Police called in after sand mining opponents blast RM of Springfield officials at meeting

Anger over proposed sand mining in a southeastern Manitoba municipality boiled over at a Tuesday council meeting to the point where RCMP were called and advised elected officials to shut the session down.

The Rural Municipality of Springfield council meeting in Oakbank was adjourned in the presence of the Mounties, after residents expressed vociferous opposition to Calgary mining company Sio Silica's plans to build a sand-processing facility south of Vivian, a community about 50 kilometres east of Winnipeg.

"They can hang me for all I care, I am going to fight this to the end," one resident proclaimed during a meeting where Springfield's council was slated to vote on land-use changes that could allow the processing facility to proceed.

Sio Silica wants to drill up to 7,700 wells in southeastern Manitoba over 24 years in order to extract ultra-pure silica sand from a sandstone aquifer located 160 feet below the surface.

Its proposal awaits a recommendation from the provincial Clean Environment Commission, due by June 22, and then approval or denial from Environment and Climate Minister Kevin Klein.

WATCH | Heated RM of Springfield council meeting:

That decision, though, is separate from Springfield's deliberations over land-use changes that would allow the processing plant.

While Springfield's council originally balked at those changes, Manitoba's municipal board — a provincially appointed body with the power to overturn decisions made by elected officials — ordered the rural municipality to make the land-use changes.

Springfield Mayor Patrick Therrien said his hands are tied by the municipal board, which was granted broader powers in 2021 by Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government.

"We have a court order from the municipal board and we have no choice but to do that," Therrien said Wednesday in an interview.

Attempts to get angry residents to hear council members out at Tuesday evening's meeting were in vain, he said.

"We're talking about a minority of people that were totally disruptive, and one individual was disruptive enough that we elected that he be removed," said Therrien.

"We closed the hearing down until the police would attend to remove this individual."

Three RCMP cruisers responded to the mayor's request.