A letter written earlier this year by the chair of Grey Bruce’s Board of Health about alleged comments made by two colleagues in a private meeting resulted in an external investigation.
Bayshore News has been reviewing video of past Board of Health meetings to analyze board interactions, after Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore last month assumed the powers of the board due to “serious concerns with the board’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities, including issues related to governance, leadership, financial management and human resources.”
Nick Saunders, Chair of the Board of Health for Grey Bruce Public Health in an undated photo (image courtesy of GBPH)
Board of Health Chair Nick Saunders brought a letter to the March 28 regular meeting and then vacated the room, with a request it be read aloud. But the board took action to prevent the letter from being read publicly. All members present in the meeting received a copy, quietly reviewed it for more than two minutes, and then voted to move in-camera.
“This is not a general letter. This is some pointed statements of some particular people. Totally inappropriate I believe to make specific comments about specific people in open session,” Kincardine Mayor Kenneth Craig says, introducing a motion to move in-camera. “There would need to be some smoothing out or directing from the board about how this is presented. I don’t believe it would be appropriate to do that without some board concurrence.”
Bayshore News reviewed a copy of the letter Saunders brought to the March 28 meeting. In it, he shares his perspective on alleged comments made by two board members during an executive committee meeting in February. Public meeting minutes of the Feb. 12 executive committee meeting say it concerned discussion around extending the length of term for the chair and vice-chair of the Board of Health.
Saunders claims West Grey Mayor and Board of Health executive committee member Kevin Eccles “stated he did wish to see me step down as chair and that he was personally going to get me.”
“Whether he was joking or not, this comment is a downright form of bullying and even a form of threatening behaviour and harassment,” Saunders says in his March 28 letter.
Bayshore News contacted Eccles: “I won’t be commenting until the investigation that has resulted from that letter is completed,” he says.
In his letter, Saunders also mentioned Georgian Bluffs Mayor Sue Carleton, a Board of Health executive committee member and former chair: “Mrs. Carleton the former chair had advocated for (a) long time that the position needed to be longer than a one-year term so the chair could have a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the position and would be able to get real work done. Mrs. Carleton then turned around and said that the chair should only be for a one-year term with a possibility of another year should the board or executive see fit.”
Bayshore News contacted Carleton for comment: “Based on that letter an investigation was completed and until that report is presented to the full board that’s not information any of us should be discussing,” she says.
Sources have confirmed to Bayshore News a third-party, external investigation was launched to probe a potential violation of the health unit’s discrimination and harassment policy.
West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles (Photo from West Grey municipal website)
Saunders doesn’t make specific allegations of discrimination in his letter, but goes on to say comments by Eccles and Carleton “have no place in the Health Board of any public setting. For far too long, First Nations people have been disregarded and degraded due to colonial laws and colonial ways of thinking, which still resonate to this day.”
In an interview, Saunders adds: “I’m very leery right now on saying a whole lot, because of the fact this has already been a longstanding issue that’s been going on with individuals that are on the board, making comments. And it took a lot for me to even come out and say what I did say in that letter.”
Saunders became chair of the Grey Bruce Board of Health in December 2024. He is the first Indigenous person to serve as chair of the region’s Board of Health. His appointment required the Board of Health to make changes to its policy governing the election of officers, as it limits chair selection to members from Grey and Bruce counties. Saunders is a provincial appointee to the board and from the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, not either of the two counties.
The Board of Health resolved at its Jan. 28 meeting to remove the limitation on chair selection, public meeting minutes say. They also agreed to extend the term length beyond one year, and “tasked the executive committee with reviewing the policy and providing recommendations on extending term beyond one year.”
But the Board of Health didn’t end up changing term length, resolving at its April 25 meeting to pass a recommendation from the executive committee to continue with annual elections for officers, while adding a clause, “a chair is eligible to serve successive terms.”
Georgian Bluffs Mayor and Board of Health member Sue Carleton (image supplied by Township of Georgian Bluffs)
Saunders says he understands the investigation relating to his March 28 letter has been completed, but the Ministry of Health hasn’t shared the report with Grey Bruce Board of Health members.
“It’s actually sitting in the Ministry of Health’s hands,” Saunders claims. “I don’t even know what the report says … I just know that the investigation is complete.”
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kieran Moore continues to exercise the powers of Grey Bruce’s Board of Health. He acted with authority provided by the Health Protection and Promotion Act to assume control last month, after a review of Grey Bruce Public Health identified “serious concerns with the board’s ability to fulfil its responsibilities, including issues related to governance, leadership, financial management and human resources.”
A separate “assessment report” exists relating to the Ministry of Health’s review of Grey Bruce Public Health’s board. That hasn’t been made public either.
Termination letters signed by Saunders were sent to all seven municipally-appointed members on the Board of Health on Aug. 6. Saunders says he was acting on direction from the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore when he sent the termination letters.
The municipal appointees on the Board of Health later confirmed they received a letter in mid-August from the province’s Chief Medical Officer assuring they remain on the board. But the board hasn’t met since July 25, and the Chief Medical Officer continues to assume its responsibilities.
Bayshore News contacted the Ministry of Health to ask if the external investigation relating to Saunders’ March 28 letter has been completed, and to learn about the process for releasing the report. The inquiry sent to the Ministry also asked if the investigation relates to the Chief Medical Officer’s decision to assume the powers of the Board of Health last month, and what steps need to be taken for local governance to resume.
A Ministry spokesperson emailed a response to the questions that was identical to a statement supplied in mid-August, after the Chief Medical Officer assumed the powers of the region’s Board of Health:
“Following multiple complaints regarding the board’s operations, finances, and governance, the Chief Medical Officer of Health launched an independent review of the Grey Bruce Public Health Unit (GBPHU). The review identified serious concerns with the board’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities, including issues related to governance, leadership, financial management, and human resources,” a Ministry spokesperson says in August 19 and September 16 emails, in response to unrelated questions. “As a result of these findings, the Chief Medical Officer of Health has temporarily assumed the powers of the Board of Health for GBPHU under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. This change does not affect the operations of GBPHU. The public health unit will continue to deliver uninterrupted, high-quality health services to its communities.”