On April 22, 2024, Frances Widdowson published her piece “Whoa Daddy: Quesnel City Councillors Kill Democracy Over the Book Grave Error“. In this article, Widdowson pointed out how city councillors used an unfair application of their rules to suppress dissent.
Rather than recognizing this democratic destruction, however, Quesnel city council has doubled down on its autocratic actions. First, it misrepresented its minutes of the April 2, 2024 meeting to avoid transparency and accountability. As is shown by the minutes for the April 23, 2024 meeting (found in the April 30 meeting agenda https://quesnel.civicweb.net/document/153126/), “Gallery Questions” are typically recorded thusly:
For the meeting on April 2, 2024, however, the “Gallery Questions” were incorrectly characterized as “O. New Business” in the minutes.
This incorrect characterization led the comments and questions to be inappropriately ommitted:
Recording what transpired in this way enabled the city council to avoid printing the criticisms of Frances Widdowson, who accused the City of Quesnel of “spreading misinformation” by reading the false assertion in the News Release from the B.C. Assembly of First Nations into the record.
This is in spite of the fact that it is clearly stated at 26:56 of the YouTube video of the meeting and the related transcript that the comments and questions designated “New Business” in the minutes occurred in the “Gallery Questions” part of the meeting.
This was reiterated just before Pat Morton and Frances Widdowson came up to speak at 1:15:12 and 1:20:40 respectively.
This is also reflected on page 54 of 70 of the April 30, 2024 City of Quesnel Agenda, which provides a transcript of part of the April 2, 2024 meeting featuring Chief Clifford Lebrun’s comments as occurring during “Gallery Questions/Comments”, not “New Business”.
These distortions in the minutes raise the possibility that city managers are using their neutral advisory position to assist one faction of city council in their efforts to depose Mayor Ron Paull. A “City Staff Report”, for example, has been compiled by City Manager Byron Johnson and signed by Acting City Manager Kari Bolton.
While this “City Staff Report” was directed by the majority of the council at the meeting on April 2, 2024, a number of actions of city managers indicate a bias against Mayor Ron Paull.
The “City Staff Report” notes that “Mayor [Ron Paull] was informed by Councillor [Laurey-Ann] Roodenburg and Deputy CAO [Kari] Bolton on March 7, 2024 that his wife was distributing the Book [Grave Error], and that this was upsetting for the Lhtako Dene members because of the position it expresses dismissing the traumas and atrocities of residential schools”. It also states that “On March 15, 2024 the Mayor was informed by CAO [Byron] Johnson that the Lhtako Dene band leadership were very upset about the distribution of the Book by the Mayor’s wife, and that they were considering sending a letter to Council”. Why would managers Johnson and Bolton think it appropriate to approach Mayor Paull about an action of his wife, who is a private citizen, and have these criticisms of her actions read into the record at the next city council meeting (on March 19, 2024)?
On March 19, 2024, City Manager Johnson even took it upon himself to “suggest one…resolution for council’s consideration…that the City of Quesnel stands with the Lhtako Dene Nation and all other indigenous nations, all other local indigenous nations, in denouncing the book Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us…” (at 49:55 in the YouTube video). Why does City Manager Johnson think that it is appropriate for a city council to denounce a book. What, in his view, does the sharing and reading of books by its citizens have to do with the official business of a municipality?
This recommendation by Johnson was then moved by Councillor Tony Goulet and seconded by Laurey-Ann Roodenburg (at 50:26 of the YouTube video). Johnson’s recommendation of the denunciation would have given this action legitimacy.
The “City Staff Report” sent by City Manager Johnson also notes that “During the April 2, 2024 Council meeting it was reported, and later confirmed by the Quesnel Observer, that the Mayor himself attempted to distribute the Book at a Cariboo Regional District meeting at which he was representing the City (his attempts were declined)”.
The “confirm[ation] by the Quesnel Observer, that the Mayor himself attempted to distribute the Book…”, appears in a news story that is attached to City Manager Byron Johnson’s “City Staff Report” (on pages 56 and 57 of the April 30 Agenda – see below).
Mayor Paull, on the other hand, stated at the meeting on April 2, 2024 (at 13:20 of the YouTube video) that he used the book to “make a point” about what should or should not be included in libraries. He claimed he had “not distributed the book to anyone”. Therefore, we have a “he said, she said” situation, where the conflicting claims would have to be evaluated in terms of credibility.
In spite of the difficulties of getting to the truth of the matter, city managers Johnson and Bolton have provided an “example” of “Motion of Censure” on page 45 of the April 30, 2024 Agenda. They note on page 44 that “While a draft resolution of censure is attached to this report, it is to provide assistance to Council on the potential form of a resolution, and does not have to be used by Council unless it so resolves”.
This “Example” of a “Motion of Censure” against Mayor Ron Paull is ironic, when one considers the actions of councillors Goulet, Roodenburg and Elliott on March 19 and April 2, 2024. Was it “honest” for Tony Goulet to have said that he read Grave Error from “cover to cover” when he didn’t appear to have even a basic grasp of its contents? Is there “openness” when he does not provide information about what residential school his father attended? Were councillors Roodenburg and Elliott “respectful” to Frances Widdowson when they told her that they didn’t care what she had to say and that she didn’t belong at the meeting? Was it “fair” for councillors to allow those who agreed with them to speak for as long as they liked on any topic, and then ruled Pat Morton’s statement “out of order” for not being a question? Those that would like an objective account of the April 2, 2024 meeting should read Robert Roth’s comments below.
What an absurd situation. A mayor’s wife reads a book and shares it with a long time friend for an opinion and the city council, it’s manager and an attending mob have a “burn her at the stake” public meltdown. And since her husband doesn’t have her under his patriarchal thumb controlling what she reads and who she shares her books with, they want him at the stake next to her for burning as well. What does reading books have to do with city government?
This is obviously dirty politics. This has all the hallmarks of a city manager in cahoots with a few other councillors and God knows who else gunning for the mayor. We used to respect each other’s opinions and beliefs about books in this country. Most of us tried to play politics above board and fair too. Both are broken in Quesnel BC.
Unlike the Quesnel Indigenous mob and the city’s dysfunctional governing council, I read Grave Error. It’s a factual account of the IRS that doesn’t line up with Murray Sinclair’s IRS bashing session in the TRC Report. It doesn’t deny the IRS existed or former students’ stories of hurt, murder and abuse. Unlike Sinclair who didn’t examine whether there was evidence to verify those horrific stories, Grave Error provides factual evidence that often challenges the veracity of those wild accusations of murder, rape and abuse. Grave Error provides evidence that suggests it’s possible the Kamloops 215 radar images could be septic tiles. It offers rationale and logical explanations for all the other IRS radar images identified too.
It’s three years later, billions are being paid out to the “survivors” of a genocidal IRS and there is no verified physical evidence of its so-called atrocities. The 215 still haven’t been dug up. No investigations, no one being trialed, no one being held accountable for committing the genocide. It looks like this will never occur.
Yet Canadians are expected to believe their country and several national Christian churches conspired with thousands of IRS employees, many who were aboriginals, to commit a genocide of its students over its 125 years period. That’s rich.
This is the absurd Canada we now live in after 9 years of crazy identity politics in Ottawa.