Vancouver's integrity commissioner reports on complaints against mayor as council looks to halt her work

Integrity commissioner's work suspended Critics are asking if Vancouver's mayor and his ruling majority are trying to hide something by halting the work of a municipal watchdog.

Days before city council is set to vote on halting her work, Vancouver's integrity commissioner released the results of her investigation into two complaints against Mayor Ken Sim.

Lisa Southern's 20-page report was posted online on the Friday of the B.C. Day long weekend, outlining the allegations laid out in two complaints made by park board commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky – who was elected with the mayor's ABC party but now sits as an independent.

Sim, the report found, did not breach the code of conduct bylaw.

However, the report does offer some insight into what is alleged to have occurred amid a dispute over the future of Canada's only elected park board before the mayor moved to have it abolished. It also notes that Sim and his staffers "raised numerous objections" in an effort to get the complaint dismissed or closed without a public report.

"This complaint process involved numerous legal objections and arguments, but ultimately, the merits of the complaint required me to answer two key questions: (1) in matters where the respondent was directly involved, was he acting in his capacity as mayor or in his capacity as leader of a political party; and (2) in matters where he was alleged to have been indirectly, through his staff, involved, were his staff acting or speaking on his behalf?" Southern's report says, before delving into specifics.

The allegations

Southern's report consolidated two separate complaints made about the mayor, finding them to be substantially related.

Bastyovanszky's first complaint alleged that the mayor breached the code of conduct bylaw by exerting improper influence over the park board and by violating communications and confidentiality requirements and that he did so either directly or through his chief of staff, Trevor Ford, or a senior advisor, David Grewal.

Bastyovanszky's complaint said the mayor or his staffers "dictated" who the park board should hire as general manager; pressured Bastyovanszky to step down as vice-chair and tried to pressure commissioners to appoint a specific person as chair. In trying to influence the decision about the chair, the complaint also alleged that the mayor or his staffers told city councillors, school board trustees and others that Bastyovanszky was the subject of a probe by the integrity commissioner, which he said was not true.

Ultimately, Bastyovanszky said Sim moved to dismantle the park board "because he was unable to control decisions of park board commissioners," the report says.

The second complaint alleged that —among other things—the mayor or his staffers "retaliated" against Bastyovanszky by making a complaint about him to Southern, who also serves as the integrity commissioner for the park board.

That complaint related to an incident at the PNE in September of 2023.

Other allegations including unspecified claims of bullying, harassment and discrimination were dismissed without being investigated, while others were dismissed as being out of time.

The response

On Jan. 5, 2024, Southern first informed Sim that she would be investigating the matter.

"I determined the allegations set out in the complaint, if true, may constitute a violation of the code of conduct bylaw and there was no basis to dismiss the concerns upon a preliminary assessment," the report said.

In response, Sim – through a lawyer – asked for the complaint to be reassessed and dismissed.

"The respondent took the position that he should not have to give me a substantive response to the complaint because I had made five 'key errors,'" Southern's report says, noting that one of these alleged errors was accepting a complaint that was made in bad faith and another was allowing Bastyovanszky to submit recordings of phone calls as evidence.

Southern ultimately declined to reassess the complaint, detailing her rejection of each alleged error.

The report notes that Ford and Grewal, political staffers who were not elected, are not bound by the code of conduct. As such, neither was officially a respondent to the complaint. In response to what Southern described as their "demand" to be included, she extended them the "courtesy of including them in the submission process and providing them with particulars of the allegations."

When Southern first informed Sim about the complaint, she says she asked him to refrain from discussing the matter with staff.

"The respondent, and Mr. Ford and Mr. Grewal, asserted they were not bound by confidentiality in the circumstances and the code of conduct bylaw did not give me authority to direct them not to discuss these matters. The respondent copied counsel for Mr. Ford and Mr. Grewal, as he continued to do throughout the investigation," the report says.

The findings

A proper assessment of the complaint did not begin until July 24, 2024, when Southern says she received a response from Sim to questions that "required answers."

Ultimately, each of the alleged breaches of the code of conduct were dismissed, based on the evidence which included assessing whether Sim was acting as mayor or the leader of a political party at the time the alleged breaches occurred and whether he was directing or controlling the actions of his staffers.

In considering the allegation of improper influence, Southern noted that the mayor – as it stands – has no authority over the park board. She noted that the term "improper" is not precisely defined in the bylaw, which specifically pertains to conduct while executing one's duties as an elected official.

"(Sim) had no power to influence the complainant or other park board commissioners by virtue of his position as mayor and he was not acting in his capacity as mayor in furthering his political agenda," the report says.

"This was, of course, different than his ability to politically influence those commissioners, including the complainant, who were all members of ABC Vancouver at the time … allegations of political interference in these circumstances are not reviewable conduct under the code of conduct bylaw.”

Southern found the complaint about Sim moving to dismantle the park board was outside of her jurisdiction.

When considering whether statements made by Ford, including to a journalist, that Bastyovanszky was being investigated by the integrity commissioner, Southern found that these statements were "not accurate." However, she also said it can’t be assumed that every statement made by the chief of staff can be automatically attributed to the mayor.

"If this were the case, then all actions of the chief of staff would be the actions of the mayor, with no distinction between the two individuals," she wrote.

"Even if on occasion the mayor may have indicated that the chief of staff spoke for him, this would still be insufficient evidence for me to find that in any and all communications made by the chief of staff he spoke on the mayor’s behalf."

When it came to the claim of retaliation, Southern said the evidence showed the complaint about the PNE incident was made by Ford and Grewal and that Sim was not involved.

On Tuesday, city council is set to vote on a motion that asks for a third-party review of Southern's office. If passed, her work would be suspended until the completion of that review, meaning that while new complaints can be submitted they will not be investigated.