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Russ Wyatt, the Winnipeg city councillor facing criminal charges including sexual assault, appeared at a community committee meeting at City Hall Thursday.
Wyatt is the councillor for Winnipeg’s Transcona ward. He joined the East Kildonan-Transcona Community Committee’s special meeting Thursday, appearing in Winnipeg’s Council Chambers after the meeting reconvened, shortly before 11 a.m.
The 56-year-old is facing charges in relation to two incidents — one from October 2023 and another based on allegations from last December. He was removed from several committees following his initial charges in April, but a civic bylaw allows him to remain on this committee as he must represent his ward.
“I’m here for a public hearing,” Wyatt told reporters as he arrived, responding to why he was at City Hall. He deferred questions related to the recent charges to his lawyer.
Global News reached out to Wyatt’s defence lawyer for an interview. The request was denied.
“My personal opinion is [that] I would probably recuse myself when I have other things to be focusing on,” said Christina Pyra, who owns property and grew up in south Transcona.
Noting the charges Wyatt is facing, she said, “That’s ultimately Coun. Wyatt’s decision.”
Under the City of Winnipeg Charter, councillors charged with crimes are not automatically removed from the regular council or committees. It says they can only be forcibly removed from council after conviction.
“These charges are extremely concerning,” a spokesperson for the Manitoba government told Global News in an email statement Wednesday, in reference to the charges laid against earlier this week.
In a news release Thursday, the office of Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said he will ask the city council to start the process of altering the charter, allowing it to use “better tools to respond when an elected official faces serious criminal charges or convictions.”
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“Being charged with an offence is not the same as being convicted, and politicians should never have an unrestricted power to remove another democratically elected representative,” Winnipeg’s mayor said in the news release.
Current provincial regulations give the city “almost no middle ground,” he added.
“We also have to respect the presumption of innocence and the democratic choice of voters. Right now, provincial legislation gives Council very little ability to balance those two principles when serious circumstances arise,” Gillingham said.
The release said the mayor decided to request the change after several councillors showed concern about its limitations. If approved by Winnipeg city council, the city will formally request the province review the charter.
Wyatt has not yet registered to re-run for the upcoming municipal election. When asked why he has not done so yet by reporters, he said it was “because I haven’t registered to run for the campaign yet.”
The city councillor was arrested and charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to endanger life or cause bodily harm Monday.
Winnipeg police said it was related to a historic sexual assault that occurred in October 2023 and involved a man he met in July of that year. The victim alleged that they were sexually assaulted at a home in the southwest area of the city after being provided an illicit drug, according to the police news release from Tuesday.
He was also arrested earlier this year, on March 24, according to the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS).
At that time, he was charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy. Those charges were laid in relation to a December 2025 incident at a home on the east side of the city, police said.
He was later charged with possession of a scheduled substance in early April.
Officers seized psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms, after police executed a search warrant at a home in eastern Winnipeg. Approximately seven grams, with an estimated street value of $240, were confiscated, WPS said.
None of the recent allegations against Wyatt have been proven in court.
His earlier sexual assault charge in 2018 was stayed.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
