Peel regional council rallied to support Mississauga Coun. Carolyn Parrish, after she was found in breach of the region’s code of conduct for texts made about former Peel Police Supt. Ingrid Berkeley-Brown, who is now Peel’s Deputy Police Chief.

“I am deeply concerned by comments made by Peel Police Services Board,” said Mississauga Coun. Pat Saito at the Thursday, July 12, regional council meeting.

Saito said the texts, sent by Parrish to Board Chair McFadden, following a public meeting in Malton Feb. 15 about closing the community police station was a “private conversation” and should not have been made public.

The first text said: “Quite a protest in Malton last night re the closing of the Community police station at Westwood and the repurposing of it. I had to defend the change because the black female Superintendent is awful! Terrible answers. Weak.”

The second text said “[ … with the Chief”] “No. Leave it. Just keep it in the back of your mind. It seems being black and female qualifies people for promotion which is dead wrong. Her last name is hyphenated, something I didn’t catch ending in Brown. Very weak. Will …”

Both texts were sent during the Peel police hiring process for deputy chief.

“I question why only one side of the conversation was used and reported,” Saito added.

“We conducted a fair and balanced investigation,” said Janice Atwood-Petkovski, of Principles Integrity, the region’s integrity commissioner.

Atwood-Petkovski said neither Parrish or McFadden, or the telephone service provider, could provide any of the responding text messages.

For being in breach of the region’s code of conduct, Parrish will have her pay suspended for five days and has been ordered to take sensitivity training on sex and race-based biases.