On Oct. 25, city council named Chu as one of its representatives on the Friends of HMCS Calgary committee. The city committee is made up of military officials, civilians and council members. Her role is to oversee its relationship with HMCS Calgary, the Royal Canadian Navy frigate that bears the city’s name, and to promote awareness. But days after Chu’s appointment, the ship’s commander tells CBC News he learned of the controversy surrounding Chu’s alleged inappropriate physical contact with a 16-year-old girl in 1997. It was at that point that Cmdr. Adriano Lozer said he decided to call Mayor Jyoti Gondek on the matter. His message was straightforward. “Until we understand more about the ongoing public scrutiny and concerns of survivors about the final outcome of his historical allegations of sexual abuse, that we could not have an informal or formal relationship with the counselor,” Loser said. As a commander, Loser said he needed more time to figure out how to handle the situation. He said he respected the work of the commission’s appointment process and did not want to interfere with the work of elected officials. But Loser said he chose to act because he owes so much to the navy and its 265 crew members, some of whom are victims or survivors of sexual harassment. So, he said silence was not an option. “That wouldn’t be true to our values and ethics, and I would let people down in my organization,” Loser said. “In this case, there is a lot of public scrutiny and concerns about information and survivors.” Loeser did not have a timeline for how long it might take him to review the situation. Mayor Gondek confirms she spoke with Lozer. Cmdr. Adriano Lozer (center) shared his concerns about Coun. Chu’s involvement in a committee linking the city to HMCS Calgary. (Government of Canada) “He was incredibly concerned about the board of appointments he had made to the HMCS Calgary committee and during that meeting, he told me that we would not be able to work with that board member,” Gondek said. As a result, he shared that concern with other council members. A few days later, members held a closed-door meeting discussing board appointments for another reason. Members had to change some council appointments as com. Dan McLean has decided to resign from his committee after another controversy. At that meeting, Gondek said the committee chose to remove Chu from the HMCS Calgary committee and replace him with Coun. Courtney Penner. Godek said the decision was timely because last week, Loser and other members of the ship’s crew were in Calgary as part of Remembrance Week celebrations, which would inevitably have them meeting with committee members. However, he said the episode shows the difficulties arising from Chu’s decision to ignore calls to resign as a councillor. “There are organizations outside of the city of Calgary that take their code of conduct and their ethics and their commitments to sexual assault survivors very seriously,” Godek said. “When dealing with third parties, we should be incredibly careful.” Loser said the council’s decision to replace Chu on the commission ends the matter from his perspective. CBC News reached out to Chu to get his take on the situation. However, he has not responded. Chu may soon lose another of his council responsibilities. Each year, councilors are nominated as deputy mayors as part of a monthly rotation. Chu’s turn this year is December. On Tuesday, the city council will discuss whether or not to give him that responsibility or if he should be replaced as deputy mayor.
