The mayor of Quesnel, B.C., has been stripped of many of his duties and barred from entering land belonging to multiple First Nations in and around his community.
On Tuesday night, Quesnel’s city council voted unanimously to censure Ron Paull and impose multiple restrictions on his ability to represent the city.
The decision is in response to reports Paull’s wife has given out copies of a controversial book about residential schools to people in the community and that Paull himself had offered the book to other elected officials at a local government meeting.
In response, the Lhtako Dene, Nazko and Lhoosk’uz Dené First Nations have said they will refuse to work with Paull, who is also no longer welcome on land belonging to the Lhtako Dene.
The story thrust the community of roughly 23,000 people, located about 400 kilometres north of Vancouver, into the national spotlight as a flash point in the ongoing conversation about residential schools and Canada’s efforts at reconciliation with Indigenous communities.
But Paull says while he may have made an error in judgment, he has no plans to leave his position.
“I have four loves,” he said at this week’s meeting. “My wife Pat, my family and friends, my wonderful community of Quesnel, and my faith … I wholeheartedly intend on continuing giving back to my community.”
WATCH | Mayor plans to stay on after being censured:
Quesnel city council censures mayor
22 hours ago
Duration 2:13
Quesnel city council has voted unanimously to censure Mayor Ron Paull, claiming he damaged relations with First Nations. Paull’s wife distributed a book that local First Nations say minimizes the harms of residential schools.
Paull will continue to serve as mayor, as there is no formal mechanism to force elected officials to resign. He will also continue to chair council meetings.
However, council has formally condemned his actions, removed him from several committees, removed his travel budget and will not allow him to act as their representative with First Nations or other external groups.
They have also asked him to issue a formal apology, something which he has so far not done.
Coun. Tony Goulet said the steps were necessary to restore Quesnel’s relationship with First Nations.
“If we don’t have a working relationship with all Indigenous communities, we’re gonna be in trouble,” he said.
Other councillors expressed concern they would not be able to successfully apply for grants or enter partnerships with other levels of government or contractors without taking strong action.
“Our reputation internationally is being damaged on a colossal scale,” said Coun. Scott Elliott. “All the work that we’ve done to rebrand this city has been demolished.”
Council voted to revisit the sanctions in 90 days.
In 2024, Quesnel and the Lhtako First Nation officially partnered as hosts of the B.C. Winter Games, a first for the organization. (Laurey-Anne Roodenburg)
In an interview with CBC News after the meeting, Lhtako Dene band administrator Maynard Bara said his nation was pleased with council’s decision and said from his perspective, “It’s back to business as usual.”
“It’s great to see that city council did the right thing here and now we can move forward,” said Bara, adding that the past several weeks have been painful.
Quesnel has taken major steps in working with the Lhtako Dene, starting with a 2015 agreement which formally acknowledged the nation as partners upon whose land the city was built.
In the years since, it has taken other steps toward what it calls “true reconciliation,” which include restoring ownership of a downtown park to the First Nation and being the first city to officially co-host the B.C. Winter Games with an Indigenous community earlier this year.
Book given out by mayor’s wife
Tuesday’s decision came after several weeks of controversy which started at a council meeting held March 19, with a letter of concern from the Lhtako Dene First Nation.
According to the letter, a person related to a member of council — who Paull would reveal was his wife — had been giving out copies of a book titled Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools).
The book is a series of essays edited by C.P. Champion and Tom Flanagan, described by its publisher as challenging several assertions made about the harms of residential schools.
People walk on the former grounds of St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, on March 30, 2022. Many members of the Lhtako Dene First Nation were taken from their community to the school in Williams Lake. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
In publicity material for the book, publishers True North and Dorchester Books say statements that residential schools traumatized Indigenous people across generations and destroyed Indigenous languages and culture are either “totally false or grossly exaggerated.”
The book is particularly critical of media reports on the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation who, in 2021, announced preliminary findings of ground-penetrating radar work at the former Kamloops Residential School.
The nation has said they found anomalies which could be unmarked graves of children who attended the school, while clarifying that that possibility had yet to be confirmed.
