NORWICH – An embattled rural mayor resisted calls for his resignation on Tuesday as citizens blasted local politicians for letting a man charged with stealing Pride flags speak for nearly 30 minutes at a recent meeting, including comparing the Pride movement to Nazis.
Tuesday’s Norwich Township council meeting was moved to a bigger venue to accommodate the expected crowd of residents angered council gave the floor at a recent meeting for a half-hour to the accused flag thief, Jake Dey. About 100 citizens turned out, and one person demanded Mayor Larry Martin’s resignation.
“Each and every (politician) in front of me today holds blame for allowing this putrid hate to be shared at a council meeting,” said Brian Kennedy, president of Norwich Residents for Love and Acceptance. He had submitted to council a 400-signature petition demanding Martin’s exit. “You failed to do your job. Your responsibility is to safeguard what is best for everyone in the community.
“Any one of you could have intervened as elected officials and said that this was unacceptable and stopped it.”
Martin is mayor of Norwich Township, a rural community southeast of London, and also Oxford County’s warden. On Tuesday he resisted the resignation call, but said he “accepted” citizens’ concerns over the offending remarks, noting he and council “didn’t think it was a good idea” to let Dey speak, but were advised that, legally, they had to allow it.
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It was, he added, a “very volatile meeting” that day. “I didn’t want to do anything to make the situation worse. My fear and concern was for the security and well-being of the people gathered at that time.”
A council colleague, Lynne DePlancke, conceded at Tuesday’s meeting that “any of us could have stopped” the anti-LGBQT rant but said: “Honestly, I was in shock.”
She added: “Moving forward as a council we need to take steps so it doesn’t happen again. Please give us some time with a special meeting to deal with this. And we will figure out the best way to move forward.”
Dey, 47, of Tillsonburg, is charged with theft valued at less than $5,000 after several Pride flags were stolen or vandalized during several days in late May in Norwich, a community in Norwich Township. A 16-year-old from Norwich also faces theft charges
Tuesday, more than 100 people showed up to listen to three delegations, whose speakers included 19-year-old Norwich resident Sydney van den Hoek. She spoke about her struggles with coming out in a religious community. “We need ally-ship in the community and we need support,” she said.
Resident Trevor Shelly also addressed council, saying “misunderstanding and miseducation” on key issues “is dividing everyone” in communities like theirs.
Norwich Township, south of Woodstock, has a population of about 11,000. Politicians there and in all Ontario municipalities will face re-election in civic elections this fall.
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