Stevenson disagrees with Integrity Commissioner ruling she bullied Deputy City Manager and deserves financial punishment

'I disagree with the findings' Councillor Susan Stevenson has been deemed a bully by the integrity commissioner. CTV London's Daryl Newcombe explains.

Councillor Susan Stevenson is speaking out against the findings of the latest Integrity Commissioner investigation into her conduct and social media posts about homelessness.

Principles Integrity, a firm hired to act as the City of London’s Integrity Commissioner, has ruled that Stevenson’s persistent questioning of Deputy City Manager of Social and Health Development Kevin Dickins and an accompanying social media post that identified him by name, constitutes harassment and bullying.

“It has been alleged that the Councillor demonstrates a pattern of behaviour that is inappropriate, unwarranted, unwelcome, unprofessional, not conducive to respectful Council and Staff relations, and is creating a toxic work environment for civic administration,” the Integrity Commissioner writes.

“We find that the Councillor’s conduct constitutes harassment, bullying, and targeting, and that this pattern of behaviour is in contravention of the Code of Conduct,” the report concludes.

It recommends council suspend Stevenson’s pay for 30 days.

“I disagree with the findings,” Stevenson tells CTV News after the report was posted on the council agenda.

“It's not clear where I crossed the line or how any of us (councillors) could avoid this going forward,” Stevenson adds. “And a month's pay? This could have a chilling effect on people who want to run for office, who want to make change.”

A complaint was received on May 30, 2024 from Deputy City Manager of Social and Health Development, Kevin Dickins.

Dickins alleged that Stevenson’s conduct towards administrative staff amounted to harassment and violated the Council Code of Conduct.

Dickins’ complaint cited a specific incident on social media when Stevenson posted an altered quote from a CTV News article that added capital letters and emojis to suggest shock, chagrin, shame, and embarrassment.

In response, Dickins sent an email to Stevenson seeking an informal resolution:

Hello councillor,

Can you kindly keep my name off your social media platforms. I’m a member of your staff team. It’s not appropriate or welcomed.

If you have questions or you have concerns please set up a meeting to discuss but I do not welcome it, should it not come down, or should it happen again, I will be filing a formal complaint.

I’m (sic) my role, like yours I am often required to speak to media, while I can’t control what they publish, I do ask that as someone who is on the same team as I am refrain from using it in such an inappropriate manner and to position me in such a way personally. You’ll notice staff do not do this to any member of council.

Your prompt attention to this is appreciated.

On April 22, Stevenson replied by email:

My social media post was a direct quote from the news article that I shared….

I’m not understanding what your complaint against me would be. I can assure you that I certainly did not intend to upset you in any way.

In the report the Integrity Commissioner determined, “the Councillor editorialized the quote by the addition of provocative emojis; gratuitously included the staff member’s name (completely unnecessarily, if she had simply referenced the article), and unfairly implied that the views advanced were the staff member’s own, rather than reflecting the widely acknowledged prevailing view across the Province.”

“I didn't think that was going to be either bullying, harassing, or targeting. It was an undecided matter of council, something that was going to be coming to us in a few months that's important to Londoners,” Stevenson explains.

In addition the report states, “The post appeared to suggest that this individual was responsible for the continuing problem of encampments in the City. Naming the employee left him vulnerable to targeting by members of the public.”

A photo of graffiti written in black marker on a streetlight pole is included in the report.

It reads, “(Redacted) is responsible for 100s of homeless deaths.”

The Integrity Commissioner also describes, “a clear pattern in which the Councillor takes the opportunity, even where an issue only relates tangentially to homelessness or shelters, to ask questions which allow her to repeat her concerns around the encampment issue.

“I'm happy to keep (the) Deputy City Manager's names and all staff off my social media,” Stevenson concedes. “But to be less persistent in my questioning, I don't think I have since I got this complaint May 31.”

The report findings include, “Although her words and tone may be moderated and sound respectful, the constant revisiting of the issue amounts to her harping on something that has been well-canvassed already.”

It was posited that administrative staff experiencing repeated questions around the issue would interpret them as harassment.

“We're governing a $1.4 billion budget, and I'm not going to apologize for asking questions about how that money is being spent or the services that are being offered when we're in a [homelessness] crisis that is increasingly getting worse,” Stevenson says.

“A member of Council is entitled to ask probing questions and to seek relevant information in order to make informed decisions. The role of a member of Council includes that ability to ask questions but not to interrogate; to question the reasoning that supports a staff recommendation but not to publicly question staff’s motives or competence,” the Integrity Commissioner writes.

Council will meet on December 17 to consider the report and potentially a punishment.

Although the integrity commissioner recommends one month without pay, violating the code can result in punishments ranging from a formal reprimand up to three months without pay.

This is the second time Stevenson’s social media posts have been found to have violated the Council Code of Conduct.

In 2023, she received a formal reprimand from council for posting photos on social media of recognizable homeless individuals in a way that disregarded the impact the post could have on the individuals involved by linking them to criminality.

Stevenson has filed a complaint to the Ontario Ombudsman about the 2023 Integrity Commissioner’s investigation, “I feel it was very personal. I don't feel it was fact based. And now you're going to say we can take away a councillor's ability to make their mortgage payment or do groceries for a month for something that's very unclear and subjective?”

She has already decided to file a second complaint about the latest investigation.

The city’s communications department says municipal staff can not speak to the Integrity Commissioner’s Report.

CTV News has reached out directly to Dickens for comment but has not received a response.