“Democracy is undermined”: Integrity commissioner finds Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC caucus broke the city’s open meetings law

Bob Mackin

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and seven councillors elected with his ABC Vancouver party breached the Code of Conduct bylaw for failing to comply with the Vancouver Charter by meeting in secret to end the Climate Justice Charter in February 2023, according to the city’s integrity commissioner.

In the Aug. 22 report, Lisa Southern also found seven councillors broke the same bylaw about funding for an artificial turf field at Moberly Park in July 2023.

Green Coun. Pete Fry triggered the investigation on Aug. 5, 2024. He alleged the ABC members met in secret as a caucus to decide six items. There was an additional complaint from a member of the public last September about ABC’s elimination of view cone protection.

Vancouver city council, led by Mayor Ken Sim (centre) (City of Vancouver)

What the integrity commissioner found

In the two breaches Southern substantiated, there was evidence of participation in an “email chain in which decision making about city business was materially moved along the spectrum of a decision.”

Sim was not on the email chain about the Moberly Park funding.

In her conclusions, Southern said that no one can say ABC council members cannot meet as a caucus. But they cannot do so under the current laws that have existed in Canada for 140 years that prohibit private meetings with a quorum to discuss “business such that it moves that business along in a material way towards a decision of council.”

“The open meeting requirement is not avoided by the absence of a vote, or the declaration that one is keeping an open mind,” Southern wrote.

Secret meetings are a problem, because they deprive the public of participation in the policy and decision-making process.

“Democracy is undermined,” Southern wrote.

Secret messaging app

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim (Mackin)

Southern also confirmed there was a Signal chat group with all ABC council members that included staff in the mayor’s office. It was active outside of council meetings and used during council meetings.

“There was discussion about city business, including motions and amendments, that was either coming to council or was before the respondents in real-time at council meetings,” Southern wrote.

Through a lawyer, Sim declined to answer general questions in writing about the use of Signal with quorum, because his lawyer objected to the questions’ relevance to the investigation.

Southern ultimately hit a roadblock in her investigation because of the destruction of evidence.

“No Signal messages among ABC council members survive today as these messages automatically delete and no respondent provided me with screen shots like the one with Coun. Kirby-Yung and park board commissioners. As a result, although I had evidence of general practice, I was unable to assess whether there were specific Signal discussions on the seven matters that are the subject of the complaint and/or the nature of such discussions if they occurred.

Why it matters

Southern said the use of Signal and the lack of recording caucus meetings in the council members’ public calendars were of concern. Although meetings took place in city hall, not even city manager Paul Mochrie — who departed with an undisclosed severance payment in July — knew about them.

“There is no recording of who attended the meetings, nor were any notes produced. Taking into account these circumstances, I do not find their actions were unintentional or inadvertent, but I agree that they amount to bad judgment.”

In a report last February, Southern found the six park board commissioners elected under the ABC banner in 2022 broke the open meetings law during private meetings in 2023 at Sim’s house and on the Signal app. Southern concluded the meetings should have been held in public.

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Bob Mackin Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and seven