FILE PHOTO - Kelowna city council

Kelowna city councillors are complaining about poor conduct behind the scenes, but the investigations aren't for public viewing.

iNFOnews.ca filed a Freedom of Information request for the councillors complaints to city staff and subsequent investigations, which turned up almost no specific details.

Five code of conduct complaints have been filed since the new rules were adopted in 2023. Their results aren't known, but at least four were dismissed in the end.

Very little is revealed in city documents about what spurred each complaint, while the investigations themselves weren't released at all.

The 18-page Freedom of Information request is attached at the bottom of this story, but the city response informed iNFOnews.ca 20 additional pages were entirely withheld.

After the 2022 local elections, all BC municipalities were required to at least consider adopting a code of conduct. Many did so and had guidelines, but they were allowed to craft them however they decided.

Compared to Kamloops, Kelowna has only seen a few complaints so far. Kamloops has been forthcoming with many of its investigations, even when they are dismissed.

The heavily-redacted letters to city clerk Stephen Fleming included allegations of "derogatory" statements, defamation of others on council and outside influence from special interest groups, while the subsequent investigations were entirely withheld.

The names of the council members who complained and the one accused of breaking the rules were redacted, as are any specifics about what was said.

Also redacted are the dates, aside from the documents revealing four complaints were made in 2023 and one in 2024.

The first complaint suggests someone on council went to an event where a "lobby group" hosted a forum that criticized city policies with "unfounded superstitions."

The name of the lobby group and their policy discussions are not known, nor are the comments made by the councillor, who allegedly failed to specify whether they were speaking on behalf of council or simply themselves.

"The public has a right to know if [redacted] fulfilled their duty as a lobbyist prior to [redacted], 2023 so we can determine whether [redacted] chose to attend this event with advance knowledge of their values, intentions and history of [redacted]," the complaint read.

While it's not clear whether it's about the same person, the fifth complaint follows similar themes of courting special interest groups.

This time, it references "involvement of an agenda-driven media using special interest group sources."

It goes on to claim a council member made "potentially defamatory comments" about an elected official "to score political points."

"It is the complainants position that the bold and unambiguous public comments made about [redacted] might best be described as public-gas lighting," the 2024 complaint read.

It seems from the complaint, the subject may have tried to retract their comments.

"It appears obvious that someone recognized the need to back pedal and do damage control on the potentially defamatory comments that never should have been made," read one sentence following a redacted paragraph.

While the first and last complaints appear to be standalone issues and were investigated separately, the others were rolled in for one "in-depth review," according to city records.

They each alleged a council member made "derogatory" comments about a group, but it's not clear what was said or who said it.

At least one suggests the council member made the comments on a public social media post which was deleted within 24 hours.

Though a city spokesperson told iNFOnews.ca four complaints were dismissed earlier this year, it's not clear how the fifth ended. City policies do require any findings of a violation to be made public after council considers them.

City policy requires council members to complain to the city clerk first, then a vetted report will go to an external investigator.

Once that's done, any resulting in a founded complaint go to city council to decide whether to reprimand the council member.

In Kamloops, council has released most of its completed investigations to its website.

When the conduct rules are breached, council's resulting consequences are also published. For Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson's numerous breaches they have ended with requests he take courses on provincial government law and sign apology letters.

In lieu of abiding by those rules, most of his responsibilities have been stripped, and his salary reduced.

Kamloops isn't the only city to publish its conduct reports, even in cases where the complaint is dismissed.

Surrey and Vancouver, for example, have published ethics investigations for several years without redacting the names of elected officials.

Under current BC legislation, however, there is a patchwork of rules across cities and regional districts. Some only reveal summaries and some, like Kelowna, won't reveal them unless someone broke the rules.

The BC government is exploring the adoption of a consistent code of conduct for all local governments, which may include a prescribed investigation process as well. While it would standardize the process, it's not expected to come into effect until after the 2026 local election.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.

News from © iNFOnews, 2025