The Town of Winnipeg Beach’s mayor Pam Jackson resigned last week after being denied a temporary medical leave and experiencing “very trying and difficult” circumstances that included harassment via a code of conduct complaint and homophobic slurs against her.
The male members of Winnipeg Beach council – Douglas Jarvis, Barry Hoel and Larry Kisiloski – had refused during council’s Sept. 11 meeting to let Jackson take a doctor-recommended medical leave for a spinal cord injury, and doubled down on that position during council’s Sept. 25 meeting. Both meetings were livestreamed and available on YouTube.
Jackson delivered her resignation speech at the Sept. 25 meeting after about 16 minutes of interaction that can be described as a tableau of antagonism towards her – as well as to deputy mayor Jean Gendron – with the mayor having to ask Jarvis to show respect for and stop interrupting her.
The interaction included Jarvis’s denial of Jackson’s reality of her medical condition, with his saying that “there’s no reason why you couldn’t be on the phone,” and the eventual successful censorship of a letter (by a majority vote of the three male councillors) that had been put on the agenda and had been sent by a member of the public, who defended Jackson’s request for medical leave.
Jarvis said the letter was “defamatory” to him, even though it doesn’t mention his name, and that it was “not telling the truth.” Kisiloski implied Gendron “might know” who wrote the letter but is withholding information from them.
The Express spoke with Jarvis on the phone later in the week and offered him an opportunity to make comments, but he declined. The Express also emailed each councillor – including Jarvis – to offer them an opportunity to comment for this story. The male councillors did not take up the offer.
Jackson told the Express she began to experience “difficulties” a month after she became mayor (summer 2022), and that she feels she has been bullied out of her job over the denial of medical leave.
She said she’s seeing a number of medical specialists for a herniated disc that involves surrounding nerves, and, in addition to suffering physical pain, is on heavy-duty medication that impairs her cognitive functioning. Her doctors “felt pretty sure” that by taking time off to heal she could be back at work by November, but she asked for three months just in case. In addition to attending council meetings twice a month, Jackson is on boards/committees that keep her busy all week.
“I think it is bullying if they can determine for me what I should be doing with my health. Councillor Jarvis said he’s been on medication before and he thinks I can do virtual,” said Jackson. “I have four different specialists who’ve offered me a doctor’s note – which is not necessary in municipal politics – and I would have provided them.”
The general tenor of the Sept. 25 meeting was typical of how past council meetings would go, said Jackson.
The livestreamed recording starts off with Jarvis asking for the letter on council’s agenda to be expunged.
The letter was sent by email to the town on Sept. 20 with a subject line of “Mayor’s Request.” The writer requested that their name be redacted for fear of retaliation.
The writer identifies him or herself as a healthcare professional and states they watched the videorecording of council’s Sept. 11 meeting and was “never more disappointed and disgusted” by the three male councillors with regard to the mayor’s request for a short leave of absence.
“The indifference, mean comments and lack of caring demonstrated by the three male members of the council were, frankly, unbelievable,” said the writer. “The mayor has an acute condition, which brings with it pain and disability.”
The writer expressed dismay at the “gall,” “demonstrated ignorance” and “lack of compassion” from one councillor [whom the writer does not name] who compared his own medical condition to that of the mayor’s.
“I am ashamed that these individuals represent our community,” the writer said.
After she was denied medical leave at the Sept. 11 meeting, Jackson said she had received lots of phone calls from people supporting her, many of whom she didn’t know.
“You watched the first part [of the livestreamed meeting] with councillor Jarvis; that was not an unusual depiction of some of the things that have been going on in council whether we’ve been in camera or [livestreamed],” said Jackson. “This is much more about culture and about women in politics – and not giving me a medical leave.”
Jackson served on Winnipeg Beach council from 2006 to 2010, working with a number of “wonderful men” on that council, she said. She thought society had “moved beyond” the 1970s and 1980s, eras in which harassment of women was de rigueur.
In the Interlake there have been a number of female municipal mayors/reeves saying they’ve been discriminated against or harassed by male members of council.
Some men – not all of them – lack emotional capacity to see a woman as a person and have difficulty accepting the idea of a woman working in a position of responsibility. Bullying and harassment of females in politics is a reality still played out at the council table or in the backrooms of municipalities – according to women who’ve spoken both on and off the record – and in provincial and federal politics.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that women are not well represented in politics. A study conducted in 2023 for the Canadian Women in Local Leadership project and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities shows women representing only 31 per cent of all municipal elected representatives in Canada – a “long road” ahead to meaningful participation. And only 22 per cent hold a mayoral position. That puts Canada at 54th out of 169 countries.
Jackson said there is a “real story in terms of women in politics” and a “particular headspace for some men on council – not all of them – because I’ve worked with great guys on council. But there are some men on councils that don’t want women at the table, and they certainly don’t want women to have a power position.”
