OPP investigating after Pickering mayor, council file criminal harassment complaint against fellow councillor

Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a criminal harassment complaint filed by the mayor of Pickering on behalf of the city's council against fellow councillor Lisa Robinson. 

Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe initiated the complaint in December through Durham police, Coun. Linda Cook said in an email to CBC Toronto on Thursday. 

Cook said the complaint is a "joint investigation filing from all the [five] members of council." 

In a news release Thursday, the OPP said they were investigating criminal allegations from Pickering council referred to them by Durham police in November, but did not provide further details.  

Robinson, who was elected in 2022, has previously denied allegations against her.

CBC Toronto has reached out to Robinson for comment.

Cook said the case was moved to the OPP due to changes in the Community Safety and Policing Act that require the investigation to be conducted by a policing agency outside of Pickering's jurisdiction. 

The OPP investigation is the latest development in an escalating conflict between Robinson and city council that began more than a year ago. The councillor has been tangled in a series of controversies and is currently in her second consecutive 90-day pay suspension since September.

WATCH │Pickering council moves meetings online due to threats, mayor says:

Pickering city council moves meetings online due to threats, mayor says

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Pickering’s mayor says security threats posed by the supporters of one councillor is forcing the city to make all council meetings virtual. CBC’s Tyler Cheese has the details.  

At the time, the municipality's integrity commissioner found Robinson had demonstrated a continued pattern of "unacceptable behaviour" that risks hurting marginalized members of society.

In August, Robinson appeared on a controversial podcast where the host, Kevin Johnston, labelled her council colleagues pedophiles, Nazis, and fascists while posting their contact information. He also suggested a violent dog be let loose on council and that "70s biker types with the big biceps … [and] knuckles that had scar-tissue" should remove the mayor and councillors by force.

Johnston has repeatedly displayed racist behaviour in recent years and previously pleaded guilty to a hate crime in Ontario in connection with anti-Muslim posts he shared online.

Last week, Ashe announced the council was moving its meetings online over ongoing security threats from Robinson's supporters.

Ashe announced the change in a nearly 13-minute video on the city's YouTube page on Dec. 30, 2024. The video highlights a number of incidents involving Coun. Lisa Robinson, before showing screenshots and airing audio of some graphic threats that Ashe says councillors have received as a result. 

Cook said there is a separate criminal investigation underway relating to a threatening voicemail left on the city's phone line, addressed to her and Coun. Mara Nagy. 

This second investigation was also handed over to the OPP, she said. 

Cook added Durham police have directed her and Nagy to victim services, where they "have received support as a result of this mounting aggression towards council and the city."