WATCH | Learn about ground-penetrating radar:
How ground-penetrating radar works
3 years ago
Duration 4:51
Ground-penetrating radar is being used by Indigenous communities to pinpoint unmarked graves near former residential school sites. Here’s everything you need to know about the technology behind these discoveries.
However, the book points out many reports from media and other entities failed to include that context, which the authors say have helped shape a false public narrative of what happened at residential schools.
While some of the essays acknowledge abuse and harm to some children, others challenge the veracity of survivor’s accounts as well as the belief that in its attempt to assimilate Indigenous people, the residential school system amounted to cultural genocide, as determined by the federally-appointed Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
That commission heard testimony from more than 6,000 attendees of residential schools across the country, documenting stories of physical, sexual and psychological abuse, harsh punishments and malnourishment.
The letter from the Lhatkao Dene said, weighed against that testimony, the essays in Grave Error amount to “a slap in our people’s collective faces” by denying or minimizing the harms of residential schools that many of its members personally experienced and which are still felt within the community.
In response, Quesnel council, including Paull, voted to denounce the book and reaffirm their relationship with the Lhtako Dene.
Paull said at the meeting he had not personally read the book and that he does not always share the same opinions as his wife.
Controversy grows
However, that did not quell the backlash and on April 2 more than 200 people marched outside Quesnel city hall and called on the mayor to resign.
Inside, elders spoke of their own experiences at residential schools while Lhtako Dene Chief Clifford Lebrun told council his nation could no longer work with the city until the matter was resolved, a position reiterated by other First Nations in the region.
That notice led to this week’s decision by council to formally distance themselves from the mayor.
WATCH | Lhtako elder addresses council:
Residential school survivor calls for Quesnel mayor to resign
27 days ago
Duration 2:47
Lhtako Dene elder Bryant Paul, who attended St. Joseph Mission residential school, speaks to Quesnel city council on Apr. 2, 2024.
Paull opened the discussion about the possibility of being censured with a statement, saying the anger toward him was “all based on a misunderstanding.”
“I was accused of handing out and distributing the book,” he said. “I have not read the book.”
In a written statement to CBC News, Cariboo Regional District Chair Margo Wagner said that in her recollection of events, “Mayor Paull had a copy of the book and asked me if I was interested in reading the book as it was an interesting read. I politely declined and said I was not interested and walked away from the conversation.”
100 Mile House Mayor Maureen Pinkney gave a similar response in an interview with the Quesnel Cariboo Observer, in which she is quoted saying Paull “casually asked if I was familiar with the book and did I want to read it?”
Paull has not responded to interview requests from CBC News, but at the council meeting he said he was simply trying to use the book as a talking point for discussions about what sort of literature might or might not be allowed in local libraries.
But Coun. Laurey-Anne Roodenburg said the issue had moved beyond the book itself.
“I don’t care if you read the book – I bought it online and I want my money back,” she said.
“It’s about leadership and what’s transpired as a leader.”
On April 30, Quesnel city council voted unanimously to censure Mayor Ron Paull. Paull recused himself from the vote, citing conflict of interest. (City of Quesnel)
She and other councillors expressed disappointment that Paull’s story around whether he had ever recommended the book had changed over the weeks, and questioned if he was being truthful.
Councillors also spoke about the amount of scrutiny the episode had placed on them under.
“It has taken a toll,” said Goulet. “We’re all getting calls, we’re getting emails.”
Coun. Debra McKelvie said she had experienced multiple sleepless nights.
Lhtako Dene’s Maynard Bara said he and Chief Clifford LeBrun had also been getting “hate mail,” from people who disagreed with the decision from the First Nation and Quesnel’s council.
Among those who have been critical is Grave Error editor and contributor Tom Flanagan, who wrote that what was happening in Quesnel is similar to “totalitarian societies” accusing its members of “thought-crime,” while fellow editor C.P. Champion argued in a press release that council is “preventing the truth from coming out.”
But Goulet reiterated council never attempted to ban the book or prevent anyone from reading it.
“To me, denouncing was we weren’t going to promote the book. We weren’t going to talk about it. We were going to leave it at that.”
Goulet and the rest of council expressed hope that Paull would eventually apologize and his duties could be restored, but said that decision would not be made without first consulting First Nations.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
