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Incident involving stripper at job site 'entirely unacceptable,' Mattamy Homes says

In videos of the incident obtained by CBC News, multiple men can be seen watching and touching a woman who is dancing. No one in the videos or images is wearing a mask and physical distancing doesn’t seem to be in effect.  (Twitter - image credit)
In videos of the incident obtained by CBC News, multiple men can be seen watching and touching a woman who is dancing. No one in the videos or images is wearing a mask and physical distancing doesn’t seem to be in effect. (Twitter - image credit)

One of the GTA's largest property developers says it was "extremely inappropriate and entirely unacceptable" that workers associated with one of its dry wall contractors had a stripper at a job site last week in the middle of the pandemic.

Mattamy Homes confirmed photos of the incident that had been posted on Twitter showed several people involved with Nelmar Drywall, all of whom have since been fired, partying with a stripper at one of its job sites on April 9. Nelmar itself has denounced the conduct of the workers and says it's taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Photos included in the post show a woman interacting with multiple men at a construction site, one of whom is wearing a Nelmar Drywall Co Ltd shirt. A bottle of Grey Goose vodka can be seen in one of the series of photos.

CBC News also obtained graphic video of the incident showing at least four men watching and two men touching the woman while she dances. Nobody in the video is wearing a mask or physically distancing, despite government rules for job sites.

One of the photos attached in the post uploaded to Twitter shows a man holding a woman at a construction site.
One of the photos attached in the post uploaded to Twitter shows a man holding a woman at a construction site. (Twitter)

The images of the partying emerged on the same-day Ontario recorded 4,736 new COVID-19 cases and health officials warned of a "dire" situation facing the province's healthcare system. On Friday, sources say Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government could enhance its current stay-at-home, in part by tightening rules for the construction industry.

The development company says the individuals involved in the incident behaved in a "grossly inappropriate and reckless fashion," and that Nelmar Drywall has terminated its relationship with everyone involved.

"We hold our trade partners to a high standard and insist that they conduct themselves professionally and ethically. Those standards were not met in this case," Mattamy Homes said in an emailed statement.

The company says it had no prior knowledge of the event and that none of its employees were present. "We nonetheless regret that this incident took place at one of our sites."

Mattamy Homes says it will be reinforcing its policies and expectations of all Mattamy's trade partners regarding its workplace code of conduct, as well as its COVID-19 protocols.

The developer said it will also review its site security procedures and will make adjustments where necessary.

Nelmar Drywall denounces conduct in video, images

Representatives of Nelmar Drywall Co. Ltd. told CBC News that a video and various images of the incident depict "inappropriate and completely unacceptable conduct."

"Nelmar wholeheartedly denounces the conduct displayed," lawyers said in an emailed statement, adding that the company was unaware of the incident prior to the circulation of the video and images.

The statement says that the conduct displayed is in violation of Nelmar's code of conduct and company policies, including those related to COVID-19 protocols, workplace anti-discrimination and anti-harassment.

"Upon being made aware of the incident, Nelmar took immediate steps to investigate the matter to determine the identity of all those individuals involved," the statement says.

"Nelmar has terminated the employment of all persons involved in the incident."

Further steps may be expected where necessary, Nelmar says, including additional workplace training and increased monitoring "to prevent any such conduct at its job sites or workplace in the future.