A group of concerned citizens appeared in city council chambers asking that an opinion poll on a possible name change for the City of Powell River be conducted.
At the May 16 committee of the whole meeting, Dean Gerhart, representing Concerned Citizens of Powell River, which had previously presented a 2,000-name petition to city councillors, said the group had been asking for a referendum on a possible name change for the city.
“We have never advocated a no vote or a yes vote, but a vote to allow the people of Powell River to voice their preference to having or not having a name change,” said Gerhart.
He said representatives of the group went door-to-door in many places.
“We spoke to people who would not sign our petition, but most were in favour of no name change,” said Gerhart.
He said as part of the possible name change public engagement process from the joint working group between Tla’amin Nation and the city, people were asked about their opinion regarding a possible renaming, and he believes that overwhelmingly, people did not support a name change, but the concerned citizens have not been able to get the results of any survey, even with a Freedom of Information Act request, which was denied.
“It’s our group’s opinion that prior to the municipal election, we were having a positive conversation with council, looking for ways to accommodate the public in having a say to the name change,” said Gerhart. “By conducting a public opinion poll or a survey similar to the one conducted by the Village of Queen Charlotte during the process to its name change, we are now asking to set a date and conduct a poll or survey.
“This whole process has gone on for well over a year and it’s time something be done, and this process should be a priority and be conducted as soon as possible.”
Conflict question
Gerhart then alleged possible conflict of interest on council, naming councillors Cindy Elliott and Trina Isakson. He said Isakson was the contractor hired by the possible name change joint working group to conduct the public engagement process. He said councillor Elliott is using social media to post support for the name change.
“We believe this is contrary to supporting what the public interests are, that they have been elected to serve,” said Gerhart. “We are asking the mayor to conduct a review of the possibility of a conflict of interest, and if a conflict of interest is real, and not just perceived, the appropriate course of action would be recusal from the name change deliberations and voting.”
He said it had also come to the attention of the group that North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney was requesting a name change for the riding, removing the Powell River reference, without consultation with the residents of the city. He said Blaney may also have implicated mayor Ron Woznow by saying he was in support of that name change to the riding. Gerhart said this could also be a conflict of interest.
Interim chief administrative officer Tom Day said there is a lot of case law around conflict of interest versus bias, most of which is around land use legislation.
“Basically, what the courts have recognized is it would be common for each individual to have a viewpoint on a particular issue and that doesn’t disqualify them from voting,” said Day. “I think each and every person here has some interest in that particular item but that doesn’t mean there is a conflict of interest or that it would impact any process that we do go through.”
Day said the possible name change had been referred to the city’s strategic planning process and he had spoken with the consultant leading the process; she indicated the strategic planning information would be coming back to city councillors in the next couple of weeks.
Woznow said for the record, he did not ever indicate to Blaney that he supported her initiative.
“She is probably well aware that with an issue like this, it would normally come to city council, and for me to speak on behalf of council and the city, we would have had an open discussion here before that would have happened, and it didn’t,” said Woznow.
The mayor added that Gerhart had made the important point that in a democracy, when important issues are being discussed, especially at the municipal level, that all voters in the municipality should have the opportunity to express their vote so that the mayor and members of council are well aware of what the position is of the people who live here.
Elliott said in the last city council and this one, she has been in favour of a consensus-building process because she believes reconciliation is so important.
“I am in Indigenous person and I speak from a place where Indigenous people haven’t always had the voice they should have had,” said Elliott. “My perspective may be different from some of yours but I’ve always wanted an increase in the consensus-building process.
“I will speak to what I think is best in all of our processes and vote for what I think is right, as every other councillor here will. We will, at some point, come forward with a united council voice on what to do next. None of that makes me in conflict. It just means I am a voice in the community that is on council.”
In addition to the supporters of a name change opinion poll in the council gallery, there was a group of people, many in orange shirts, who opposed the viewpoint of the concerned citizens group, gathered outside council chambers.
