B.C. solicitor general says Opposition operative took mentally ill man from care home

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s Solicitor General is accusing the B.C. Conservative Party of involvement in removing a man from a mental-health facility against the wishes of his family as the Opposition party sought evidence of irregularities in the October provincial election.

Garry Begg says in a court filing that the man was found in a state of “psychosis” after being reported missing, and that the vehicle that took him away from Argyll Lodge care home in the riding of Surrey-Guildford in January was located by police outside the law office of the defeated Conservative candidate who is pursuing allegations of irregularities.

Begg’s filing, dated Tuesday and signed by his lawyer, says the man was admitted to a hospital emergency room under the Mental Health Act and he remains hospitalized in a secured unit.

The woman accused of acting on behalf of the Conservatives was identified in Begg’s filing as Jatinder Sodhi.

“He has lost his home and his independence as a result of the interference of Ms. Sodhi on behalf of the petitioner and the Conservative Party of B.C. in his care,” says Begg’s response, released by the NDP on Thursday.

The allegations are among duelling narratives presented by the B.C. government and the Opposition about Argyll Lodge, which is at the heart of Conservative allegations of voter irregularities in the election.

Begg’s legal filing is in response to a petition by Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa, who is asking the B.C. Supreme Court to invalidate Begg’s 22-vote election win in Surrey-Guildford that gave the NDP a one-seat majority.

Randhawa and the Conservatives have made a series of allegations of voting irregularities at Argyll Lodge, a community residential facility for adults with mental illness.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, cited an affidavit by the Green candidate in the riding, Manjeet Singh Sahota, which says that when he tried to campaign at the facility, a caregiver told him the residents do not vote.

The BC Green Party confirmed the existence of the affidavit, saying in a statement that the party will refrain from drawing conclusions until all evidence has been examined.

“Because of my conversation with the caregiver, I was left with an impression that no one votes from the lodge, so I believe I did not leave my campaign materials there either,” Sahota’s affidavit says, according to a news release from the Conservatives.

“A few days later I was canvassing in the same neighbourhood, and I did not revisit the house because earlier I was told that the people living at the lodge do not participate in voting.”

Conservative Leader John Rustad on Thursday renewed calls for a public inquiry about the alleged irregularities at Argyll Lodge as he described Sahota’s affidavit.

“We now know from the other affidavits that those members in that lodge voted, that they all voted by mail,” Rustad told reporters.

In January, Elections BC suspended its review of the Conservative complaint over potential violations after the party said it had evidence of 45 suspicious votes in Surrey-Guildford. Elections BC said the review was suspended until the courts had ruled on Randhawa’s petition.

Begg’s filing cites affidavits from lodge staff and a resident’s relative.

It says Sodhi was warned by RCMP to stay away from Argyll Lodge after she began visiting residents starting in November last year, giving them cash and accusing relatives of not caring for them.

The filing says the facility’s director and family members were concerned Sodhi was “a scam artist” trying to exploit two residents, unaware that she “was in fact assisting the Conservative Party of B.C. in gathering information for the petition,” the response says.

Begg’s response says in spite of the police warning Sodhi took two residents to open bank accounts and also took them to a lawyer to sign statements about the election that “they could neither read nor understand.”

The response says one resident was allegedly moved out of the facility by Sodhi despite his son’s request for a restraining order or peace bond against her.

It says the black truck that took the resident away was later located by police outside the Randhawa’s law office.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2025.

Marcy Nicholson, The Canadian Press