Essex councillor rebukes integrity head's report, calls outcry over tweets an 'organized hit job'

In a fiery speech to Essex town council Monday evening, Coun. Chris Vander Doelen refused to apologize for tweets decried as "racist" and "anti-Asian"that have sparked widespread outrage, andindicated he won't follow any requirements imposed on him by council.

"I would be letting down far too many residents in Ward 3 and the rest of the people of Essex if I submit to this giant lie in any way," Vander Doelentold the virtual meeting.

"I will not be taking down my perfectly reasonable tweets which also happen to be true."

In his report presented to council Monday, Robert Swayze, the town's integrity commissioner, recommends that councilrequire Vander Doelento remove the offendingtweets, including ones referring to COVID-19as the "Chinese flu,"from his account.

Swayze also said the councillor should prepare a draft apology to be read aloud at an open session of councilthat would be approved by the commissioner, and attend in-person diversity and inclusion training.

Swayzesaidif Vander Doelendoesn't complete what's asked of himby July 19, he should be suspended without pay for 60 days.

"Do a proper apology.I cannot accept that he did not know the impact on the Chinese-Canadian community of his tweets," Swayze said, adding he received more complaints about this matter than any other in his 13 years in the position.

• Essex, Ont., councillor won't step down as integrity head investigates 'racist anti-Asian' COVID-19 tweets

Vander Doelen, a former writer for the Windsor Star,said he toosaw the biggest response to thetweets thathe's ever seen in his time as a councillor or a journalist.

"Nearly all those that reached out to me assured me that I did nothing wrong whatsoever and have nothing to apologize for, no matter what a trumped-up investigation says."

Vander Doelen called the commissioner's findinga "bureaucratic overreach" and said he has no authority over the comments or actions of a councillor thathave no relationship to the municipality.

"Mr. Swayze has no sway over my political views or my use of language nor those of anyone else."

Diversity training for all suggested

In a prepared statement that lasted over eight minutes, Vander Doelensaid he rejectsthe conclusion of the report, and the complaints that led to it were acomplete waste of administration and council'stime.

"There was nothing racist, or remotelyhateful or even vaguely insulting about my tweets, and it is slanderous to suggest that," he said.

"It is absurd to suggest I am insulting Chinese-Canadians. Who would do that? I've known many of the leaders of the Essex-Windsor Chinese community since the 1980s. As everyone knows, they are some of the most learned, accomplished, productive and downright decent people in town."

Council voted 6-1 in favour of the recommendations, with only Vander Doelen'svote rejecting them.

Mayor Larry Snively, who initially had called on Vander Doelen to apologize, wasn't at the meeting. No reason was given for his absence.

Following Vander Doelen's commentsCoun. Steve Bjorkmansaid he was both a colleague and friend of Vander Doelen. He said heknows Vander Doelenisn't a racist, but anyone who didn't realize theTrump administration had weaponized the term Chinese flu was just "not being real" and Vander Doelen's actions werea breach of the town's code of conduct.

"I do believe we are held to a higher standard and I do believe our words matter more than most people's, and we need to weigh those things out carefully," said Bjorkman.

Coun. Sherry Bondyalso suggested that all council members take diversity training together.

Dozens of letters sent to integrity head

But Vander Doelensaid he's a victim in a"well-organized" cancel movement, atone point referring to it as an "organized hit job" and pointing at hateful comments posted about him and his family on social media.

He referred to a "fake outrage mob"thatclaimswords such ashis are responsible for anti-Asian attacks seen in U.S. inner-cities, and said the commissioner's "wrong-headed report" supports their "woke fantasy".

"You know, the people behind this are the same people who, when they aren't defacing state statuesand trying to eliminate our history, and our borders, and our police departments and gendersare finding racism under every living room couch," said Vander Doelen.

"The only reason we're sitting here discussing this tweet is that a group of protesters, activists and a rag-tag cancel culture army from outside Essex are trying to take down an effective local conservative voice."

Watch Vander Doelen's response to the integrity commissioner's report here:

Essex town councillor Chris Vander Doelen responds to integrity commissioner's report

4 years ago

Duration 8:36

Essex town councillor Chris Vander Doelen says he doesn't intend on following integrity commissioner's recommendations.

Coun.Morley Bowman said he did go through the roughly 80 letterssubmitted to the integrity commissioner from the public, and while some were in a common format, others came from individuals he knows and respects, and some are from the Asian community.

"I know it did have an effect on them and for that reason alone, I think it's important that we follow through on the integrity commission's recommendations," said Bowman.