Indigenous leaders call for Bruce County mayor to resign after 'denigrating' and 'racist' comments caught on tape

Damage control in Bruce County Indigenous groups call for a Bruce County mayor to resign after 'racist' comments were caught on tape. Scott Miller reports.

“I can understand to be poor, but you can be poor and clean,” is what South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Garry Michi was recorded as saying in an audio clip released to the public via SoundCloud last week.

In the audio recording, uploaded to SoundCloud by user SaubleSam, Michi is questioning the fiscal sense to build a water treatment plant for the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation along the Bruce Peninsula, who have been under a boil water advisory since January 2019.

“What I’m saying is where’s all this going to end. 20 or 25 years ago, they put a water treatment plant up at Cape Croker. It got ruined because they didn’t maintain it, now we’ve spent $65 million up there to put hydrants and a new water treatment plant, and 75 per cent of the those houses, I mean, they should be torn down,” Michi said in the recording.

As a result of the recording, which has been authenticated by the Town of South Bruce Peninsula as being from Mayor Garry Michi, the Chippewas of Nawash leadership are calling for his immediate resignation.

“Mayor Michi’s comments show an utter disregard and lack of respect to our people, and all First Nations who have been deprived of basic human rights, including the most basic need of access to clean water,” said Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation Council in a statement.

They continued, “Someone who lacks the understanding and knowledge of this history of our oppression and importance of our rights should not be in a leadership position anywhere, and certainly not in the territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation-Saukiing Anishnaabekiing. As a result, we are calling for Mayor Michi’s immediate resignation.”

Michi has not responded to CTV News London’s attempts to contact him, but South Bruce Peninsula quickly distanced themselves from their head of council, and said his comments do not reflect the town’s position on the matter.

“The town supports federal efforts to fund capital projects that ensure all First Nations people across Canada have access to safe drinking water,” said South Bruce Peninsula Deputy Mayor, Jay Kirkland. “The Town of South Bruce Peninsula would like to apologize to the community of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation and to all First Nations communities across our nation.”

Bruce County, where Michi sits as a member of county council, called his comments “unacceptable” and “hurtful,” and apologized for his comments.

The Saugeen First Nation, who share a border with the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, called the audio recording “reprehensible,” “denigrating,” and “racist.”

“Sadly this is not an isolated incident,” said the Saugeen First Nation Council in a statement. “It is a continuation of an historical pattern of racism, small-mindedness and intolerance that all First Nations people face. The people of the Saugeen First Nation have long been the target of this similar form of unconscionable thinking, harmful language, and actions from our neighbours.”

Work is currently underway on the Chippewas of Nawash new water treatment plant and related infrastructure. 750 people in 264 homes had been under a boil water advisory for the past three years.

While he hasn’t publicly responded to the audio recording, an online greeting to the community on the South Bruce Peninsula website said in part that Michi is “continuing to work towards reconciliation with the Saugeen Ojibway First Nation and Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation are priorities of his.”

The recently released audio recording said something very different.

“It’s like, why are spending $65 million on a water treatment plant up there that’s going to last 20 years because they’re not going to look after it, right? Just look at their homes. I can understand to be poor, but you can be poor and clean,” Michi said in his 43 second-long recording.

South Bruce Peninsula is currently appealing a court decision that granted the Saugeen First Nation a large swath of Sauble Beach shoreline, and Michi himself is currently undergoing an audit of his election finances.

You can listen to the full audio recording on the SoundCloud website. Statements from the Town of South Bruce Peninsula and Bruce County can also be found online.