![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Listen to this article<\/p>\n
Estimated 5 minutes<\/p>\n
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n
The executive policy committee of Winnipeg city council voted Tuesday morning to recommend that Coun. Russ Wyatt be removed from five committees and boards, after he was charged with sexual assault last month.<\/p>\n
The motion, introduced by Mayor Scott Gillingham, comes after several of Wyatt’s council colleagues suggested the Transcona councillor take a step back from his role as the charges against him move through the court system.<\/p>\n
“This is what we can do as a council. This is, I think, what we should be doing as a council. And I’ll reiterate: we take this matter very, very seriously,” Gillingham said as he read his motion at a meeting of the executive policy committee, which functions as the mayor’s cabinet.<\/p>\n
Gillingham said while Wyatt is considered innocent until proven otherwise, “members of the public still expect members of council to act in a manner that provides them confidence as the public.”<\/p>\n
“In most organizations, in a case such as this, a member of the organization, an employee, would be on leave \u2026 pending the outcome of the court proceedings,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wyatt denies the allegations, and has pledged to continue<\/a> representing the Transcona ward.<\/p>\n “I am innocent. I have done nothing wrong, and I will have my day in court to prove that,” a written statement from Wyatt said Tuesday. “I still believe in the rule of law, that one is presumed innocent, until proven otherwise.”<\/p>\n A number of councillors previously described Wyatt’s continued presence at city hall as a distraction, as he attended a regular council meeting last month, one day after police announced he’d been charged with sexual assault.<\/a><\/p>\n Council does not have authority to suspend members who are the subject of criminal allegations, Speaker Devi Sharma, the councillor for Old Kildonan, previously said.<\/p>\n Gillingham’s motion involves recommending that council rescind Wyatt’s appointments to the standing policy committee on property and development, the Winnipeg Food Council, the Transcona Museum Board, the Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation and the Winnipeg Public Library Board.<\/p>\n It also recommends the city clerk, in consultation with the council Speaker, be directed to canvass other members of council to determine interest in filling the roles left vacant by Wyatt. Gillingham said Wyatt would continue to serve on council and on the East Kildonan-Transcona community committee.<\/p>\n ‘Only step that we have available’<\/p>\n Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski), who spoke briefly before the committee voted in support of the motion, said while he was a “little concerned” about Wyatt being removed from the property and development committee, the other positions involve working with “general citizens, not elected officials.”<\/p>\n “I’m not saying he’s guilty or not,” Eadie said. “We don’t know. And my concern is just the general public who sit on our boards and so on \u2026 they shouldn’t be exposed to that kind of thing.”<\/p>\n A number of Wyatt’s council colleagues, Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood) included, encouraged him to take a step back as the matters were dealt with.<\/p>\n “He chose not to do this, and unfortunately this formal process to remove [him] from the committees that he was appointed to by council is the only step that we have available to us, and I will support that to maintain the integrity of the office of council,” Duncan said.<\/p>\n Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West), who also said Wyatt is considered innocent until proven guilty in court, called his situation a difficult one, and she’s received “emails from residents who are uncomfortable with the situation and members of council who are uncomfortable with it.”<\/p>\n Winnipeg police said last month that Wyatt, 56, was arrested in connection with an alleged assault at a home in the east area of the city.<\/p>\n Police said the sex crimes unit began an investigation after a man reported he met another man on social media in December, and they saw each other more than once.<\/p>\n During one of those meetings, the man was given an illicit drug and sexually assaulted, police said. After leaving, he sought medical attention.<\/p>\n Wyatt was charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy, and was released on an undertaking.<\/p>\n He was previously arrested and charged with sexual assault in another case in July 2018. Police said at the time those charges stemmed from an incident involving a woman Wyatt knew. The charges were stayed in 2019.<\/a><\/p>\n Wyatt was first elected to represent Transcona in 2002, and was re-elected in 2006, 2010 and 2014.<\/p>\n He did not run for re-election in 2018, after he took a leave of absence for several months<\/a> to undergo addictions treatment. He successfully ran again in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n The motion to remove Wyatt from his council committees and boards will now go for a vote before Winnipeg’s city council, which is scheduled to meet again on April 30. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":{"0":"post-619710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-winnipeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}