The candidate previously appointed to the vacant seat on the London Police Service Board says that he does not agree with councils’ recent decision to review other candidates, while former members believe the ruling is a step in the right direction.
In a motion proposed by Mayor Josh Morgan, councillors voted 13-2 on Tuesday to refer the matter back to the strategic priorities and policy committee (SPPC) so the top candidates can be interviewed rather than vote to appoint Ryan Gauss to fill the vacant seat.
Former chair of the police board Susan Toth stressed to Global News the continued need for greater diversity on the board.
“There is power in pausing to slow things down. But at what cost,” she said.
“It took so much effort outpouring from the community (and) from allies,” she continued. “You saw in the in city hall, these Indigenous people who are again shouldering the burden of coming forward and saying ‘we’re here, you have come to our celebrations, you have told us truth and reconciliation is important, and yet, here we are, again, asking you to make your words actions.’”
The issue over Gauss’s appointment started to mount after the SPPC selected him over 53 other applicants on March 28.
The next day, Toth criticized councillors for “sticking with the status quo” and choosing not to select someone as equally qualified with a diverse background.
Following that, a letter signed by six former members of the board, including Toth, later urged council to change their verdict, sparking additional tension in the ongoing debate about diversity on the board.
Toth, who resigned from the police board back in January, said in her resignation speech that she hoped a visible minority would be appointed to replace her, noting the Comprehensive Police Services Act that calls on boards to recognize population diversity, “directing the province and municipality to consider it a priority.”
She said that because of that, her standing on Gauss’s appointment “shouldn’t come as a surprise.”
“People have come to me and said ‘(city council) didn’t really know it was going to be a media thing,’ or that it was going to bring attention from the public and scrutiny. And I said, how do you not know? It’s 2023. At this point in time, having a board where six out of seven members are white is just frankly ludicrous,” she said.
Toth added that while she has a “great deal of respect” for Gauss, she said that he should “go back to the roots of Truth and Reconciliation calls to action (and) also be reflecting about the harm he’s doing and considering whether or not it is in the best interest of the community to step aside.”
“There were some comments (Tuesday) about concerns that Mr. Gauss was under attack. I never saw that. What I saw over and over again was everyone saying we recognize his qualifications,” she said. “To center this conversation about him rather than about Black and Indigenous people and racialized people who have, for generations, suffered harm, that’s really concerning to me.
“This is not about Ryan, except for the fact that he refuses to step aside.”
Speaking with Global News Wednesday morning, Gauss said that while he accepts councils’ decision, he does not agree with it.
“I think that there was a process that was put in place, people applied to the process with the parameters that were outlined, and the process unfolded and it happened in a fair and transparent way,” he said. “If we want to have a discussion about whether or not the process is flawed, I’m all for that.”
In regards to the amount of criticism Gauss said that he has faced over the past week, he said “It’s been absolutely disgusting.”
“I’ve been accused of being a racist, both indirectly and directly. I’ve been accused of being a hack. I’ve been accused of being meritless. I’ve been accused of being a political insider. I’ve been accused of not being qualified. I’ve been accused of being greedy (and) accused of being in it only for myself. And I’ve been accused of being in it because I just want to pad my CV or that I want to run for political office. Every single one of those things is absolutely false and the fact that anyone would accuse me of being racist is abhorrent and shame on you,” he said.
Gauss, who is currently the director of operations for London-North Liberal MP Peter Frangiskatos and formerly served as campaign manager for Mayor Morgan in 2022, said that no matter what role he’s in, his commitment is to help those in the community.
“Anyone who knows me and knows the commitment that I’ve had in any job that I take is to help people that are suffering in any way, no matter the color of their skin, the language that they speak, the country that they come from, the disability that they might have, or the background that they come from. I will be their ally no matter what,” he stressed. “Anyone that doesn’t know me to have the audacity to say that, it’s absolutely disgusting and it’s everything that’s wrong with politics.”
He added that while multiple people were calling on him to pull his nomination, no one reached out to him personally.
“They went to the media, and they put it on social media,” he said. “For the record, all those people know how to contact me. All those people have either worked on campaigns with me or worked in the community with me and know exactly how to touch base with me and have an honest and frank dialogue.
“I think it’s important to take a step back and say I did absolutely nothing wrong,” Gauss continued. “I applied to an open and transparent process that anyone could have applied to. It was posted on the city website.
“Yes, I work for a member of Parliament. Yes, I ran the mayor’s campaign. Those are facts. But those relationships were not leveraged at all. The mayor is allowed one vote in this process, and I wasn’t even his first vote in the process either. So, I find it really hard that the people are trying to villainize people who’ve applied for an open position.”
“I also want to really stress the point too, that someone can be an ally, can believe deeply in reconciliation, in diversity and fighting for those marginalized, underrepresented, and racialized communities, and still want to serve,” Gauss added. “It’s not one or the other, they can go hand in hand.
“I’ll fight for anyone, because I do what’s right.”
“And the fact that people were saying to me that ‘either you step aside or you’re not for reconciliation, you step aside or you’re not for diversity,’ I just think they’re missing the picture and I think it’s unfair.”
While no decision was made Tuesday on how councillors will determine the top five applicants, going back to Toth, she also said that the appointment process could be updated, citing that council’s initial decision to appoint Gauss was “an unwillingness to approach issues from that truth and reconciliation and diversity lens.”
“Even though that’s built into the strategic plan, and there’s been commitments, and Mayor Morgan campaigned on those platforms and made campaign promises to the City of London about representation,” she continued. “So, is there room for improvement? Sure. Is the issue far deeper than that? Absolutely.”
However, Gauss said that he still plans to keep his name in the running to fill the seat on the board.
“I think that with the skill set I have; I can help improve and build upon our police service here in London. That’s my goal, that’s what I want to do, and that hasn’t changed,” he said. “I still believe in my community. I still believe in wanting to help my community. And this was one small way that I thought I could give back to a community that has been home for me since the day it was born.”
– with files from Global News’ Marshall Healey
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