Kamloops mayor again files police report, accuses councillor of hacking

Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson has once again called the police on one of his council colleagues.

Hamer-Jackson said he filed a police report on Jan. 18 accusing Coun. Kelly Hall of hacking into an Urban Mayors' Caucus meeting earlier that week.

Kamloops Mounties confirmed they are investigating a mischief to data report received the day of the mayor's complaint, but said they couldn't confirm the identities of anyone involved.

“The RCMP are investigating and we’ll see what happens,” Hamer-Jackson said.

But the incident appears to have been nothing more than a series of miscommunications between Hall and Hamer-Jackson.

Councillor coy with mayor

The saga started on the morning of Jan.14, when Hamer-Jackson was attending a mayors' caucus meeting virtually. The meeting was discussing business with Premier David Eby.

According to Hall, the city's deputy mayor for the month of January, council has been receiving emails from the Urban Mayors' Caucus since removing Hamer-Jackson as a city spokesperson last year.

Hall told Castanet Kamloops he received an email, via the mayor and council’s executive assistant, from the caucus regarding its directives to the province. He said he shared it with the rest of council to ensure the city is on the same page as the mayors' caucus.

Hall also informed the mayor he had a copy of a caucus report. He said he already sent it to councillors and told the mayor not to bother.

When Hamer-Jackson asked how he got the report, Hall pointed to his experience working in media and alluded to well-placed sources providing him information. He did not mention the email.

Hall confirmed he replied to the mayor in such a manner — that he had contacts, making it easy to obtain information and that what was more important was that the information was shared as it helps everyone advocate for Kamloops.

'He wouldn't tell me'

Hamer-Jackson said he continued to ask Hall how he received the information, but he would not answer him.

“I found out that hacking is against the law,” the mayor said. “That’s when I called the RCMP and thought let’s find out what’s going on here because he wouldn’t tell me.”

Hall said he eventually replied to the mayor days later in a text message that he didn’t do any hacking, but stopped short of explaining to Hamer-Jackson where the information came from.

“I would think that he would know that, being that he doesn’t speak for the City of Kamloops or for council,” Hall said. “At the end of the day, I think he knows that we have access to all the information.”

Hamer-Jackson denied any such knowledge.

Another police report

This was not the first time Hamer-Jackson called Mounties on one of his city council colleagues.

In October, he reported Coun. Bill Sarai for allegedly bugging the mayor's office at city hall.

In that case, Sarai refused to reveal the source of an audio recording of an argument he had with Hamer-Jackson. Sarai implied that the clip was provided to him, but later revealed it had been recorded on his phone.

Police said the investigation was closed with no charges recommended.

Sarai is now the subject of a code of conduct investigation for his part in the incident.

Castanet Kamloops asked Hamer-Jackson whether he thought he was making good use of police resources.

“Police resources? Are you kidding me?" the mayor replied. "What about the taxpayers’ resources? Police are going to find out. If he’s hacking into meetings, we need to know."