Adedokun Waliyu 
The City of Pickering’s most contentious councillor has received another pay suspension due to homophobic remarks, according to the city’s integrity commissioner.
Robinson made headlines last month when she compared her first 30-day pay suspension – a demerit she received due to alleged bullying in her community – to “modern-day slavery.
This month’s pay cut, a 60-day wage suspension, follows complaints filed to the city’s integrity commissioner about Robinson’s conduct at a Durham District School Board meeting in May.
According to council minutes dated Oct. 23, Robinson attended the school board meeting and, using a bullhorn microphone, addressed a “large and occasionally unruly” crowd with motions she intended to bring to council the following week. These motions included “restricting and removing the City’s support for drag queen story time, flying of Pride and Trans [sic] flags at City premises, and any related LGBTQ+ related events and activities, and removing the universal washrooms and change rooms from City facilities, specifically the Chestnut Hills Recreation Centre.”
In its report, the integrity commissioner said Robinson made these remarks “despite knowing that her motions were perceived by Council colleagues as homophobic,” and added that the complainants voiced concerns that Robinson’s remarks “promoted homophobia and transphobia in pursuit of an agenda which is contrary to the Canadian Human Rights Code, the Ontario Human Rights Code, and in contravention of Pickering Council’s Code of Conduct.”
Some of Robinson’s contested remarks include that “non-government flags” – such as the rainbow Pride flag – “favour one group over another….so the City should restrict flags raised in public spaces to federal, provincial and municipal flags, however the Poppy flag and the Veterans flag should be allowed.”
Fellow councillors also raised concerns over Robinson’s statements about universal change rooms, in which she said “the City should change the policy to allow non-members to use the gender-specific-change rooms.”
With regards to her stance on drag story time, the integrity commissioner said Robinson has “never been to see a drag queen story time,” and that she made inaccurate comments about “gyrating and shaking” during these events citing only her personal experience at traditional drag shows.
The integrity commissioner also noted that there were allegations of Robinson “engaging in reprisals” against Pickering councillors who had complained against her, pointing out a series of counter-complaints which were recently dismissed by the integrity commissioner.
As a result of the integrity commissioner’s findings, Robinson has been docked 60 days’ worth of pay.
In a post to her personal Facebook page, Robinson called the findings “disconcerning” [sic], saying the City of Pickering “actively exacerbates the divide among individuals who are peacefully protesting for opposing views.”
“This deliberate action of fueling the fire only serves two [sic] deepen the existing divisions within society,” she said.
