Editor's note: The following is an open letter to the trustees at Rainbow District School Board.
I am a resident of Manitoulin Island and was in attendance at the RDSB meeting held Tuesday, Sept. 25 where our elected representative (as indicated in Chair Dewar's voicemail to me July 5, 2018 and subsequent email of July 6, 2018 "As I indicated in my voice mail to you, Trustee Killens continues to be the elected trustee for Manitoulin Island.") Larry Killens made a presentation to the Board.
It is obvious from his presentation to all trustees of the board, including the chair, the director of education and the superintendents present, he had previously supplied documents as described by him, to you for reference in the agenda. The documents referred to by Trustee Killens were five letters provided indirectly by chair Dewar as proof of formal sanctions, a covering letter to explain the circumstances of the motions tabled and voted on July 3, 2018, as well as July 19, 2018, and an independent investigative newspaper article outlining the reporters' findings.
Trustee Killens confirmed that the chair had stated all the information was provided to the trustees and that the information had been read by them. It is disappointing that all the information provided to the chair and trustees by trustee Killens was not made available to the public in attendance, unlike the information for the two previous presentations about Summer Programs and Mental Health which was readily available.
In his presentation Trustee Killens alleges that the chair of the board, Doreen Dewar, supplied information that was untrue, false and contained no fact of what she claimed, that being that Trustee Killens had been found responsible for six (6) previous formal sanctions by the board. Chair Dewar supplied to the trustees and the media, through Trustee Killens' letters she stated contained proof of sanctions, which in fact they did not. Three of the letters that were cautionary in nature dated back to 2012 and 2013, a term that is previous to the current one.
Mr. Mike Erskine, an investigative reporter for The Manitoulin Expositor, concluded in his article that there were no sanctions listed, proven or alleged.
Each of you voted to ban trustee Killens from attending or participating at any RDSB meeting from July 3, 2018 until the end of his term. You have voted and approved a leave of absence to trustee Killens from the Aug. 28 meeting of the RDSB, a meeting he was clearly in attendance at as demonstrated by news broadcasts and as witnessed by myself, who was in attendance at that meeting.
You voted and approved a leave of absence to trustee Killens from the July 19, 2018 special meeting of the RDSB, a meeting that he was prevented from attending by virtue of your motion of July 3, 2018.
Now that you have been provided proof that the allegations against trustee Killens were misleading and inaccurate, my questions to each of you independently is: How do you feel about voting to remove our elected representative trustee Killens from the board based on information provided to you was unreliable and erroneous?
As individuals who are in positions of public trust, will you have the courage to bring forward a Motion to rescind the motions passed at both the July 3 and July 19 meetings to ban Trustee Killens and reinstate him?
Will any of you, now that you are again running for the position of school board trustee, save trustee Santala and trustee Killens, issue a public apology to not only the constituents of Manitoulin Island for preventing their elected representative from doing his job, but as well to trustee Killens for your public humiliation of and attempt to discredit him?
Your answers to the above would be appreciated by Wednesday Oct. 3, 2018. Your responses or lack thereof will be noted on social media, as well as all newspaper publications in, at the very least, Sudbury and Manitoulin Island.
The quote used by chair Dewar at the Sept. 25 meeting "A person is not given integrity. It results from the relentless pursuit of honesty at all times," is apropos. Please show that each of you have integrity, principals and are not afraid of being open, transparent and accountable to those who placed their trust in you when they elected you four years ago.
Kim Bilbija
Kagawong