Mayor Ron Paull at the April 30 council meeting of Quesnel city council. Image credit: City of Quesnel

By Adam Berls

quesnel

Quesnel City Council censures and sanctions Mayor Ron Paull

May 1, 2024 | 4:19 PM

QUESNEL — Quesnel City Council moved to sanction and censure Mayor Ron Paull at Tuesday’s council meeting for what the city calls “jeopardizing Indigenous relations with the Lhtako Dene Nation and surrounding Indigenous communities”.

Censure and sanctions were taken by council in response to the Mayor taking a controversial book Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us and the Truth about Residential Schools to a Cariboo Regional District meeting in March, where he was accused by other councillors at the April 2 council meeting, of trying to distribute the book.

The sanctions moved against Mayor Paull are the following:

• Removal of travel & lobbying budgets
• Removal from Organizations that require Council approval, including:
  • Cariboo Regional District representation
  • Northern Development Initiative Trust
• Removal from City Committees (except Standing Committees)
• Removal from Indigenous relations
• Required ‘sincere’ apology

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Council also moved a motion of censure against the Mayor and it was moved unanimously. A censure motion is “a tool that a Council has to express displeasure with one of its members.”

Before sanctions and a motion of censure were approved, Councillor Scott Elliott said that Quesnel’s reputation “internationally, is being damaged on a colossal scale” but hoped that the actions taken at Tuesday’s council meeting is the start of trying to repair the City’s relationship with Indigenous people as well as the City’s reputation.

In response to possible sanctions being moved against him, Mayor Paull said:

“I didn’t mean any harm, I saw an opportunity to take that book to Williams Lake because we had quite a spirited discussion about the sexual orientation and gender identity books being placed on low shelves and that really upset me. That was my reaction, and so if anything, yes, I’m sorry for picking the wrong book, but it was just a spur of the moment thing, and I did it, but as I said, I was simply not distributing and handing the book out to anyone.”

Councillor Laurey-Anne Roodenburg said that it is important that the community understands that “this is no longer about the book anymore, it’s about leadership.” Roodenburg also mentioned that “this could have been resolved, way, way sooner” and that Council did not have get to the point “where we’re at censure and sanctions of the Mayor.”

Cariboo Regional District Board Chair Margo Wagner released a statement on May 1 saying:

“We are aware that Quesnel’s City Council has censured Mayor Ron Paull, and revoked his appointment to the CRD’s Board of Directors as a result. We will welcome the new municipal representative to the Board once they have been selected by Quesnel’s City Council. Our Board as a whole remains committed to the principles of reconciliation and strengthening our relationships with all the Indigenous governments in the Cariboo and Chilcotin.”

We reached out to Mayor Ron Paull on Wednesday about the actions taken at council, but said he was not at liberty to comment at this time.

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X: @AdamBerls

Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com