Vancouver city council stops work of integrity commissioner

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Vancouver council’s recent decision to suspend the activities of the city’s integrity commissioner is an “overstep of power,” according to one political science expert.

Stewart Prest, a lecturer at the University of B.C., says the pause will not only have a detrimental effect on holding public officials accountable, but could also erode the public’s trust.

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“To just put a stop to everything when there are other courses of action that would allow accountability work to continue gives an appearance of council seeking to avoid scrutiny,” he said.

The responsibilities of integrity commissioner Lisa Southern include investigating complaints against city council and advisory board members, and giving advice to members regarding their ethical obligations according to the city’s code of conduct bylaws.

Last week, the ABC-majority council voted to halt the commissioner’s work in order for a third-party review of her office. Coun. Brian Montague put forward the motion, citing Southern’s latest annual report, in which she stated that “the scope of the integrity commissioner’s role in providing oversight of the conduct of council and advisory board members is not always clear.”

“I’m concerned about what I feel is a fairly big issue around scope and authority and jurisdiction raised by the integrity commissioner’s office itself hasn’t been addressed,” Montague said.

Fellow ABC Coun. Lenny Zhou then amended the motion calling for the commissioner’s investigations to be suspended during the review.

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“Pausing ongoing investigations will prevent potential conflicts or overlaps that might arise if the current operations of the integrity commissioner are found to be out of scope or misaligned with the best practice(s),” Zhao said. The motion passed by a vote of 6-2.

When asked about council’s move Southern said: “It would be inconsistent with my duties to be commenting on actions of council at this time.”

Mayor Ken Sim has called a special city council meeting for Aug. 6 to consider bylaw changes that would allow the third-party review and suspension of Southern’s investigations to proceed. The decision to hold the special meeting was “based on recommendations from the city manager and city clerk, given that the next regular council session isn’t until late September,” said Sim’s chief of staff, Trevor Ford.

If adopted, the proposed bylaw changes would still allow Southern’s office to continue to receive allegations of misconduct, but would not be able to investigate them until the third-party review is finished and council has decided on the findings.

Meantime, city staff are to return to city council by Sept. 24 with options and cost estimates for the third-party review, according to last week’s motion.

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OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle and Green party Coun. Adriane Carr, who voted against the changes, are worried that ongoing investigations will fall through the cracks.

“We must strengthen the role of this office, not weaken it, as it does very good work in keeping the council accountable,” Boyle said.

Southern is required to submit annual reports, including recommendations on how the city can update its code of conduct.

Green Coun. Pete Fry, who was absent during the July 24 vote, said he struggles to see the point of the third-party review.

Fry noted that the commissioner’s office’s latest annual report already suggested changes to clarify its role and mandate, including amending the code-of-conduct bylaw to make clear that its scope is “to oversee the ethical conduct of council and advisory board members, not scrutinize political or policy decisions.”

“I had asked Montague quite pointedly if his intention with the motion was to suspend the office,” Fry said. “He denied that it was the case just minutes before the amendment was made.”

Prest said shuttering Southern’s operations will create “an accountability gap” between the council and Vancouver residents.

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“There are many other ways to handle a situation like this, from simply acting on the commissioner’s recommendations to studying the issue more in-depth while allowing her to continue her work.”

Vancouver was the second city in B.C. to create a non-partisan ethics position role in 2021, following Surrey.

Since the role of integrity commissioner was established, nine complaints against elected officials have been publicly reported between June 2021 and February 2024.

One of them found Sim had acted “in a discriminatory manner” during a Dec. 5 meeting at city hall when he refused park board commissioner Laura Christensen’s request to participate in a meeting electronically while at home with a one-month-old infant.

Another ruled that Vancouver park board commissioner Jas Virdi breached the board’s code of conduct by falsely stating that a rival commissioner made an offensive comment about children with autism at a Jan. 23 meeting.

Postmedia reached out to Montague and his colleague Zhao but neither responded.

sgrochowski@postmedia.com

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