Rural resident wins court battle against ban from council meetings

A Manitoba judge has told a rural municipal council it can’t issue a blanket ban on people attending council meetings.

Justice Sadie Bond, of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench, said the Rural Municipality of Alexander has to allow resident Aaron Wiebe to attend council meetings.

“The banning resolutions are neither an exercise of the RM’s authority under the (Municipal) Act, nor under the RM’s procedures bylaw,” Bond said in her 14-page decision, which was released on Monday.

“In passing them, the council acted in excess of its jurisdiction… I find that the council’s interpretation of its authority to pass banning resolutions is both incorrect and not reasonable.”

“I have concluded that the banning resolutions must be declared invalid.”

Kevin Toyne, Wiebe’s lawyer, said his client is pleased.

“It’s unfortunate he had to seek vindication in the courts because he has a right to attend meetings. People shouldn’t be threatened with jail for taking a photo at a meeting.”

Mounties removed Wiebe from a Feb. 13, 2024, council meeting after he took a photo of a document on a screen shown to everyone in attendance.

While Wiebe said at the time he didn’t cause a disturbance, a municipal employee told him and both the mayor and council were in agreement.

After his removal, council voted to ban Wiebe from going to the RM office for a period of up to three years; in April 2024, after what council said was another disturbance, he was banned from attending council meetings, including virtually, as well as contacting municipal staff and councillors.

Toyne said Wiebe can go to the next council meeting, which is scheduled for April 28.

“You don’t just lock out your opponents,” the lawyer said. “We don’t do this in Canada.”

Mayor Jack Brisco said Wiebe will be allowed to attend council meetings as a spectator.

“(But) if it happens again, then you will be ejected,” Brisco said.

“As long as they are not causing a disturbance or causing a problem, they will be allowed to stay. The way it was going on, there was a disturbance quite often. You can’t run your municipality like that.”

Brisco said his council will ask the provincial government to amend the Municipal Act to give elected officials power to deal with the issue.

“That is a huge problem as far as I can tell and it is happening all over Manitoba,” he said.

“We would like to get the Municipal Act changed so that, if you are a repeat offender, we can bar you, I don’t know, say for a month (and) if you don’t listen, maybe two months, maybe six months. There has to be some sort of progression. You can’t just let people keep on disrupting and disrupting and be back the next day and do it all over again.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca