This story has been updated.
The North Vancouver residents seeking to have District of North Vancouver Couns. Betty Forbes and Lisa Muri removed from office over conflict of interest allegations in the so-called “Pigeongate” affair have dropped their case.
The petition was filed in late 2019 after it came to light that Forbes lobbied Muri via email to bring a motion banning pet pigeons, despite declaring herself in conflict on the matter and recusing herself from the vote. Her neighbour, Kulwant Dulay, was the only known pigeon keeper in the district and she had filed many complaints with the district about his backyard flock over the years prior to being elected to council.
The matter was due before a judge on Friday but, Peter Roberts, the lawyer for the petitioners, confirmed “the two petitions were formally discontinued earlier this week.”
Wayne Messenger, a Lynn Valley resident who launched the petition, said he decided to halt the action before trial because district council repealed the pigeon ban bylaw last year, and because council commissioned former information and privacy commissioner David Loukidelis to produce an independent review of the matter, which resulted in recommendations to prevent similar flaps in the future.
“We just realized that we've got what we basically wanted before the court appearance, so we don't have the benefit of a judge saying we were right or wrong,” Messenger said. “We believed it was a conflict of interest, and that's the approach we took, but what we really wanted to see was that you can't just pass regulations and bylaws in that manner.”
Forbes and Muri both sought to have the petition thrown out, arguing it was full of statutory flaws and that they had done nothing wrong. Muri pointed out that she had no pecuniary or monetary interest in the vote and therefor was not in conflict.
Forbes also denied attempting to influence council and added “any impermissible actions were inadvertent or because of an error in judgment made in good faith.”
Forbes did not respond to a request for comment but her Forbes’ lawyer Robert Grant welcomed the decision.
“She's obviously delighted to have this over. This has been hanging over her head down for more than a year,” he said.
Forbes did the right thing by recusing herself from the votes and debates on the pigeon ban bylaw, Grant said, but it never should have escalated to conflict of interest allegations and a court petition, he added.
“The idea that a circumstance like that could ever justify disqualifying someone from public office after they've been elected is a complete mischaracterization of the purpose of that legislation,” he said. “It was intended to deal with people who were in conflicts where they were, they were voting on bylaws that would enrich them financially, not people who might have had a private as well as a public interest in the wellbeing of every resident of the district by not having pigeons right next to them.”
Muri did not respond to a request for comment, however her lawyer Greg McDade said the case against his client had “zero chance of success.”
“They have no evidence and no case so, I think they just accepted the inevitable,” he said.
McDade said Muri is having mixed emotions about the matter being closed after what she felt was a very unfair process.
“She's relieved that it's done but she's unhappy no judge was able to look at this and express how nonsensical the thing was completely,” he said. “She feels vindicated. She's also angry that this kind of thing could happen in the first place – that somebody can bring a case like this with absolutely zero merit and harass an elected official. And then it takes a year to clear her name.”
Muri will be “back to business,” McDade added.
“Lisa has served this community for many, many years,” he said.
District council, meanwhile, is now in the process of considering a new pigeon bylaw.
