The city of Montreal is burying the hatchet with former borough mayor Sue Montgomery and her chief of staff Annalisa Harris. The latter will receive $130,000 and $170,000 respectively as part of out-of-court agreements to resolve a dispute from 2019.
This year, the mayor of the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district, Sue Montgomery, refused to fire her chief of staff. According to an internal report from the Division of Respect for Persons (DRP), she was accused of bullying two district officials.
The city had denied Ms. Montgomery access to that internal report, which fueled the issue and led to lawsuits on both sides. Ms. Montgomery had also been excluded from Mayor Plante’s team and her Projet Montréal party.
On Friday, the mayor said she was satisfied that the parties had reached an agreement.
In a press release issued alongside the end of the trial, the City of Montreal mentions that the court ruled that the City of Montreal should have given Ms. Montgomery, as mayor of the city, a full copy of the DRP reports to Ms. Harris’s employers.
In the same press release, the city also mentions that the court questioned certain findings of the DRP and that the ban imposed on Ms. Harris from communicating with district officials was unreasonable and should not have been imposed.
The worst years of my life
There is relief on the part of the two complainants. “I am glad to have stood up for what was right and maintained my integrity,” Ms. Montgomery wrote in a statement.
I sincerely hope that my experience and that of Annalisa will change the city and that no one has to experience what we experienced.
She describes the last four years as the worst of her life.
For her part, in response to the out-of-court settlement, Annalisa Harris told CBC News that she can finally move forward and clear her name. [s]we name. “I knew I had done nothing wrong, but I constantly had to justify myself,” confided the young woman.
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Annalisa Harris, former chief of staff to Côte-des-Neiges Mayor Sue Montgomery. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Benoit Chapdelaine
She hopes her case can shed light on what she calls an unhealthy work culture in Montreal city government.
With information from Antoni Nerestant, CBC News