The City of New Westminster has taken action to ensure Coun. Jaimie McEvoy still has a seat at the council table once he heals from heart surgery.
On Feb. 2, McEvoy announced on social media that he would be taking some time away from council and community duties, as he had suffered a heart attack on Feb. 2. On Feb. 12, the veteran councillor underwent triple-bypass surgery at the cardiac care unit at Royal Columbian Hospital.
McEvoy said he’s now at home in the “long recovery phase” that includes plenty of rest and relaxation. Because of the surgery, he’s still unable to do very much for himself, he told the Record on Feb. 26.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen a picture of open heart surgery. The sternum has been cut in half and is being held together by wires. Muscles, ribs, get shoved aside,” he said. “So lots of healing afterwards, now.”
McEvoy said he’s grateful to be alive and is thankful for the support he’s received from the community.
“I’m grateful to be here,” he said. “My aching and renewed heart still has a lot of heart for the people in our fine city. The multitude of expressions of support meant a lot. Thank you to everyone.”
Under the Local Government Act, a council member is disqualified from holding office if they’re absent from board meetings for 60 days or four consecutive regularly scheduled meetings, whichever is the longer period of time. This disqualification, however, does not apply if the absence is due to illness or injury or is a leave of council.
At its Feb. 26 meeting, council received a report to approve a medical leave of absence for McEvoy, who notified the city on Feb. 5 that he requires a full leave of absence of three months.
In addition to unanimously approving McEvoy’s leave of absence, council also considered appointments of other members to fulfill McEvoy’s duties, as needed, for internal advisory bodies and external organizations to which he had been appointed, until such time as he is able to resume those duties.
In terms of internal advisory bodies, McEvoy chairs the city’s accessibility advisory committee, the community heritage commission and the Massey Theatre working group.
Council had also previously appointed McEvoy to represent the city on external organizations: the Downtown BIA board of directors (a “liaison” role), the memorialization advisory committee (with the School District 40), TransLink Mayor’s Council (he’s the city’s alternate) and as the city’s liaison to Fraser Health.
Mayor Patrick Johnstone said he had taken the liberty of having a conversation with McEvoy about his committee roles and how to proceed in his absence. He circulated a list of recommended replacements in McEvoy’s absence to council on Monday night:
- Accessibility advisory committee: Coun. Tasha Henderson
- Memorial advisory committee: Coun. Paul Minhas
- Downtown BIA: Coun. Ruby Campbell
- Community heritage commission: Interim chair is Coun. Daniel Fontaine; council representative is Coun. Ruby Campbell
- Massey Theatre working group: interim chair Coun. Ruby Campbell and council representative Coun. Nadine Nakagawa
- TransLink Mayors Council alternate: Coun. Tasha Henderson
- Fraser Health liaison: Coun. Nadine Nakagawa
Fontaine expressed disappointment that he’s the only council member who has not been appointed to serve on an external committee. He said he is “wanting, eager and able” to assist the city in any way by serving on external committees.
“I have not been appointed to a single one of the Coun. McEvoy's committees; so I just note that,” he said. “The move up to the interim chair – I’m already on the heritage committee. So that's not an added additional work for me.”
Instead of serving as a council representative on the community heritage commission, Fontaine will serve as chair during McEvoy’s absence.
Council unanimously approved the recommendations, but both Fontaine and his fellow New West Progressives’ councillor Paul Minhas expressed concern that Fontaine had not been appointed to any new roles.
Fontaine, who is Métis, said there’s a “distinct lack of representation” from the Indigenous communities at internal and external committees.
“I just point that out because we have a stated goal of supporting equity, diversity and inclusivity at the city,” he said.
