Responses filed to Vancouver mayor’s defamation lawsuit

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim speaks during a news conference in Vancouver, on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Two men being sued for defamation by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim are denying the allegations, filing responses in court laying out their defences.

The mayor’s notice of civil claim names his former chief of staff, Kareem Allam, and local businessman Alexander George Tsakumis, saying both made “false and defamatory” statements about him in relation to an alleged incident in which Sim was supposedly caught driving drunk by Vancouver police, who let him go without citing him for any offence.

Sim’s notice of civil claim alleges that Allam told Tsakumis and others about the purported impaired driving incident, and that Tsakumis later posted about it on social media.

• Read more: Vancouver mayor suing his former chief of staff for defamation

Tsakumis’ response

Tsakumis’ response “admits” Allam contacted him in 2023 to tell him Sim had been stopped by police on suspicion of impaired driving and admits to publishing “written expression” in the form of a post saying the alleged impaired driving incident was “one of the most shameful acts by a mayor of this city. Ever.”

In addition, the document says Tsakumis admits he has not “withdrawn, retracted, or apologized for the content.”

The response acknowledges the Vancouver Police Department reviewed the allegations of police misconduct and the matter was referred to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which ordered the RCMP to conduct a review.

That review found no “objective evidence” the incident occurred “in the manner alleged,” the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner said in a statement earlier this year.

Tsakumis’ response also contains a description of Sim’s “true reputation” saying the mayor is “a politician and businessman who occasionally consumes alcohol to excess, including at events attended in his capacity as a candidate for election or an elected official.” The law of defamation, the document says, “protects the reputation a plaintiff actually holds, not the reputation a plaintiff desires to hold.”

In support of this claim, the response lists a number of occasions on which Sim was allegedly intoxicated in public between 2018 and 2024. In addition, the response says he had been asked for advice by a Sim staffer and an ABC party executive “including advice related to the plaintiff’s alcohol consumption.”

Further, Tsakumis’ argues his comments – when put into context – related to matters of public interest including “the standards to which elected officials should be held” and “the discretion exercised by police officers in the performance of their duties.”

The “gist and sting” of the comments, the response argues, was that there were “reasonable grounds” to either suspect or investigate the allegations of impaired driving and police misconduct, giving rise to the defence of justification.

Tsakumis’ response also argues that he did not cause Sim any “harm, damage or loss.”

Allam’s response

The mayor’s former chief of staff’s response begins by saying he did not make the specific statements alleged by the mayor. Even if he did, the response argues – they were not defamatory.

Allam’s response says he received a phone call in February of 2023 from someone on Sim’s staff, informing him that the mayor had been stopped by police for “driving while intoxicated” and allowed to leave without being arrested.

“The defendant, who was the plaintiff’s chief of staff, considered the account to be a potential political crisis for the plaintiff,” the response reads.

Allam admits to calling Tsakumis afterward and says he told the businessman – who he considered a “reliable political advisor” about what he had heard, but said he had “no direct knowledge” of the incident.

The statements Allam made to Tsakumis were not defamatory, according to his response, because they were “true in substance and fact.” The former chief of staff also says his statements were not published and he had no intention of publishing them.

Allam was fired soon after the phone call described in the response and Tsakumis’ social media post was published 10 months later.

Allam recently confirmed his intention to challenge Sim for the mayor’s seat in 2026.

None of the claims have been tested in court.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Ian Holliday