Nonprofit founded by Balarama Holness faced wave of resignations, volunteers blame his leadership
CBC
Nearly the entire board and executive team of a non-profit group founded by Balarama Holness resigned in November and December of last year, citing a chaotic and dysfunctional environment, CBC News has learned.
Holness, who is running for mayor as the leader of Mouvement Montréal, founded Montreal in Action, a social justice organization. In 2018, the group collected more than 22,000 petition signatures, forcing a city-wide public consultation on systemic racism.
The petition and the public consultation raised Holness's profile, helping cement his reputation as a social justice advocate, which is a key part of his municipal election campaign.
However, former members of the group who reached out to CBC News said working for the organization was so chaotic, they don't believe Holness is qualified to become Montreal's next mayor.
Holness is defending his track record and said he should have done a better job vetting the people he hired at the time. But now he says the organization is stronger than ever now.
"I put the most trustworthy people on the board that I know here in Montreal that are community organizers, community workers," Holness said.
"[Now], the board thrives, the organization thrives."
Holness described the wave of resignations as a "mutual decision."
Between November and December 2020, five members of Montreal in Action's board and executive, the core leadership team at the time other than Holness, resigned.
Shalaka Shah was one of them.
Sitting on the executive, she says she soon realized the organization had no bylaws, no defined leadership roles and Holness was making unilateral decisions. She says she tried to change that.
"All of my attempts at making the decisions more fair and democratic were completely ignored or were shut down," she said.
As of September 2020, Montreal in Action still didn't have any bylaws, and Shah said she needed to submit a grant application under a tight deadline at Holness's request.
She said the lack of direction from the group's leader left her and another board member scrambling.
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