Councillor must apologize and pay $500 fine or resign, says P.E.I. minister
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/12/2023 (1004 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
MURRAY HARBOUR, P.E.I. – A village councillor in Prince Edward Island has until Sunday to pay a $500 fine and apologize for displaying a sign on his property denying the existence of residential school graves, or he will be forced to resign.
P.E.I. Minister of Housing, Land and Communities Rob Lantz said in a statement Thursday that Murray Harbour Coun. John Robertson has until Dec. 31 to comply with the sanctions placed on him by council.
Robertson did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The councillor displayed a sign in October with the message, “Truth: mass grave hoax” and “Reconciliation: Redeem Sir John A.’s integrity,” ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
In response to the sign, Robertson received calls for his resignation from P.E.I. Sen. Brian Francis, Abegweit First Nation Chief Roderick Gould Jr., as well as the mayor and his fellow council members.
Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, is considered the architect of Confederation and of the residential school system; he championed policies of assimilation and violence toward Indigenous people.
In May 2021, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation announced that ground-penetrating radar had revealed the possible remains of as many as 215 children around the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia’s Interior. Since then, many other First Nations across Canada have searched school sites in their territories for graves.
The Murray Harbour council voted in November to suspend Robertson for six months and force him to pay a $500 fine and write a letter of apology.
On Dec. 8, Lantz said he received a formal request from the Rural Municipality of Murray Harbour to conduct an inquiry into Robertson’s conduct and his failure to comply with the sanctions placed on him by council.
“After reviewing the documentation provided by the Rural Municipality of Murray Harbour, I have concluded that no further inquiry is required,” said Hantz.
“I have notified Coun. John Robertson that he is ordered to comply with the sanctions placed on him by council or resign from his role on council by Dec. 31, 2023.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2023.
— By Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax.