Vancouver councillor sues Mayor Ken Sim over ‘flippant and reckless’ drug accusation

VANCOUVER — Vancouver City Coun. Sean Orr is suing Mayor Ken Sim for defamation after he accused Orr of distributing illegal drugs, comments the councillor said were made for political gain.

The lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court says Sim acted “deliberately, maliciously and in bad faith” when he told Chinese-language reporters on Feb. 6 that Orr had handed out drugs on Christmas Day.

Orr said outside the court complex in Vancouver on Tuesday that Sim lied about him publicly and had “failed to provide any reasonable explanation.”

He said Sim’s behaviour was “flippant and reckless.”

“Ken’s lies spread across our city to this day, reaching potentially thousands of people who may not have heard his apology and who may not have even known he was lying,” Orr said.

“You’ve heard me say, who does this kind of thing? Did this happen out of incompetence or was it intentional? Neither of which are becoming of the mayor.”

Orr said he decided to sue because the issue was about democracy, accountability, and holding the position of mayor to a higher standard.

“And I’m willing to see it all the way through, no matter how long it takes,” said Orr.

He said Sim’s comments had caused serious harm to his reputation and damaged his ability to serve those who elected him.

Orr said when he walks through his neighbourhood and greets people in the community, he wonders what they see — the councillor they elected or the criminal “their mayor invented.”

“Because of Ken Sim’s words, people have lost trust in me through no fault of my own, forming a dark cloud over this election and in my life beyond,” said Orr.

Municipal elections will be held this October in B.C. and the lawsuit says Sim made the remark with the “ulterior motive” of furthering a perceived political benefit.

Orr, a socialist who was the top vote getter in a 2025 council byelection, said Sim was “going after the movement that elected me.”

“His goal isn’t to beat me, but to scare people into thinking people like us don’t belong in power,” Orr said.

Orr said the lawsuit aims to send a message to the mayor and his friends that “taking advantage of us, all of us, including the Chinese community,” will lead to consequences.

He said the mayor’s office had been provided with a copy of the lawsuit.

Sim’s office said he was aware of the litigation.

“As this matter is now before the courts, the mayor will not be commenting further,” it said.

Sim has said that he made his remarks after failing to verify the authenticity of a photo he was shown. The mayor’s spokesman said the image was shown to Sim by a member of the public.

He held a news conference on March 3 to repeat an apology to Orr that he said he made by phone.

“I didn’t verify what I thought I saw, and frankly I should never have repeated it to begin with,” Sim said.

Sim’s ABC Party colleague Coun. Lenny Zhou had previously issued a statement saying he “unequivocally apologized” for partially repeating the false claim in a video posted on the Chinese social media platform WeChat around Feb. 19.

The video was shared at least 1,700 times before Zhou took it down.

Sim praised Zhou for the apology at the time — but did not mention that it was he who started the rumour at the media roundtable at City Hall.

Orr said that to his knowledge, neither Zhou nor Sim have shared their apologies on WeChat.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2026.

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press