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

In a fiery speech to Essex Town Council Monday evening, not only did Coun. Chris Vander Doelen refuse to apologize for tweets decried as "racist" and "anti-Asian" that sparked outrage within the town and beyond, but he also indicated he would not be following 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 Doelen said.

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

Robert Swayze, integrity commissioner for the Town of Essex, presented his report to council Monday which recommended council require Vander Doelen remove the offending tweets, including the one which refers to COVID-19 as the "Chinese flu" from his account.

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

Swayze said that if Vander Doelen did not complete those by July 19 that 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 that he received more complaints about this matter than any other in his 13 years in the position.

Vander Doelen, who is a former writer for the Windsor Star, said he too saw the biggest response to the tweets than he's ever seen in his time as a councillor or as 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 said.

Vander Doelen called the commissioner's finding a "bureaucratic over-reach" and said that he has no authority whatsoever over the comments or actions of a councillor which have no relationship to the municipality.

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

'Nothing racist'

In a combative prepared statement which lasted over eight minutes, Vander Doelen said he completely rejected the conclusion of the report and the complaints that lead to it were a complete waste of administration and council's time.

"There was nothing racist, or remotely hateful 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 in favour of the recommendations six to one, the only dissenting vote being Vander Doelen himself. Mayor Larry Snively, who initially had called on Vander Doelen to apologize, was not present at the meeting and no reason was given for his absence.

Following Vander Doelen's comments Coun. Steve Bjorkman said he was not just a colleague of Vander Doelen but also a friend. He said he knows Vander Doelen isn't a racist but he said anyone who didn't realize that Trump administration had weaponized the term Chinese flu was just "not being real" and that Vander Doelen's actions was a 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," Bjorkman said.

Coun. Sherry Bondy also suggested that the entire council take diversity training together.

'Fake outrage mob'

Vander Doelen also said that he was a victim in a "well-organized" cancel movement. at one point referring to it as an "organized hit job" pointing toward hateful comments that were posted about him and his family on social media.

He referred to what he called a "fake outrage mob" that claimed that words like his are responsible for anti-Asian attacks seen in U.S. inner-cities and that 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 statues and trying to eliminate our history and our borders and our police departments and genders, are finding racism under every living room couch," Vander Doelen said.

"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:

Coun. Morley Bowman said he did go through the roughly 80 letters submitted to the integrity commissioner from the public and he said while some were in a common format, there were others which came from individuals who he knows and respects, and some of whom 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," Bowman said.