McQuaker

Emo township council has suspended the pay of their mayor for 60 days.

The decision against Harold McQuaker, which was unanimous, came at a special meeting last week.

McQuaker was earlier cited by the township’s Integrity Commissioner for violating council’s Code of Conduct when he failed to disclose that he received over $5,300, raised by online fundraising campaigns to assist in a human rights case involving Borderland Pride.

An Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the township council was wrong in failing to support a Pride Proclamation in 2020 and ordered the township to pay $10,000 and McQuaker $5,000.

The tribunal recently denied the township’s request to reconsider its 2024 ruling.

The money McQuaker received came from one of several crowdsourcing campaigns that started up because of the case.

Minutes from the August 19th meeting indicate that $5,350.65 held by the mayor has since been forwarded to the township.

The minutes also state that McQuaker left the meeting following council’s decision.

Council instructed that the money be held until the legal proceedings concluded.

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal recently denied the township’s request to reconsider its earlier ruling against the mayor and the township.

Provincial Police are also looking into the crowdsourcing campaigns to determine if there was any criminal wrongdoing.

The law firm of Judson/Howie, whose principal partners are co-founders of Borderland Pride, has suggested nearly $35,000 was raised by those campaigns, but only a portion has been accounted for.