of that. Councillors are to discuss the report during Wednesday’s meeting.
The documents say council has three options:
- Approve the commissioner’s recommendation to sanction Shaw and require her to receive some training or education on how to communicate effectively in a respectful and courteous manner;
- Impose another censure, sanctions or corrective actions allowed by law, such as a reprimand, requiring Shaw to apologize to those impacted, requiring educational training, removing her from council committees or other bodies, or dismissing her from a position of chairperson of a council committee; or
- Impose no sanctions, censure or corrective actions.
Councillors can’t vote to dismiss another councillor.
The incident that prompted the investigation isn’t connected to the comments Shaw made about the Indigenous community in June.
According to Kruk’s report, on Jan. 19, members of council and city administration took part in a virtual meeting on Microsoft Teams with representatives of the Regina and Region Home Builders Association (RRHBA). The topic was the RRHBA’s Accommodating Growth paper that discussed future growth in the city.
At one point, after Coun. Shanon Zachidniak made comments about the topic, Shaw posted to a chat board that’s visible to everyone: “Shannon can you please leave your lecturing to a personal conversation instead of wasting my time”.
Zachidniak responded with a message saying, “Terina, can you please be respectful to your colleagues”. Shaw immediately posted “respect our time and others who would like to ask questions”.
Stevens subsequently filed his complaint, saying Shaw’s actions were “indicative of a pattern of behaviour by (Shaw) where she has a tendency to lash out at people in a disrespectful manner.”
“(Stevens) felt that these comments reflected poorly on Council and on (Shaw),” Kruk’s report said. “They were made during a meeting related to Council business, at the request of the RRHBA, not at a social event and as a result required more professionalism than was shown by (Shaw).”
Shaw told Kruk she felt Zachidniak was taking up too much of the time set aside for councillors’ questions and that that wasn’t “respectful of other people’s time.”
Kruk sided with Stevens, saying councillors should be held to a high ethical standard.
“The quality of public administration and the reputation and integrity of the City depends on the conduct of elected officials,” she wrote. “Members of Council are leaders in our community and ought to be setting a good example by treating each other with respect and courtesy.”
She added the Shaw wasn’t being malicious or trying to offend anyone.
“I think she may just be used to communicating in a more abrupt manner,” Kruk wrote, “and now that she is in a more public role, she could benefit from some training or education on communicating in a more respectful manner.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of this story, correcting the spelling of Coun. Shanon Zachidniak’s first name.
