{"id":25836,"date":"2022-10-23T17:59:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T17:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editionap.ca\/?p=25836"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:54:09","slug":"dussault-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/politique\/dussault-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Dussault Alleges Mayor Delayed Report Ahead of Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The document alleges Mayor Paula Assaly led a personal campaign of \u201cmalicious and inappropriate behaviour,\u201d harassment and false allegations to force interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Director of Human Resources Dominique Dussault from her position. Dussault alleges Assaly\u2019s mistreatment stems from a 2020 request for an investigation by the Integrity Commissioner which revealed Assaly had, on several occasions, overreached \u201cthe authority and powers of the office of mayor.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">\u201cI pushed backed and I don\u2019t think she liked that,\u201d said Dussault.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">In March 2022, Dussault filed a formal harassment complaint against Assaly, but the mayor\u2019s behaviour\u00a0<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">towards Dussault continued.<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">\u00a0Despite being \u201cimplicitly or explicitly aware of Ms. Dussault\u2019s distress,\u201d council failed to take any action on the matter, leaving Dussault with no other option but to take medical leave on April 25, according to the court documents. Two days after taking her leave, the municipality informed Dussault her harassment complaint was reviewed by council and remedial measures discussed during an in-camera meeting. However, according to the court filings, Assaly participated in the discussion regarding the corrective actions to be taken against her, a potential violation of the\u00a0<i>Municipal Conflict of Interest Act\u00a0<\/i>(MCIA)<i>.<\/i><\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Furthermore, Dussault claims the filing of her complaint with the Integrity Commissioner was \u201cintentionally and maliciously delayed\u201d to avoid a decision against Assaly\u2019s interest surfacing before the October municipal election. The\u00a0MCIA states an Integrity Commissioner cannot make an application to a judge during a regular election period starting on the nomination day through to the election day. That period would be from August 19 to October 24 of this year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Believing the council and town administration were unwilling to address the harassment she faced, Dussault resigned from her position on <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">September 27, 2022<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">. Failing to handle her last complaint properly, Dussault claims the town \u201cno longer intended to be bound\u201d by their employment contract, leading to a constructive dismissal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">\u201cI took every step I needed to because I wanted to keep working at the city, I thought I was going to finish my career in Hawkesbury,\u201d said Dussault, referring to her attempts to speak with human resources and file complaints to rectify her situation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Dussault is suing the town of <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">Hawkesbury<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> for $143,596 for breach of contract and constructive dismissal, which represents 12 months salary, $100,000 for breach of good faith and fair dealing, $25,000 in punitive damages, and $50,000 for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA). Further damages will also be sought for loss of benefits, including medical and dental insurance and pension, and expenses incurred in the search of comparable employment, the amount of which to be presented ahead of trial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The town of <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">Hawkesbury<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> and Mayor Assaly declined to comment. Assaly stated in an email that \u201ccouncil is not in a position to make comments on litigation matters.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The document alleges Mayor Paula Assaly led a personal campaign of \u201cmalicious and inappropriate behaviour,\u201d harassment and false allegations to force interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Director of Human Resources Dominique Dussault from her position. Dussault alleges Assaly\u2019s mistreatment stems from a 2020 request for an investigation by the Integrity Commissioner which revealed Assaly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":25809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politique"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dussault Alleges Mayor Delayed Report Ahead of Election - Tribune-Express<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/politique\/dussault-lawsuit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dussault Alleges Mayor Delayed Report Ahead of Election - Tribune-Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The document alleges Mayor Paula Assaly led a personal campaign of \u201cmalicious and inappropriate behaviour,\u201d harassment and false allegations to force interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Director of Human Resources Dominique Dussault from her position. Dussault alleges Assaly\u2019s mistreatment stems from a 2020 request for an investigation by the Integrity Commissioner which revealed Assaly [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/politique\/dussault-lawsuit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tribune-Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-23T17:59:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T20:54:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.editionap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/DUSSAULT-Dominique-WEB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"876\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christine Laniel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christine Laniel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/dussault-lawsuit\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/dussault-lawsuit\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Christine Laniel\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc4cb2a5cac43439a7add515b2d14f3f\"},\"headline\":\"Dussault Alleges Mayor Delayed Report Ahead of Election\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-23T17:59:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T20:54:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/dussault-lawsuit\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/dussault-lawsuit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.editionap.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/DUSSAULT-Dominique-WEB.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politique\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/dussault-lawsuit\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/dussault-lawsuit\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dussault Alleges Mayor Delayed Report Ahead of Election - 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