Unreasonable Behaviour Policy

Jeff Green | Oct 04, 2023

Addington Highlands Council deferred passing their “Unreasonable Behaviour” policy this week, over Councillor Ken Hook's concern about who makes the final decision about imposing restrictions under the policy, but once that is sorted out there is no doubt the policy will be adopted by council.

Addington Highlands is one of, if not the first, council in Eastern Ontario to develop and approve such a policy, but townships elsewhere in Ontario, including Halton Hills, Blue Mountain, and Centre Wellington, have brought in similar policies in recent years.

The motivation to bring in the policies are usually in response to one or a group of local residents who make what township staff and council consider to be unreasonable requests for information, or access.

The behaviours described in the policies are all similar. In the Addington Highlands policy, there are 17 behaviours listed, including “making excessive demands on the time and resources of township representatives with frequent or lengthy communications, or by contacting several township representatives about the same matter.”

There is some overlap between the new policy document and the protections offered under the preventing workplace violence, and workplace harassment provisions in the “Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act”. But the advantage of a specific local policy is that it gives a clear process that township staff can follow if they feel they are being faced with unreasonable demands by an individual ratepayer.

The policy was developed, partially, in response to some of the interactions that took place in late 2022 and early 2023 between township staff and Marlean Mclean, who had been an unsuccessful candidate for reeve in the 2022 municipal election last October.

Mclean, who opposes the new policy, said in September that the policy was directed at her, but  freedom of speech, access to information and democracy will suffer.

I can't say how much of a burden Mclean, or any other Addington Highlands resident, has been to township staff,  but the policy itself has created controversy within the township as a number of residents are concerned about a loss of access to staff and information.

At first glance it certainly seemed like an extreme measure for a township council in our region to contemplate.

However, the charges that the “Unreasonable Behaviour Policy” contravenes the Charter of Rights, that it limits freedom of speech, and that it will shield staff and council from public scrutiny, are certainly over-blown.

The policy is not intended to shield staff and council from difficult questions, it just sets limits on the access the public has to township staff and township information resources, under a very specific set of circumstances. 

If the policy is ever used, it will generate a paper trail that will certainly be subject to the freedom of information act, and it will be incumbent on staff who are involved, to make sure everything they do is consistent with the policy, and its intent.

I also should point out that in the 20 years since we first started covering Addington Highlands Council, access to information has seen steady improvement.

Twenty years ago, the only way to get the entire agenda package for a council meeting was to make a special request at the township office. In Addington Highlands, the agenda packages were always incomplete, when they were available at all. The meetings took place in a room with less than 10 seats for the public. There was no PA system. The only access to the meetings was in that room. The only information about what happened at those meetings came from the minutes, which sometimes took a month to be prepared. 

A complete agenda, for all meetings, is now available online for anyone, on the township website. The meetings have been available as a live stream since 2020, and are now available on Youtube as a live broadcast that remains available for a year. Township staff and members of council are available by phone and email, and their contact information is posted on the township website.

Access to local decision making is at a historic high point, and while it is important to look at the “Unreasonable Behaviour Policy” with skepticism, the policy is not, in itself, a threat to democracy or freedom of speech, and will not result in cuts in service to township residents