Ontario councillor facing criminal charge speaks at meeting, advocates denied deputation
Advocates attending the meeting of an Ontario municipality shouted their frustrations Tuesday evening, as a councillor facing a criminal charge was allowed to speak on the very topic they had been banned from discussing.
Members of the Women of Ontario Say No advocacy group sat in the Niagara Falls council chamber, alongside supporters of Coun. Mike Strange, where Mayor Jim Diodati struggled to maintain decorum from both sides.
The meeting followed dramatic events in June, where the advocacy group was denied the chance to speak about issues of municipal conduct because the city said it could impact an ongoing legal matter.
After they were told they could not speak, the group attended a June 17 meeting with signs, and its members were arrested. They were later released without charge.
Their frustration bubbled over at Tuesday’s meeting, as Coun. Strange, who was charged with domestic assault in May, was allowed to stand during the council meeting and talk about municipal accountability legislation — and the allegation against him.
The charge against Strange has not been proven in court.
“Every individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Strange said during Tuesday’s meeting.
“This is not just a legal technicality; it is a fundamental protection of fairness and justice in our society. To remove an elected official based on an unproven and unfounded allegation would set a dangerous precedent and undermines the very democratic principles that we rely on.”
His speech was punctuated with expressions of frustration from the advocates and met with applause from his supporters. The councillor had previously asked his friends and supporters to attend the meeting and applauded his speech.
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It has been roughly six weeks since the Women of Ontario Say No first asked to present to Niagara Falls council about municipal reform. Their intention, they say, was to seek support for amendments to provincial law, including having councillors put on paid leave if they are criminally charged.
Emily McIntosh, the founder of the group, said it was “shocking” that Strange was allowed to speak on the very topic her group had been denied a delegation on.
“It really undermines the credibility of council to allow double rules,” she said.
“Frankly, it felt terrible to be on the other side of that, where we were denied the opportunity to speak because it may relate to ongoing legal proceedings — even though that wasn’t the case, it was very general in nature — and then a councillor could get up, not only speak to that but then also speak to his own personal support that he received.”
McIntosh said it was “extremely unprofessional” that council allowed Strange to speak at all on the topic. “This is exactly why the public is losing trust in publicly-elected officials,” she said.
Another councillor did suggest Strange should not address the ongoing legal matter during the meeting, but the city’s CAO said he believed Strange could talk on the topic because he could waive his own privilege rights.
Mayor Diodati, who makes calls on who can speak as the chair of the council meeting, told Strange he should avoid referencing his own situation. He did not intervene when Strange discussed the charge.
McIntosh said she spoke to a member of the local group who turned out to support Strange. She said they agreed to add supporting the Women of Ontario Say No’s municipal reform plans to the agenda at their next meeting.
“So, I will give credit where credit is due,” she said. “It is very fascinating to me that that core group is willing to provide space to discuss and engage and we couldn’t see the same from the Niagara Falls council.”
The Women of Ontario Say No has also retained a lawyer, who wrote to the city and local police after the arrests in June. They are considering a legal challenge to force Niagara Falls to allow them to make their presentation and for a public apology.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Coun. Lori Lococo said her colleagues and the city had not treated the group fairly.
“It was stated that they could not have a delegation; there was no opportunity for something to be put on the agenda,” she said.
“I’m all about fairness — they weren’t treated fairly to provide what they needed. I understand what you’re saying, maybe in the lawyer’s correspondence, they were given that option, but they were not given that option from day one.”
During the meeting, Strange tabled a motion to ask staff to research proposed municipal conduct legislation. He said the advocacy group could speak on the day the staff report is finished, at which point — they say — it will be too late.
The legislation that the Women of Ontario Say No wanted to discuss at Niagara Falls council is currently being debated by a legislative committee, as the Ford government decides if it needs to make changes.
Ontario NDP MPP Jeff Burch said Niagara Falls council was in danger of distracting and taking away from a discussion on how to improve the law.
“It’s really detracting from what is supposed to be a bill that makes the municipal arena safer for women, so more people feel comfortable putting their name in the ring to become councillors and work for municipalities,” he said.
“It’s about making things safer for women and all of these actions designed to silence the voices of women who are trying to make things safer for women is something I find very troubling.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
A new poll by Leger has found that Quebec residents are the happiest in Canada.
The web survey of nearly 40,000 Canadians found that Quebecers rated their happiness at an average of 72.4 out of 100, which is well above the national average.
New Brunswick followed Quebec with an average of 70.2, while Manitoba and Prince Edward Island finished at the bottom of the list.
Mississauga, Ont. had the highest happiness rating of the 10 largest cities, while Toronto was lowest.
Montreal finished second in the category.
The survey found that 49 per cent of respondents said their happiness level was unchanged over the past year, while 23 per said they were happier and 28 per cent said they were less happy.
“These results reveal a population that is both resilient and tested, affected by everyday uncertainty and challenges,” Leger’s executive summary read. “Happiness, while holding its ground overall, shows signs of fragility.”
