File Photos (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Kamloops Council

Kamloops mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson suing councillor for defamation

Jun 15, 2023 | 10:02 AM

KAMLOOPS — The mayor of Kamloops is suing one of his councillors for defamation.

In a Notice of Civil Claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court Monday (June 12), Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson accuses Councillor Katie Neustaeter of making false statements about his conduct and regarding his interactions with her father, former Kamloops MLA Kevin Krueger.

The mayor says Krueger reached out to him repeatedly during the municipal election campaign and in subsequent weeks to offer him support and guidance. Hamer-Jackson says he only learned Krueger was Neustaeter’s father in January 2023.

After those interactions, Hamer-Jackson alleges Neustaeter made false statements about him in several emails sent to him and the rest of Kamloops council. The emails contained an instruction that Hamer-Jackson “never harass, meet with, attempt to meet with, or otherwise involve a member of [Neustaeter’s] family in your dealings again. This includes disclosing confidential information, slandering staff, and violating personal boundaries in the attempt to justify doing so.”

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He goes on to say Neustaeter repeated false allegations about his conduct in a statement made to the media in council chambers on March 17. The statement was made ostensibly to respond the Hamer-Jackson’s proposed changes to City of Kamloops standing committees. During the address to the media, Neustaeter, speaking with all seven of the other councillors standing behind her, accused the mayor of repeatedly “violating personal and professional boundaries.”

Hamer-Jackson says the allegations made in the emails and the March 17 statement to the media were false and defamatory, and have resulted in members of the public inferring or concluding that he “physically or sexually harrassed, abused or assaulted [Neustaeter] and/or others.”

The mayor says Neustaeter’s statements about him were libellous and slanderous, and that her “conduct is reprehensible and deserving of the rebuke of the Court in the form of punitive damages.”

Hamer-Jackson is seeking unspecified general damages, aggravated and punitive damages, and costs.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

UPDATE: When contacted by CFJC Today, Councillor Katie Neustaeter said she could not comment on the suit.

READ the Notice of Civil Claim: