A former Brampton councillor has written to the city demanding that a report regarding an allegation of sexual misconduct be expunged, arguing it has been kept online to discredit him, years after the complainant appears to have withdrawn her claim.
Gurpreet Dhillon, who represented Wards 9 and 10 in the city from 2014 to 2022, was accused by an unnamed complainant of sexual assault and harassment after a trip with the city to Turkey in late 2019.
A report from Brampton’s integrity commissioner in 2020 included a transcript of the alleged incident and found Dhillon had breached the council’s code of conduct. It recommended suspending his pay for 90 days — the maximum penalty.
The complainant in the investigation, however, appears to have since withdrawn her allegation and said she regretted how the process had unfolded.
According to an email from Dhillon obtained by Global News, a letter withdrawing the complaint was sent to the City of Brampton in 2023.
But the report that found he broke the code of conduct remains on its website.
In a lengthy message to the city’s current legislators, Dhillon alleged the city solicitor, integrity commissioner and members of council had failed to remove the report in order to discredit him.
“I am writing to you directly because it has become undeniable that the legal and administrative processes regarding the July 2020 Integrity Commissioner’s (IC) report are being deliberately weaponized for political purposes,” part of the message said.
“The City Solicitor’s Office and the IC have intentionally misled or delayed giving crucial information to Council.”
A spokesperson for the City of Brampton said the integrity commissioner is arms-length and that the city would “not be providing comment on the substance of the allegations referenced” because they were not responsible for the report.
The city’s integrity commissioner did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
John Mascarin, a lawyer and municipal expert, said it was a “fascinating” case of the split in responsibilities between integrity commissioners, councillors and the city itself.
The initial complaint came in early 2020, relating to a business trip in November 2019.
According to the integrity commissioner report, the complainant, a business owner in the city, alleged that an incident occurred while Dhillon was in her hotel room. In her report, the integrity commissioner recommended the councillor’s pay be suspended.
“I wish to state that I am displeased that there is no avenue (at least insofar as it relates to my mandate and jurisdiction) that allows for Councillor Dhillon’s immediate removal from city council,” the integrity commissioner wrote at the time.
The report included a transcript of the alleged situation, which the integrity commissioner said she had heard a recording of.
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
The investigation said the complainant had gone to Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who then spoke to the integrity commissioner.
The integrity commissioner also interviewed the former chair of the Brampton Board of Trade, who was on the trip and, according to the report, said he had been told about the incident when he was overseas.
Brampton’s head of economic development was also interviewed, who was told about it after the trade mission. The integrity commissioner also said she had spoken to a lawyer in Turkey who “assisted the Complainant in dealing with the incident” in January 2020.
At the time, Peel Regional Police said they’d interviewed the complainant but determined they had no jurisdiction over what happened in Turkey.
No charges were laid, and Dhillon vehemently denied the allegations.
Complaint appears to be withdrawn
According to the email Dhillon recently sent to Brampton City Council, the complainant then contacted the city in 2023 to withdraw her complaint. The former councillor’s email included a letter, with the signature redacted, in which the complainant appeared to retract the allegation she had made.
“While I understand that my initial accusation may have brought attention to certain issues, I now realise that my accusations were misguided,” the letter, also seen by Global News, said.
“I have come to realise that my memory of the events in question may have been clouded by a number of factors including emotional distress, misinformation and coercion from people who were not genuine with their intentions.”
Global News contacted the lawyer who represented the unnamed complainant for comment. He said he wasn’t able to contact her and therefore couldn’t comment.
Two years ago, a local Brampton media outlet reported the city solicitor had informed councillors the allegation had been withdrawn through a memo, which did not address why.
Global News was also unable to contact the complainant, who remains unnamed.
Around the same time the complaint was first made, in city council meetings, Dhillon was among several members who then opposed Mayor Brown on a number of issues.
They sought to launch investigations into contracts they alleged he was tied to and removed both the current integrity commissioner and city solicitor, who they suggested were aligned with the mayor.
In the summer of 2022, Brown held a news conference to claim that public money had gone to a settlement involving the complainant. Dhillon said the move was “clearly politically motivated” and announced he planned to take legal action.
A few months later, Dhillon ran for re-election and was defeated.
The solicitor and integrity commissioner
In the email he sent to all councillors last week, Dhillon alleged that the fact that the letter appearing to withdraw the complaint had not been made public was deliberate.
He accused the city solicitor and integrity commissioner of “intentionally” misleading councillors about the case or delaying the release of information.
“Both senior city officials were dismissed by a Council majority, which included me, last term following concerns that bias had influenced their conduct and performance,” he wrote.
“They were reinstated to their positions, and they have since undertaken a coordinated effort against me. In my opinion, this is a clear act of personal retribution for their prior termination.”
The integrity commissioner did not respond to questions sent by Global News — but the city said in a statement it could not act without her direction.
“Under the Municipal Act, 2001, municipalities are required to appoint an Integrity Commissioner, who operates as an independent statutory officer responsible for applying the Code of Conduct, conducting investigations, and reporting on their findings,” a spokesperson wrote.
“City Council’s role is limited to appointing the Integrity Commissioner and receiving reports and any associated recommendations.”
Withdrawing integrity commission complaints appears relatively rare, and Ontario’s council ethics watchdogs are generally guided by codes of ethics somewhat unique to the cities they serve.
Earlier this year, Fort Erie council voted to withdraw an integrity commissioner against Niagara Region chair Bob Gale after he resigned. That vote was for a complaint rather than a report, which are triggered when complaints are submitted.
Mascarin said he felt the integrity commissioner’s independence meant it was incumbent on their office to correct investigations if they became aware the facts had changed.
“As the integrity commissioner, I would want to do that because it’s my report, so I feel it should be on the integrity commissioner,” he explained. “Now, I understand how someone could say, ‘Hey, council, it’s your website, you’re the ones that should do something.’ But it’s not their report.”
Part of the concern about leaving the decision to council, he said, was that it could set a precedent of councillors trying to amend independent integrity commissioner reports they didn’t agree with.
“It is an independent report from an integrity commissioner that otherwise,” he said. “I would not like it if someone went and removed a report that I felt should remain on there, for instance.”
Separately in his email, Dhillon also accused unnamed members of council of “political obstruction” to “prolong” the issue. He claimed they had demanded he “not run for office” — but did not include evidence of those threats in the message he sent.
In the email he sent to all councillors, Dhillon said he was “only interested in the restoration of the truth and my good name.”
He said he would waive his claim of $6 million in damages for defamation if the report was removed and a public statement issued by the city.
“I have consistently attempted to resolve this matter quietly to protect the City from the embarrassment of a public trial,” the message said. “Instead, I have been forced to jump through one procedural hoop after another in what has become a calculated effort to avoid a resolution.”
In a brief statement to Global News, Dhillon said he was “disappointed” his complaint was public but “hopeful Council will finally act and clear this defamatory report so my family and the City of Brampton can move forward.”