A Code of conduct complaint was brought against Jackson this year from a male member of council. She addressed that during her resignation speech, saying it had gone forward to a provincial reviewer who found the complaint to be “vexatious,” having “no reasonable or sound basis in fact or law,” is “without merit,” and was brought with the “primary intent of harassing, discriminating [against] or subduing myself.”
The three male councillors voted against accepting the reviewer’s report at council’s July 10 meeting, opting to continue the complaint process against Jackson.
Jackson said the code of conduct process is flawed in that it can fail to protect council members who are victims of harassment.
For female councillors who are subject to behaviour from male councillors that’s intended to undermine them, drive them out or show them who holds power, a code of conduct allegation is another tool to harass them. The final decision to accept or reject the reviewer’s conclusion rests with council. If a majority of councillors don’t like the conclusion, they can vote it down.
And that’s exactly what Winnipeg Beach’s male councillors did; they voted down the report.
“Code of conduct investigations always come back to the table for council to accept or reject the reviewer’s conclusions. Even if a councillor has been found to have breached conduct or a bylaw and the councillor should be reprimanded in some way – either lose three months’ salary, take a leave or take part in education – council has the [final say],” said Jackson. “What’s happened in the past is when women are bringing codes of conduct against some of the behaviour they’re having to deal with on councils, and the independent review finds the council member is clearly in breach of conduct, it comes back to the table and the men vote it down. And there are no repercussions. This doesn’t protect women or whoever else is being harassed … and I am one example of this problem.”
She added that such an investigation can cost taxpayers $30,000. There have been attempts to address the process, but it has to be changed “at the provincial level.”
The Express asked CAO Sharon Desiatnyk and the four remaining councillors for a copy of the reviewer’s report on the code of conduct allegation made against Jackson, but didn’t receive it.
In her public resignation speech, Jackson said she had been subjected to “homophobic slurs” against her. She confirmed that statement for the Express but was “not able to speak to the details of that at this time.”
There were other instances where the women on Winnipeg Beach council were subjected to problematic behaviour. Jackson, Jean Gendron and CAO Sharon Desiatnyk had their integrity impugned by one of the male councillors, who claimed they were withholding information from the men, and that he had emails to prove it. When asked to provide those emails, the male councillor was forced to retract his accusation (at a subsequent meeting) and say that he had misread his emails. That occurred during a livestreamed council meeting.
To her credit as a leader and with a background in social work, Jackson attempted to resolve problematic behaviour at the council table by sitting down with her councillors and inviting discussion on what some of the issues were. But her conciliatory approach was rejected and she was bluntly told this is war.
“As mayor you want to make sure your team is working well together and you want to ask them what they think the difficulties are and how can we work better together,” said Jackson. “A couple of months ago when I sat down with each of the councillors and asked them what needs to happen for us to work together, I was told in no uncertain terms by one of the male councillors: ‘It’s women against the men and we men have the power.’”
The Express asked the Town for comment on the homophobic slurs, who made them and how the Town dealt with that, the circumstances behind the code of conduct complaint and who launched it.
Deputy mayor Jean Gendron told the Express the only person authorized to speak with the media is the mayor or their designate. Gendron copied the CAO and councillors on the email, saying that although the designate is the only person that can speak with the media, the councillors can comment to defend their actions.
“This … does not prevent any of you [councillors] commenting on a personal level should you be asked to explain or defend your actions and wish to,” Gendron wrote.
Gendron also offered the following comment:
“Mayor Jackson identified the reasons for her resignation as part of the statement she made at the meeting prior to resigning,” said Gendron. “The Town of Winnipeg Beach has lost a dedicated, intelligent and engaged leader who wanted nothing but the best for her community. The mayor had ambitious goals for our community but, unfortunately, had her tenure cut short due to medical circumstances.”
The Express asked the provincial department of municipal relations to comment on a lack of protection offered by the code of conduct process, specifically why a reviewer’s findings are sent back to councils where they can be overturned to the detriment of the victim.
“Provincial staff do not review alleged code of conduct complaints from councils, nor do they conduct investigations into complaints,” said a spokesperson. “The Province of Manitoba, through the department of municipal and northern relations, contracts independent third parties as intake reviewers and appeal directors, to receive and review cases and provide interpretation of the legislation, regulation and by-laws.”
He confirmed that councils have the option of having their complaints reviewed by the intake reviewer, and may vote to accept or not accept the review report of the intake reviewer.
“For clarity, the province has no input into these reviews. Further, the province is not privy to the specifics of a complaint, the identity or details of the complainants, respondents or the councils involved,” he said. “Code of conduct legislation respects the independence and responsibility of Manitoba municipalities and their elected officials to govern their own internal matters and make them ultimately accountable to their own community for their behaviour, decisions and actions through the local democratic process.”
The spokesperson didn’t address a question regarding what the province is specifically doing to protect female members of municipal council.
