The City of Quesnel is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit from its mayor over his censuring and removal from city committees.
On April 30, city council voted unanimously to censure Ron Paull following reports that his wife had shared a book that challenges the harm of residential schools, and allegations he had recommended the book to other local elected officials.
The mayor of the city in B.C.’s Cariboo region was removed from some committees and regional boards, and his travel and lobbying budgets were taken away.
In a petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court on May 29, Paull argued the actions taken against him were “unreasonable” and the city had “breached its duty of procedural fairness” owed to him. He asked the court to order his reinstatement to all board and committee positions.
In a response on June 24, the city said its council’s actions were allowed under the Community Charter, the provincial legislation that governs all B.C. municipalities outside Vancouver.
“The petitioner has not met his burden to demonstrate that the April 30 Resolutions of Censure and Sanction were unreasonable,” the city’s response reads.
The city is seeking a full dismissal of Paull’s lawsuit, and is also asking the court to grant it legal costs.
Neither the city’s nor Paull’s claims in the lawsuit have been proven in court.
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.
Mayor claimed he was ‘ambushed’
In his petition, Paull argued the city council had breached its duty of fairness as it “ambushed” him and “orchestrated a public hearing” into the allegations about him and his wife without providing notice.
The city said in its response that Paull was sent a report regarding his possible censure on April 18, and the mayor himself agreed to the April 30 meeting in which he was censured.
The petition is the latest in a controversy that has put Quesnel — a community of around 23,000 people around 400 kilometres north of Vancouver — in the spotlight regarding residential schools and reconciliation.
The controversy centred around a book of essays titled Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools), whose authors claim the media helped shape a false public narrative of what happened at the schools.
Paull’s petition says the allegations that the mayor’s wife shared the book with someone, and the mayor later showed the book to two regional directors, are “not a rational or reasonable basis for censuring and sanctioning an elected member of city council.”
He has denied the allegations against him, saying in early April he had simply brought up the book during a discussion of which books should be made available at a local library.
There have since been calls for Paull to resign as mayor — something he has declined to do — while the Lhtako Dene, Nazko and Lhoosk’uz Dené First Nations have said they will refuse to work with him.
While some of the essays in Grave Error acknowledge the residential school system caused abuse and harm to some children, others challenge the veracity of survivors’ accounts.
Lhtako Dene elder Bryant Paul, who attended St. Joseph Mission residential school, speaks to Quesnel city council on Apr. 2, 2024.
They also question the belief the residential school system amounted to cultural genocide in its attempt to assimilate Indigenous people, 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.
A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.
Mental health counselling and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.