Surrey councillors concerned city might foot the bill for Mayor McCallum's public mischief charge

Residents and councillors in Surrey, B.C., are expressing concern that their municipal government might be on the hook for Mayor Doug McCallum's legal costs during upcoming legal proceedings.

McCallum has been charged with one count of public mischief related to a police complaint he made in September, claiming that his foot had been run over in a grocery store parking lot in the south of the city.

The incident occurred during an altercation with members of Keep the RCMP in Surrey, a group that was collecting signatures for a petition asking the province to hold a referendum on the police force transition. 

A B.C. Prosecution Service (BCPS) spokesperson said special prosecutor Richard Fowler had approved the charge of public mischief, which relates to making false statements with the intention of misleading police officers.

According to Surrey's municipal bylaws, public officials charged with an offence can have their legal costs covered if they were on official business at the time. The official term for securing against legal liability is "indemnification."

Surrey City Councillor Linda Annis said she had tried to find out if the city would end up covering McCallum's defence, but she had not heard back yet, something she says is "troubling."

"Normally I get return calls very, very quickly, as I should as a city councillor, but this has gone totally silent," she said. "I can only suspect that it's not news that I'm wanting to hear."

McCallum has hired high-profile defence lawyer Richard Peck to represent him during his upcoming proceedings. Peck was lead counsel for Ajaib Singh Bagri, who was acquitted in the Air India bombings. He was also on Meng Wanzhou's defence team.

Fellow councillor Brenda Locke, who is running against McCallum for Surrey mayor next year, said the city had told her taxpayers would be covering the mayor's defence, but she did not know whether it would be fully covered.

"I just do not see any reason why the City of Surrey would be paying the legal fees in this case," she said.

"It's shocking that a mayor would have a charge of public mischief when you think about it. It's actually quite devastating to our city."

Kyla Lee, a lawyer with Acumen Law, said she was surprised to hear that taxpayers might be paying McCallum's legal bill.

According to Lee, Surrey's bylaws also state that the city would only pay for strict or absolute liability offences, not public mischief.

Along with the stipulation that the city would only pay when officials were on public duty, she said it was "unlikely" that McCallum's defence would be paid for.

"It's unfortunate to me that the city should have to foot the bill for something like this," she said.

Bill Tieleman, a spokesperson for the Surrey Police Vote advocacy group, said under no circumstances can the mayor argue he was on official mayoral business at the time of the altercation.

"There's no way that the city taxpayers of Surrey should be indemnifying the mayor for one of the highest-priced defence lawyers he can find in Vancouver," he said.

Tensions have been high between McCallum and those opposing his plan to replace the Surrey RCMP with an independent force called the Surrey Police Service.

Tieleman added that the latest charges are an "embarrassment" to the city and the mayor must at minimum resign as police board chair, and also recuse himself from any future votes on policing at city council.

When asked whether taxpayers would be covering McCallum's legal fees, a spokesperson for the mayor did not provide a definitive answer, instead linking to the bylaws around indemnification.

McCallum is scheduled to appear in Surrey Provincial Court on Jan. 25.