Dozens protest outside closed meeting over contentious silica project in Manitoba

A contentious debate over a silica sand project in rural Manitoba boiled over in the RM of Springfield, where one area councillor says she was threatened at her home.

Manitoba RCMP was on hand Monday as dozens of residents showed up outside the municipal office in the rural municipality. Inside the office, councillors held a special meeting on the rezoning of land for a Sio Silica development facility.

"I'm super concerned about our municipal government acting in bad faith," said Alan Akins, who was among the crowd of residents – several carrying signs calling for the mayor to resign, and others expressing concern about the effects the development would have on water and wells.

The Sio Silica corporation has been looking to extract silica sand and process it at a new facility near Vivian, Man. In 2022, Springfield's council voted against a zoning amendment that would allow this type of activity.

However, the company made an appeal to the Manitoba Municipal Board, which then ordered the rural municipality to amend the zoning bylaw.

Council attempted to deal with this issue last week during a special meeting over the project – but it came to an abrupt end when an argument broke out between Mayor Patrick Therrien and one of the attendees. It prompted Therrien to call the police and adjourn the meeting.

READ MORE: Meeting over controversial rural Manitoba silica sand project cut short after mayor calls police

The matters were then put over to Monday's meeting.

However, none of the residents or the media were allowed inside for the meeting this time. Instead, residents had to stand outside the office and watch the council debate through Zoom. A motion put forward by another councillor to allow media into the meeting was voted down.

It was a precaution the RM took over what it described as safety concerns.

Coun. Melinda Warren said a threat was made to her home phone.

"That is not lightly taken. I don't know what that threat means and I do not want the public to be involved in a chamber that we don't know what could happen," Warren said Monday afternoon.

Therrien said police are investigating the matter.

At Monday's meeting, council dealt with a number of resolutions put forward by Coun. Mark Miller over the 2.5-hour meeting. Among the resolutions was one seeking an extension with the municipal board that sent council in-camera in order to speak with lawyers.

In the end, the zoning bylaw amendment passed with a vote of three to two.

The motion on the development agreement failed with two for and two against. Warren abstained from voting due to the threat made to her home.

-with files from CTV's Carie Willson