Drug claim didn’t hurt opponent’s reputation, Vancouver mayor argues in defamation suit response

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim apologizes for claiming Coun. Sean Orr handed out drugs on Christmas Day.

Accusing a political opponent of handing out drugs on Christmas did not damage his reputation, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has argued in response to a defamation lawsuit spurred by his remarks.

Sim’s response, filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court, also suggests COPE city councillor Sean Orr filed the lawsuit as part of a “political campaign” months before Vancouver’s upcoming municipal election.

The mayor does not deny having told an event with members of Chinese-language media in February that Orr “was handing out illegal drugs on Christmas Day to people on the streets,” but notes that he has repeatedly apologized for his comments since.

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Sim also suggests Orr already had a reputation that he “supported drug use,” including safer supply programs, before that event.

“To the extent that the plaintiff has a reputation with members of the public, given his words, actions and statements regarding the use and supply of drugs, the defendant’s statements would not lower the plaintiff’s reputation in the community,” the mayor’s response reads.

“The defendant denies the plaintiff has suffered reputational damage, or that it is ongoing.”

The document does not cite any specific comments from Orr regarding drug use. CTV News has reached out to the councillor for comment on Sim’s filing.

The mayor previously explained that he based the allegation about Orr handing out illegal substances over the holidays on an image that was shown to him by a member of the public.

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He did not reveal the individual’s name or provide any further context about the interaction, and a spokesperson for Sim’s office told CTV News he did not have a copy of the image.

Orr has stressed that he wasn’t even in the city on Dec. 25.

The councillor’s lawsuit accuses the mayor of making the statement “knowing it to be false or with reckless indifference to its truthfulness,” and with the “ulterior purpose of furthering his own perceived political benefit.”

Sim denies both characterizations.

“At the time he made the statement … the defendant was commenting, among other things, on the opioid drug epidemic and the deaths that Vancouver was experiencing, including through distribution of illegal narcotics, which was a matter of public interest,” his response reads.

Sim argues Orr’s claim should be dismissed, but that if it’s successful the councillor should only be awarded “nominal damages.”

The mayor is represented by Vancouver lawyer David Church, who is also representing him in his own defamation lawsuit against former campaign manager Kareem Allam.