Bass Complains About Photos

Kamloops City Councillor Dale Bass hit the jackpot! In the ongoing feud between Council and Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson (Mayor), Bass claimed the Mayor breached the Code of Conduct (Code) Bylaw and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). 

The Mayor forwarded 2 emails containing 20 photos to the Kamloops & District Chamber of Commerce (Chamber). 7 of the photos included images of identifiable individuals.

In Complaint #2024-0019, investigator Reece Harding decided this was a breach of the Code and FIPPA. His 150 page report (including attachments) was delivered at a cost of $60,957.16.

Mayor’s Account

I reached out to the Mayor to get his version. He advised he had asked Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association (KCBIA) Executive Director Howie Reimer for pictures of crime and social disorder. The Mayor wanted pictures for a Mar 14, 2024 presentation at a Chamber event he would be speaking at. He had already arranged to get help from the Chamber to prepare a slideshow. He emphasized he had no intention to include photos identifying people. 

Reviewing Media

I reviewed several media articles related to this matter. Their content is consistent with the Mayor’s account.

Mar 15, 2025 by Kristen Holliday

He said he didn’t have an opportunity to go through all the photos, which were sent to the chamber, and later found out one of them showed a sexual incident that allegedly took place in a public area.

Mar 18, 2024 by Levi Landry

“I didn’t have a chance to edit them because councillor (Mike) O’Reilly took it upon himself, I guess, to enact himself as the mayor and call the chamber and tell them they couldn’t do this and they couldn’t do that,” Hamer-Jackson said.

Mar 20, 2025 by Kristen Holliday

“I forwarded them to the chamber — I didn’t even look at the photos at that time,” Hamer-Jackson told Castanet Kamloops, adding he was then told by a city councillor about a privacy breach.

Mar 28, 2025 by Kristen Holliday and Michael Potestio

Hamer-Jackson said he wasn’t actually going to show pictures of people struggling with mental health and addictions on the streets. “I was never going to show any sexual acts,” he said.

The Investigation

The investigation took more than 7 months for Harding to complete. In the end, he decided that the Mayor breached Code and FIPPA by sending the photos. 

Although it is a lengthy report, Harding makes it very clear that “the investigation was confined to the Photographs and their distribution”.

Harding’s Recommendation

In paragraph 103, Harding says:

I need to ensure that I take care to recommend a remedy that is proportionate to the breaches that I have found, not only because doing so is consistent with the purposes of the Code, but because of the Court’s warning to municipal councils generally

In paragraph 108, Harding says:

… it is also significant that the actual harm caused by the Mayor’s failure to comply with FIPPA was limited. … the extent of the privacy breach that resulted from the Mayor’s actions was minimal.

The resulting recommendation:

• Apology letters to the executive directors of the KCBIA and the Chamber
• Personalized mandatory training on FIPPA
• Public censure
• 5% pay cut for 1 year if training not completed

Why Not Participate?

Harding goes to great lengths documenting his attempts to get the Mayor to submit to an interview or provide a written response to the complaint. However, he also makes notes of the Mayor’s emailed responses:

• Mar 21, 2024 stating he would not have “displayed sexual activity or identifiable images”
• May 23, 2024 stating the Mayor didn’t direct that the Photographs contain “nudity, sexual acts, or identifying information of any of the individuals captured”
• Sep 27, 2024 stating he would never present a slideshow including identifying information of people engaged in sexual activity, addiction, or struggling with mental health issues

From a Dec 23, 2024 article by Paul James, the Mayor tells Radio NL:

“I wasn’t participating with Reece Harding cause all it was doing was costing me a lot of money in lawyers,” said Hamer-Jackson.  “I put a retainer down for a lawyer to deal with the Neustaeter defamation suit. Not to deal with 15, 20 Code of Conduct violations.”

Council’s Resolutions

It seems Council chose to ignore Harding’s cautions and to punish the Mayor beyond Harding’s recommendation on a 5% pay cut. Their resolutions:

• Apology letters (written by others) to the executive directors of the KCBIA and the Chamber
• Public censure
• Personalized mandatory training on FIPPA
• 10% pay cut for 1 year if apologies or training not completed

As the Mayor has not completed the apologies or training, Council has applied 10% pay cuts for both of these cases, resulting in an overall pay cut of 20%. I’m surprised the Council didn’t nail the Mayor with 10% cuts for each apology.

When it comes to the Public censure, written by Councillor Kelly Hall, I nearly choked on the first and last sentences:

City Council is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity, trust, and accountability expected of elected officials by the citizens of Kamloops.

