Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a legal harassment grievance filed by the mayor of Pickering on behalf of town’s council towards fellow councillor Lisa Robinson.
Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe initiated the grievance in December by Durham police, Coun. Linda Cook dinner mentioned in an electronic mail to CBC Toronto on Thursday.
Cook dinner mentioned the grievance is a “joint investigation submitting from all of the [five] members of council.”
In a information launch Thursday, the OPP mentioned they had been investigating legal allegations from Pickering council referred to them by Durham police in November, however didn’t present additional particulars.
Robinson, who was elected in 2022, has beforehand denied allegations towards her.
CBC Toronto has reached out to Robinson for remark.
Cook dinner mentioned the case was moved to the OPP attributable to modifications within the Neighborhood Security and Policing Act that require the investigation to be carried out by a policing company exterior of Pickering’s jurisdiction.
The OPP investigation is the newest improvement in an escalating battle between Robinson and metropolis council that started greater than a 12 months in the past. The councillor has been tangled in a sequence of controversies and is presently in her second consecutive 90-day pay suspension since September.
WATCH │Pickering council strikes conferences on-line attributable to threats, mayor says:
Pickering metropolis council strikes conferences on-line attributable to threats, mayor says
Pickering’s mayor says safety threats posed by the supporters of 1 councillor is forcing town to make all council conferences digital. CBC’s Tyler Cheese has the small print.
On the time, the municipality’s integrity commissioner discovered Robinson had demonstrated a continued sample of “unacceptable behaviour” that dangers hurting marginalized members of society.
In August, Robinson appeared on a controversial podcast the place the host, Kevin Johnston, labelled her council colleagues pedophiles, Nazis, and fascists whereas posting their contact data. He additionally urged a violent canine be let free on council and that “70s biker sorts with the massive biceps … [and] knuckles that had scar-tissue” ought to take away the mayor and councillors by pressure.
Johnston has repeatedly displayed racist behaviour in recent times and beforehand pleaded responsible to a hate crime in Ontario in reference to anti-Muslim posts he shared on-line.
Final week, Ashe introduced the council was shifting its conferences on-line over ongoing safety threats from Robinson’s supporters.
Ashe introduced the change in an almost 13-minute video on town’s YouTube web page on Dec. 30, 2024. The video highlights a variety of incidents involving Coun. Lisa Robinson, earlier than displaying screenshots and airing audio of some graphic threats that Ashe says councillors have obtained in consequence.
Cook dinner mentioned there’s a separate legal investigation underway referring to a threatening voicemail left on town’s cellphone line, addressed to her and Coun. Mara Nagy.
This second investigation was additionally handed over to the OPP, she mentioned.
Cook dinner added Durham police have directed her and Nagy to sufferer companies, the place they “have obtained help because of this mounting aggression in direction of council and town.”
