{"id":715080,"date":"2026-06-04T18:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715080\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T18:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:47:14","slug":"b-c-mla-jordan-kealy-charged-with-sexual-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715080\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. MLA Jordan Kealy charged with sexual assault"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

B.C. independent MLA Jordan Kealy.Supplied<\/p>\n

Jordan Kealy, an Independent MLA in B.C., has been charged with sexual assault for offences that allegedly occurred months before he was elected in October 2024. <\/p>\n

The former Conservative MLA appeared to be on the cusp of returning to the BC Conservative caucus before Thursday\u2019s announcement that a special prosecutor had approved a single charge of sexual assault. The offences allegedly took place between Jan. 1 and Sept. 20, 2024, in Fort St. John, B.C. <\/p>\n

The independent prosecutor was appointed in February to make a determination about potential charges, based on an investigation conducted by the North District \u2013 Prince George RCMP into allegations against Mr. Kealy. The appointment was not made public until Thursday.<\/p>\n

When dealing with cases involving elected public officials, the BC Prosecution Service will bring in outside counsel in an effort to avoid any potential for real or perceived improper influence in the administration of justice.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Mr. Kealy said he will stay in office and fight the charge. \u201cI am innocent of the accusation against me and will prove that in court. In the meantime, it will be business as usual, advocating for my constituents and region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Kealy, a beef farmer and the MLA for Peace River North, left the Conservative caucus in March 2025 after another MLA, Dallas Brodie, was dumped from the party for making controversial remarks about residential schools.<\/p>\n

But on Saturday, Mr. Kealy attended the Conservative leadership convention and welcomed the election of Kerry-Lynne Findlay as the party\u2019s new leader. <\/p>\n

Ms. Findlay said on Saturday that she is in talks with some Independent MLAs about returning to caucus. Mr. Kealy later confirmed he expected to speak to Ms. Findlay about his possible return.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kealy is the second sitting B.C. legislator facing criminal charges.<\/p>\n

Hon Chan, the MLA for Richmond Centre, was charged in March with assault, assault by choking and uttering threats in a case of alleged intimate partner violence. The charges prompted his removal from the Conservative caucus.<\/p>\n

Mr. Chan said he \u201cdisagreed with the allegation\u201d and has rejected calls for his resignation.<\/p>\n

With a report from The Canadian Press <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: B.C. independent MLA Jordan Kealy.Supplied Jordan Kealy, an Independent MLA in B.C., has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-715080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715080","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=715080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}