The pain of a false accusation

Dear mayor, fellow councillors, adult justice committee members and friends.

I have just gone through one of the roughest times in my life. I have been accused of something I did not do. I have been arrested. My names and pictures were made public. My son has been challenged at school. My Dad has suffered emotionally from this.

One of the hardest things I did was to keep it away from Mother, who is going to be 70 this year and is not in the best of health. We recently had a death in the family and one of my older sisters has just gone through a kidney transplant.

So I kept my problems away from Mom. Mom wanted to visit us here in Iqaluit and because I did not want her to feel our suffering I convinced her to go to Vancouver to visit my older sister. It’s too bad, because I don’t really get to see mom too often.

My staff had to endure the stress of coping day by day. On the business side of things, my expansion plans were stopped. I’ve had to double up in staff to help us out through this time. My paper work is in a mess and payments are behind, which will result in fines for not paying work-related taxes and fees in a timely manner. Last week, I finally lost it.My name was in the papers again and I broke down and my inner spirit was finally shattered.

Two days ago, I was told by my lawyer that the Crown had dropped the charges and that the Crown has offered to make a public release. What it will say I do not know but I’m sure it won’t say sorry and it won’t say that they will help us get back on our feet. But what it says could erase what experiences I have endured.

It is with regret that I must inform you of my resignation from Town Council and the Adult Justice Committee. When I was elected a councillor I made an oath:

“I, Douglas Lem, do solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I will duly, faithfully and to the best of my skill and knowledge, execute the powers and trust reposed in me as a councillor, so help me God.”

It will take me, my family and staff members months to recover from this. We will heal, but it will take time. I feel it will take more time that the time I have left on Town Council. I will have to direct my energies towards: myself, my family, my staff, my business and for living for today. In this spirit of moving on I acknowledge the fact that I am unable to put my fullest into Town issues.

I wish to thank God and all my friends and family for their unconditional love and support.

Douglas Lem
Iqaluit