predawn bangkok: London city councillor Sandy White apologizes for using N-word

It?ll be ?zero tolerance? from now on for disrespectful or inappropriate language at London city council, the mayor vows.

Joe Fontana said Wednesday that policy will prevail at city council and committee meetings.

His comment came less than a day after Coun. Sandy White used the ?N-word? during a council debate, leaving many Londoners ? including some of her own political colleagues ? aghast.

White has since apologized.

Asked about the use of the N-word by politicians, experts surveyed by The Free Press were in near-agreement it has no place, with one spin doctor calling its impact ?nuclear.?

Fontana ? who plans to ask White to share her apology at the next council meeting ? said ?the seriousness of this matter requires that further action be taken,? adding White?s language ?was toxic and damaging to not only herself, but to council and London.?

?Should such behaviour occur, the offending party will be required to immediately apologize and retract the language or action,? he said.

?Failure to do so will result in the individual?s removal from the room,? he added.

White said Wednesday she will repeat her apology on the steps of city hall Thursday ? ?I?m going to apologize to the world? ? but that she?s been inundated by calls and emails of support from across Canada, She said supporters back her stand against public transit advertising she found sexist, the issue that triggered her use of the N-word.

White?s used the term as she complained some members of council focused on the problems she created for them by resigning her seat on the London Transit Commission, ignoring her concerns about transit advertising.

She said if her concerns had involved the offensive word or depiction of a penis, her views would have been respected.

Wednesday, White told AM-1290 radio host Steve Garrison she?s felt marginalized by council and her concerns not taken seriously, prompting her use of the offensive term for black people. She said her black daughter had encouraged her to use it for ?shock value.?

Michelle Edwards, who chairs the London Diversity and Race Relations advisory committee, said she saw White?s apology and was satisfied.

?The apology seems sincere and it is appreciated,? she said.

Her committee vice-chair, Patrick Shanahan, said: ?She was trying to make a dramatic point. It is unfortunate the language she used.?

Comments posted about the story and on Twitter produced near-universal condemnation of White?s choice of word.

Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women?s Centre, said the issue is a matter of harassment and White has harassed others on council and they?ve harassed her back.

?She is playing the victim, but she is not a victim,? Walker said. ?She is as much a part of the problem as everybody else who has contributed to a poisoned work environment.?

Walker said Fontana should have taken control of the meeting.

?We need a clear message harassment will not be tolerated,? she said. ?He is responsible for decorum at council meetings.?

Fontana, she said, also made a ?sexist? remark earlier in the same meeting when he saluted the success of Dynamic Kitchens in London, saying: ?all women in London will want their new kitchens.?

White, Walker said, hasn?t been consistent standing up for women?s rights and has supported city spending cuts that hit women especially hard.

?You can?t pick and choose what is sexist and what isn?t,? she said.

Greg Levine, a London lawyer who acts as integrity commissioner for Kitchener, Waterloo and West Lincoln in Niagara Region, said any investigation such as that by Fontana is seldom as effective as one by an integrity commissioner.

Levine said he?s familiar with the code of conduct for elected officials in London, and a mayor who is just another elected official cannot bring third-party independence.

?A commissioner has subpoena power and summons power,? he said, noting a mayor has neither. And a commissioner can issue reprimands or suspension of pay for up to 90 days under Ontario?s Municipal Act.

A commissioner ?isn?t a player on the political scene,? he said of the office London council has opted against creating, instead preferring to have the Ontario Ombudsman look into complaints. But the Ombudsman is restricted to investigating complaints about closed meetings ? not the conduct of councillors.

London?s own code has a provision permitting a judicial investigation, Levine noted, suggesting the city acknowledges the important of outside scrutiny of behaviour. But that step with a judge can be costly.

? with files by Dale Carruthers, Free Press reporter

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WE ASKED: Is there any circumstance in which a politician can use the 'N-word'?

Bob Reid, Veritas Communications, media coach

No. I understand the point she was trying to make, but she used a word that's just plain toxic. It's so bad it obliterates the meaning. Strong language can be powerful under the right circumstances for driving home the message. But if your choice of language overrides the point you're trying to make, that's bad . . .(The n-word) is one of those few words that's nuclear in its effect."

Karen Bird, McMaster University political scientist, specializing in comparative politics and ethnic diversity

Not as an politician . . . As a politician, one has to take more care. It may be impossible to use it as a politician, especially if you're not eloquent. It's potentially very, very damaging for your political career . . . It has a lot of shock value and you don't know how it's going to work on your audience.

Carl Cadogan, Former chair, London's diversity and race relations advisory committee

I think I would expect more from (Sandy White) because she has a black child. She doesn't have an excuse. If she wants to use shock value, she could have gone a whole other way. I'm offended that she's trying to get out of it by shock value. It's absurd. If you're out in public, they shouldn't be using that kind of language, or any other derogatory terms towards other people. To me it's a circuitous way to make a point. I don't know what point she's trying to make other than that she's an ignorant woman who doesn't know how black folk might react to this.

Michelle Edwards, Past chair, London Black History Co-ordinating Committee

Words have history and the potential to harm. People were hurt by the choice of words used at a recent council meeting. The use of the N-word in public or casual conversation is never appropriate. It may be a word identified when exploring historical or societal issues, but only in a learning and educational context.

- compiled by Kate Dubinski, Free Press reporter

Wednesday, March 6, 2013