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Langford violated councillor's son's neighbour's privacy in 2021, OIPC finds

Tensions rise again after new turn in saga that began with a family parking dispute nearly 5 years ago

Composite image of Szpak, Sahlstrom, and documents: Zoe Ducklow (2022)

The city breached privacy law by disseminating a resident's information in 2021, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC (OIPC) has concluded. 

The OIPC findings originally were shared by the complainant, Ed Court, with the Goldstream Gazette. Court was involved in a parking spot dispute with the son of Coun. Lillian Szpak, and alleged in his submissions that bylaw gave her his personal info and that she gave it to others in the city.

The finding cites “unauthorized disclosure within the public body” of Court's info to persons with "personal rather than work-based interest" in it. The city says it cooperated fully with the investigation and that the OIPC was satisfied with the city's measures, mainly including trainings on privacy, to prevent future breaches.

Some locals argue that this is not enough, and a small rally outside city hall last week called on Szpak to resign—amid broader tensions between council and its critics. Court has said Szpak should resign, and that he intends legal action against her and the city.

Controversy became public nearly 3 years ago

This unfolded during the previous council term, which ended at the fall 2022 election which ousted all of mayor and council except Szpak (who had often been at odds with the others). When the parking dispute, and Szpak's response to it, became public, it became another axis of conflict between Szpak and some other members of council—in particular Matt Sahlstrom, a friend of Court.

Szpak has also been the subject of a BC Ombudsperson investigation about the parking situation. It ultimately found in 2023 that she did not abuse her power as chair of the city's Protective Services committee by personally emailing an RCMP officer about her fear of the dispute's escalation.

The ombuds office did flag broader concerns with the prevention of conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict, and the city updated its Code of Conduct and other policies to address this.

When council voted on those changes in Sept. 2023, it was in a heated meeting in which a number of speakers criticized Szpak over the report and one charged the podium (leading to a 20-minute recess).

Such tensions—which have been particularly evident between current council and a handful of supporters and associates of the previous council—once again boiled over last week when council called RCMP to Monday's meeting for security and ended up banning one undisclosed person.

In 2020, Coun. Lillian Szpak’s son and daughter-in-law Michael and Tanya Sunshine, moved to a Langford cul-de-sac. Their house had no driveway, but according to Szpak, the previous owners had an agreement with a neighbour for a right of way. The neighbours no longer wanted that agreement, so the Sunshines applied for a permit to build a driveway, and while construction was underway, they parked on the street.

What ensued was a drawn-out parking- and bylaw-related conflict between neighbours about shoulder parking, the placement of boulders by Court and their removal by the city, and emergency vehicle access. Court has said that he needs the space to easily transport a son who has a disability; the spot was later designated for handyDART pickup, the the Times Colonist reports.

In May 2021, Szpak said she was afraid for her family, and she emailed Westshore RCMP Commander Todd Preston from her personal email to voice her concern.

Szpak was then chair of the city’s Protective Services Committee, which covers policing and bylaw—the two issues at stake in the conflict. Szpak resigned from that committee in 2022 at the direction of city staff when the BC Ombudsperson investigation was initiated after a formal complaint by Court.

In mid-2022 the Court family filed complaints to the Ombudsperson and OIPC. They also wrote a letter to mayor and council, dated June 12, accusing Szpak of harassment, of libel, and of making false accusations of violence and vandalism. They claimed that Szpak directed city services to them as well as RCMP, who Court said opened “the only flat tire file in the history of the RCMP” over a tire found deflated on Szpak's son's truck. [The RCMP have, of course, at points in Canadian history, investigated alleged tire vandalism including dozens of apparent slashings a month ago around Nanaimo].

Those concerns were also brought forward in council by Coun. Matt Sahlstrom, a friend of the Courts. He called on Szpak, through a motion, to explain why she had resigned from the protective services committee.

Szpak said it was a “bizarre performance” in that council had “never had a complaint letter from a resident brought forward in open meeting like this.”

That meeting devolved into shouting at points, with Szpak accusing Sahlstrom and then-mayor Stew Young of trying to discredit her in an election year and running “a monkey court” in which “you think you’re Perry Mason” (the fictional lawyer from 20th-century detective fiction and TV programs, as well as a 2020-23 reboot/prequel on HBO).

The dispute was redirected to a future in-camera meeting between the councillors and West Shore RCMP superintendent Todd Preston, who had written a letter flagging some of his potential conflict-of-interest concerns.

With files from Zoe Ducklow.

Story updated with additional information and links at 8am Jan. 21.