Quesnel Mayor Ron Paull was wrongly accused by city council and some First Nations members for owning literature critical of unmarked graves, but has since been vindicated by a judge.

Mayor Paull was sanctioned and censured by the city and subsequently banned from events on First Nation land. He felt he had no choice but to take the matter to court so that he could serve the city as he was elected to do.

“My many years of staff and I guess appointed and elected service to the city told me that ‘hey, there’s something wrong with this picture.’ It’s gotta be defended.” 

Justice William Veenstra, a former member of B.C.’s Truth and Reconciliation Branch and a co-author of its 2018 report, overturned the council's resolutions over procedural unfairness.

The controversy began after Paull's wife shared "Grave Error," a book challenging accepted narratives about residential schools, which was then labeled "hate literature" by critics, including the Lhtako Dene First Nation.

The mayor questioned why the book “Grave Error”—a book he never read—is considered offensive when sexually explicit books “for kids” are normalized in libraries.

Quesnel, BC Mayor's wife, Pat Morton, was unable to share her side of the "Grave Error" residential school book controversy.

Stay tuned for her to tell it on Rebel News.

For now, watch my interview with Mayor Ron Paull via link below.https://t.co/zrpiK5qWUo pic.twitter.com/adfXVsMXlE

— Drea Humphrey - Prepping and Politics (@DreaHumphrey) April 10, 2024

In April 2024, Quesnel City Council unanimously censured Paull, preventing him from attending regional government meetings and cutting off his travel expenses, citing a vague staff report that didn’t clearly outline any misconduct.

Justice Veenstra's ruling found that the council's actions denied Paull a “meaningful opportunity” to respond, potentially opening the door for legal challenges to future censures without misconduct findings.

Paull spoke openly with Rebel News about the personal toll of the politically motivated “witch trial” on him and his wife. According to the mayor, Ms. Morton was called a “whore” for simply possessing the book. “I’m glad that I walked away, or else I’d still be in jail right now,” Paull admitted. 

Additionally, the mayor's health has suffered “immeasurably, possibly irreparably” due to the stress of this ordeal, which he is glad is ending. “This has indeed been the toughest time of my life,” he said.

Paull felt vindicated by the judge's ruling, as he had suspected procedural flaws from the beginning. “My gut told me right from the get-go that this isn’t right, that this is procedurally flawed, and happily, the judge agreed with me.”

What happened to John Rustad, and why did he lie about Dallas Brodie?

John Rustad’s leadership of the B.C. Conservative Party continues to come under fire from many within his own voting base who are grappling with his decision to remove his former attorney general critic,… pic.twitter.com/uT7AWWGRQK

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 19, 2025

Dallas Brodie was recently expelled from the Conservative Party of B.C. for defending factual accuracy regarding residential schools, similar to Paull and Morton's experience.

She advocated for the Law Society of B.C. to uphold factual accuracy in its mandatory training. The training falsely claims that the discovery of 215 “unmarked graves” at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School is an established truth.

B.C. Conservative MLAs Jordan Kealy and Tara Armstrong also resigned, stating the party no longer upholds conservative values, having removed Brodie for questioning the narrative surrounding the Kamloops residential school graves.

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