A St. John’s city councillor who was involved in the code of conduct investigation that ultimately led to the suspension of Tom Davis says “this was not a single incident” and what they were dealing with was a “pattern of behaviour.”
Davis was suspended with pay for one month after an investigation found that his comments created a “poisoned” work environment.
The crux of the investigation stemmed from an incident on March 10th, with recent reports from CBC indicating that Davis repeated claims from a podcast that suggested mental disorders in children are tied to a mother’s physical presence in their first few years of life.
Lynn Hammond says the comments were made informally before a council meeting, and she asked Davis to stop because the conversation was not appropriate, but he instead “doubled down.” Hammond claims the podcast promotes the idea that women should stay at home with their children and not work, and that not doing so increases instances of mental disorders.
(Photo via City of St. John’s)
She believes the person quoted in the podcast was spreading misinformation, which she says is “deeply harmful” to people who are neurodiverse.
She says as a politician and a person of influence who engages with families, she was “deeply concerned that (Davis) was even entertaining…the idea.
Davis says he brought up the podcast in a separate conversation that did not involve Hammond. She interjected in a “very firm and off-putting voice” that what he was saying was wrong, and he had a “flight of fight” response to the situation, but didn’t “double down” on what the podcast was saying.
He says he didn’t realize why Hammond was upset until the report came out, noting he tried to apologize multiple times in the moment because he saw she was upset. Davis thinks it’s “really unfortunate that we’re still talking about this.”
