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Harold Jonker in Ottawa as part of the Freedom Convoy, February 2022.Twitter screenshot

WEST LINCOLN, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) – A father of 13 children, and West Lincoln Councillor Harold Jonker has had his pay suspended after being found to have breached a township code of conduct due his participation in the Freedom Convoy.

Jonker is a councillor for West Lincoln as well as a truck driver owner and operator of Jonker Trucking. He was among the first to arrive at Parliament Hill on January 28 when the convoy settled in downtown Ottawa.

He told Toronto Sun reporter Joe Warmington in February that he’s “been blessed with 13 children.”

The West Lincoln Council launched an integrity commission to investigate his actions and hired a Toronto law firm to do so.

The commission’s report was published July 12 and, according to the findings, Jonker broke two sections of the council code of conduct.

He was said to have broken “his duty of loyalty to residents” and another code concerning “the acceptance of gifts of benefits” as a councillor.

Jonker contested that his participation did not breach the loyalty due to his township. He said: “As a representative I choose to represent the residents who are being negatively affected by the lockdowns and mandates.”

According to the investigation, by accepting food and other gifts from supporters of the convoy, Jonker improperly accepted gifts. He was told he had to reimburse the gifts he received, but Jonker said it would be impossible to do so, as the majority of what he received was food already prepared for him.

As a result he was told to make a donation to West Lincoln Community Care. He also had his Council membership remuneration suspended for 30 days.

His fellow councillors voted against him in a vote of 5-1, with Mayor Dave Bylsma being the lone vote against penalizing Jonker.

At the closing of the punitive procedure Jonker asked: “Do we want to live in a country where we are not allowed to protest, or some of us are not allowed to protest, against what we believe and understand to be wrong and harmful for our country?”

“It’s still heart-wrenching and very tough for me when people come up to me, still to this day, and thank me as a truck driver for saving their life, for giving them hope,” he continued.

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