Deadline extended for Murray Harbour councillor to pay fine, apologize for sign

A Murray Harbour councillor got a reprieve from a New Year's Eve deadline to either comply with sanctions levied against him by the community or tender his resignation from the community's council.

P.E.I. Housing, Land and Communities Minister Rob Lantz said Tuesday that he's giving John Robertson more time to decide how to proceed with the situation.

"I received an email from [Robertson] midday Sunday, which was the deadline that we'd set. He apparently is out of the country travelling and asked for a bit of time to consider how he's going to respond," Lantz said.

"The councillor has the option to continue serving … in Murray Harbour if he wishes, but he's going to need to comply with the sanctions imposed by his fellow councillors."

On the weekend of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in September 2023, passers-by noticed this sign on John Robertson's property. (Harry Vanden Broek)

On the weekend of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation this past September, passers-by noticed that a sign on Robertson's property contained the messages: "Truth: Mass Grave Hoax" and "Reconciliation: Redeem Sir John A's Integrity."

That led some community members, Murray Harbour Mayor Terry White and Abegweit First Nation Chief Roddy Gould Jr. to call on the councillor to resign.

In the past few years, First Nations across Canada have located evidence of the remains of more than 2,300 children in suspected unmarked graves at or near former residential schools and Indian hospitals. That's according to a report from the independent special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and burial sites associated with Indian Residential Schools that was released earlier this year.

Murray Harbour council voted in late November to sanction Robertson for breaching the municipality's code of conduct bylaws. In addition to suspending him until May, council voted to ask him to pay a $500 fine and write a letter of apology.

Robertson did neither, so the council asked Lantz's office to conduct a review of the case through the Municipal Government Act.

In late December, Lantz deemed the councillor's failure to comply with those sanctions as contrary to the code of conduct set out in the act and asked Robertson to comply with the sanctions by Dec. 31.

'We’re just trying to bring this to some sort of logical conclusion that everyone can be satisfied with and put this behind us,' says Rob Lantz, minister of Housing, Land and Communities. (P.E.I. Legislative Assembly)

Lantz said Tuesday he is not imposing a further deadline for a response, but said he has the ability to remove Robertson as a councillor if he decides not to comply.

"Knowing Mr. Robertson's out of the country and apparently only just received a copy of the email we sent to him just recently, I'm willing to give him a bit of time to figure out how to respond," he said. "We're just trying to bring this to some sort of logical conclusion that everyone can be satisfied with and put this behind us."

CBC News reached out to Roberston for comment but did not receive a response.