Happy Valley-Goose Bay deputy mayor reprimanded for altercation at soccer game

The deputy mayor of Happy Valley-Goose Bay has been officially reprimanded by the town council for a violation of the municipal code of conduct.

Ella Wallace, who was elected to council in 2021, was found to have conducted herself in a way not befitting of a councillor following a third-party investigation.

In a council meeting live-streamed on Facebook Nov. 26, Loriann Lyall, who made the complaint, said the situation that led to the complaint happened in Bay Roberts in August when Wallace was the assistant coach of the under-15 girls Summer Games Labrador soccer team.

Lyall said she was comforting a girl on the team who appeared upset when Wallace came over to her.

“I felt sorry for how she was treated, and I hugged her and I said, ‘I am sorry that happened to you, and it was shameful,’” Lyall said, speaking before council. “With that, Ella came at me, raising her voice, and said, ‘What did you say?’ And I said, ‘Ella, I’m not talking to you’. Ella proceeded to tell me that I’m not taking this away from the girls, and that she was sick of my shit all weekend. She made that statement twice, all while coming four inches from my face. I backed away, stating that she’s creating this whole scene, and all I did was hug a young girl to comfort her.”

Lyall said the verbal altercation continued from there, with Wallace claiming the woman had been texting her all weekend, which Lyall said wasn’t true. She said Wallace was ‘infuriated’ and fabricating a situation to make her look bad to the onlookers.

“Council has had numerous meetings to discuss that certain members of our town create dangers to others,” Lyall said in the meeting. “I, for one, have never been verbally attacked or had one of these people come within four inches on my face and yell lies — that has only been done by Deputy Mayor Wallace.”

Wallace left the council chambers for Lyall’s speech to council.

Lyall said she doesn’t trust Wallace to act in good faith on council, saying the incident speaks to the matter of public trust. 

After Lyall had finished speaking, Mayor George Andrews said council takes code of conduct complaints seriously, and that both Lyall and Wallace would be given a copy of the report done by the investigator later this week.

Later in the meeting, council passed two motions related to the investigation: that Wallace be found guilty of two violations of the town’s code of conduct policy for councillors, and that she be sent a letter of reprimand by council as a penalty.

Coun. Bert Pomeroy said he was initially reluctant on the resolution, since it could be perceived that the council didn’t take the complaint seriously.

“After giving it some sober second thought, thinking about it, a reprimand,” he said. “The fact that we’re here discussing this in a public meeting with the deputy mayor, I’m sure she’s listening — it’s not an easy thing to do. It’s certainly something that we take very, very seriously and so, therefore, I will support this recommendation.”

Andrews said it was the first complaint the town had received under the new code of conduct regulations, which council passed in 2022. Those regulations came after the province passed the Municipal Conduct Act in 2021, which outlined how municipal elected officials are to conduct themselves and associated penalties when they do not. 

When that provincial legislation was passed, municipalities in the province were required to establish codes of conduct that apply to all councillors and municipal officials within six months.

The Independent reached out to Lyall for an interview but she declined. We also reached out to Wallace but did not hear back by the time of publication.