TORONTO – The Scarborough father of an autistic child has launched a formal complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner over councillor Doug Ford’s comment that a support centre for autistic children had “ruined” an Etobicoke neighbourhood.
In May, Ford attended a public meeting with residents upset with the Griffin Centre. They complained about the noise its handful of residents made, and said emergency vehicles had attended the house at more than one occasion.
“You’ve ruined the community,” the Etobicoke Guardian quotes Ford as telling the facility’s staff.
“You can’t destroy a community like this. People have worked 30 years for their home. … My heart goes out to kids with autism. But no one told me they’d be leaving the house. If it comes down to it, I’ll buy the house myself and resell it.”
“I think the comments he made about the centre and about the kids in the centre are unbecoming of a councillor,” Tommy Lenathen told reporters at city hall Thursday.
Lenathen wants Ford to apologize, take sensitivity training and, ultimately, resign.
“Not apologize to me, apologize to the staff and to the parents of autistic kids,” he said.
“They don’t go out and pee in the park like his brother, they don’t do drugs, they don’t do all that nonsense and for the implications that he made saying the crime goes up in that area when they’ve got a crackhouse down the street and he doesn’t say anything about the crackhouse,” Lenathen said referring to a crackhouse on Windsor Road, police documents allege the mayor hung out at.
Lenathan has a 26-year-old autistic child, who is not part of the Griffin Centre, and has been a city employee for 35 years. He was originally hesitant about filing a complaint he said, fearing the professional repercussions of openly complaining about a councillor.
“They’re a vindictive bunch of bastards,” he said, referring to some city councillors.
The Integrity Commissioner’s office refused to comment Thursday on any possible investigation.
The city’s code of conduct says councillors have “a duty to treat members of the public, one another, and staff appropriate and without abuse, bullying or intimidation.”
Doug Ford could not be reached for comment.
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