Controversial Kamloops Mayor Loses ‘Unbelievable’ Court Ruling

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has ruled that the mayor of Kamloops’ lawsuit against a council opponent appears to have been politically motivated.

In a ruling emphasizing the need for politicians to be allowed to speak freely on issues of community importance, Justice Jacqueline Hughes dismissed a defamation lawsuit Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson had filed against Coun. Katie Neustaeter. At the heart of the defamation suit were comments Neustaeter made alleging the mayor had violated “personal and professional boundaries.”

Those words were part of a joint statement Neustaeter read on behalf of Kamloops’ eight councillors following months of conflict at city hall. In his lawsuit, Hamer-Jackson had alleged the statement carried a “sexualized connotation” that implied he had violated sexual boundaries.

He claimed Neustaeter had also made three other defamatory statements during fraught discussions about Hamer-Jackson’s interactions with her father, former Kamloops MLA Kevin Krueger, who was showing signs of advanced dementia. Neustaeter made the statements at a council meeting and in email correspondence between Kamloops councillors and city officials.

Neustaeter said Hamer-Jackson was trying to silence her because she was a political opponent and had sought to have the case thrown out under B.C.’s Protection of Public Participation Act. The act — B.C.’s version of anti-SLAPP legislation — allows judges to dismiss defamation lawsuits they decide are aimed at restricting public speech on important issues.

Hughes said the evidence backed up Neustaeter’s assertion that Hamer-Jackson was targeting her because she had criticized his conduct.

“This case is fundamentally one about political speech,” Hughes said. He said the assertion that Hamer-Jackson was targeting Neustaeter because she was a political adversary “is supported on the record before me.”

Hughes said the need to protect freedom of expression is particularly important when considering defamation cases involving local politicians, “because of the intimate connection between the official’s role and the preservation of municipal democracy.”

She said Neustaeter was in her rights as a councillor to tell constituents that she felt the mayor’s behaviour was obstructing council’s ability to serve. She also observed that an online article by the mayor’s own lawyer at the time, David McMillan, was the first time anyone publicly suggested the “personal boundaries” statement could be read to allude to sexual improprieties.

“There is no evidence of anyone interpreting the defendant’s statements as accusing the plaintiff of sexual impropriety prior to Mr. McMillan first suggesting that to be the case,” Hughes wrote in her ruling. Hughes noted that other statements came after Hamer-Jackson launched another defamation lawsuit against a local developer.

As for Neustaeter’s statements about Hamer-Jackson’s correspondence with her father, Hughes noted that the councillor had attempted to discuss them in private but couldn’t obtain a meeting with the mayor.

Another case dismissed

Just days after his defamation suit was tossed from court, an investigator dismissed a code-of-conduct complaint Hamer-Jackson had made alleging another councillor, Dale Bass, had defamed him.

Hamer-Jackson said Bass had defamed him when she told a reporter that Hamer-Jackson had bullied staff, that staff didn’t feel safe and that some had gone on leave because of his behaviour.

Reece Harding, the lawyer who has been tasked with investigating an avalanche of code-of-conduct complaints linked to strife at Kamloops council, dismissed the complaint after finding that Bass’s statement was factual, given previous findings by investigations.

Harding’s report revealed that city employees had filed four WorkSafeBC complaints against the mayor, three of which were accepted.

Harding, who has previously found that Hamer-Jackson breached council’s code of conduct several times, wrote that although the mayor had filed the complaint, he was “unco-operative and resistant to my efforts to engage with him” during the investigation. In text messages to The Tyee, Hamer-Jackson said he had attempted to retract his code-of-conduct complaint after hearing that Harding was appointed to investigate.

In a statement issued Friday, Bass noted that Harding’s report states that Hamer-Jackson was offered the chance to withdraw his complaint but failed to do so.

Code-of-conduct investigations have cost Kamloops taxpayers nearly half a million dollars over the last three years, Castanet Kamloops reported last month.

Hamer-Jackson told local TV station CFJC that Harding was biased. Hamer-Jackson made the same allegation last year. Harding examined and refuted the claim, noting that he has dismissed allegations against Hamer-Jackson on several occasions.

Asked by The Tyee for a comment on the dismissal of his lawsuit against Neustaeter, Hamer-Jackson texted “Unbelievable” and pointed towards an online article that noted that the ruling didn’t mean Neustaeter’s statements were harmless. He expressed surprise that witnesses cannot be subpoenaed during a SLAPP hearing.

Neustaeter, for her part, told The Tyee that she was pleased the judge said Kamloops city councillors were within their rights to make the public statement, and that Hamer-Jackson had targeted her as a political opponent because she had read out that statement at a 2023 press conference.

“It was clear every step of the way that I have been exonerated through this process, and Reid Hamer-Jackson will need to face accountability for his actions.”

She said it increases her confidence regarding Hamer-Jackson’s other defamation lawsuit against her, which came after Neustaeter said the mayor was monitoring her bathroom breaks. That case is still progressing through court.

The court ruling and dismissal of the code-of-conduct complaint comes after nearly 2 1/2 years of uninterrupted strife between Hamer-Jackson and Kamloops’ eight councillors.

As The Tyee explored at length last fall, Hamer-Jackson immediately clashed with his council following his 2022 surprise election win. Councillors have alleged Hamer-Jackson misbehaved and misused his office. Hamer-Jackson, meanwhile, has been adamant that he is the victim of an orchestrated campaign by political opponents.

In two hours of interviews last fall, Hamer-Jackson said he had suffered from bad publicity but that he didn’t regret any of his actions and couldn’t have done anything differently to increase his ability to govern or reduce the strife with councillors. The fault, he said repeatedly, lay with the eight councillors opposing him.

The strife has led to a series of code-of-conduct findings and the appointment of an outside municipal adviser. Hamer-Jackson has been found to have breached council’s code of conduct on several occasions and had his pay docked and his official roles rescinded.

The province hired municipal adviser Henry Braun, the former mayor of Abbotsford, to try to bridge the divide between Hamer-Jackson and his council. But he found the task impossible, largely because of resistance from the mayor. In a stinging report, he found that Hamer-Jackson and his behaviour were the prime cause of the discord.

Braun wrote that Hamer-Jackson harboured grudges and refused to take responsibility for his behaviour, his role in the breakdown with council and the consequences that have arisen since.

“Absent significant change in how the mayor interacts with others, I’m not optimistic that there will be any improvement during the remainder of this term,” he wrote.

Hamer-Jackson has attempted to turn the tables on his council foes, with little success. In addition to the defamation suit dismissed last week, he has two other defamation lawsuits still before the courts. Neustaeter is the subject of one of those. Developer Joshua Knaak is the defendant in the other suit. He did not answer when The Tyee asked, via text, if the judge’s ruling has made him reconsider his pursuit of two other defamation suits he has filed.

He also plans to run for re-election this fall as mayor.

Three years ago, he ran and won as an outsider against a slew of establishment candidates — including three incumbent councillors — who split the vote.

Neustaeter said Hamer-Jackson serves as a warning to voters in other municipalities come this fall about the risks of electing untested politicians using heated rhetoric.

“Angry rhetoric, uninformed individuals who seek to divide are what we see in global politics right now, so I would encourage people as they approach their municipal election to look for people who can fulfil the duties with dignity and the care for the community the role deserves.”

If you have a story tip, contact reporter Tyler Olsen in confidence via email.

*Story updated on Feb. 6 at 11:15 a.m. to include information from a statement issued by Coun. Dale Bass.