The deputy mayor of a rural community north of London who also owns the local Jr. C hockey team has resigned from politics following a watchdog’s report into arena staff’s harassment complaints.
Brockton council – which governs a Bruce County community of 9,500, including Walkerton – accepted the resignation of James Lang after politicians received an integrity commissioner’s report into alleged conduct at the Walkerton Community Centre by Lang, co-owner of the Jr. C Walkerton Capitals.
The report by integrity commissioners Jeffrey Abrams and Janice Atwood from the firm Principles Integrity detailed allegations made by arena employees from the evening of Dec. 16, 2023:
- The Capitals were playing host to the Kincardine Bulldogs, another team in the Provincial Junior Hockey League
- The report alleges Lang’s behaviour toward arena employees included yelling, name-calling, slamming doors, kicking and punching doors open and storming around angrily
- Abrams and Atwood state they found the conduct constituted harassment, noting a local politician cannot “remove their hat” as an elected official while in the community
- They also noted that even if he were not in politics, a visitor to the arena must behave civilly and respectfully toward staff and patrons
“Following a Capitals’ game, the deputy mayor went raging through the arena – yelling, name-calling and using profanities – aggressively kicking and violently slamming a steel fire door and generally displaying an outburst of anger towards the staff working that night,” the integrity commissioner’s report states.
When the matter was discussed at a June 18 Brockton council meeting, Lang denied the allegations he kicked and punched doors, calling those assertions “childish” and told colleagues he asked a staff member “how stupid can he be?”
Said Lang: “What I said was wrong. It was wrong. I’ve admitted to that and I’ve said that now four times. I’m not a criminal.”
The integrity watchdog asked Lang to submit a written statement during the investigative process. He instead asked for a meeting with them, which never materialized.
“I feel like I’ve been dragged through the mud with this,” said Lang, also a captain with the Brockton Fire Department.
The report states that “in the past, there have been issues in regard to the deputy mayor, in relation to his involvement with the Capitals. It has been challenging for civic administration to manage the conduct of the deputy mayor in this regard, given his hands-on approach to his role with the Capitals and his strong personality.”
In March, his council colleagues banned Lang from the Walkerton Community Centre for one year, before the allegations of Dec. 16, 2023, were fully made public. The ban has been shortened to nine months, ending Jan. 1, 2025, and now allows him inside while accompanying his children.
The Capitals play in the 60-team PJHL, a Jr. C league near the lower rungs of junior hockey. They play against teams from such communities as Kincardine, Mitchell, Wingham and Goderich.
Brockton is governed by a seven-person council. Lang served as a councillor for six years, from 2018 to 2022, and became deputy mayor in 2022. Coun. Kym Hutcheon has been appointed the new deputy mayor and civic officials say they will soon detail the process to fill Hutcheson’s now-vacant seat.