Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson at a news conference on July 15, 2024.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The BC government is taking Kamloops mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to court.

Attorney General Niki Sharma is asking the BC Supreme Court to order the mayor return a leaked report that he gave to Kamloops reporters last spring.

Known as The Integrity Group report, or Honcharuk Report after the investigator who wrote it, the report detailed claims from multiple City staff members who accused the mayor of bullying and harassment in the first months after he took office.

It was a damning report, and the mayor refused to cooperate with the investigator at the time. Its existence was known publicly for months when Hamer-Jackson claimed he mysteriously received a copy in his mailbox with a Tofino return address.

After three demands to Hamer-Jackson and his lawyer from the City, and at least one from Sharma's office, to return his copies of the confidential report the Attorney General petitioned to BC Supreme Court that a judge order him to return it.

"While the City's original collection of the personal information was lawful, the mayor's possession of the report is not," the province's petition reads.

It's at least the second time the Attorney General's office intervened in an effort to have Hamer-Jackson return confidential documents. The last time involved employee performance reviews that he not only returned before court action was taken, he also refrained from releasing those documents to news media.

In the wake of the petition, Hamer-Jackson now says he intends to return the documents. He has known for months the Attorney General wanted the report returned or he would risk court action, but his answer wasn't clear when asked why he chose to wait until it went before BC Supreme Court.

"From what I've learned, I will possibly — I mean, you filed (a Freedom of Information request) on it with the city. They said they couldn't confirm or deny whether they had it. But, apparently you wouldn't be able to use a copy of something you got in the mail anyways, so I'll probably have to go to the courts to get the City to release it unless council (releases it)," he said when asked why he waited.

He accused the City of not pursuing the person who leaked the report the first time, as it was initially reported by Kamloops This Week in August 2023. He continued to say despite his efforts to have a copy released both to him and publicly, council has opted not to do so and the City has generally refused to acknowledge its existence. So, Hamer-Jackson suggested he may use the court action to raise the previous leak with a judge, the fact councillor Bill Sarai sent a copy to his personal email address and held it for months, and his attempts to have an official copy released publicly.

"I've been repeatedly asking for a copy of it because it's about me," Hamer-Jackson said.

The report named four City employees as complainants and it found he had bullied and harassed three of them.

The petition claims the information inside the report, especially the names of staff who were named, is protected under BC privacy law and even the mayor is not entitled to disseminate its contents without breaching the Community Charter.

"If the mayor continues to use the report, he does so contrary to (the Community Charter)," the petition reads, echoing a similar finding already made in a council code of conduct investigation following the mayor's release of the report.

The petition says the mayor continues to claim he intends to use the report for "various purposes in the future."

Council was only allowed to see the report once at an in-camera meeting, which included "security features" to prevent them from keeping it, according to the petition. Hamer-Jackson wasn't present for that meeting and claims he would've been barred from access due to a conflict of interest if he had tried. It's unclear whether that's true, however, as he is welcome to meetings where council hears code of conduct investigations in which Hamer-Jackson is implicated.

The petition does not mention, however, that one councillor did retain a copy of the report for some time after that meeting. Sarai emailed a copy to his personal email address, but it was absolved by investigators when he told them he did not share it with anyone else.

It's not clear who mailed the report to the mayor. All that's known is a paper copy of the report was mailed to Hamer-Jackson with a Tofino return address. The pages appear to show a person using a smartphone to take photos of the report on a computer screen. He told reporters he got the package on April 5.

The Attorney General is asking the court to order Hamer-Jackson return paper copies to the City, permanently delete any electronic copies and, within 72 hours of the order, name for the Attorney General each person he gave the report to. The Attorney General also asks the mayor pay legal costs and for any exhibits containing portions of the report be sealed.

Councillor Kelly Hall, who is deputy mayor for January, said the move is "highly unusual" and not a situation council is taking lightly.

"I find it really disheartening, concerning and embarrassing that the community has to put up with the challenges this individual continually presents to council, the city and the corporation, and the community for that matter," he said.

Hall said the City is not party to the legal action as it's under the Attorney General's jurisdiction and refrained from speaking directly on the issue as it's "before the courts." But, when told Hamer-Jackson plans to now return the documents, he said he doesn't expect that to be the end of it.

"There's really no logic in the thought process," he said. "But knowing this individual, that's not the end of this."

When a Code of Conduct investigation found Hamer-Jackson breached the Community Charter by releasing the internal report, it wouldn't be the only time he would make such a finding. In December, another conduct investigation found he breached privacy law again when sharing photos of people he was blocked from using in a slideshow for a business gala. 

iNFOnews.ca reached asked the Attorney General when and how many times staff previously asked Hamer-Jackson for the report, whether the ministry is considering action against him for any other Community Charter violations and about the unusual nature of filing against a sitting mayor. A spokesperson responded to say the ministry would not comment.

— This story was updated at 5:17 p.m., Jan. 30, 2025, with more information and comments from Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and councillor Kelly Hall.

— This story was updated at 5:53 p.m., Jan. 30, 2025, to say the Attorney General refused to comment.

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