Mission councillor felt ‘smeared’ during probe, as B.C. judge quashes censure and highlights role of mayor

The censure arose after a series of events in 2023.

On March 6, 2023, Mission Council adopted a resolution proclaiming March 12–18 as Raise Your Hands Against Racism Week (“RYHARW”) in Mission. On March 14, 2023, Herar and his wife attended a local firehall with materials relating to the RYHARW proclamation but found it empty as the crew was on a call. They proceeded to another location, the Mission Youth Centre, and had a group picture taken with some of the youth who were present at the Centre. The photograph included and displayed the RYHARW proclamation. The petitioner and his wife ordered pizza for the youth and then left the Centre. Shortly after the photographs were taken, concerns were brought to Herar about the lack of parental consent prior to the pictures being taken. The petitioner recognized the potential problem and contacted the local newspaper, the Mission City Record, to cancel the use of the photos. The photos were never published or used. The petitioner and his wife later returned to the centre, retrieved the copy of the RYHARW proclamation which they had left there, and took some of the leftover pizza away with them. On March 15 and 16, Mike Younie, the chief administrative officer for Mission, and Herar spoke spoke about the events at the Mission Youth Centre and possible concerns arising from those events.

On March 30, 2023, Councillor Herar attended an IT session at City Hall to receive a new iPad and basic training for that device. His wife attended at least part if not all of the session. The judicial ruling states municipal staff were not notified in advance that she would be attending and her attendance had not been formally approved, Justice Caldwell wrote. At some point during the session, Herar’s wife provided him with his network password in order to facilitate the software setup. It is unclear whether the password was a secure council password or the petitioner’s personal Gmail account password. Days later, the petitioner’s password to access certain Council material was changed.

Sometime later, Mayor Paul Horn apparently became aware that certain people had expressed concerns about one or both of these two incidents. He had been, until that point in time, unaware of at least the first of the two incidents. On April 11, 2023, Mayor Horn contacted Younie by e-mail about the concerns he had received about Herar and the two aforementioned events. Mayor Horn told Younie that he wanted to make a formal complaint regarding Herar’s behaviour pursuant to the provisions of the 2020 Code.

Image: City of Mission / Mission Mayor Paul Horn.

Judge Caldwell, however, said Mayor Horn, as complainant, took an active part in the early stages of the complaint process, and despite being the complainant, participated in a council meeting on April 17, 2023 to approve the appointment of a complaint investigator. The judge said Mayor Horn did so in possession of unique information, presumably unknown to some, if not all other participants, about the nature of the complaint. Judge Caldwell also said the complaint, when formalized, failed to meet the requirements of the code because it “failed to particularize the reasonable and probable basis for the complaint, at least in regard to the Youth Centre incident.”

The judicial decision noted that Mayor Horn signed a joint resolution on behalf of council to resolve the complaint, which was later unanimously rejected by council “for reasons that are unclear.”

Justice Caldwell also voiced concern over the apparent refusal giving Herar access to basic information, and insulation from scrutiny of the investigator’s notes and related material.

“As late as the Nov. 1, 2023 meeting, council refused to provide the petitioner with access to the Complaint Investigator, her file, or the original complainants for purposes of cross-examination or challenge,” Justice Caldwell wrote.

The judge said Herar was not afforded “procedural fairness.”

“These factors lead me to the conclusion that the petitioner (Herar) was clearly denied the procedural fairness and natural justice to which he was entitled given the nature of the investigation, the quasi-judicial nature of the process, and the significant consequences to which he was exposed and which came to be imposed on him,” the decision stated.

Now that the ruling has essentially cleared his name, Councillor Herar said he’s looking forward to moving on.

“There’s no winners or losers here; the end result is the public simply loses confidence in local government, unfortunately,” Herar said. “There also needs to be tighter parameters how Code of Conducts are handled and mandated from the province to avoid scenarios like this, which seems like a growing trend within many municipalities. At the end, I will continue fighting the good fight on issues that matter to residents. That will remain my focus for the entirety of this term.”

The City of Mission has not issued a statement in response to the ruling, but it has acknowledged tension among council members.

Just last week, the municipality released a statement Thursday acknowledging there are “ongoing issues and conflicts” among municipal councillors as it seeks help from the provincial government.

Image: City of Mission / Mission mayor and councillors.

According to a news release from the municipality, Mission council has renewed its request for support from the B.C. Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs to help resolve what it calls “ongoing issues and conflicts” among members, and to afford the public with an independent assessment of the current situation and the recommended next steps.

by Mike Vanden Bosch

Mission councillor felt ‘smeared’ during probe, as B.C. judge quashes censure and highlights role of mayor

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