N.S. fundraiser’s sexual harassment complaint sparks response from Clearwater co-founder MacDonald

A wealthy Nova Scotia businessman has issued an apology after a professional fundraiser went public last month accusing him of sexual harassment.

Liz LeClair wrote about her dealings with Colin MacDonald, the co-founder of Clearwater Seafoods, who she first met a decade ago while working for the IWK Foundation.

COLIN MACDONALD: N.S. businessman addresses sexual harassment complaint

“It is important to note that when we met, he was 64 years old, and I was 33 years old — a 31-year age difference. After that initial, and very brief, interaction with Mr. MacDonald, he began to sexually harass me,” LeClair said in an account of her experiences working with MacDonald that she published Aug. 10 on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

MacDonald’s email correspondence regularly contained sexual innuendo, according to LeClair.

‘Nothing but a towel’

“One time he informed me he was sitting in a physio appointment wearing nothing but a towel,” she wrote.

“I was his primary point of contact with the (IWK Foundation), and as such, would meet with him one-on-one, in his office, or at a coffee shop to review campaign prospects. During those meetings he would make comments about how I dressed, about the size of my breasts, and about how attractive he found me.”

LeClair detailed how MacDonald propositioned her for sex in the spring of 2014 when they drove to Antigonish together for a fundraising event.

“He was aware that I was in a long-term relationship with a man (now my husband), but this did not stop him,” LeClair wrote. “He told me that there was no way that we had driven for two hours just for a donor visit, and that since we had lots of time between meetings, we could have ‘some fun.’ When I declined, he became extremely angry and stopped speaking to me.”

Fear prevented complaint

In an interview last month, LeClair said she never complained formally to the IWK Foundation about MacDonald’s behaviour.

“I thought I’d lose my job,” LeClair said.

Instead, she took a fundraising position at Dalhousie University in the fall of 2017.

LeClair discovered on her first day at Dal that MacDonald was a major donor there as well.

“And that I was going to be his main contact.”

Just before Christmas 2018, she met him for coffee to discuss donations to Dal.

‘I started to sob’

“Within the first 10 minutes, he said, ‘You’re not just here to meet me for coffee. Tell me what this is really about,’” LeClair said.

“He touched my arm and I started to sob in the coffee shop.”

She left that meeting, reported MacDonald’s behaviour to her employer and “begged” that he not be invited to an event she was organizing at Dal for the spring of 2019.

But MacDonald had donated a lot of money to the Dal project.

“And then on the day of, he showed up,” LeClair said, noting she left the event.

‘Fair game’

In the summer of 2019, LeClair went to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission about MacDonald’s behaviour, naming Clearwater in her complaint.

“I didn’t want the charities to be punished for everyone else’s bad behaviour, but I figured Clearwater was fair game,” she said.

But complaints have to be filed within a year, so the case didn’t proceed, she said, noting the coffee meeting from late 2018 didn’t count as she’d set it up.

“Human Rights threw it out.”

LeClair moved on to work as a fundraiser for the QE II Foundation in the fall of 2019.

During her first year there, LeClair said she didn’t have to deal with MacDonald. But when it became clear he was on their list of prospective donors, she moved on.

MacDonald responds

MacDonald did not respond last month to an interview request about LeClair’s allegations. And he refused to discuss the matter when reached this week by phone.

But in a letter to the editor this week, he did just that.

“They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but in my case that isn’t true,” MacDonald wrote.

“I have learned an important new life lesson and I want to share it here with my community.”

MacDonald indicated he’s “reflected deeply” on how his dealings with LeClair affected her.

‘Didn’t realize it had become uncomfortable’

“In my recent experience, I didn’t realize it had become uncomfortable for the fundraiser I was working with,” he wrote.

“We may not both recall events the same way, but that’s completely irrelevant because the power imbalance always existed. For that, and how it made my fundraising colleague feel, I sincerely apologize.”

Power imbalances have long been part of the philanthropic community, MacDonald wrote.

“There has always been an imbalance between wealthy donors and professional fundraisers who work for worthy causes. Donors hold the financial resources and fundraisers need those resources to achieve their goals,” he wrote.

“Anyone who has been a donor for years, as I have, knows that over months, and often years, we establish friendships with fundraisers and officials at charities we work with. I have always felt privileged to enjoy those relationships with great people who work for great causes. But I have learned that I cannot be blind to the reality of the power imbalance that always remains. Even when longstanding relationships turn to friendly banter, that power balance always exists.”

Determined ‘to keep giving’ 

MacDonald said he’s learned a life lesson from this experience that he’s determined to share with his fellow donors.

“The other thing I am determined to do is to keep giving. The worthy causes that my family support should not be punished for behavior that I was unable to recognize at the time,” MacDonald wrote.

LeClair refused to comment on MacDonald’s letter.

“This is not an apology,” she said Tuesday in an email. “I will not be responding to this.”