Today, our City Council received the report against me condemning the criticism of the @AdvisoryLgbtq and officially reprimanded me for what members of Council continue to classify as a "breach of privacy" and "publicizing private information". #HamOnt

I've already made my views known about the chilling effect that I believe Council's use of the office of the Integrity Commissioner to investigate a volunteer will have on future engagement from members of oppressed communities, so I won’t rehash those points here.

What I do want to clarify is just how the @cityofhamilton, including the Mayor, Council and senior staff, is defining "private information". To be clear, I did not reveal the names of any individuals as part of my tweet, despite what has been suggested at Council today.

What happened? In late October 2019, the City Clerk asked the @AdvisoryLgbtq to remove the names of 2 individuals from its original May 2019 motion. After some discussion, the Committee voted to remove the names as requested and a new version of the motion was adopted in public.

The new version contained the professional titles and *no names* (that's the version I tweeted). At the time of my tweet, in February, as it still the case *today*, the *original* motion containing the names was up on the City's own website (as it has been since September 2019).

How did it get there? The @AdvisoryLgbtq sent it as context for a delegation request to the Hamilton Police Services Board in September 2019. For reasons that are still unclear, it was never redacted by staff or removed from the City's website after the new motion was adopted.

To summarize, if you're still with me, the original version of the document that the City claims caused a "privacy breach" is being shared on the City's website publicly, as I type this, containing the actual names of the individuals involved. Yes, it's confusing.

I pointed all of this out to the Integrity Commissioner in my lengthy response to the draft findings, but this was not incorporated into their public report to Council. From what I can tell, the IC didn’t inform City staff or Council of this before or during today's presentation.

I want to add that I'm thankful to Councillors @NrinderWard3, @ward1wilson, and @JohnPaulDanko for voting against the motion to receive the IC's report. I know many will continue to stand with me in what will be a long fight for our voices to be heard by our elected officials.

Their investigation of a volunteer, and their vote today to reprimand me, proves just how far we have yet to go. At this moment, I'm thinking of the members of marginalized communities, and other committee members, who must be as confused as I am about what their role is.

The City needs to hear these voices, especially from those who aren't heard as loudly or as often as mine is. I recognize how much privilege I have. Using the Integrity Commissioner against a volunteer will have a negative impact.

None of this has diminished my commitment to advocate on behalf of Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities. I will stand with and support anyone who needs help, just as Hamilton has stood with and supported me during this very difficult time. Thank you all for your support.