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The survey found that people in the 18-to-24 and 24-to-34-year-old categories were more likely to report improved feelings of well-being, even if their overall happiness score remained below the national average.
In contrast, people in the 35-to-44 and 45-to-54 age brackets were more likely to report their happiness had deteriorated.
“There is a sense of well-being emerging among younger age groups,” the summary read. “However, this also highlights the importance of supporting adults in mid-life, who are more vulnerable to the pressures of working life.”
Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador were the three provinces with happiness levels above the national average of 68.7. They were followed, in descending order, by Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and P.E.I. The territories were not included in the survey.
In the survey of the 10 largest cities, Mississauga and Montreal finished ahead of Hamilton, Calgary, Brampton, Ottawa, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto, in that order.
Women reported slightly higher happiness levels than men, at 69.4 versus 68.0.
Leger says the overall results confirm “a level of happiness that is relatively high but stagnant or even slightly down compared to the pre-pandemic period.”
To get the results, Leger surveyed 39,841 Canadians aged 18 and up between March 31 and April 13.
Online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Ontario Provincial Police are set to host a town hall in Quadeville, Ont., this evening to answer questions from residents about an attack on an eight-year-old child that was initially linked to an animal.
Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy in the case and he faces charges of attempted murder and sexual assault with a weapon.
Members of the small community 170 kilometres west of Ottawa say they were in shock after hearing about the arrest and hope to get clarity at today’s event in the town’s community centre.
Local resident Christine Hudder says she wants to know how police came up with the animal attack theory and why families were told for days to keep their children indoors.
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The victim was found with life-threatening injuries on June 24 after she was reported missing, and remains in hospital.
Police say they are planning to give as much information as possible to locals given that an investigation is still underway.
A Burlington, Ont., mother was unsettled to discover that an old photo of her children had been used in a fraudulent GoFundMe that attempted to elicit donations in connection the recent Texas floods.
Julie Cole told Global News that a friend had contacted her on social media to say that an old photo of her six children was being used in an attempt to collect ill-gotten gains.
“She reached out to me and she was like, ‘Hey, here’s a link to a GoFundMe. Sorry this has happened to you, but obviously a picture of your kids has been used without your consent and it’s being used for a GoFundMe to raise money, to help a family dealing with the Texas floods,’” she said.
Cole explained that the fake GoFundMe, which has since been removed by the company, was looking for donations to support a widowed mother of six kids in connection.
At least 120 people have died while more than 100 others remain unaccounted for as a result of the flooding, including 27 children and councilors from Camp Mystic.
“They were trying to raise $40,000 because of the three daughters had been victims of the Texas floods,” Cole said. “And the way it was presented felt very much like they were part of maybe that girl’s camp.”
Julie Cole told Global News that a friend had contacted her on social media to make that an old photo of her six children was being used in an attempt to collect ill-gotten gains.
Provided
Cole said once the listing was sent to her, she immediately contacted GoFundMe to get the fundraiser taken down.
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By Wednesday morning, the company had done so and in a statement to Global News, GoFundMe said that the fundraiser did not receive any donations and the account has been banned from creating any further fundraisers on the platform.
“GoFundMe has the most robust donor protection processes of any platform of our kind. We have round the clock trust and safety support, humans and technology making sure funds will get to where they are intended,” the statement offered.
After contacting the company, Cole said she shared the incident on her social media pages to raise awareness.
“So I did put it on my Facebook and I put it in my LinkedIn as like a heads-up learning experience kind of thing and there was a lot of outrage,” she said.
Cole also noted that while she is disappointed by the incident, she is well aware that her troubles are miniscule in comparison to those affected by the flooding.
“I do feel a little bit in myself that what I’m feeling is in no way comparable to what the actual families are feeling who have gone through the tragedies of the flooding,” she said.
The photo came from an old blog post she had written 16 years ago. Cole can date the picture as the baby in the photo is now getting ready to go for his driver’s test.
“I’m one of those, like, OG mommy bloggers from 20 years ago. So my kids have been on the internet. They have been sort of in the public eye,” she explained.
“And I know the risk is out there. And I think parents need to remember that, that their kids’ photos can be just screenshotted and used without consent. So there’s one lesson.
“I felt a little, well, very unsettled about it, particularly because of what it was being used for.”
In addition to being a parenting blogger, she also helped found Mabel’s Labels, which offers washable labels for kids clothing and other school items, in an effort to keep them out of the lost and found.
Julie Cole and her six kids in 2025.
Provided
Being a spokesperson for the company while raising six kids keeps her in the parenting sphere and she offered some other advice to parents about the images and social media.
“I think parents just have to be mindful and aware that once it’s out there, you know you’d like to think you’ll get consent or you’ll give consent if somebody asks or they want to use it, but people will just take it and they can just take,” she said.
“You have to be especially careful now with AI, because these photos can be altered.”
She also warned parents to check with their kids as they get older to see if they are OK with pics being posted and that people should be mindful of where they are sharing their donations.
“Another lesson out of this is people need to really be cautious and know where they’re putting their fundraising dollars,” Cole said.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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