Hampstead’s director of communications was fired after reporting her employers to Quebec’s anti-corruption task force.
In a November 2021 email to her bosses, Laurie Kezas claims there was “manipulation” in the town of Hampstead’s awarding of an $85,000 contract to rebuild its website. She also alludes to overcharging by the contractor and payments for work that never materialized.
Perhaps most shockingly, Kezas wrote that when she had previously told her bosses about the irregularities, they punished her for it. The email ends with a stark warning:
“As required by the Code of Ethics, I contacted the appropriate authorities: Commissaire à l’intégrité municipale et aux enquêtes (CIME), Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC), Autorité des marchés publics (AMP). Investigations are in process.”
Kezas was fired less than a month later.
The former communications director promptly sued her employer for wrongful termination and won an out-of-court settlement last winter.
Until now, the terms of Kezas’ dismissal were covered by a non-disclosure agreement and were unknown outside a small group of lawyers and upper management at the town of Hampstead. But amid growing allegations around Hampstead’s toxic workplace culture and misuse of public funds, sources inside the town leaked a cache of emails to The Rover that outline Kezas’ concerns and Hampstead’s response.
Hampstead is an on-island suburb of Montreal with a population of 7,000.
In an email to The Rover, the town of Hampstead...
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