Anti-Indigenous sign: P.E.I. councillor given more time to apologize and pay fine

CITYnews halifax / By The Canadian Press

CHARLOTTETOWN — A village councillor in Prince Edward Island is being given a bit more time to pay a $500 fine and apologize for displaying a sign on his property denying the existence of residential school graves.

Communities Minister Rob Lantz says he’s allowing Murray Harbour Coun. John Robertson to either take these steps “within a week” or be dismissed from the elected role.

Lantz had said Robertson had until Dec. 31 to comply with the sanctions placed on him by council.

However, the provincial cabinet minister says he received an email from Robertson on New Year’s Eve indicating he had been out of the country and had only just seen the ultimatum.

The councillor had 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.

Lantz says he’s willing to give Robertson a little more time but added, “We’ll have to bring this to some sort of logical conclusion as quickly as possible.”

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. He said last week the documentation provided by the Rural Municipality of Murray Harbour was sufficient to make his decision and indicated he had notified Robertson he must comply with the council’s requirements.

“We haven’t had much indication about how he intends to comply or not. So, I’d like to hear something from him, very shortly,” Lantz said in an interview Tuesday.

“I would say within a week is probably reasonable.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2024.

— By Michael Tutton in Halifax.

The Canadian Press