Wife of Quesnel mayor claims defamation in lawsuit against city councillor

Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince George Citizen

The wife of Quesnel Mayor Ron Paull is suing a member of city council for defamation over the councillor’s reaction to a book that disputes the history of Canada’s residential schools.

In a May 13-filed BC Supreme Court notice of civil claim, Pat Morton accuses Coun. Laurey-Anne Roodenberg of conduct that was “not only defamatory, but malicious, politically motivated and designed to publicly discredit me despite knowing or being reckless as to the truth.”

Morton claims stress caused by Roodenburg made her fear for her safety and affected her mentally and physically, including her affliction with Crohn’s Disease. Morton is seeking damages, costs, a declaration that Roodenburg breached City of Quesnel’s code of conduct and an order for Roodenburg to issue a formal public apology.

None of the allegations has been tested in court. Roodenburg has yet to file a defence statement.

Morton’s claim said she bought 11 copies of Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth About Residential Schools. She gave one to the school district library and offered another to a local MLA, who returned it unread. Morton said the remaining copies went to close friends or family.

The book questions the conclusions of the December 2015 final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation’s May 2021 announcement that remains of 215 children were buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. 

The band’s ground-penetrating radar expert later said her equipment detected 200 “anomalies.” The site has not been excavated.

Roodenburg, Morton said, approached Paull on March 7, 2024 with concerns that Morton had distributed the book in the community.

At the March 19, 2024 council meeting, Paull said Morton had given a copy to the mother of Coun. Tony Goulet, who is Metis. Roodenburg alleged Morton did not respect her husband’s position and that it was the second time in two years council had to reaffirm its 2017 memorandum of understanding with the Lhtako Dene Nation.

Morton said she confirmed, via freedom of information, that only one such event took place.

At the same meeting, Morton said Roodenburg called her actions “morally reprehensible” and intended to harm First Nations communities.

Morton said she attempted to speak at the April 2, 2024 council meeting, but was interrupted by members of the gallery. The claim said Roodenburg did not intervene, de-escalate or protect her right to speak. Instead, she interrupted with repeated point of order objections.

“The chair of the meeting, Coun. Mitch Vik then stated I was only allowed to ask a question. At no time before council was I given an opportunity to defend myself,” Morton claimed.

“Coun. Roodenburg also stated publicly that she didn’t care about my opinion and that my actions reflected poorly on the mayor, council, and the community as a whole.”

Morton said media reports echoed Roodenburg’s statements, implying she was spreading residential school denialism, racism and hatred.

“The cumulative effects of the meetings, media coverage, and social media posts resulted in social ostracization, loss of business for my son, reputational harm to me and, my husband, the mayor,” said Morton’s claim. “The ostracization was so obvious when we attended pubic functions such as the Community Foundation Dinner, the Firemen’s Appreciation Dinner, and the Billy Barker Days Corp Night.”

In March, a BC Supreme Court judge quashed three resolutions to censure and sanction Paull.

Paull successfully claimed that Quesnel city council’s April 30 decisions against him were made without procedural fairness. Councillors voted to withdraw Paull’s travel budget and remove him from city committees and the Cariboo Regional District board after Morton shared the book.In his verdict, Justice William Veenstra said Indigenous communities saw Grave Error as being “hurtful, hateful and harmful” to the cause of reconciliation.