Regina citizens’ complaint letter calls for councillor Terina Shaw’s removal

A group of Regina residents have written a complaint letter to the city’s integrity commissioner in response to allegedly racist comments made by Ward 7 city councillor Terina Shaw about Indigenous Peoples.

Forty-seven people signed the letter for the integrity commissioner, Angela Kruk, asking her to investigate Shaw’s conduct at two 2022 city meetings.

During the Jan. 26 executive committee meeting, Shaw made comments about Indigenous men.

“I‘ve worked with Indigenous men,” Shaw said. “They’ve lived in my house. I’ve done it for years…. You talked about how they wouldn’t have sexual charges up against them. How can you show to the school board that this person doesn’t have sexual charges?”

The letter says her comments imply Indigenous men are sexual predators.

On June 15, Shaw made another comment about Indigenous Peoples and homelessness. The letter says Shaw’s comment perpetuates the ideas that Indigenous People are one homogenous group who share the same culture and that Indigenous People choose to be homeless and are not interested in having a home.

“I heard this once by an Indigenous person from RTSIS,” Shaw said on June 15. “She talked about people within the Indigenous culture that don’t want to have homes.”

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Florence Stratton and Susana Deranger were the two individuals who decided to start the complaint letter. They felt the Shaw’s comments perpetuated racist, colonial stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples and violated Regina’s Code of Ethics bylaw, specifically:

• 10 (1) Members shall treat every person, including other members, municipal employees and the public, with dignity, understanding and respect.
• 10 (2) Members shall not engage in discrimination, bullying, harassment or use derogatory language toward others in their roles as members of Council.

“It’s part of the larger process of fighting racism in our city,” said Stratton, a concerned resident and community activist. “We see it everyday all the time. Everyone should speak up, maybe white settlers more than anybody else, we need to speak out every time we see racism.”

Deranger, a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, felt the same about the need for a formal complaint.

“All of city council is supposed to be standing up for us constituents, making sure we have a good life,” said Deranger, another concerned resident. “With comments like this, how does that make a good life?”

Global News reached out to Shaw for a response, but did not hear back by deadline.

Mayor Sandra Masters says the city has to wait on the integrity commissioner’s word, before any next steps are decided.

“Any time statements are made that are ill conceived or not thoughtfully considered in impact and potential harm they have, that’s troublesome for council,” Masters said.  “I think we all try to be a little bit better.”

Stratton says she’s not sure what’s next in the process. She says they’re hoping to see Shaw be removed from council. Deranger feels that someone sharing racist comments should not hold such a position.

“What this does is it perpetuates stereotypes, it emboldens racismm” Deranger said.

Masters, however, says Shaw’s removal may be unlikely.

“I think councillor Shaw is a duly elected official in the city of Regina and we’re not of the business of overturning elections,” Masters said.

Shaw has yet to apologize for the comments, however Deranger feels an apology wouldn’t change anything.

“Even if she was forced into it, what does that say to me?” Deranger said. “No, it’s like crocodile tears.”

If having Shaw removed isn’t an option, Deranger says she hopes this letter still forces change.

“My hope is that there’ll be enough pressure that she’ll resign. The more people, the more voices we have, the more they’re likely to do something.”