Towards the end of my term as a municipal councillor in Fort Frances, I was attacked in numerous incoherent newspaper ads that appeared to blame me for the loss of the Fort Frances mill. This was a file I was heavily engaged in at the start of the term, in 2018 and 2019, when the municipality was locked in serious conflict with Resolute Forest Products and the provincial government over the fate of wood harvesting rights in the former Crossroute Forest.
One of the entries to this ad campaign included an image that was a forgery of my spouse's signature on a legal document. Other ads consisted of reproductions of illegally-obtained documents, including materials provided to Mr. Kircher by the former mayor. The Fort Frances Times (which around that time had abandoned its press council standards) saw no issue running this unlawful and unethically obtained content.
The author of those ads was realtor and then-school board trustee David Kircher. He ultimately got himself elected to council in 2022 on the basis of these lies, frauds, and hamfisted innuendo — and on the willingness of his gullible peers to believe them, against all evidence to the contrary.
But every lie is a debt to the truth, and eventually that debt is paid.
Today the municipal integrity commissioner published a 30-page report detailing the extent of Mr. Kircher’s misconduct. The report outlines his malicious pursuit of conspiracy theories relating to the mill and the Crossroute Forest, his harassing "ALL CAPS" email communications, his ongoing disregard for privileged and confidential documents, and his attacks on the integrity and loyalty of members of council, municipal staff, and advisors of the municipality. The commissioner's report recommends extensive sanctions, which council will vote on at its May 13, 2024 meeting.
The integrity commissioner's report also contains other revelations. For instance, it publicly reveals that police investigated the former mayor’s leak of privileged information to Mr. Kircher as a breach of trust. As a legal professional with a duty to safeguard the confidence of my clients, it also troubles me that the report implies that someone with access to sensitive legal documents relating to the ongoing litigation surrounding the Point Park has been improperly sharing those materials.
Since this saga began, I have spent a great deal of time trying to clear up the disinformation spread by Mr. Kircher. The old guard has never wanted to hear it — even after I left office — and they have instead vilified me for pointing it out. Yet, called out on the carpet, most cannot articulate what Mr. Kircher's point actually is. Their aversion to the truth seems to boil down to little more than (i) not wanting to hear it from me and (ii) kinship among white boomers.
The previous council even blocked me from asking questions to the Rainy River Future Development Corporation during a public meeting when I tried to use those questions to dispel Mr. Kircher's disinformation on the record. The Fort Frances Times then gleefully ran an article suggesting my departure from the meeting I was barred from participating in was the problem, conveniently ignoring their ongoing advertising profits from Mr. Kircher's dishonesty and disinformation, which I was attempting to address.
While the integrity commissioner now paints the current council as victims in this ordeal, the returning members from the previous term are complicit in emboldening Mr. Kircher and allowing the then-mayor to run interference for him. These councillors were happy to see Mr. Kircher's antics play out before they were the targets, but now that he is elected, they feign shock that the call is coming from inside the house. While Mr. Kircher is undoubtedly the problem, the returning members are hypocrites.
In any event, the truth was clear before, but it is now undeniable: David Kircher is a liar whose conspiracy theories and fixations are misleading the public and not serving the community's interests. David Kircher is unfit to serve in municipal office. And David Kircher should resign.
Douglas W. Judson
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