TORONTO – Rob Ford is being asked to apologize on the floor of council for a litany of racial slurs he made on St. Patrick’s Day in 2012 and on March 5, 2014.
Ford is alleged to have repeatedly used slurs in front of his staff and visible minorities in both incidents. He allegedly called a cab driver a racial slur and made “mocking language sounds” while in a cab with some of his city staff.
The integrity commissioner’s report also calls on the former mayor to apologize for a long list of racial slurs in March 2014 which were surreptitiously recorded and provided to the Toronto Star.
“I’m the most racist guy around. I’m the mayor of Toronto,” he is also heard on the tape saying.
Valerie Jepson, the city’s integrity commissioner, found the mayor’s actions breached the city’s code of conduct policies despite him not being at work at the time – he was with city staff, and that was enough, she wrote in an eight-page briefing on her findings.
“The statements and conduct of Mr. Ford were inappropriate,” Jepson wrote.
“The conduct was not just inappropriate – it was abusive, harmful and agreed by society to be unacceptable. Our society’s commitment to avoid this kind of conduct is enshrined in the Ontario Human Rights Code.”
Jepson goes on to say that Ford’s conduct “clearly fell below the standards expected of him.”
The mayor has apologized – a number of times – for his conduct while battling addiction before entering rehab in May 2014. That apology wasn’t specific enough for the complainant which sparked the integrity commissioner’s investigation.
As a result, the integrity commissioner is asking the mayor to apologize at the next council session on March 31.
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