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Police called to council chambers following aggressive outburst by audience member

January 12, 2023   ·   2 Comments

Vaccine mandate revoked for volunteers

By Sam Odrowski

Chaos broke out at Town Hall earlier this week when an unruly audience member got out of their chair and heckled those who sit on Orangeville council, comparing them to Nazis.

With the town’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for staff and volunteers up for review at a council meeting on Monday (Jan. 9), the chambers were filled with over 100 people, waiting to hear if the policy would be rescinded.

The recommended motion from town staff concerning the vaccine policy was that it be suspended.

But when Coun. Andy Macintosh brought forward a last-minute amendment requesting that the policy be kept in place for firefighters, chaos ensued.

The unruly audience member stood up as Coun. Macintosh was providing his rationale for the amendment and began ranting, claiming the policy is communist and said “put your swastikas on.”

Mayor Lisa Post responded, “Excuse me, sir, that’s enough”, before telling Coun. Macintosh to continue.

But just seconds after he resumed his discussion, the unruly audience member began kicking the doors outside of council chambers and a recess was called.

This resulted in a call to the police who advised council members to evacuate the chambers, out of concern for their safety.

However, shortly thereafter the unruly attendant of the council meeting ran off and several minutes later the meeting resumed.

“We’re going to try this again,” said Mayor Post, when resuming the meeting. “I know this is a passionate issue and I’m please asking all members of the gallery to please be respectful while members of council are speaking.”

Coun. Macintosh again spoke to his proposed motion, stating the main reason why council should support keeping a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy is because Orangeville’s chief of fire and ambulance services both fully support it.

“And to me, that speaks louder than a lot of people yelling at me, to be honest. So that’s why I’m putting this proposal forward,” he explained.

Coun. Macintosh noted that the vaccine policy would be kept in place for a few months for fire services and revisited in April.

Coun. Debbie Sherwood, who was the lone vote against enacting a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy in the fall of 2021, said she doesn’t support a suspension of the policy but would like to see it revoked altogether. Coun. Rick Stevens shared that he feels the same way.

Coun. Macintosh said he has no problem revoking the policy for town staff and volunteers but wants the mandate for fire services to remain.

At this point, Mayor Post again had to tell the audience to be quiet and remain seated due to shouting over Coun. Macintosh’s remarks. She noted that a public question period was coming up shortly where everyone could speak their mind.

Deputy Mayor Todd Taylor chimed in shortly after this to share his thoughts on the proposed motion.

“I’m quiet on this issue because I’m surprised by the fire [services] piece. I didn’t realize that it was going to come forward tonight… and it’s causing me consternation as I sit here… it feels like it’s a last-minute thing,” he said.

Under normal circumstances, if council was debating a topic relating to fire services, Chief Ron Morden would be in attendance to answer questions, but because he wasn’t in attendance, Deputy Mayor Taylor said he felt uncomfortable voting on the matter.

Mayor Post suggested that a decision on the town’s vaccine policy for staff, contractors and vendors be pushed to council’s Jan. 23 meeting or shortly thereafter, at which time they can speak to the fire chief and ambulance chief to better understand the issues they’re facing.

Council voted unanimously to defer that decision until Jan. 23 but did revoke the mandatory policy for councillors, committee members, and volunteers.

The Citizen spoke with Mayor Lisa Post following the incident in council chambers on Monday and she said, “It was disappointing that the decorum from the gallery was not maintained and that loud outbursts calling council a host of names including Nazis and Communists were used and order could not be regained.”

She added, “I found it disturbing and disappointing that we were left in a position where Ontario Provincial Police needed to be notified to attend our meeting and council was forced to recess the meeting and exit council chambers.”

Going forward, “I am hopeful that at the next council meeting on January 23rd that the gallery will come prepared to participate in a more respectful and professional manner. Every member of the public has a right to participate and engage in the democratic process, but it is important that it is done using the appropriate channels to ensure the safety of staff, council and the public.”

Deputy Mayor Todd Taylor also spoke with the Citizen about Monday’s incident and said he’s never seen anything like it since becoming a councillor in 2018.

“It was a really unfortunate situation and one that quite honestly, could have gotten out of hand quite easily,” he noted.

Deputy Mayor Taylor said he applauds Mayor Post’s professionalism.

“It would have been hard for her not to lose her temper given the situation that was going on and she just kept plodding ahead,” he said. “It was really common-sense leadership at a time when things were getting pretty out of hand. Really well done on her part.”

Looking ahead to council’s Jan. 23 meeting, a decision will be made on whether to rescind the mandatory vaccine policy for town staff, vendors, contractors, and firefighters.

There will be a police presence at this meeting to ensure it runs smoothly.

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