New ward boundaries for Regina’s 2024 election despite challenges

When voting in November’s civic election, Regina will have new ward boundaries.

That’s despite one non-profit advocacy group — Engaged Neighbours United for Fairness in Regina Advocacy Association Inc. — challenging that in court.

The Court of Kings Bench quashed an application from the advocacy group after they challenged the newly drafted ward boundaries for the City of Regina.

Previously, the City asked the Saskatchewan Municipal Board to review ward boundaries ahead of the 2024 election due to overpopulation in some wards.

As a result, new boundaries were drawn up.

This comes as legislation requires the city to review its ward boundaries after every three elections or when the population of its wards is unbalanced by more or less than 10 per cent from the average.

The biggest change in the proposed ward boundary changes was with Cathedral and North Central; both of those neighbourhoods were in Ward 3 before, but now, they’re separated.

In court, the advocacy group claimed the changes reduced representation in the City’s core neighbourhoods and that the report was not properly filed with the City.

However, the City challenged in court, disputing the merit of the groups’ application and calling into question the delay in getting this application to court.

This is after the City pointed out that the application was not filed with the court until December 11, 2023, over eight months after the municipal ward commission tabled the report.

Back in January 2023, the city announced it was reviewing the boundaries of the 10 wards in Regina. 

In a court document, the judge pointed out the municipal ward commission published the proposed ward boundaries on March 4, 2023, noted it was also published on the city’s website, and that the Commission also held a public hearing on March 20, 2023, and an open house on March 23, 2023.

The Commission then held its final meeting on March 24, 2024, finalizing its new ward boundaries.

Overall the King of Court Judge decided the application from the advocacy group “lacked any merit.”

Pointing to the applicant’s claim that the municipal wards commission gave insufficient consideration to the “matters of special diversity or community interest of the inhabitants,” the judge said in court documents that the submission “resembles more of a plea for the Court to simply prefer its interpretation of the legislation over that adopted by the Commission.”

Ultimately, the judge decided the Court had no alternative but to dismiss the groups’ application “in all respects,” meaning you could be in a new ward for the 2024 Civic Election.

As for the question of costs, the judge stated that they are leaving it to be heard and determined at a later date.