Opposition has surfaced in Revelstoke over changes to a city policy that allows the mayor to block certain council motions from reaching the agenda.
Community members, councillors and a lawyer say the change limits debate at city hall and gives too much discretion to the mayor over matters that they believe fall outside municipal affairs.
The policy was amended in late 2025 after a councillor withdrew a motion to declare the municipality “apartheid-free” at the request of the mayor, who cited concerns it would create division and tension over the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Under the updated rules, the mayor can deny notices of motion deemed outside local government authority. Notices of motion are a procedural tool councillors occasionally use to bring forward issues for discussion at future meetings, to ensure they appear on the agenda at a minimum.
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On Nov. 12, Coun. Austin Luciow was preparing to present a notice of motion titled “Inclusivity in Revelstoke & Canada’s role in peace for Palestinian people.”
The motion called on Mayor Gary Sulz to sign the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge— as the City of Burnaby previously did and the City of Powell River has more recently done — and write to the federal government to stop the exchange of military goods with Israel and ease Canada’s refugee process for Palestinians.
Having taken the pulse of Revelstoke community members about the Israel-Palestine conflict, Luciow told Black Press Media that “there are people who feel there’s been inaction when it comes to those things.” He received roughly 100 emails about his proposed motion, largely in support.
However, he said Sulz asked him five minutes before the Nov. 12 council meeting to withdraw his motion. Luciow agreed, but wasn’t happy.
“I was frustrated, to be honest,” he said.
Five days later, at a Nov. 17 governance committee meeting with Sulz and Couns. Tim Palmer and Tim Stapenhurst present, a change was brought forward for the city’s notice of motion policy.
The amendment gave Revelstoke’s mayor the authority to review notices of motion to ensure they align with council priorities and jurisdiction. It ultimately means the mayor can deny a motion if they deem it “outside of municipal purview.”
The amended policy was passed at council’s subsequent meeting on Nov. 25 in a 4-3 vote. Luciow and Couns. Lee Devlin and Aaron Orlando opposed it.
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“The notice of motion procedure allows council members to bring issues forward to the agenda without gatekeeping, and the policy changes added the potential for gatekeeping,” Orlando told Black Press Media by text. “I don’t think council should limit its own statutory authority.”
Luciow called the policy change a “retaliatory action” against Israel-Palestine conversations in the community that the city should address, not ignore.
“If your stance is that you’re pro-Palestine or pro-Jewish, then we need to unpack that,” he said.
Black Press Media requested an interview with Sulz to discuss the apartheid-free city motion and the city’s changes to its notice of motion policy. The mayor chose to respond by email statement.
Luciow’s notice of motion was withdrawn because, “although unintended, (it) caused division within the community,” Sulz said. “(Coun. Luciow) opted to withdraw, noting that (he) would work with impacted groups to move forward in a manner that includes all community members.”
He also said the issue “fell outside of the municipal mandate.”
“Simply put, the City of Revelstoke, as an organizational body, is responsible for local government services only,” Sulz added, listing daily essential services, local bylaws and community infrastructure management as examples.
He concluded that amending the notice of motion policy was meant to clarify for councillors what issues do or don’t fall within their municipal government authority for debate and discussion.
“I’m not elected for international affairs,” Coun. Palmer said, adding that it would prove challenging for city councillors to take a political stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
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Luciow believes that city councillors have a role to play in out-of-town issues, given that Revelstoke participates annually in the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) Convention. However, the City of Revelstoke stated the Israel-Palestine conflict doesn’t fit any categories in the UBCM Resolutions Book, or any legislation for local government jurisdictions.
Like Luciow, community members such as Jennie Sosnowski-Deschamps and Kent Christensen have raised concerns over Sulz preventing council from discussing the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The mayor’s unwillingness to engage with the community on this particular issue “just seemed kind of laughable,” Christensen said, adding that the city has now made it harder for groups of different viewpoints to discuss Israel-Palestine.
Henry Goddard-Rebstein, a Vancouver-based labour and human rights lawyer volunteering with the Canada-based Legal Centre for Palestine, said city council meetings should remain an open forum for hearing public concerns.
Goddard-Rebstein said they are concerned the City of Revelstoke amended its notice of motion policy through a policy change rather than a bylaw, which they argue contravenes British Columbia’s Community Charter, the legislation governing municipalities.
The City of Revelstoke disputes that interpretation.
In a statement, the city said the changes were made by resolution, in accordance with Section 122 of the Community Charter, which states municipal councils may exercise their authority by bylaw or resolution.
The city also cited Sec. 124, which requires councils to establish and follow rules of procedure, noting those rules are set out in its council procedures bylaw.
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In June 2025, the city amended that council procedure bylaw. Notice of motion resolutions may now be introduced at council meetings as long as they follow the procedures laid out in the city’s notice of motion policy.
The city said this policy “is a guiding document only,” but added that the Community Charter “has not been circumvented in any manner” by the November 2025 amendment.
The Office of the Ombudsperson told Black Press Media in March that it could not comment on Revelstoke’s policy change due to confidentiality. But, in January, the office more generally updated its 2012 best practices for local governments hosting open meetings.
“In recent years, concerns about transparency and closed-door decision-making have drawn considerable public attention,” the office wrote.
The report stated that 13 per cent of complaints in 2024-25 involved local governments. Council conduct and compliance with open-meeting rules were among the most common issues.
Coun. Palmer said the City of Revelstoke is inconsistent with transparency at its council and committee meetings.
However, he said the changes to the notice of motion policy have “very low stakes” because they’re neither binding nor enforceable.
As a policy amendment, “I actually don’t think that this is giving power to the mayor,” Palmer said, whereas if this happened via bylaw, “giving the mayor that kind of power, I would’ve been opposed.”
As the policy now stands, Palmer suggested that councillors can still work together to challenge the mayor’s own decisions on whether notices of motion fall in or out of municipal mandate.
Orlando added that councillors submitting future notices of motion may also be able to sidestep changes to the policy by citing provincial legislation that supersedes it, though this has yet to be tested.
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Still, Goddard-Rebstein worries the policy change could limit the ability of Revelstoke councillors to represent the interests of their constituents, if their notices of motion can now potentially be rejected.
Luciow said he also worries residents’ concerns about safety, acceptance, and division in Revelstoke could go unaddressed if council does not take up conversations related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Hurtful actions have already impacted community members, Luciow noted. Earlier in 2025, for example, Revelstoke’s Jewish community raised concerns about antisemitic graffiti appearing around town.
“We don’t want to lose people because they don’t feel valued in our community,” he said. “That’s not the community I want to live in.”
Luciow said he’ll continue to move this conversation forward by engaging with concerned residents, aiming to reapproach council with a revised anti-apartheid motion for consideration by September.