Prince Albert business owner, church pastor, and former Chamber of Commerce chair Meghan Mayer has abruptly withdrawn her candidacy for the Sask. Party nomination in Prince Albert Carlton, raising eyebrows and speculation about the sudden decision.

Mayer, who had announced her run just last week, unexpectedly pulled out in a statement released Monday morning. Although she cited the arrival of new challengers and the best interest of the electoral process as reasons for her withdrawal.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who has supported and encouraged me throughout this process,’” Mayer’s statement reads. “This decision was made after careful consideration, and I am confident that stepping aside is the right choice at this time.”

The Prince Albert Daily Herald attempted to contact Mayer’s Office – with no response. Patrick Bundrock, executive director for the Saskatchewan Party, confirmed Mayer’s voluntary withdrawal but provided no additional details.

Mayer put a student in blackface

The timing of the announcement is interesting, considering the recent revelation that she put an indigenous child in blackface during a 2015 Christmas play at the Prince Albert Family Church and Regent Academy now Embassy Church. Photos of Mayer painting black face paint on the child were posted to her (Mayer) Facebook page, and remained there until they were removed from Facebook by Mayer.

In 2015 Mayer was involved in the production of a play entitled “Past, Present and Baby.” Where a young girl was placed in black face, padded to make herself bigger, and made to repeat egregious stereotypes of black people. Something one person who saw video of the performance referred to as “Jim Crow-esque”.

Lina Rigby’s son had participated in the play – and was upset at the content. Prompting Rigby to seek out footage.

“It was the most disrespectful display I have ever seen. Our jaws hit the floor. I didn’t know what to do and couldn’t believe what I was watching, it was appalling”, said Lina Rigby – after watching footage of the performance. Rigby and her partner sent an email to the ministry of education with links to video clips of the play from youtube.com .

“This was a student enrolled at a school funded by taxpayer dollars. We were shocked that the leadership of the school thought this was ok – and the adults in attendance were laughing at it”.

An email was sent to the ministry of education , and garnered the response from Anna Grumbly with the Saskatchewan Ministry of education. The offensive videos were then pulled from YouTube.

Mayer’s Name caught attention of Legacy Academy Abuse Victim and Advocate Caitlin Erickson

Mayer plays dual roles in the community as both a respected member of the local business community and a pastor at Embassy Church.

Previously, Embassy Church had ties to Legacy Academy near Saskatoon under former pastor Duff Friesen’s leadership. Friesen, along with some former school staff, is currently facing a lawsuit from former students alleging abuse. It’s important to note that Mayer is not implicated in or associated with this legal case.

Legal proceedings have commenced against the accused staff members, including Friesen. However Friesen has not been convicted of any wrongdoing, and his trial is still pending.

Saskatchewan advocate, and victim of abuse at the Legacy Christian Academy Caitlin Erickson was shocked when she saw that Mayer had garnered the nomination for a seat vacated by Joe Hargrave.

“Mayer was nominated by members of the Sask Party.” Erickson said. She added that the party members skipped the vetting process given Mayer’s position as a pastor, with the party looking for the support of the church. Erickson points to Saskatchewan Party members who were aware of Mayer’s previous actions, and chose to nominate her anyway – telling two other members of the party who were interested in running to “stand down” and let Mayer run.

“The government of Saskatchewan and the Sask party fully knew about Mayer’s past,” said Erickson, sighting the previous complaint made by Rigby in 2016.

Attempts at Covering the Past

Photos posted to Mayer’s social media page showing her painting the student’s face – as well as comments made by Mayer where she says “making this girl into a black girl” have since been removed. With recent stories in the Prince Albert Herald seeming to ignore Mayer’s previous indiscretions, and any importance those being uncovered potentially played in her withdrawal.

“It’s troubling that local media refused to report on the pastor doing blackface. This glaring omission perpetuates a culture of silence around racism, and failure by local politicians to address this as someone who wanted to run under the Sask. Party banner. Our community deserves better accountability and transparency from those entrusted to inform the public- it’s absolutely shocking. ” said Erickson.

With the only candidate removing herself from the race – this leaves the question of who will be set to occupy the seat left by Joe Hargrave. With the chosen candidate will be competing against Carolyn Brost Strom of the NDP party.

At the time of writing this article the Harvard Media News Centre reached out to the Saskatchewan party for clarification on the vetting process for potential candidates and they have not responded.