At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, a notice of notice was brought forward by Mayor Sandra Masters to reconsider the appointment of Councillor Dan LeBlanc to the inaugural board of directors for Community and Social Impact Regina.
The board is meant to exist autonomously from the city with a mandate to coordinate “community and social impact strategies to support the well-being, health, safety, and social inclusion of residents in Regina.”
LeBlanc was appointed to the board during a meeting on September 14, 2022, and his term is not set to end until the end of 2023.
He believes that the motion isn’t about him but rather about the voice he represents.
“I’ve been consulting with the community over the last few days, and the main thing I am hearing back from them is that the motion isn’t actually about me,” he said. “It’s about the community, and it’s about minimizing the voices of people with lived experience of social issues, including houselessness.”
“It’s not my voice that is being silenced; it’s there’s.”
Almost two months ago, Councillor LeBlanc was a part of a lawsuit against City Manager Nikki Anderson. He added that he doesn’t believe the lawsuit is the reason for the notice of motion being brought forward; however, it did play a part.
“My view broadly is the motion, and the rift that was revealed not caused, but was revealed in December flows from the community and the two councillors who represent north central and heritage sort of going all out on issues of houselessness and social issues in Regina.”
LeBlanc said he is disappointed that council is spending more time on internal conflict than action against houselessness.
“I wish we could talk about houselessness rather than internal squabbling about houselessness, but we are where we are, and I’m hopeful once its done, whatever the result, that we will get back to the real issues because as we speak now, there are folks in tents, folks dying of fentanyl overdoses.”
Mayor Sandra Masters explained why she brought forward the motion.
“It’s a matter of discussions during and following both a lawsuit and budget deliberations and some sequent conversation with others in the community.”
The notice of motion was passed, and the council will now discuss the vote upon the notice at the next council meeting on February 8.
