Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim insists he has apologized after it was revealed Thursday that he was the source of a false allegation against Coun. Sean Orr.<\/p>\n
The controversy began earlier this week, after a video circulated showing Coun. Lenny Zhou, making accusations that \u201csome non-ABC councillors are drug users themselves.\u201d He added, \u201cOn Christmas Eve, they openly distributed drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zhou apologized for the comments, and Sim was quick to forgive, adding that Zhou had taken \u201cresponsibility for sharing information that was not accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
But another video revealed that Sim himself had been the source of that information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a councillor, Sean Orr. Just this Christmas, he was handing out illegal drugs on Christmas Day to people on the streets,\u201d said Sim \u2014 who was sitting directly next to Coun. Zhou \u2014 at a briefing in front of Chinese-language media on Feb. 6.<\/p>\n
When asked about the revelation Friday, Sim was single-minded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke with Coun. Orr yesterday and I apologized for my comments,\u201d Sim told reporters.<\/p>\n
When asked about the potential evidence he had for the accusation, Sim repeated himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called Sean or Coun. Orr yesterday, and I did apologize for my comments.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if he felt he acted irresponsibly as a leader, Sim repeated himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called Sean Orr, or Coun. Orr, and I apologized for my comments.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if he would continue to repeat the same statement on the topic, Sim repeated himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly believe that \u2014 I apologize. Look, I called Coun. Orr, and I apologized for my comments.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter how certainly the apology by phone took place, Orr says he\u2019s not ready to accept.<\/p>\n
He says he respects the mayor for making the call, but says the accusation has become a distraction from his work, among other negative effects of disinformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes it difficult for all of us to do our jobs. For all of council. I think Vancouver wants to see a council that is pragmatic, that works together on issues. I don\u2019t think they like to see this kind of polarization. I\u2019ve been willing to work with the ABC [Party] on a number of different things\u2026 And this makes it hard to do,\u201d Orr told 1130 NewsRadio.<\/p>\n
Orr says the claims amount to \u201ccharacter assassination\u201d and outright lies in the mode of American far-right politicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes Vancouver look bad on the world stage. We need a leader \u2014 a mayor \u2014 who brings people together,\u201d said Orr.<\/p>\n
He also expressed his dismay on behalf of the Chinese community, upon whose \u201clegitimate anxieties\u201d he says Sim and Zhou preyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really hope at some point the mayor and Coun. Zhou go to the very same media that they told the lies\u2026 and walk it back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, Orr says the allegations detract from the possibility of a more nuanced conversation about drug use and harm reduction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge distraction from what we really need to be focusing on, and that\u2019s supporting vulnerable communities. And not attacking them, and not weaponizing fear to target them,\u201d said Orr.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis just furthers the kind of stigma that people are facing. Lying about this subject ultimately leads to people dying, leads to people feeling shame and using alone and things like that. And that\u2019s why we\u2019re in this position, where 400 people are dying a year. And that\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
An apology, Orr says, is the \u201cbare minimum\u201d Sim can do to repair the damage. But he says City Hall\u2019s integrity commissioner has limited power to enforce accountability, and he doubts the governing party will sanction its own members.<\/p>\n
When asked about pursuing legal action, Orr said, \u201cI\u2019m considering all my options.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if he had done enough to account for his actions, Sim repeated himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI apologized.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014With files from Ben Bouguerra and Joe Sadowski<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim insists he has apologized after it was revealed Thursday that he was the source…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-503997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}