P.E.I. councillor accused of posting anti-indigenous sign

CHARLOTTETOWN • A village councillor in Prince Edward Island is asking a court to quash sanctions imposed on him after he displayed a sign on his property questioning the existence of unmarked graves at former residential schools.

In documents filed last week with the P.E.I. Supreme Court, Murray Harbour Coun. John Robertson claims fellow councillors exceeded their authority and violated his rights on Nov. 18, 2023, when they decided he had breached the council’s code of conduct.

The councillors then decided to impose a $500 fine and suspend him from his municipal post for six months. Robertson, elected in November 2022, was also removed as chair of the maintenance committee and ordered to write an apology to the mayor, council and the Indigenous community.

The councillor’s application for judicial review, dated Feb. 16, says those sanctions were unreasonable because they failed to account for his fundamental rights to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He argues he shouldn’t be punished for stating personal opinions that have nothing to do with his role as an elected member of council.

Between September and October last year, coinciding with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the councillor displayed a sign on his property with the message, “Truth: mass grave hoax” and “Reconciliation: Redeem Sir John A.’s integrity.”

Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, is considered one of the architects of the residential school system because he championed policies of assimilation.

In 2021, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation announced that ground-penetrating radar had revealed the possible graves of as many as 215 children around the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C.’S interior. Since then, many other First Nations in Canada have searched for unmarked graves at school sites in their territories.

Under the province’s Municipal Government Act, only the minister has the power to dismiss a councillor.