Carnegie Centre Director Wants to Know the Truth About William Simpson's Barring

by Rachel Davis | January 24, 2008 at 10:59 am

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This is a letter I recently wrote a fellow Director of the Board at the Carnegie Centre. He had written to the board asking for information about the barring of another Board Member, William Simpson, from the Carnegie.

Only one board member replied, and she said that it would take too much time, and referred him to Ethel Whitty for the "Bullet points". I thought it best that he receive a take on the high ( or should we say "low"? ) lights of this story from another source as well.

We on the board have been told to state, when communicating through media, that we individually do not represent the board in an official manner. Only Margaret Prevost, our President can do that.

I wish she would!

In aid of that I'm sending her a post of this article so she can leave a comment. Until that time when I am told what the Board of Director's official position on the William Simpson barring is: I do not represent the board in it's entirety.

Here is my letter in reply to this new Board Member's request for information:

Thank you for asking for a factual answer to the your questions about the William Simpson affair. I applaud your efforts as a new board member to apprise yourself of the facts in this case. If any one else has something to offer about this story, please do so.

Nov. '06:
The library/ learning centre committee met and decided to take their concerns about William allegedly being the blogger in question at Downtowneastsideenquirer.blogspot.com and allegedly using Carnegie computers to blog on, to Security. This is in the minutes of that meeting.

Dec '06:
Lucy Alderson took it to Skip, our head of security and he was barred from all computers in the building and the learning centre. There was no proof that he was the blogger, and he has not been given, or properly directed to an "incident report" ( when a patron asks for a document that the Carnegie is unwilling to give, they are to be directed to an Information Officer for the City ) which is supposed to accompany all barrings.

June '07:
He was elected to the board of directors. ( Paul accused him in the Carnegie Newsletter--Aug 1st. '07, entitled "The Carnegie Centre Association" --of winning votes by fraud I.E. his declaring " I am not the blogger" at his speech prior to voting, the board recognized that as libel, and it was voted that he apologize. He did so in the following issue.)

June 21st:
He was met at the door by Ethel Whitty and Dan Tetrault, who gave him a letter from City Hall barring him from the building that was written by Jacquie Forbes Roberts General Manager in charge of Community Services. I attach a scanned copy of that letter. It says that he violates the Carnegie Guidelines by having a link on his own website to the Downtowneastsideenquirer.blogspot.com, which is not his website, but an anonymous blog. It does not mention a WorkSafe situation. I would also like to point out that Carnegie Security was not involved in this barring from the building in any way. William was told he would not be legally charged, and no specifics were given when he asked about which article on the Downtowneastsideenquirer.blogspot.com was libel or inaccurate innuendo.

June 25th:
Ethel Whitty met with the board during our meeting to elect the officers of the board to tell us about the William Simpson barring, but we were not allowed to ask questions at that meeting. We were told that it was a "WorkSafe" situation, that a staff member felt threatened in some way that Ethel would not divulge, and so William had been barred. William was not allowed to vote by phone, as per the Society Act.

July:
Ethel writes a senior member that she had actually said a WorkSafe "type" of situation at that meeting, not an actual "WorkSafe" one. At a Community Relations Committee meeting she tells 8 people the same thing. The Committee votes that it goes to PIVOT with our concerns.

Nov.
I am told again by Ethel that it is a "WorkSafe" situation, and that she is not responsible for it in any way, and has no influence with Jacquie Forbes Roberts on this matter. I call WorkSafe for verification. I am told by Bob Smith that William would be contacted by them if there was claim against him. William says he has not been contacted. Later, I am told by Gordon Harnkness who is in charge of the geographical location that the Carnegie falls under, that there has been no assessment of William Simpson.

Dec. 24th:
Miro Cernetig interviews Ethel Whitty and Jacquie Forbes Roberts for an article in the Vancouver Sun entitled "No Home for the Holidays Here". Neither of them mentions WorkSafe.

Jan 3rd '08:
Ethel tells the CBC that the barring is due to a WorkSafe situation. She also says he simply violated the Carnegie Guidelines.

Jan 8th '08:
Ethel writes William an email and asks him to come in for a meeting with her.

Jan. 23rd;
William Simpson replies to Ethel Whitty. He says, in part, that since she was not the one who barred him, and she has always abdicated any responsibility for his barring, he doesn't see a meeting with her as being helpful.

As far as Paul Taylor's accusation against the Vancouver Sun in the Jan 15th edition of the Carnegie Newsletter: http://carnegie.vcn.bc.ca/index.pl/january_1508_Page01#3659

Conspiracy against the Carnegie's anti-gentrification movement would be very hard to prove either way. I was not concerned about the legal ramification of that writing, although it does seem farfetched, inadvisable and not conducive to good community relations. Paul Taylor's personal opinions of Miro Cernetig's writing, that he is a "hack"who writes "trash" and "piddle", are his own, and merely that, opinions.

