Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson seen on Feb. 2, 2025, in his new city hall office, recently built to separate him from staff.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson's release of a confidential workplace investigation last April was far from his only privacy breach.

According to court documents, the City's head of privacy warned him almost 20 times he allegedly broke provincial legislation since he was elected more than two years ago.

It comes as BC's attorney general takes Hamer-Jackson to court in an effort to force his return of the report, picking up the reins after the mayor's repeated refusal to do so willingly for both the province or the City.

The investigation, dubbed the Integrity Group report, details allegations he had bullied multiple city employees starting within weeks of taking office. It confirmed Hamer-Jackson mistreated three of them in an investigation he refused to take part in.

Attorney General Niki Sharma filed a petition to BC Supreme Court on Jan. 30, asking a judge to order he return the Integrity Group report, delete digital copies and name those he had shared it with. Though he initially said he would willingly turn the documents over, Hamer-Jackson has since changed his mind and is strongly considering taking the issue to court.

Privacy officer Stephanie Nichols filed an affidavit which details her attempts to retrieve the damning report after he released it to reporters in April 2024.

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In addition to her efforts to get the confidential report back, she said it's one of many times she notified the mayor he breached provincial privacy legislation.

Not including the leaked report, she sent him 16 similar notices. Five between Feb. 13 and June 13, 2024, included the following note:

We take this opportunity to remind you of the protection of privacy and record handling obligations imposed on all council members. All records received in your capacity as a council member are considered property of the City of Kamloops and must be handled and protected in accordance with our bylaws, policies and procedures. Council members have statutory duties under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to protect personal information, as well as a statutory duty to maintain confidentiality over City records and information as stated in section 117 of the Community Charter.

She didn't detail the other breaches further, but another may have been the time Hamer-Jackson tried to put together a graphic slideshow for a business gala, resulting in a code of conduct investigation which found he broke privacy law.

Though the Integrity Group report itself references a staff decision to hire an outside agency to investigate complaints against the mayor, another affidavit places the decision on council.

Human resources director Colleen Quigley said a complaint came to her office "in and around" December 2022 and January 2022, claiming the mayor "acted inappropriately in the workplace," followed by more allegations from "several others." The City's legal counsel recommended a third-party investigator look into it.

It was at a Jan. 31, 2023 in-camera meeting that council voted to approve the investigation proceed, according to her affidavit.

Quigley also said Hamer-Jackson and his lawyer asked for the report "repeatedly" from June 2023 to April 2024, but she said he was not allowed to have a copy.

That's because he refused to take part in the investigation and he was in a conflict of interest that barred him from voting or influencing related decisions. The City was also concerned Hamer-Jackson would "retaliate" against interviewees and that he would "unlawfully disclose" the report.

Hamer-Jackson cited several concerns with the attorney general's petition and the paired evidence from City staff, including that there was no mention of the 2023 leak to the newspaper Kamloops This Week.

"I got a note from the City's privacy officer," he said. "My privacy was breached too."

He also claimed the City made no effort to find who mysteriously mailed the report to his home. The latter was mentioned in Quigley's affidavit, simply stating she "did not know how" Hamer-Jackson got a copy.

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Asked why he changed his mind about and decided to not give up the report, Hamer-Jackson said it's because the court challenge is on the order of the City, not the province.

"This wasn't directed by the province. It wasn't directed by the attorney general," he said. "It was directed by the same administration that's been out to get me from day one."

What he described is exactly the way the process works when a local government tries and fails to recover documents meant to remain confidential under provincial privacy laws, according to Attorney General Sharma.

BC Attorney General Niki Sharma, pictured at a Feb. 6, 2025 news conference, said court action is a last resort to enforce privacy laws.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

"It's my job and our job as a ministry across the province to ensure that people can expect their privacy is upheld. If there are breaches and all steps taken to eliminate that breach are exhausted, then court action is the last resort," Sharma said.

At a Feb. 6 news conference in Kamloops, Sharma said it's an enforcement approach that's been done before, though she didn't provide further specifics either on past incidents or the petition against Hamer-Jackson.

The mayor also knew since June the attorney general may step in to recover the documents.

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City staff sent letters demanding Hamer-Jackson return the confidential investigation starting April 2024, then warned they would contact Sharma's office to take on the task, according Nichols' affidavit.

Still failing to convince the mayor to comply, the attorney general took the matter to court on Jan. 30.

It's not clear whether the first leak to Kamloops This Week in 2023 was investigated beyond a council code of conduct review. It was initially spurred by a complaint from Hamer-Jackson's then-lawyer David McMillan and ended with no conclusive answer other than finding councillor Bill Sarai emailed the report to himself from a closed council meeting, allowing him to access it from his home computer.

Sarai faced no known consequences and he wasn't blamed for the initial leak.

No court date has been set to hear the attorney general's petition and Hamer-Jackson hasn't responded in court.

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