Investigation Concludes Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim Abused Influence and Harassed Coun. Sean Orr

An investigation into the actions of Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has found that he “misused the influence of his office” and harassed a councillor in violation of the city’s code of conduct.

The results of the investigation were detailed in a report released this week by Jamie Pytel of Kingsgate Legal, who was hired by the city to look into a complaint lodged by Coun. Sean Orr in October 2025.

The complaint filed by Orr condemned a press conference conducted by Sim at Vancouver City Hall in April 2025, along with a remark made by the mayor on social media later that year that depicted Orr as anti-Semitic.

Here’s a look at the findings of the investigator’s report, released publicly on May 14, and the recommendations it contains.

Press Conference Findings

Sim had criticized Orr during an April 8, 2025, press conference over a social media comment he made in 2021, before being elected to city council.

“As Mayor of the City of Vancouver, I do have a duty to ensure that as a city, we are not divided by rhetoric or hate and recently, multiple past incidents of social commentary by Councillor-Elect Sean Orr have come to light,” he said. “Many of these posts can be only viewed as incendiary or hateful by the Jewish community and other communities.”

Sim’s comments were made after Orr’s byelection win earlier that same month, but before he had been officially sworn into office on April 15, 2025.

The X post Sim was referencing said: “Everyone knows Vancouver City planners are controlled by a secret cabal of Jews who have a bunker in the earth’s core fml.” Orr has since said the X post referenced a joke from a comedian and was intended to be a sarcastic reaction to discussions regarding zoning and housing expenses.

The report finds that Sim’s criticism of Orr during the press conference was “more a personal calling out” of the councillor, rather than an attempt to defend the Jewish community from hate crimes.

There is sufficient information indicating Sim harassed Orr at the press conference by suggesting he was anti-Semitic or would incite violence or hatred, the report said.

“This created a hostile environment for him as a newly elected Councillor,” the investigator said. “This was without fairness as to the context and sarcastic nature of the Previous Orr Posts that were several years prior.”

Social Media Findings

Sim also posted on X a few months after the press conference to criticize Orr for taking part in an event in Vancouver that the mayor alleged was linked to a terrorist organization.

At the time, two Jewish organizations also filed a complaint with Vancouver’s integrity commissioner over concerns related to Orr’s participation in the “Flood Vancouver for Palestine” event Oct. 4, 2025, on the grounds of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Orr, in his complaint, said the rally he attended was “never represented as being affiliated with any designated terrorist organization.” He said the mayor “tweeted an account that falsely accused him of being aligned with terrorists and terrorism” and he accused Sim of amplifying this message. He also alleged the mayor’s actions were intended to defame and intimidate him, and were a continuation of the conduct at the press conference.

The social media post alleged Orr spoke at a Samidoun rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Samidoun, also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, is a global organization that was classified as a terrorist entity by Canada in October 2024 due to its connections with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Sim said he was “incredibly disappointed to see Councillor Sean Orr participating at a Samidoun-affiliated rally in Vancouver.”

“Samidoun is a terrorist organization,” the mayor said in his Oct. 25, 2025 X post. “Anti-semitism has NO place in Vancouver. Celebrating Hamas has NO place in Vancouver. I call on all local elected officials to condemn this behaviour.”

The report noted that Sim told the investigator the concerns he raised about Orr’s comments “were not his interpretations … but were the Jewish community’s interpretations.” Sim also clarified that his comments were a general call for elected officials to condemn anti-Semitism, not Orr himself.

The investigation sided with Orr, however. It found that Sim’s social media comments about Orr last year represented an ongoing pattern of harassment after the press conference, which also infringed upon the city’s code of conduct.

Recommendations

Pytel is recommending city council ask the mayor to issue a letter of apology to Orr. He said if an apology is not made within two weeks of the request that council should issue a letter of reprimand to Sim.

Other possible sanctions laid out in the report include a recommendation that Sim attend specific training or counselling, suspension or removal from some or all council-appointed committees, and public censure.

“The investigator thinks the grave nature and wide-ranging impact of making the comments at the Press Conference, which was attended by the media and widely reported, and the reach of the Social Media Post, are relevant to any sanction,” Pytel wrote.

Sim said in a media statement that he has seen the report and “respectfully” disagrees with the investigator’s conclusions.

“My comments were made against the backdrop of a wave of rising anti-Semitism and hate across Canada,” he said. “All elected officials have a responsibility to speak out when a segment of our city feels targeted and unsafe. I reject the claim that it was not my duty as mayor to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Jewish residents of Vancouver.”

Two Jewish groups also found fault with the report. The Jewish Federation of British Columbia and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (Pacific Region) released a joint statement on May 14 about the report, saying that Orr should be held accountable for his comments and actions.

Jewish Federation of British Columbia CEO Ezra Shanken said the report “shows an apparent double standard,” adding that the Jewish community continues to be “grateful to Mayor Ken Sim for raising our community’s concerns about Orr’s social media posts and conduct.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Pacific Region vice-president Nico Slobinsky also commented on the report, and seemed to reference another comment made by Orr on social media.

Orr made a comment on June 1, 2021, in reply to another user’s post that stated: “I desire the destruction of both Israel and Canada.” Orr responded: “Well…me too, son, me too.”

Orr told the investigator he was also being sarcastic in this response and had referenced a quote from the movie “American Beauty.”

But Slobinsky said Orr should not be let off the hook.

“Orr has yet to show accountability for past social media posts, including claiming that city planners were controlled by a ‘secret cabal of Jews,’ and calling for the ‘destruction of both Israel and Canada’,” he said. “While a City Councillor, Orr spoke at the ‘Flood for Palestine’ protest organized by Al-Awda, a group with links to Samidoun, which was designated as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code in October 2024.”

Slobinsky called on Orr to “take responsibility and retract his past statements, explain his actions, publicly apologize, and commit to learning about the harm he has created.”

The friction between Sim and Orr extends beyond the investigation and subsequent report. Orr launched a lawsuit against the mayor in March over Sim’s comments to Chinese-language reporters that the councillor had handed out drugs on Christmas Day.

Sim has apologized for those comments, saying he saw an unverified photo, and said in his legal defence that the false claim did not damage Orr’s reputation.