What I was concerned about is the legal and moral dilemma provided by his claim that Simpson's barring was due to a "Security" concern.

Thank you for your interest. There is a good article on NowPublic that outlines this situation, and it provides links to the various CBC interviews by Ethel Whitty, William and myself, plus the TalkBack messages as well. Just cut and paste the address below. The Vancouver Sun article is on the board on the second floor, unless it has been taken down again. In that case, it is still online.

It is easy to see how the attempt to stop negative press about the Carnegie Centre has backfired. Now, there are not only mainstream press articles and radio interviews, but the number of blogsites that write frequently on this situation has tripled, as well, the number of Websites linked to the Downtowneastsideenquirer.blogspot.com has multiplied. David Berner, for instance, is now linked. I sincerely hope this situation resolves soon.

http://www.nowpublic.com/politics/bills-barring-boondoggle-whats-carnegies-real-reason

Best Regards,

Rachel Davis
Member of the Board of Directors
Carnegie Community Centre Association

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alawisious

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:30 on January 24th, 2008

Rachel Davis, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Thanks for this Rachel. I just spent the last 30 minutes on an extensive comment, made one wrong move and the whole thing was gone. I have to regenerate before I can recreate it, and I need to stop spewing venom at technology and this great facility here at NP.

alawisious

at 16:39 on January 24th, 2008

As a Carnegie member, I say it's nice to see at least one other board member besides yourself, Rachel, taking what seems to be a genuine interest in the issues around William's barrings. With respect to the Learning Centre barring, I recall asking a question at a board meeting early on in the festivities, about whether or not the Education/Library committee, which covers the LC, had any discussions regarding the barring of William Simpson. There was, it seems an initial denial by some, but then one board member spoke up and said she recalled something going on back in December of 2006. Later in the discussion, she started to back away from her statement, but it did get out that there were minutes of that meeting on the record.

I went to the office and got a copy of the minutes of that Dec 13/06 committee meeting, and discovered that yes indeed:

"There was a lengthy discussion about a Carnegie Centre member and user of the Learning Centre who has been posting material in his blog about other Carnegie members and Carnegie staff that is highly inappropriate and disrespectful. It was felt that rather than creating policy specific to the medium (a blog) we should pursue enforcing the existing Carnegie Centre Policy that applies. It has always been important to the community that members communicate in a respectful manner."

That's a direct quote from the minutes, and note the reference to "his blog". They were wrong about it being William Simpson's, but I have never heard or heard about any apology or retraction from the Board for the false accusation and for tarnishing his reputation, let alone allowed William any recourse to address this error.

They had a "lengthy discussion" and even contemplated formulating a new policy to address the issue of blogs. If they had, in fact, gone ahead and made a rule about blogs, which they have the right to do it seems according to Section 20.2 of the CC Constitution/Bylaws, then how would that have worked if they are now claiming that they have nothing to do with William's barring? Then Ethel Whitty says that Lucy Alderson, head instructor at the LC has complete authority over the issue of giving the boot to William, and that the City supports her decision. So, who did what and who had the right to do it, and importantly who the heck is accountable?

It's all very confusing for me as a new member, and even though I've asked more than once for some simple straightforward information about the structure of the overall operation at the Carnegie, all I've ever received is the Operating Agreement - a legalese-type contract, which you provided me with, Rachel, the pink brochure which I got from Security after enquiring about written procedures etc. after I was written up in an incident of my own, and the Constitution/Bylaws which were not readily made available to me but I did eventually get. In my recent visit with Ms. Whitty, when I asked again about basic information, she only offerred, once again, the Operating Agreement. Not only that, when I asked for some more info about the arrangement between City, Board and LC, given that the LC is operated by Capilano College, she essentially told me that I should have found that out by visiting the Learning Centre myself. I was astounded, to say the least.

How am I, as an average member, which I consider myself to be - I live in the neighbourhood, and I struggle with my own issues of unemployment, depression, difficulties socializing and doubts about my learning abilities - suppose to integrate myself and try to become involved in volunteering, if I can't get simple answers to questions about why my friend and a Director I support, William Simpson, has been treated in the way that he has?

Not only that, add to this lack of support for a new member, the fact that I am myself attacked by board members and the Newsletter owner and "editor" without repercussions to anyone but me. simply because I starting questioning the barrings.

I have more to say about my story at the Carnegie and why I don't feel welcome there, but will wait for another time. Perhaps, the Board and the City will come to a realization that they need to take a different tack, and act, themselves, according to the guiding principles and "treat one another with respect", "listen and strive to understand", "settle differences and misunderstandings through patience and goodwill", then I won't have to. Instead maybe my energy could go into something positive.

tqcllns (not verified)

at 07:10 on October 16th, 2008

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