Springfield councillor suspended over comments

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This article was published 16/08/2023 (834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Springfield councillor has taken an unpaid, weeklong suspension over remarks that were interpreted as racist.

Andy Kuczynski, the rural municipality’s councillor for Ward 2, agreed to the suspension after council unanimously voted in favour of suspending him after an in-camera session during Tuesday night’s council meeting, Mayor Patrick Therrien confirmed.

Kuczynski has to take cultural awareness training at his own expense in addition to the seven-day suspension.

The suspension is in response to comments Kuczynski made during a council meeting on Aug. 8 in which he expressed concern that Indigenous people from northern Manitoba would take up beds at a proposed personal care home in the community east of Winnipeg.

Kuczynski has since apologized, including another apology Tuesday night. The apologies have been genuine, the mayor said.

“I take him at his word,” Therrien said.

Therrien issued a public apology on behalf of the RM and stated he’s been in communication with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs this week.

“The RM of Springfield does not condone racism or discrimination of any kind. We prioritize and value the diversity of our community and are committed to fostering a culture where everyone feels they belong and are mutually respected. We have a responsibility as a council to build a community where everyone is welcome, and no one is judged by their race, gender, disabilities or beliefs,” the mayor’s statement reads in part.

The mayor said Wednesday that he had received emails, texts and phone calls from members of the public who were upset by Kuczynki’s remarks.

“Not one of them was good,” Therrien said. “They all felt that it was racist and stereotypical.”

Kuczynski questioned at the Aug. 8 meeting whether “native people” would come to occupy Springfield’s personal care home beds.

“If there are senior citizens and people that need assisted living, or whatever, some place up north, they gonna bring them here, because I see truth and reconciliation, so I know what that means. They gonna bring lots of people from, probably native people, here to this community. At this point we don’t have it, but it’s gonna happen. You’re not gonna say that we not going to accept these people,” Kuczynski said.

Therrien said council hasn’t been living up to its guiding principles of professionalism and empathy for the past few months, not only at the Aug. 8 meeting.

“Our chambers are very volatile,” mainly because of division about a proposed silica sand mine project, Thierren said.“Sometimes, I would say, out of control and dysfunctional.”

The Sio Silica proposal requires provincial government approval, but a vocal group of residents wants the rural council to put a stop to it.

Disagreements over it have escalated to personal attacks against an RM employee, Therrien said, prompting him to halt the council’s question period as of March 7, describing it as an “open mic” that was being hijacked.

“We just have to have more stability and decorum in council,” he said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca