Victoria Coun. Susan Kim won't face any penalties under council's code of conduct in relation to signing a letter and liking a social media post concerning the Israel-Hamas war.
An independent investigation found Kim breached one section of the code because she failed to be clear that her communications were her own views, but it recommended that no sanctions be imposed after ruling the breach was inadvertent.
Council voted 7-1 to accept the investigation's recommendations, with Kim recusing herself. The complaint came from a resident, but was officially submitted by Mayor Marianne Alto as only council members can spur the investigative process. The mayor called the investigation thorough and fair.
The complaint took several issues with the letter, which was addressed to members of Parliament and was titled "Stand with Palestine: Call on Political Leaders to End Their Complicity in Genocide!" The complainant claims the letter was offensive for various reasons, such as it doubting Hamas committed acts of sexual violence on Oct. 7.
The resident also contended that Kim contravened the bylaw by liking a social media post published on the day of the Oct. 7 attack.
“The Palestinian people are waging a war for liberation – nothing else,” the post stated. “Power to every Palestinian fighting for their freedom, and glory to every martyr who dies fighting. For every martyr that falls, a new one will rise."
Kim admitted she signed the letter as "Susan Kim, City Councillor" and liked the post from her public X (formerly Twitter) account, but said she didn't notice the date it was published when she liked it in November.
The investigation, conducted by Vancouver lawyer Marisa Cruickshank, outlined how Kim believed she signed the letter and liked the post in her personal life. The investigator ruled that steps taken by Kim – such as apologizing to her constituents – supported the conclusion that the elected official didn't intend for her communications to be linked to her councillor role.
"I think the proper characterization of Councillor Kim’s breach is that it was inadvertent. I do not think she was aware that her communications would fall within the scope of the (code of conduct) Bylaw," Cruickshank wrote.
The investigator also could not conclude that Kim signing the letter was done with the intent of discriminating against anyone on the basis of their Jewish identity, as the complaint alleged.
Coun. Stephen Hammond said he accepted the report and voted in favour of its recommendations. But he added that Kim "knew full well" she was endorsing the letter as a councillor, which he said brought negative attention on the city. He pushed for an amendment that sought to have Kim write a letter apologizing to the citizens of Victoria, but councillors voted against the move.
Hammond noted he accepted the second of two public apologies Kim made last year.
This was the first code of conduct issue dealt with by council, which adopted the code. Councillors voted to receive training on the code of conduct as Cruickshank said all members would benefit from that.
