After attempting to silence advocates Councillor Mike Strange faces integrity commissioner complaint

The political and legal turmoil engulfing Niagara Falls council has intensified. 

A formal complaint has been filed with the City’s Integrity Commissioner against Councillor Mike Strange over his conduct during the July 8, 2025 public meeting when he urged members of the Falls View Hose Brigade to fill the council chamber to silence members and supporters of The Women of Ontario Say No (WOSN) who planned to attend the meeting.

Submitted by resident Joedy Burdett, the complaint alleges multiple breaches of the City’s Code of Conduct and Procedural Bylaw, along with potential violations of human rights law and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.

Burdett is a longtime Niagara Falls small-business owner who ran for council in the 2022 municipal election, and more recently returned to the ballot as an independent candidate in the 2025 provincial election.

As reported by The Pointer, Strange is currently facing a criminal charge after Niagara police responded to his home on May 3, 2025, and discovered an injured woman. A short time later, Strange was located and apprehended. He was subsequently charged with assault in connection with the alleged incident of intimate partner violence. Strange has proclaimed his innocence; the criminal charge has not yet been tested in court.

The July 8 council meeting, which set the stage for the latest turn of events in a protracted controversy between Niagara Falls senior officials including Mayor Jim Diodati and women trying to draw attention to proposed new provincial legislation aimed at holding municipal politicians more accountable, attracted a packed audience. 

As first reported by The Pointer, Strange had quietly circulated an email request in advance of the meeting, urging members of the Falls View Hose Brigade, his longtime social club, to attend.  

The councillor called on his fellow members to support him and take up all the space so the women would have no place to sit. He asked that the men he reached out to “drown out” the voice of any woman that might attend the council meeting. For their support Strange promised the Hose Brigade members free pizza and drinks after the meeting. 

WOSN founder Emily McIntosh had twice requested to speak before council, but had been denied by the City Clerk citing obscure legal reasons. Mayor Diodati had repeatedly sidelined the women who attempted to attend previous council meetings and McIntosh who had requested to address the proposed provincial legislation ahead of a public hearing in Niagara Falls organized by Queen’s Park to gather feedback from residents on how to best create more accountability to prevent municipal politicians from harassing or assaulting colleagues and members of the public.

The repeated efforts to deny the women a chance to address the proposed legislation had sparked protest, leading to the arrest of three women at a previous council meeting.  

Many members of the Hose Brigade attended the meeting last month to support Strange, attempting to pack the council chamber, applauding the councillor when he defended himself against the criminal charge—in his email to members he directed them to “stand up and clap” when he finished speaking. 

Strange was able to address his criminal matter even though McIntosh was explicitly told that she would not be allowed to address council because Diodati and senior staff feared she might mention the criminal case, even though McIntosh had made it clear she would only address the proposed provincial legislation, known as bill 9. 

Representatives and supporters of WOSN, a grassroots movement advocating for greater accountability and transparency of council members who are charged with serious crimes, sought to speak before council to raise concerns about the way bill 9 was initially drafted, calling for better accountability to the public when they are charged or convicted of crimes like assault or harassment. The group had first been denied an opportunity to speak at the June 17 council meeting. 

At the July 8 meeting, Diodati again ruled that WOSN could not speak and, according to Strange’s email to the Hose Brigade, the mayor would act like he was cautioning the councillor but was part of the plan to make sure Strange got to defend himself in the criminal matter. 

During the meeting, after Diodati instructed Strange not to discuss his criminal assault charge, the mayor did nothing to stop the councillor when he used the public platform to speak about his case.

“I am aware of the assault charge currently before the court,” Strange began. “I must also emphasize a core value of our legal system. In Canada, every individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Diodati was silent, unlike his repeated efforts to shut down the women.

Councillor Mike Strange is facing an integrity commissioner complaint over his plans to silence advocates during a July council meeting and for statements he made about the criminal charge he is currently facing.

(Jerry Manco for The Pointer)

Burdett’s complaint argues that by rallying the Hose Brigade to “silence women and women-led advocacy groups” for his own purposes, and by using his platform as an elected official to influence the outcome of a personal legal matter, Strange committed multiple breaches of the Code of Conduct, his human rights obligations and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act—actions that, the complaint asserts, undermined council’s authority and eroded public trust in its ability to uphold its own rules.

The complaint further identifies much of the language Strange used in rallying the Hose Brigade as particularly troubling, noting that it directly targeted women for exclusion and created a hostile environment for their participation in the democratic process.

A copy of the message sent by Councillor Mike Strange that was emailed to members of the Falls View Hose Brigade.

(Supplied)

The complaint also raises concerns under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, claiming that by addressing his own criminal case in a council setting, Strange blurred the line between his personal legal interests and his public duties. The filing requests the Integrity Commissioner investigate this as a potential conflict and consider referral to a judge (an IC is only able to review contraventions of the Code of Conduct) which could result in penalties up to and including removal from office.

Burdett is recommending Strange be given a formal reprimand; suspension of remuneration for up to 90 days; mandatory equity and human rights training; provide a public apology; a repayment of identified costs; and possible judicial review under the MCIA.

Under the current system, if Strange is found to have contravened the code of conduct the IC can only make recommendations as to what the penalty should be, the final decision rests with council, or a Superior Court judge in the case of a conflict of interest Act violation.

In a written response to The Pointer, Burdett stressed that his decision to file a complaint was neither politically motivated nor vexatious. He said the complaint rests entirely on documented facts and is unrelated to Councillor Strange’s personal legal situation. Burdett emphasized that his only objective is to ensure Strange’s conduct at the July 8 meeting is reviewed under the Niagara Falls Code of Conduct.

“The identity of the member is not relevant to my motivation, had any councillor acted in the way Councillor Strange did, I would have filed the same complaint,” he explained.

The Integrity Commissioner complaint against Councillor Strange comes amid growing scrutiny of Niagara Falls council’s handling of accountability, public access and women’s voices in civic life. This latest complaint follows a series of escalating incidents. 

On June 17, Mayor Diodati ordered police to remove and arrest three women who silently held small signs with the words “The Women of Ontario Say No” inside council chambers. He justified the arrests by citing the City’s Decorum Policy for Public Meetings, which prohibits “objects and symbolic materials” unless used for formal presentations. The women were peaceful and did not disrupt proceedings but refused to remove the signs from their laps as the mayor directed them to.

Demonstrators at the June 17 council meeting holding signs that led to three of them being arrested.

(Ed Smith/The Pointer)

The sign ban and the arrests quickly drew legal challenges. The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) described it as “disproportionate, unreasonable, and unconstitutional”. The organization has taken up a case on behalf of one of the arrested women, Lauren O’Connor, a resident of Niagara Falls, through its new Municipal Censorship Defence Fund. Meanwhile, lawyer Susan Toth of Spero Law put both the City and Niagara Regional Police on notice, calling the arrests a clear Charter breach and demanding the policy banning signs be repealed under Charter language that allows all Canadians to express themselves peacefully. Legal actions against the City and Niagara Police for ordering the arrests are pending.

Together, the June 17 arrests, the conduct of Diodati and Strange, the pending legal challenges against the sign ban and the new integrity commissioner complaint underscore a deepening crisis of confidence in municipal government in Niagara Falls. 

Ultimately, Burdett said, it will be up to the Integrity Commissioner — not him — “to ensure the events of July 8th receive a fair and unbiased review”.

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