Vancouver mayor says he made false drug claim about opponent based on photo

Mayor Ken Sim said he accused a city councillor of handing out illicit drugs after being shown a photo, offering an apology but no further explanation.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim told reporters he falsely claimed one of his council colleagues distributed drugs after being shown a photo—and apologized for not confirming its authenticity.

Sim has been under scrutiny since it surfaced last week that he alleged Coun. Sean Orr, one of the mayor’s toughest critics, had handed out drugs on the street on Christmas Day.

“I referenced a picture that had been shown to me regarding Coun. Orr distributing drugs,” Sim said at a news conference Tuesday.

“I didn’t verify what I thought I saw, and frankly, I should have never repeated it to begin with. At the end of the day, my comments were wrong.”

Sim did not say who brought the photo to him or describe what it showed.

Sim levelled the false allegations during a briefing with Chinese-language media on Feb. 6. Sim spoke in English and his comments were translated by Coun. Lenny Zhou—who came under fire for making similar comments in Mandarin on WeChat later that month.

• Related: Vancouver councillor retracts Chinese video calling rivals drug users, distributors

Asked what he would do to correct the record with Chinese-language media, the mayor said his office will be issuing a news release and a statement in Mandarin and Cantonese.

“This has been a great learning experience for myself, and holding myself to a higher standard,” Sim said.

“I made a mistake, people make mistakes. Leaders make mistakes. I think that’s just a fact to life, however, it’s how you deal with those mistakes after you make them. And I’m here today to own up to that mistake that I made and unreservedly apologize for it.”

Asked if he will be making any changes going forward, in terms of how he assesses images and social media content, Sim described what occurred as a “unique situation, a one-off.”

The mayor spoke briefly and questions from reporters were cut off within a matter of minutes.

He appeared alone, with none of the councillors in his majority ABC party in attendance.

‘Incompetent leadership’

Orr, who has repeatedly said he was not even in Vancouver on Christmas Day last year, immediately responded to the mayor’s comments.

“This doesn’t go far enough. This doesn’t address the harm and reputational damage done to my character,” the councillor said.

“To me, this shows incompetent leadership—that you would not fact check this photo before going to the media and trying to destroy the reputation of one of your colleagues. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Asked whether he might pursue a defamation lawsuit against Sim, Orr said he is still considering all available options.

Orr also said he has not seen the photo Sim claimed to have based the allegations on.

“I would like to know from the mayor himself where he got this photo,” he said.

Noting the prevalence of AI-generated images and online misinformation, Orr added that he was unsatisfied that the mayor did not offer any reassurances about whether any changes will be made to guard against relying on unverified photos or social media posts going forward.

CTV News, which was not allowed any questions during the mayor’s news conference, asked Sim’s office for more information about the photo—including where it originated, what it showed, who provided it, and whether it was AI-generated.

“Our office does not have a copy of the photo in question. As Mayor Sim said in his comments, the photo was shown to him and was not something that was physically provided to him. The photo was shown to him by a member of the public,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Isabella Zavarise