CALEB NICKERSON
CALUMET ISLAND April 28, 2020
Two elderly municipal councillors filed complaints with the police against their mayor last week, after two separate altercations allegedly occurred on Tuesday afternoon.
Councillor Réjean Meilleur said that he had filed a report to police, claiming that Mayor Serge Newberry had verbally and physically assaulted him during a heated argument. Meilleur, 72, takes care of his elderly mother, and said the altercation took place outside of her home at around 12:30 Tuesday.
After confirming to THE EQUITY that he had filed a complaint, Meilleur declined to comment further, for legal reasons.
Fellow councillor Alice Meilleur-Pieschke, 71, confirmed to THE EQUITY that she had also filed a complaint with the police for intimidation, after Newberry allegedly confronted her at her home shortly after the incident with Meilleur. She added that the arguments were sparked during a meeting that the council had the previous evening, but declined to discuss details.
“It was a session that we had, a virtual session, and it happened there,” she said. “I told [the rest of council] that they weren’t on the right track and they didn’t like that. [Mayor Newberry] was mad about that and that’s why … he came over the next day because he wanted to let us know. So anyway, he was a little bit forceful and I didn’t like that, so I called the police and I made my complaint.”
One of Meilleur’s relatives made a social media post about the incident on Tuesday, which quickly garnered dozens of shares.
When contacted by THE EQUITY, Newberry went on the offensive before declining to comment on the alleged incidents.
“I’m pretty disappointed you called me for this kind of stuff,” he said. “You should do your job by looking into stuff that’s going on, like real reporting … instead of reporting on Facebook stuff.”
Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Marc Tessier said that police typically do not confirm or deny if they are conducting an investigation into any complaints they recieve.
“It’s not public domain unless it goes to court or … that person gets arrested and official charges are laid,” he said.
Councillors Martin Bertrand and Mona Donnelly both said that nothing was out of the ordinary took place during the virtual meeting on Monday. They declined to comment on the alleged altercations.
“To my knowledge, nothing warranting such an incident happened,” Bertrand said. “I mean, just like any other council meeting they can get heated sometimes but nothing out of the ordinary happened there.”
“I don’t take my facts from Facebook or any type of social media, so I can’t answer whether [the altercations were] based on a previous meeting or not,” Donnelly said. “I don’t know, I was not there, don’t know how it went down.”
On Saturday, a group of citizens paraded their vehicles through the municipality, decorated with signs decrying the situation. They requested that council introduce a vote of no confidence in the mayor and demanded Newberry’s resignation.
A statement released May 1, signed by Bertrand, Donnelly and fellow council members Mario Bérard and Elie James Azola Moankong, announced a special council meeting on May 6 at 7 p.m. A response to the citizen’s requests appears in the agenda points, and another references the services of law firm R.P.G.L.
The municipal council on Calumet Island has been no stranger to controversy in recent years. Meilleur was suspended for 10 days in January following a ruling from the Quebec Municipal Commission, which stemmed from disrespectful comments he made to several municipal employees.
Later that month, council passed a resolution requesting that Meilleur pay $15,000 to cover the legal fees relating to the incident. Meilleur told THE EQUITY at the time that he had no intention of paying the fees.
