Rob Hamilton should be removed as Downtown Barrie BIA chairman for a derogatory remark “toward Black people," and offensive comments about the homeless, made at a BIA meeting last September, says city integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig.
Hamilton, a former Barrie mayor from 2003 until 2006, should be reprimanded for making a “derogatory term toward Black people” says Craig, and also attend training on addiction as a mental illness, and undergo human rights training, as a condition of remaining on the BIA board.
Craig is recommending these measures to city council at its meeting Monday night, as it is council which decides how to enforce its Code of Conduct, an agreed-upon understanding by all members of council and its associated boards about what standards should be met in the individual conduct of their official duties.
“(Hamilton) ought to have known, even if it was not his intent, that making the remarks he made would be reasonably perceived as inappropriate, offensive, insulting or derogatory,” Craig states in her report.
Contacted Friday morning by BarrieToday, Hamilton said he’s fine taking the training.
“I’m willing to do that, if that makes me more in tune with what’s acceptable by today’s standards and makes me more effective, then I’m very agreeable to do that,” he said. “I would like to remain as the (BIA) chair, because that’s where I’m most effective.”
In her report, Craig says that at the Sept. 22, 2020 BIA meeting on Zoom, board members were discussing a supervised consumption site (SCS) that was being considered by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit in downtown Barrie.
Hamilton spoke to the matter, saying the “downtown is not comfortable or safe and that people are carrying on like a bunch of Mau Maus.”
Craig says Mau Mau is a derogatory term toward Black people and originally referred to Kenyans of the Kikuyu tribe involved in the Mau Mau Rebellion in the 1950s, an insurgency against white colonists.
Later in the same meeting, BIA board member Chad Ballantyne said “everyone that lives downtown and walks downtown is a worthy citizen.”
Hamilton then said: “[T]hat’s just not true. ... They are not a productive contributing citizen… Are they worthy? Yes… but if they’re screwing up other people…”
Ballantyne then stated: “Let me finish, let me finish – As a human, they are worthy and we don’t want to see them die.”
These comments by Hamilton spurred the Code of Conduct complaint against him, which was filed March 16. Craig’s report does not identify who made the complaint.
“The respondent (Hamilton) did not dispute using the term Mau Mau,” Craig’s report states. “I find that (Hamilton)’s use of the term Mau Mau was inappropriate, offensive, insulting or derogatory. While (Hamilton) states that he was unaware of its historical origins and he did not intend to be derogatory, his statements were received as offensive and derogatory, regardless of his intent. I note that (Hamilton) has apologized for and regrets having used the term.
“I further find that (Hamilton) made derogatory comments when he suggested that certain individuals who suffered from mental illness, substance addiction and homelessness, were not worthy citizens.”
And Hamilton apologized again, on April 9.
“I offer my sincere apologies for my remarks and the harm they have caused,” Hamilton says in Craig’s report. “I recognize that my comments were both inappropriate and offensive, and for that I am sorry.”
Craig states the Code requires members of council and local boards to refrain from making inappropriate comments or gestures to or about an individual where such conduct is known, or ought reasonably to be known, to be offensive to the person(s) to whom they are directed or are about.
A reprimand is a penalty under the Municipal Act, a strongly worded condemnation of a member of council or local board.
Hamilton is also to submit an apology letter he wrote, dated April 9, 2021, addressed to Craig in reply to her request for information. It would be posted on the city’s website and forwarded to Downtown Barrie BIA executive director Kelly McKenna.
Hamilton told BarrieToday he meant no offence with his comments.
“I’m 76 years old and phrases that were used in my earlier days that were quite commonplace and not offensive by those standards, sometimes I say them today without even thinking about it,” he said Friday morning. “So it’s not meant to harm anybody or to hurt anybody’s feelings.
"I’m not thinking and I just blurt it out because it’s in my brain, from years ago," Hamilton added. "And I realize that some people find it offensive today, so yes, I will take this training.”
Monday’s virtual city council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
