Challenges continue to face Fort Frances council

The council for Fort Frances, Ont.., continues to face more challenges after the resignation of a council member and now the temporary leave of absence by the mayor.

In a media release last week, the town announced Andrew Hallikas is taking the leave to focus on his health and Deputy Mayor Michael Behan will assume the mayoral duties effective immediately.

"This decision was not made lightly, as Mayor Hallikas has been managing health challenges since late July," said the release.

"He is currently receiving care in hospital and working toward recovery. Hallikas extends his heartfelt thanks to the community for their understanding and support during this time."

Earlier this month, Mandi Olson-Walton resigned from her position on council, referencing challenges working with council and trying to implement actions when it comes to reconciliation in the town.

'I was met with many challenges'

In a statement, Olson-Walton said council was provided and encouraged to offer recommendations and feedback as part of an update of the committee bylaw policy that informs committees of council, "including any ad-hoc committees that are formed or meet when necessary"

Olson-Walton said the policies determine the reporting mechanisms, mandates and overall direction of each committee, and she was placed on reviewing the Indigenous relations advisory committee.

"I was met with many challenges and at times, confusion. To ensure I didn't miss highlighting this, I provided an email to the mayor, clerk and CEO of my thoughts on the current policy and the concerns I was experiencing with it," said Olson-Walton in her statement.

"Overall, I found it to be outdated, noting there were significant inequities between committees, and many committees were purposeless as the mandate wasn't followed or are unnecessary with the newly implemented governance changes."

Olson-Walton said she brought recommendations to council, including the importance of remuneration such as tobacco and a gift and the importance of language and how Indigenous people are addressed, including changing it from "Aboriginal": to "Indigenous" in future policies and more.

But when bringing it up to council, Olson-Walton said the conversation brought her to tears.

"In that moment, it was a realization that although I have tried my best for nearly two years to make space for real-world discussion, it is met with deafening responses of 'expediting' and 'wordsmithing'. It is now apparent that my intention of having robust and meaningful discussions are not welcome at this table," said Olson-Walton.

"This meeting validated for me that conversations of relevance or intent are to be surface level and quick. 'Discussion' and/or healthy debate does not happen at this table."

Mike Behan, deputy mayor of Fort Frances, said he was surprised and disappointed that Olson-Walton chose to resign from her position on council.

"I thought she was an effective councillor in her two years, and I certainly appreciated her input and her opinions at the council table over the past two years," said Behan.

"She certainly represents three demographics that will be missed. She's one of our youngest councillors, she's a female and of course has Indigenous background. So those perspectives will be missed and I just wish her all the best going forward."

Meeting to discuss filling Olson-Walton vacancy

Fort Frances council will hold a meeting on Monday night to discuss how to fill the vacancy left by Olson-Walton's resignation, by either appointing somebody to the position or calling a byelection.

"I want to make sure that the people don't say, 'Oh yeah, sure, you're going to appoint somebody that's similar to you or share your views.' And so I think it's important that the people have a decision on who they want on council," said Behan.

But with the challenges, Behan said, they're trying their best to move forward and acknowledges there will be more challenges ahead, but they will take them on as they come.

Douglas Judson, a lawyer in Fort Frances and a councillor from 2018 to 2022, said he felt 'somewhat validated' in Olson-Walton's description of her experience at the council table and mirrored his own experience working on council.

"My experience was when you actually are a diverse person at the table who is expressing views that I think are contrary to the will of the majority, which I'll be very clear is an elderly white majority in almost every municipal council in northwestern Ontario, they don't appreciate it," said Judson.

"When I started asking council to do more to address symbols of systemic racism in our community, such as Colonization Road and when I pushed initiatives to try to improve the representation of working families in the council's decision-making process, I was sidelined for those initiatives and labelled as a problem at the table."

Judson said it's sad Olson-Walton has resigned and what the community has lost, and she is one of the only voices for young people and families in civic government. He also mentioned it was refreshing to have someone in that platform to talk about issues in the community regarding addictions crises and more.

Judson said it will be interesting to see what Fort Frances council will decide to do and it's an opportunity for them to show they're responsive to the concerns of the community.