Jinny Sims Resigns from BC Cabinet While Under Police Investigation

When the British Columbia legislature returns after its summer break on Monday, Surrey-Panorama NDP MLA Jinny Sims will no longer be sitting in cabinet having stepped down due to a police investigation.

In an emailed statement Sims said she’d offered her resignation as citizens’ services minister on Friday afternoon after learning a special prosecutor had been appointed to aid in an investigation of her.

“I have not been given details of any allegations, but there was no credibility to previous public allegations,” Sims said. “I am confident that my name will be cleared but do not want to distract from the important work of government in the meantime. For that reason, I have decided to step away from my duties while the matter is resolved.”

She said she would be following advice from legal counsel not to make any further statement.

BC Liberal Opposition leader Andrew Wilkinson said Premier John Horgan needs to explain what happened to necessitate the appointment of a special prosecutor.

“The BC Liberals have raised countless questions for months about Jinny Sims’ conduct in government and in her community,” he said, adding there have been allegations of breaking FOI rules as the minister responsible, as well as her “decision to write letters of immigration support for people on terrorist watch lists.”

People in the province should be appalled by the news that the RCMP are investigating Sims after Horgan insisted for months that she and the government had done nothing wrong, he said. “John Horgan continued to dismiss legitimate concerns and now he must answer for this complete failure of leadership on his part.”

In a statement, Horgan said Attorney General David Eby advised him of the special prosecutor’s appointment Friday afternoon. “Jinny Sims has resigned from cabinet during the investigation. I accepted her resignation as appropriate under the circumstances. We take any such investigation very seriously.”

Horgan said Selina Robinson, the minister of municipal affairs and housing, will act temporarily as citizens’ services minister as well.

Special prosecutors are independent from the government and are appointed “where some aspect of an investigation, or prosecution file, carries a significant potential for real or perceived improper influence in prosecutorial decision making.”