Sarnia's integrity commissioner (IC) has released two more reports on code of conduct violations by City/County Councillor Bill Dennis.
The first report, which is 54 pages long, outlines complaints filed by the Executive Director and Senior Legal Counsel at Community Legal Assistance Sarnia, a community legal clinic largely funded by Legal Aid Ontario.
The complaints followed an email sent on October 1, 2024 by Andrew Bolter, who had provided input on the Rainbow Park encampment for council to consider before a motion was presented at a Sarnia council meeting.
Dennis responded within minutes, but Bolter said his email included information about his personal involvement as a private citizen in the development of the Village of Point Edward’s new open burn fire bylaw.
Bolter said councillor Dennis incorrectly alleged that he had “personally fought the Village of Point Edward over backyard fires” in the reply, which was cc'd to all recipients.
When Bolter corrected Dennis and asked him to retract his statement, Dennis replied to all recipients, "Andrew, if you continue to slander me on social media I will sue the s--t out of you. Go f--k yourself. Kind regards, Bill Dennis Sarnia City/County Councillor.”
When questioned, Dennis' legal representative Matthew Olsen claimed the councillor had interpreted Bolters request for a retraction as a formal notice of pending litigation.
In his analysis, Integrity Commission Benjamin Drory said he's "nearly out of role-appropriate descriptions for such conduct."
"I honestly expect any random eight-year-old could probably quickly identify the problem in this comment, and that Sarnia citizens don’t generally require a proclamation from the integrity commissioner to establish whether this reflected well on the city or not. Councillor Dennis’ words are understood by everybody, and I have no need to formally define them – they were vulgar and disrespectful towards Mr. Bolter," Drory wrote.
He said Dennis' comments plainly contravene the section of the code of conduct which mandates a member shall not use any words, phrases, expression or behave in a way that is indecent, abusive or insulting toward any member of the public, another member or staff.
Drory concluded he has now issued "several reports" finding councillor Dennis contravened the code of conduct, and already stated that he has "exhibited no remorse for his action" and "continues to display similar conduct."
"In these circumstances, it is difficult to conceive of a remedial recommendation that would make me confident similar conduct won’t recur in the future," Drory repeated from his previous statements.
"I reiterate that the only power available to me under provincial legislation is to recommend either a reprimand (which I would find utterly insufficient) or a suspension of the member of council’s pay for a period of up to 90 days. But I have personal doubts about how effective a monetary penalty would be against Councillor Dennis," Drory stated.
Drory has recommend city council impose a 30-day suspension of councillor Dennis’ remuneration for his conduct, but said the decision "ultimately belongs to council."
Drory included a written statement sent to him from Olsen on May 23, 2025, in response to his draft report.
"On behalf of Mr. Dennis, I respond as follows as per his instruction," Olsen wrote. "With all due respect the conclusions made in this report are completely at law unfounded. The basis of the complaint is entirely political. This matter is as stated, appropriately, entirely, outside of your jurisdiction. The continued allowance of political retribution is in my mind degrading of your position. This matter will now be forwarded to my client with my recommendation that this decision be judicially reviewed. My client is currently exploring the potential for whether this conduct could possibly give rise to a claim for abuse of statutory authority, or malfeasance in public office, or some other related cause of action."
In Drory's second report to council, which was 22 pages long, he investigated a complaint filed about a Facebook comment Dennis made following city council's special meeting on January 27.
Results of an independent investigation into a workplace harassment matter at city hall were released at that meeting, and council decided to ban Dennis from in-person meetings once they were reinstated.
Dennis called the decision an "absolute sham."
"My left wing political opponents are trying to tip the scales and do everything they can to silence me," Dennis wrote in the social media post. "When a broken system tells you that you are wrong. You know that you are on the right side. I’m a change agent, an outsider that puts people before their warped ideological based agenda and as such I’m huge threat to them. So they are doing everything they can to stop me. We’re living in an upside down world where sanity is extremism. Never be afraid to challenge entrenched interests and failed power structures. When you know what you stand for you know what to fight for. I will never give up. I will never give in. I will never quit fighting for you. Never Surrender. Fight Fight Fight."
Dennis claimed council chose stiffer penalties than what was recommended.
"The only recommendation was that myself and the CAO should not be alone together in council chambers or virtually," he said.
Drory said in the second statement, Dennis released confidential information which contravened the code of conduct.
"I believe a reprimand is appropriate in these circumstances," Drory wrote in his decision. "The evidence supports that councillor Dennis improperly published information about the contents of the confidential workplace investigation report, by stating that council chose stiffer penalties than the investigator recommended."
Again, Drory said the decision respecting any appropriate penalty against councillor Dennis for the breach belongs to council.
In response to the second draft report, Olsen sent an identical written comment on councillor Dennis' behalf as what was received for the first report.
Drory said he considers both matter to be concluded now.
Sarnia council will consider his recommendations during its regular meeting in council chambers on Monday, June 23 at 1 p.m.
Councillor Dennis, who is barred from city hall and from attending in-person meetings, must attend virtually.