Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim violated the city’s Code of Conduct and harassed Coun. Sean Orr last year, when he made controversial comments implying Orr was antisemitic or supported terrorist organizations, according to the results of an independent investigation, issued this week.
The report relates to comments Sim made at an April 2025 press conference and online comments posted by Sim in October of that year. It does not relate to Sim’s false accusations that Orr had distributed free drugs.
Related:
April 2025 press conference:
At an April 8, 2025, press conference attended by some Jewish faith leaders from Metro Vancouver, Sim called on Orr to apologize for two comments he made on social media in 2021:
Referring to both of these comments, Sim said at the press conference, “I think [then-] Coun.-Elect Orr has a lot to account for, but in the context of today, the first thing I’d like to see is his comments around his antisemitic comments, whether or not they’re a joke or not. As you know, I’ve been very clear, none of this is funny.”
October 2025 post by Sim:
Then, on Oct. 4, 2025, Sim posted on X that he was “incredibly disappointed” that Orr participated in a rally that Sim says was affiliated with a terrorist organization.
Orr says Sim “quote tweeted” an account with a false accusation that he was aligned with terrorism for speaking at an event, “Flood Vancouver for Palestine.” Orr says the event was not organized by the organization Sim mentioned but was instead organized by a number of local organizations, including the Canada Palestine Association and Independent Jewish Voices, among others.
Orr’s response:
The independent report released this week said, “Councillor Orr says the Previous Orr Posts were sarcastic, meant to demonstrate his opposition to antisemitism and were decontextualized by the Mayor to harm him. This was an abuse of the influence of the Mayor’s office for political gain. In the post referencing the city planning department, Councillor Orr says he was actually attacking somebody else for being antisemitic. The other post saying ‘Well, me too, son. Me too’ was about someone else saying they want the destruction of both Israel and Canada.”
In his official complaint about Sim’s comments, Orr said the mayor defamed him by misrepresenting him as being affiliated with terrorism.
“The tweets in question were actually criticizing antisemitism. I believe I was targeted for this because I have been a critic of the ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide in Gaza,” Orr had written.
Investigation findings:
April 2025 press conference:The independent investigation, conducted by Kingsgate Legal, says Sim violated the Code of Conduct at the April 2025 press conference, saying, “Holding the Press Conference was not part of Mayor Sim’s duties. Using the influence of his office to personally attack Councillor Orr was a misuse of the influence of his office.”
As well, it says Sim harassed Orr, creating “a hostile environment for him as a newly elected Councillor. This was without fairness as to the context and sarcastic nature of the Previous Orr Posts that were several years prior, and without notice to him of the impending Press Conference. This is harassing conduct that is contrary to sections 2.A e) and 3.4 c) of the Code.”
October 2025 X post:The report says, “There was sufficient information that Sim’s October 4, 2025, Post was a continuation of the harassment of Councillor Orr that suggested he was in support of terrorist organizations and antisemitism. This extended an unfair narrative and encouraged negativity towards Councillor Orr in his role as Councillor.”
Orr had alleged that both the press conference and the X post had defamed him, but the report says this was considered “outside of the jurisdiction of the Code and were better dealt with in a different forum, such as the courts.” As a result, the independent report said it would not address this allegation.
Report’s recommendations:
The report says that if council chooses to sanction the mayor, this could include a letter of reprimand, a request that the mayor issue a letter of apology, a recommendation that Sim attend special training or counselling, suspension or removal of the mayor from from committees to which he is appointed by council, and public censure.