Kamloops, B.C., mayor files 2nd defamation lawsuit against councillor

Kamloops, B.C.s mayor has filed a second defamation lawsuit against a city councillor.

Reid Hamer-Jackson filed the lawsuit based on an email Coun. Katie Neustaeter sent last year, referring to his behaviour as "creepy."

Documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court last week claim Neustaeter damaged Hamer-Jackson's reputation when she made what he's referring to as a "sordid and scandalous accusation."

The mayor claims he filed the lawsuit because Neustaeter refused to "walk back" allegations she made in May 2024 that he was monitoring her bathroom breaks.

In the lawsuit filed by the mayor on July 31, Hamer-Jackson states Neustaeter sent an email to senior city administrators and the rest of city council accusing Hamer-Jackson of "surreptitiously tracking her movements, documenting when she uses the bathroom, engaging in creepy behaviour and being an unsafe person."

Neustaeter sent that email in response to another one Hamer-Jackson had sent to a city manager, asking why the councillor was allowed to use a washroom in a restricted area.

That city manager, Jen Fretz, sent the mayor and the rest of city council an email explaining she escorted Neustaeter to the washroom.

The restriction on the corridor where that particular washroom is located was part of rules changes implemented last year after a safety audit at the City of Kamloops, which banned city councillors from using the corridor unless they were escorted by someone else. 

The rule changes also included locking the mayor out of his office on the main floor at city hall and setting up a new office for him on the basement floor.

2nd defamation lawsuit

This is the second time since 2023 that the mayor has sued Neustaeter. The councillor has three weeks to file a response to the second lawsuit.

Neustaeter's lawyer, Daniel Reid, told CBC News he plans to address the latest lawsuit at a Sept. 22 hearing in Kamloops.

That's when a judge will be asked to dismiss the mayor's first lawsuit filed against Neustaeter more than two years ago.

The 2023 lawsuit involves a statement Neustaeter read on behalf of all eight city councillors in March 2023, accusing the mayor of crossing "personal and professional boundaries."

None of Hamer-Jackson's claims have been proven in court.

The mayor has been no stranger to controversy since his 2022 election. In July, he filed a police complaint after accusing a journalist of assaulting him at a pub, though the journalist claimed he had patted the mayor on the shoulder.

In 2024, all eight councillors formally asked him to resign as mayor. Hamer-Jackson declined to do so.