North Cowichan is within its rights to not publicly release details of a standards-of-conduct complaint against former councillor Joyce Behnsen, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has ruled.

In a report, the Office found that the municipality could withhold the information based on two reasons: solicitor-client privilege and disclosure of information presumed to be an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy.

Behnsen was serving as a councillor in 2017 when disciplined by council.

Then-Mayor Jon Lefebure said in a statement that the investigation followed complaints from an employee who claimed to have been bullied and harassed by Behnsen.

Details of the investigation were never made public. Behnsen declined to comment.

https://bit.ly/3LFk5rV

Behnsen was defeated in a bid for the mayor’s seat in 2018, and again for council in 2022.

Further reading on the topic: https://bit.ly/3JrwZJc

Subscribe free to sixmountains.ca. More than 28,000 unique visitors.

— Larry Pynn, Mar. 17, 2023