Kamloops mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson in his office on Oct. 21, 2024, a day before his deadline to move to a newly-built basement office.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson is on the defensive as the province takes the him to court over a confidential report, putting Kamloops in what appears to be new territory for a BC city.

BC Attorney General Niki Sharma filed a petition in BC Supreme Court last week asking a judge to order Hamer-Jackson to return an internal investigation report, one that concluded the mayor had bullied three City employees early in his term.

The petition claims the mayor violated provincial privacy law and it's through that her office wants the judge to order him to give up the report, then name everyone he had passed it on to.

"The most intervention you see typically would be exactly what they already did by appointing an advisor to try to sort things out," local government consultant Ron Mattiussi said. "That's the biggest intervention I've seen."

The province typically lets local governments sort their issues out on their own without help from Victoria, often resorting to contracting an advisor who can study a council's dysfunction and recommend ways to mend the rifts, as Henry Braun did last year.

Mattiussi, who previously worked for years as Kelowna's city manager, stepped in to temporarily manage the Village of Lytton just after it was razed by a 2021 wildfire and even then the province avoided local calls to appoint its own administrator, leaving Lytton to directly manage itself and keep its autonomy.

READ MORE: BC Attorney General takes Kamloops mayor to court over leaked report

"Direct intervention like this is very unusual," he said.

The report at issue is an internal third-party investigation that included complaints from four employees about the mayor's behaviour. Hamer-Jackson refused to take part in the process. He was found to have bullied and harassed three of the four staffers.

The report was previously leaked to Kamloops This Week months after others, including iNFOnews.ca, reported its existence in lieu of the report itself. The answer to who leaked it the first time was never found.

Hamer-Jackson mysteriously received a copy months later, though he adds a caveat that he does not know whether its authentic because he has never seen the original. It arrived by mail to his home with a return address to a Tofino surf shop, Hamer-Jackson said.

"It was a shock," he said when asked whether he expected to receive the package.

Hamer-Jackson said he doesn't know who sent the report, but he did openly share it with several reporters in the days after it came to him last spring, making copies at Staples before his deliveries.

He takes issue with what he claims was a lack of effort to investigate who leaked the report in August 2023.

"My privacy was breached," he said.

But, he also said the report is in the public interest and continues to suggest council should release it both to him and to the public.

Though the claim continues to be denied by other councillors, he frequently raises at recent council meetings that it would not have started had councillor Bill Sarai not began an argument in the mayor's office in January 2023. It was an argument almost entirely initiated and carried on by Sarai, as heard in Sarai's recording iNFOnews.ca obtained through a Freedom of Information request just weeks ago.

READ MORE: Kamloops city councillor's secret recording scandal far from over

The Attorney General's petition to the court suggests Hamer-Jackson violated not only privacy law, but in doing so the Community Charter.

A former Prince George councillor was found to have violated the same privacy laws in 2008, but his case went through provincial court as it was dealt with criminally. Brian Skakun was fined $750 after he gave a workplace report to the CBC, which detailed harassment at the local RCMP detachment and some city managers.

He failed in two attempts to appeal the "quasi-criminal" conviction, as it was described in court, but he remained in office until long after and was re-elected more than once.

Two major differences were that Skakun's report wasn't already leaked and it did not involve him personally.

Hamer-Jackson so far hasn't faced any criminal charges related to the leaked document. It's not clear whether the province could take any greater measures against Hamer-Jackson for the violation.

READ MORE: Mayor Hamer-Jackson leaked documents in April; investigation ruled it unlawful

The Community Charter's grounds for disqualification involve conflicts of interest, a limit on unexcused absences from meetings, failure to make an oath of office and unauthorized expenses. If any of those did apply, it would require a petition to the court from 10 or more electors or from the City after approval from at least two-thirds of council.

Another method to disqualify an elected official applies if they face an indictable criminal offence. They are on paid leave if charged and disqualified if convicted. Neither would apply in this case as privacy law violations are not within the criminal code and indictable offences reserved for the most serious of criminal charges.

One ongoing case would be Penticton city councillor James Miller, who is on leave as he faces sexual assault accusations.

Councillor Kelly Hall told iNFOnews.ca the City is not associated with the Attorney General's petition as its reliance on the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act puts it within provincial jurisdiction. It's not clear if the City can take further action, beyond the censures Hamer-Jackson has already faced.

"It seems to me this is outside the hands of the Community Charter to deal with," Mattiussi said.

He appears to be right.

As for the leaked report, Hamer-Jackson said on Jan. 30 he would willingly be returning it to the Attorney General, but it wasn't clear why he waited until multiple demands from the province and the City before it was brought to court.

The mayor hasn't said when he planned to pass the leaked report to Attorney General lawyers, only that he was waiting for court documents to first be served to him.

It's the second civil court matter Hamer-Jackson found himself on defence and the fourth ongoing civil case in total, while he frequently laments dwindling funds to pay legal bills.

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