Kamloops mayor’s complaint backfires, sheds light on his repeated bullying

An investigation, spurred by the mayor of Kamloops, sought to have a city councillor reprimanded for her comments about him. Instead, it confirmed numerous times when the mayor bullied and harassed city hall staff.

It left the investigator puzzled as to why Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson would file the complaint in the first place.

According to the newly released report, Hamer-Jackson refused to cooperate. During the investigation, he instead took “pot shots” at the investigator, city staff and at councillor Dale Bass about the process in various emails.

“All in all, his conduct as a complainant was not indicative of an elected official who seriously intended to pursue a complaint,” investigator Reece Harding said in the report.

One of the mayor’s comments directed at Bass summarized the purpose of his complaint, despite his refusal to cooperate.

“I can prove you are a liar, councillor Bass,” he said in one email.

Hamer-Jackson claimed Bass lied when she told a reporter the mayor had been the subject of multiple workplace investigations and some staff members went on medical leave to avoid the mayor.

The comments came after Hamer-Jackson started working out of his used car office in protest of council’s decision to move his city hall office to the basement.

Harding sought to find out whether Bass was telling the truth. To do so, he looked to the city’s human resource department for details on Hamer-Jackson’s treatment of city employees.

Human resources at the city said more than a dozen investigations had been launched by October 2024, adding that two employees were on medical leave because of his behaviour.

Because Bass’ comments were published in the media that month, Harding did not examine whether any similar investigations began afterward.

Hamer-Jackson’s “mistreatment” of staff included name calling, insulting and offensive conduct, as he repeatedly questioned staff about the same topics, which obstructed their duties and breached employee privacy. He publicly criticized staff and repeatedly asked employees to provide evidence for his personal lawsuits, according to the report.

Hamer-Jackson was aware of most, if not all, of the complaints, city human resources manager Jennifer Howatt told Harding.

Although WorkSafeBC refused to confirm whether any investigations exist when iNFOnews.ca filed a Freedom of Information request last year, Harding found that to be irrelevant.

City staff confirmed the provincial agency “accepted” three of four complaints about him by October 2024. The one not accepted was investigated internally and found the employee felt “threatened, intimidated and humiliated” by the mayor.

In August of that year, Hamer-Jackson left an in-camera meeting while council was considering measures to shield city staff from him. Council discussed ten separate incidents of bullying that took place between January 2023 and April 2024.

It was at that time council began the process to relocate his city hall office to the basement.

Another 13 allegations were investigated by an external agency which took place between February and June 2024. It was completed by December 2024, and it substantiated 12 of them. Council later imposed more protective measures for staff, restricting Hamer-Jackson’s contact with city employees.

The complaints weren’t detailed in Harding’s report. While none of the employees were named, one who took medical leave to avoid Hamer-Jackson was likely former CAO David Trawin, whose resignation led to an expensive severance package, and the blame was pinned directly on Hamer-Jackson.

It’s not clear whether the city has paid any fines due to the WorkSafeBC investigations.

Harding decided against it, but he said Hamer-Jackson’s complaint could be investigated as frivolous and in breach of council’s code of conduct.

Because the mayor’s complaint about Bass was dismissed, there were no sanctions for council to consider.