MLA breached code of conduct in trying to get nurse fired, N.W.T. integrity commissioner finds
The N.W.T. Legislative Assembly's integrity commissioner says MLA Richard Edjericon should be fined and reprimanded for "blindly and willfully repeating unsubstantiated allegations" against a nurse in Fort Resolution in 2022.
In an investigation report released on Thursday, N.W.T. Integrity Commissioner David Phillip Jones said Edjericon's actions violated the code of conduct for MLAs, and he should be fined $2,500.
Jones's investigation began after he received a written complaint in July 2023 from Jennifer Patterson, the former nurse-in-charge at the Fort Resolution health centre, alleging that Edjericon had "mounted a campaign based on innuendo, hearsay and rumours" in order to remove her from her position.
Patterson, who had been Fort Resolution's nurse-in-charge since 2018, alleged that Edjericon's campaign against her began soon after he was elected MLA for Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh in early 2022.
Jones's investigation report cites a number of instances illustrating a local "campaign to have Ms. Patterson removed from her position and from the community, and that Mr. Edjericon was the prime mover."
"Mr. Edjericon had an agenda to remove Ms. Patterson," Jones wrote.
The investigation found that Edjericon had heard unproven allegations of unprofessionalism made against Patterson — including that she had been racist toward Fort Resolution residents, was putting community members at risk, and was rude and disrespectful toward other health centre employees — and treated them as fact.
Those allegations prompted the territory's health authority to suspend Patterson in December 2022 and order an external investigation "into allegations of unethical and unprofessional misconduct."
The external investigators reported a couple of months later that none of the allegations against Patterson were substantiated. Patterson's suspension was ended and she then became nurse-in-charge in Fort Liard, N.W.T. She has since moved out of the territory.
Fort Resolution, N.W.T., in 2023. (Graham Shishkov/CBC)
Jones faulted Edjericon for failing to verify the truth of the allegations he'd heard against Patterson before becoming the "prime mover" in the campaign to have her removed from her job.
"Mr. Edjericon's actions were deliberate; his allegations were made without verification or regard to the truth, and were clearly aimed at having Ms. Patterson removed from her position," Jones wrote.
"In my view, a member needs to be very careful to verify allegations being made by a constituent against someone—particularly a professional person, whose livelihood depends upon their reputation. A member blindly or willfully repeating unsubstantiated allegations (particularly on Legislative Assembly stationery) undermines the member's integrity and credibility, as well as that of the Assembly as a whole."
Under the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, an MLA can be fined up to $25,000 for violating the code of conduct, suspended or ejected from the Assembly, or forced to pay restitution.
Jones decided that while Edjericon wrongly believed he had the authority as an MLA to make allegations "with a view to harming Ms. Patterson," his actions don't warrant his removal or suspension from the Legislative Assembly.
Jones also says a fine of $2,500, "while at the lower end of the range contained in the Act, is large enough to be meaningful."
Jones also wrote in his report that there's a lesson for MLAs in what happened.
"There are limits on what a member may do, and how they may go about what they do. Being a member is not carte blanche to make or repeat unverified and unfounded allegations. Members have an obligation to inform themselves about the facts," Jones wrote.
The integrity commissioner's report will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly during its next sitting. MLAs will then have 15 days to consider the report and decide whether to accept or reject the commissioner's recommendation to fine and reprimand Edjericon.
