Regina police called as tensions rise at city hall during council meeting

Regina police were called to city hall on Wednesday during a council meeting after several people who were asked to leave refused to do so.

Tensions rose in the public gallery while council was discussing the integrity commissioner’s report on the conduct of councillors Andrew Stevens and Dan LeBlanc.

Last fall the two councillors attempted to take legal action against city manager Niki Anderson over funding to end homelessness in the City of Regina’s budget.

• Judge dismisses Regina councillors' court application against city manager

Those who supported Stevens and LeBlanc became vocal and refused to leave Henry Baker Hall when asked to do so.

Police were called to clear the room and no arrests were made.

The doors to the council chambers were then locked before the meeting continued.

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“Just to advise the public the chair presiding member over council is obligated to maintain order and preserve [the] decorum of the meeting so the gallery has been cleared due to shouting and etcetera,” Masters said when the meeting continued.

Both Coun. Andrew Stevens and Coun. Dan Leblanc were locked out of council chambers before being let back inside for the duration of the meeting.

Masters spoke about Wednesday’s incident at city hall on CTV Morning Live and said outbursts from the public gallery are simply not allowed.

“Whoever is in the chair has to maintain decorum and so based upon what was happening and some of the things being called out they refused to leave when the commissioners asked them to and so the commissioners had to call the police,” Masters said.

Coun. Leblanc disagreed with Masters’ decision and said it sets a bad example.

“That’s a very dangerous precedent,” Leblanc said. “To kick out everybody affiliated or presumptively affiliated with the cause [for] something the chair doesn’t like and then to lock the door for everyone irrespective of political belief, I think that’s a slippery slope,” LeBlanc said.

“It highlights the risks associated with majoritarian decision making.”

Masters disagreed that having police respond set a dangerous precedent.

“I think the precedent has been set that folks in the gallery are quiet when delegations come forward to speak to council there is also a procedure for that,” Masters said.

“There were no registered delegates left to speak to council and so in terms of precedent I don’t see one other than the procedures around behaviour in the gallery being maintained.”

Regina Police Service (RPS) Chief Evan Bray was asked about the incident on Thursday.

“Last night we had a group of people at the gallery at city hall that were saying they weren’t leaving and they were being asked to leave, so at the end of the day our officers showed up, no arrests had to be made, they left on their own but had we needed to we would have arrested protestors,” Bray said.

Bray said it’s RPS’ goal to not make arrests but rather work with community partners and the province.

Stevens’ and LeBlanc’s court application was eventually dismissed by a judge in December of last year.

The application sought to compel Regina’s city manager to include funding to solve homelessness in the proposed 2023-24 budget.

It arose after $24.9 million in funding to end homelessness was left out of the proposed city budget for 2023-24 and it was instead decided that homelessness funding would be discussed by council as a separate item outside of the proposed budget.

Justice J.P. Morall ruled in favour of the city manager, factoring in the other possible remedies to the conflict the two councillors could have pursued before taking legal action.

-- With files from Wayne Mantyka and Brianne Foley.