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Medical Leave Cancelled for Coun. John Chadi

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council recently cancelled the medical leave for Coun. John Chadi, and this move was made so that the municipality was in line with the law. The council voted last Tuesday to take back a motion that was made in 2013 which excused Coun. Chadi so that he did not need to attend the regular council meetings due to health reasons. According to RMWB chief legal officer David Leflar council has a requirement under the Municipal Government Act to reauthorize a leave of absence for Coun. Chadi every 8 weeks. Leflar explained “The resolution of 2013 is suspect in terms of whether it was really a valid resolution or not. (The MGA) allows council to excuse any council member’s absence that has already occurred (and) council is required to revisit any prolonged absence.”

According to the Municipal Government Act any councilor, such as Coun. John Chadi, who does not attend any council meetings in an 8 week period is disqualified unless the absence from the council meetings is excused. Not long after Coun. John Chadi was elected to represent Ward 2 in 2013 the Fort Chipewyan resident was diagnosed as having a very rare form of bile duct cancer. The original motion by the council was made so that Coun. Chadi had an opportunity to deal with the diagnosis and his illness. The proposal to rescind the original motion was made by Coun. Allan Vinni in February once he noticed that the motion was in conflict with the MGA, but the proposal was tabled until the administration could come up with a report on how to resolve the conflict identified.

Councillor Chadi is Still Out on Medical Leave

Councillor Chadi will continue on medical leave for the time being. There was a motion that was raised to rescind medical leave for the councillor, and the motion appeared on the agenda for the council meeting Tuesday. Ward 3 councillor Allan Vinni was the one who proposed the motion, and also the one who pulled it from the agenda on Tuesday. When Vinni responded to questins he stated “There is a long history of operating without legal authority for matters such as this. In an open and transparent government, the elected officials would act according to the law and I would very much like to see us operate that way. Council should be mindful that one of their members is not there. It just gives a perspective of a medical leave that is open ended. We still have close to three years left in this term. Theoretically, we could be doing this for the next eight weeks for the next three years. We could do that, but we have to do that while reviewing his absence and excusing it or not excusing it.”

The medical leave for Councillor Chadi started in November 2013. Shortly after being elected Chadi, a Fort Chipewyan resident, received a diagnosis of bile duct cancer and took medical leave for treatment. The type of cancer involved is considered to be very rare. In spite of this four residents of Fort Chipewyan have been diagnosed with this type of bile duct cancer. This has caused some concern about the possible origins of all the cases, and some residents wonder whether there is something in the local environment that may be a contributing factor. The population of Fort Chipewyan is not enormous so four cases of a rare cancer is alarming.