We, as City Council, recognize the importance of maintaining trust and transparency with our constituents, and through this public censure, we affirm that any actions by a member of Council that undermine that trust will not be tolerated.

Throughout this Council’s term, integrity, trust, accountability, and transparency have been continuously questioned by the public. 

Why Not Comply?

What’s the big deal? Why didn’t the Mayor just sign the apologies and take the training?

Does it make sense to sign a letter of apology written by someone else? How sincere is that? Especially knowing that the person signing it must do so in order to avoid a penalty. That may not matter to Councillor Bill Sarai, but it does to the Mayor.

When it comes to the training, the Council has worded the requirement masterfully. The Mayor has to seek Council’s approval for the training he intends to take, or accept training from the city itself. For Game of Thrones fans, this is similar to bending a knee.

The Mayor did advise me that he has taken some additional FIPPA training on his own. On Jan 29, 2025, the Mayor completed a FOIPPA Foundations course from the Ministry of Citizen’s Services. Although this doesn’t meet Council’s demands, it is nice to see the Mayor making his own efforts to improve his understanding of FIPPA.

Mayor Owns His Mistake

iNFOnews.ca’s Levi Landry’s Dec 20, 2024 article describes a phone conversation with the Mayor.

He went on to say that he did not ask for photos of people and claimed it wasn’t what he wanted. Hamer-Jackson said the “focus was smashed windows and things like that, things that were happening in Kamloops to businesses.”

Hamer-Jackson said he “didn’t have time,” then said he “possibly should have sat down” to look them over first. “I made a mistake, I guess,” he said.

The Sex Act Photo

There was a lot of attention given to one of the photos alleged to be showing a sexual act. As per one of Levi Landry’s articles, iNFOnews.ca saw the photo, and offered a description of it:

It depicts a man facing the camera lens with his back against a wall. What appears to be a woman is in front, on her knees, with her back facing the camera. They appear to be in an alley and they are fully clothed. Some details of his clothing are visible, but it’s difficult to identify the man as the low quality of the photo blurs his face.

This doesn’t sound like a particularly disturbing picture. While it may have appeared to be a sex act, the description alone doesn’t convince me that it definitely was. It does make for great headlines though.

What disturbs me is how iNFOnews.ca saw the photo. Who had access to a copy of the photo, and who leaked it to the media? I assume they are guilty of the same breach, only there is no way one can consider it trivial. I wonder what an FOI request to the city for Council’s text and email records would reveal.

My Findings

1. As per Harding, the issue focused on the Mayor sending emails to the Chamber that contained images of identifiable individuals. 
2. As the Mayor is well known for his empathy and advocacy for the homeless population, I believe he had no intent to cause harm.
3. Unlike Harding, I believe “the breach was trivial or done inadvertently or because of an error in judgment made in good faith”, and as such, Harding should have recommended no sanctions.
4. I agree with Harding that the Mayor may not have a detailed understanding of FIPPA. Who does? I think a recommendation for additional training is warranted, regardless of Harding’s findings.
5. It appears Council chose to ignore the warning Harding described in paragraph 102: 

I am mindful of the words of the BC Supreme Court in Skakun v. Prince George (City), 2011 BCSC 1796: [44] I think it reasonable to think in certain cases council need to state the standard of expected conduct, but I note this: it is a power to be exercised with great care and great discretion. Far too easily, this could turn into an abuse of process for cheap political gain, and any council that sets out in this direction must be careful in what it is doing. 

Bottom Line

This was a long report and it turns out there is really very little to consider:

• Did the Mayor send photos containing identifiable individuals? Yes he did, and he never denied doing so.
• Was the breach trivial, done inadvertently, or because of an error in judgment made in good faith? Yes, I believe it was trivial and an error in judgement.
• There was another mysterious leak to the media. That concerns me more than the Mayor’s breach.

Of Further Note

To my knowledge, the KCBIA hasn’t reprimanded Reimer, considering he likely committed the same breach by sharing photos without knowing their intended usage. 

I have heard nothing to indicate that Reimer acted in bad faith. Perhaps the KCBIA has better judgement than Councillor Bass.

Other than acknowledging receipt of the emails in question, it appears the Chamber had no interest in participating in the investigation. Perhaps they also have better judgement than Councillor Bass.

Election 2026

Bass cost taxpayers $60,957.16 to prove her point. I hope she’s proud of herself. It must feel good to get a win after so many losses.

The next election is October 17, 2026. If you were considering voting for Dale Bass, please reconsider.