Transcona councillor faces new sex assault charge

A city councillor charged with sex assault earlier this year faces new sex charges in a separate incident, in a case Winnipeg’s mayor called “deeply concerning.”

Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, 56, was charged Monday with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy over an October 2023 incident.

Allegations of a 2023 assault were reported to the Winnipeg Police Service in April, a month after after Wyatt was charged with sex assault in relation to a 2025 incident.

In the 2023 incident, a man told police he become acquainted with Wyatt through a website in July of that year and said they met in person on more than one occasion.

During one of those occasions, they met at a home in the southwest part of the city. While there, the man was given an illicit drug and sexually assaulted, police said Tuesday.

Wyatt was let out on an undertaking after his arrest this week.

The councillor was also charged with possession of psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms, police said.

Investigators found about seven grams of magic mushrooms at a home connected to him when executing a search warrant in early April.

In the 2025 case, a man told investigators he met the accused on a website and then in person several times last year, police previously said.

Police said a victim was given an illicit drug and sexually assaulted during a gathering in the east area of the city in December 2025. The man sought medical attention after he left the home.

Wyatt is also charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy in that case. Those charges remain before the court. Trial dates have not been set.

Wyatt is not currently registered as a candidate for the city council race and has not said whether he’ll run in October’s civic election.

“We won’t be trying this case in the media,” said Wyatt’s attorney, Evan Roitenberg, when reached by phone late Tuesday afternoon. “Mr. Wyatt is innocent and he will deal with these charges in the courtroom.”

Wyatt’s voicemail box was full on Tuesday and he did not return a text message.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham repeated his calls for Wyatt to step away from council duties while the charges are before the court.

“These new charges are deeply concerning,” Gillingham said in a statement.

The mayor first called on Wyatt to step away from city hall when he was first charged in March, and brought forward a motion to have him removed from his council committee and board appointments, which the rest of council supported unanimously.

“I repeat what I said previously: (Coun.) Wyatt should step away from his duties immediately while these matters are dealt with. His continued presence at city hall is a distraction and risks undermining public confidence in council,” said Gillingham.

The City of Winnipeg Charter — which is provincial law — dictates that a member of council automatically forfeits their seat if convicted of certain serious criminal offences, but not if they’re simply charged.

The mayor said council’s hands are tied, with no authority to suspend or remove an elected councillor from office.

“We have taken the steps that are available to us under the law,” said Gillingham. “I believe the province should review the legislation to determine whether municipalities need additional tools to deal with circumstances like these where public trust is at stake.”

Wyatt was first elected to council in 2002 and held the Transcona seat until 2018, when he decided not to run for re-election.

He took a leave from council for what city officials deemed a family matter in January 2018, but in March of that year, Wyatt wrote to the Free Press to say he was seeking treatment at a rehabilitation centre for alcohol and substance disorders.

That letter made no reference to a sexual assault allegation that police were investigating at the time. In June 2018, he came out as bisexual and said he had been living a double life.

The following month, Wyatt was charged with sex assault after a woman told police he had attacked her in his home in January.

Wyatt proclaimed his innocence at the time. The charge was stayed by Crown prosecutors in June 2019. Details about why the stay was entered were never made public.

In 2022, he returned to politics and was elected again.

Shawn Nason, who held the Transcona council seat from 2018 to 2022 and is among the candidates running in the ward this year, said it was not the time to make political pronouncements.

“It’s not a time for politicking. This is dealing with people who’ve been injured and assaulted, and I hope that they get the support and treatments that they need, and that the justice system does its work and does it diligently,” Nason said Tuesday.

“Things will turn out how they turn out — I just hope the best for the victims.”

— with file from Morgan Modjeski

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca