Calls grow louder for B.C. mayor to resign over residential school book incident [Video]

There are growing calls for Quesnel Mayor Ron Paull to resign after revelations his wife has been handing out a book that, according to promotional material from its publisher, questions whether residential schools were fundamentally harmful to Indigenous communities and people who attended them.

More than 200 people marched outside city hall Tuesday evening before packing into an emotionally charged council meeting in the city of roughly 23,000 people, located in B.C.’s Cariboo region about 400 kilometres north of Vancouver.

“We can no longer work with this mayor and we will not work with the City of Quesnel until [the] issue has been resolved,” said Lhtako Dene Chief Clifford Lebrun. 

“We can’t have a community that hands out hate literature and expect people to listen to us and to take it seriously.”

WATCH | First Nations, councillors call on Quesnel mayor to resign: Three city councillors, several First Nations, and …