Springfield councillor suspended over comments about Indigenous people | CBC News

A councillor in a Manitoba rural municipality agreed to take a seven-day unpaid suspension and cultural sensitivity training at his own expense, in response to comments he made about Indigenous people at a meeting last week.

Coun. Andy Kuczynski agreed to the unpaid suspension and training after the council of the Rural Municipality of Springfield voted on Tuesday night to suspend him.

The comments in question were made during a meeting on Aug. 8, when council had received a report from the Oakbank-Springfield Kinsmen Seniors’ Complex Inc. about a proposed personal care home in the area, located east of Winnipeg.

Kuczynski expressed concern at the meeting that spaces in the proposed care home could be taken by Indigenous people from the north.

“If there [are] senior citizens and people that need assisted living or whatever, some place up north, they’re going to bring them here because they see truth and reconciliation,” Kuczynski said.

“So I know what that means. They’re going to bring lots of people, probably Native people, here to this community. At this point we don’t have it, but it’s going to happen. You’re not going to say that we’re not going to accept these people.”

After being told that the Northern Health Region has capacity in its care homes, and people were not expected to come to the new facility, Kuczynski said he hoped the facility would be used by people from the area.

“If we have this facility here and it’s going to be available, majority of people gonna be from this area, that’s what it should be.”

Comments were ‘ill-informed,’ says mayor

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs released a statement on Monday, calling on Mayor Patrick Therrien to take action in response to Kuczynski’s comments.

“These hurtful comments hamper the progressive strides of the principles towards inclusivity and understanding, but also reveal a disturbingly tokenized understanding of the profound truth and reconciliation process,” AMC’s statement reads in part.

Following a nearly 50-minute in-camera session during the council’s meeting on Tuesday, council voted unanimously to suspend Kucynski.

CBC News requested an interview with Kucynski, but did not receive a response.

Therrien, speaking in an interview after the meeting, called Kucynski’s comments “ill-informed.”

In response to the criticism from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Therrien said he has “the utmost respect” for Grand Chief Cathy Merrick.

The council also voted during the meeting to develop a formal acknowledgement of Indigenous people to be read at the start of meetings, similar to those adopted by other levels of government.

Kucynski’s comments do not reflect the wider community, Therrien said.

“The R.M. of Springfield is a very, very good community. I’ve lived here for 31 years. This isn’t a situation whatsoever reminiscent of the community,” he said.

“We’re very open, we’re a community amongst communities there. I’m confident that this is a one-off. The training will help immensely…. I’m happy with how we handled this tonight and I’m happy with Kuczynski taking responsibility for his comments.”