Prince Albert’s executive committee unanimously received a report Monday confirming that a letter previously circulated to council during debate over the proposed care home at 35 Linner Lane was not authentic.
The correspondence surfaced during debate over a discretionary use permit application involving a property on Linner Lane. The proposal involved a partnership with Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation to operate a residential care home at the location. The project drew public attention during the Feb. 23 council meeting as residents raised questions about zoning, neighbourhood impacts, and the need for supportive housing in the community.
The letter, which had been attributed to the Ministry of Social Services, was included with the Feb. 23 city council agenda before concerns were raised about its legitimacy. Council ultimately rejected the discretionary use permit for the property and directed administration to investigate the letter.
Acting City Clerk Savannah Price told the committee the ministry has now formally confirmed the document was not genuine.
“I can confirm, and as you will see in the attached email to the report, that the letter was not issued by the Ministry of Social Services and the contents of the letter are not factual,” Price said.
An attached email from Amanda Ingram, Director of Out of Home Care for the North Service Area, states: “The correspondence is not valid or authentic. It was not created or sent by the Ministry of Social Services.” The email further confirms, “The contents of the letter are not factual.”
Price explained that three letters were received by regular mail on Feb. 17 and were addressed to the Mayor’s Office, Coun. Stephen Ring, and the City Clerk’s Office. The letter was later added to the Feb. 23 agenda before questions surfaced about its authenticity.
Ward 7 Coun. Dawn Kilmer said the incident demonstrates how misinformation can spread once it enters the public sphere.
“We allowed in public misinformation, and when there is misinformation in the public, it is really hard to combat that misinformation in the public; it is really hard to combat that information,” Kilmer said. “It was out there, and it was incorrect information.”
Kilmer asked how adminstration plans to ensure correct information is communicated publicly in the same format as the incorrect information.
City Manager Craig Guidinger acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.
“When we see correspondence that is not factual, it’s very concerning,” Guidinger said. He committed to bringing forward a public report outlining what processes and procedures could look like moving forward.
Coun. Darren Solomon raised the possibility of police involvement.
“Somebody tried to do something that was not authentic and not genuine,” Solomon said. “If somebody is trying to misrepresent another agency within our community through this council, I think that’s a serious matter, and I think it should be referred.”
Mayor Bill Powalinsky said incorrect information can affect decision-making.
“The thing that I did find concerning was that flawed information, incorrect or falsified information, came forth, and it creates a bias,” Powalinsky said. “It does have the potential to influence or have a negative outcome on our decision-making.”
During the discussion, councillors also raised questions about how widely the letter had circulated before the Feb. 23 council meeting. Acting City Clerk Savannah Price said three copies had originally been received by mail, addressed separately to the mayor’s office, Ward 5 Coun. Stephen Ring and the city clerk’s office. The letter was later added to the council agenda before concerns were raised about its authenticity.
Coun. Stephen Ring, whose ward includes Linner Lane, clarified that he did not receive the letter outside of what appeared on the agenda.
“The only time I saw it was when it was posted on our agenda item,” Ring said.
Price confirmed that once authenticity concerns arose, the letters were collected.
“Once we suspected that this letter was fraudulent, we collected the letters, so we took it from your mail slot,” she said.
According to the official report, the City Clerk’s Office will “review and reinforce internal procedures for verifying external government correspondence prior to inclusion on Council agenda to mitigate the risk of fraudulent or unauthenticated documents being circulated in the future.”
The executive committee voted unanimously to receive the report as information and file it.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
