Third-party report recommends more independence for Vancouver's integrity commissioner

A review of Vancouver's Code of Conduct bylaw has made 10 recommendations on how it can be strengthened, most notably by enhancing the independence of the city's integrity commissioner.

The report by Vancouver lawyer Reece Harding  — Surrey's former integrity commissioner — is from early February but was released this week after council's approval.

Harding and his team conducted 24 interviews with Vancouver council members, the integrity commissioner, and city staff and surmised that while there was consensus that local government officials should be held accountable for their behaviour, there was concern that codes of conduct could be "easily weaponized or politicized."

"To whatever extent this perception was accurate, it is concerning," reads the report. "As city staff made clear to us, the code needs to work effectively for council and if even a minority of council views the code negatively, this perception will limit its effectiveness."

The comments follow a contentious summer at city hall where council proposed pausing the work of Vancouver's integrity commissioner, Lisa Southern, in order to facilitate a review of her work and mandate.

Vancouver's integrity commissioner and her team mainly investigate city council and advisory board members' Code of Conduct bylaw complaints.

The Office of the Integrity Commissioner received 31 complaints from November 1, 2023, to October 31, 2024, with 22 dismissed, seven closed, and two still in progress at the time of the office's latest annual report.

"In our view, and accounting for our experience in the City of Surrey and elsewhere in B.C., the figures above indicate that the code is functioning effectively," reads the report from Harding.

The move to pause Southern's work to review it was met with opposition and shelved until April 9, when a vote on the matter is to occur.

There are already updates coming to Vancouver's Code of Conduct bylaw as Vancouver's auditor general also highlighted deficiencies over the role of political staff at city hall.

Integrity commissioner protection

Harding's Code of Conduct bylaw review also included recommendations about the code and political staff, along with ways to make the integrity commissioner's office more independent and resistant to repercussions.

"For a decision-maker to be independent, the decision-maker must be protected from arbitrary termination without cause, reduction in compensation, and interference in matters that bear on the exercise of their judicial function," reads the report.

In a statement about the report, Mayor Ken Sim said, "accountability and integrity matter."

He said council took action with the third-party review after Southern, herself, raised concerns about the scope of her role in her 2023 annual report.

Sim says his team is committed to working through the 10 recommendations with council and city staff "to make smart, thoughtful changes that improve transparency and fairness to a process that isn't just flawed, but also costly to taxpayers."

Southern's office has a budget of $200,000 per year, but in the first 10 months of 2024 had spent $194,285, an increase from the previous year, according to her 2024 annual report. The report said total fees for services for 2024 were expected to exceed $200,000.

More powers from province, please

Harding is also recommending that the city ask the province to amend the Vancouver Charter — a provincial statute that contains the city's governance rules — that will allow the city to realize meaningful changes to its Code of Conduct bylaw and "create and empower a truly independent integrity commissioner."

On Thursday in Victoria, the minister of housing and municipal affairs said his ministry would look at the report and its recommendations as part of a provincewide review of codes of conduct it is undertaking with the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

"The goal is to update that and ensure that all local governments are treating each other, their staff and the public in a very transparent and open way," said Ravi Kahlon. "I think that will strengthen democracy in the times that we're in."