Vancouver’s Integrity Commissioner released a damning report finding that Mayor Ken Sim and all ABC Vancouver councillors violated the city’s open-meeting rules by conducting City business in secret.

The Commissioner found that ABC councillors improperly advanced decisions on Vancouver’s climate plan and Moberly Park upgrades through private email chains and undisclosed caucus meetings, a direct breach of the Vancouver Charter’s requirement for open meetings.

The report highlights how ABC members moved conversations off City systems and onto personal emails and Signal, an app that auto-deletes messages. As the Commissioner wrote: “I do not find their actions were unintentional or inadvertent … they amount to bad judgment.” She asked bluntly: “Why keep to the shadows if what you are doing can be safely and fairly viewed in the transparency of daylight?”

This is not the first time. In February, another complaint by Green Councillor Pete Fry led to a ruling that ABC Park Board commissioners were guilty of the same misconduct. After that report, the BC Ombudsperson warned that ABC’s defiance was “a disturbing repudiation of the rule of law.” Today’s findings confirm that ABC has not changed course.

We thank the Integrity Commissioner for her thorough and diligent work, and we recognize Councillor Fry’s persistence in bringing these breaches to light. His complaints have twice exposed ABC’s secretive practices, proving the Vancouver Greens’ commitment to accountability and transparency.

Public trust in City Hall depends on decisions being made openly, not behind closed doors. The Greens will continue to stand up for honesty, integrity, and democracy in Vancouver.

Read the full report here.