Skakun Appeal Dismissed
Prince George, B.C.- The BC Court of Appeal has delivered its decision in the case of Councillor Brian Skakun’s violation of the Freedom of Information Protection of Privacy Act.
The appeal argued that because Skaun was an elected Councillor, he was not an “officer” of the corporation (City) and therefore section 30.4 of the Act did not apply.
The panel of three Justices were unanimous in the decision to uphold the conviction saying the “The trial judge and summary conviction appeal judge correctly interpreted the term “officer” in s. 30.4 as including elected municipal councillors. Properly construed, the ordinary and grammatical meaning of “officer” in s. 30.4, based on its dictionary definition (both legal and non-legal), when read in the context of the broadly-stated purposes of the legislation (to provide access to information and privacy of personal information in the custody or control of public bodies) and the wide scope of its targeted public bodies and organizations, evinces a legislative intention to include elected municipal Councillors within the ambit of the provision..”
Councillor Skakun says he is disappointed, but glad this matter has been put to rest.
Skakun was convicted for releasing a confidential document about the conduct of some City employees. The document was passed to the CBC, which posted it on its website.
“It has been a long journey” says Skakun “It has been hard on me and my family, but overall, I think I did the right thing, but I did it the wrong way.”
Skakun says he will continue to press for transparency in government.
Comments
Civil suits next? Better keep his lawyer on retainer.
Exactly, ewitt. We’ll see what happens.
At the end of the day, the courts ruled correctly. Brian Skakun doesn’t get to decide whose rights he can override. This is hard to understand for those who idolize him, but facts are facts.
Please please let this fiasco be over. He has wasted so much of the courts time just to have his name in the media. Hopefully he has dealt with his low self esteem issues, or if he still has them he can continue to work on them privately.
It’s not self esteem issues. It’s a guy trying to come across to the voting public as a man of the people. Not there to follow the rules but to be the there for the little guy.
Brian Snowden! Or course he is in the wrong. Rolls eyes.
OK now to impose the sentence and start doing the time.
I wonder if he’ll step down from council now? See if he gets elected again in November?
He did not break any **law**. He broke some rules/regulations/bylaws, of the City and the BC Government act. At most he is subject to a nominal fine, which I believe he has already paid.
This is not even a misdemeanor. Nor does it carry any criminal connotations.
If people want to take him to court under civil law, this would be great, because then all the information surrounding this incident would come out in court. Might be a bit embarrassing to the City and to the RCMP, and to some others.
I would venture to say that we have heard the last on this issue.
He will likely be elected this fall. I would sooner vote for him than Stoltz. What Skakun did was naive at best, a stupid thing he did without thinking at worst. Stoltz knowingly failed to pay his taxes while chairing the finance committee, he is the one I would most like to see get the boot in November.
He broke the law. Be it a provincial statute or a municipal one, the Court of Appeal says he did.
This was not a “Criminal conviction.”
His lawyer should be ashamed for taking this
so far, I would be.
Having said that, I agree with what he did, there is way too much secrecy in this open, transparent City.
I would say that Stoltz made a few decisions in regards to his taxes, that will have a detrimental effect on his chances for re-election.
Not sure how he can get around this issue. Seems a rather strange thing for a Councilor to do.
Go Brian go.
Cheers
Stoltz will follow green and run away with their tail between their legs in the guise of wanting to go onto bigger and better things.
Good. The End.
Brian is the only one on council that is for the people in my mind….I am for Brian all the way!
Brian proved he can’t be trusted..
First he said he didn’t leak the documents then he said he might have, then he said he did. Then he spent over $40,000 to fight. $1200 dollar fine.. Shows he has no financial intelligence
IMO the reason he fought this as hard as he did was because of the potential of a civil suit if the guilty verdict stood. I think the city paid a substantial settlement in this matter and Skakun might be next. If it does proceed maybe his union will help with any judgement as I heard they did with the lawyer bill.
I heard the same thing about his union paying a large portion of his legal bill. I am sure that any union member in need of money for legal bills will get the same treatment as Brian did ( if it’s true) because since he is such a man of the people I know he wouldn’t want any special treatment especially when it comes to his union brothers and sisters.
Palopu: “If people want to take him to court under civil law, this would be great, because then all the information surrounding this incident would come out in court. Might be a bit embarrassing to the City and to the RCMP, and to some others.”
Most of the details are already known, thanks to Brian. Whether you want to agree or not, everyone is entitled to the same privacy rights, whether they work for the City or a private corporation.
Brian took it upon himself to declare that the rules of FOIPPA didn’t apply to him. He initially denied that he did it, until there was no doubt otherwise then he changed his tune. And some people want this guy as Mayor.
Brian can’t be trusted. He is an embarrassment.
Brian will top the polls in a landslide, as usual.
He probably will top the polls again! Too bad he wasn’t in charge during the last 30 months which have been something else to experience for the ordinary wage earning working person.
Comments for this article are closed.