Vancouver Mayor Sim sends apology to Chinese media over drug slur of his opponent

VANCOUVER — Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is filling the gaps left in his apologies to colleague Coun. Sean Orr, who he falsely accused of distributing illegal drugs after being shown a photo that he didn’t verify.

The mayor’s office said Sim’s apology has been sent out to Chinese-language media, the same group who heard the original false claim during a media roundtable on Feb. 6.

Sim told a news conference at city hall on Tuesday that he “unreservedly apologized” for his mistake, and the source of his false claim was a photo he was shown.

The mayor said he didn’t verify what he saw, and if photos like it come up, a higher standard must be met before making comments.

The Chinese statement, shared by the mayor’s office on Wednesday, repeated Sim’s remarks from Tuesday — but the apology still hasn’t been posted on the Chinese social media site WeChat.

That’s where Coun. Lenny Zhou, a member of Sim’s ABC majority on council, partly repeated Sim’s false statement, saying non-ABC councillors are drug users.

Zhou later said he “unequivocally apologized” and retracted his video, which had been shared 1,700 times and got 596 “likes.”

Orr said Tuesday that he hadn’t seen the photo in question, but it was “incompetent” of Sim not to fact-check before going to the media.

At an unrelated media event on Wednesday, Sim faced different questions, including how he planned to earn the trust of Vancouverites and whether he would consider resigning, but he brushed them off with the same answer.

“I saw an image. I made a comment. It was a mistake,” repeated Sim.

Asked if he was worried about facing a lawsuit over his statement, Sim said he owned up to his mistake by apologizing last week, on Tuesday and on Wednesday.

Sim said his announcement about transforming the city’s Granville Street into a pedestrian zone this summer as Vancouver hosts some FIFA World Cup matches was “kind of getting lost here.”

A bystander who watched Sim’s interactions with the media shouted from the crowd, “Answer the question.”

“I made the comments out there, and I am apologizing for that mistake,” the mayor said.

Zhou was at the announcement with Sim and said the mayor has not only made an official apology but also sent out a statement in Chinese, and he supports Sim.

“I think when people make a mistake, that’s a classic way to make an official apology,” said Zhou.

Coun. Peter Fry, who isn’t a member of the ABC majority on council, said Wednesday that neither he nor Coun. Lucy Malone received “actual direct apologies” from Zhou, who alleged they were drug dealers.

“It’s unfortunate that the mayor showing up here is distracting from what is actually a positive, good news story about our city and something that we want to highlight,” said Fry.

Mike Tan, who spent more than ten years volunteering at Vancouver’s Chau Luen Society to help Chinese-speaking seniors, said it won’t be a complete apology until a retraction is filmed in Mandarin and posted on Zhou’s WeChat account and other Chinese social media platforms.

Tan said in an interview on Wednesday that it’s hard for a written apology to reach anyone in this digital age, and that’s why some feel the damage has been done and the apologies haven’t been enough.

Tan said he was calling for other ABC councillors to condemn the spreading of false information, but he hadn’t yet heard from any them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 4, 2026.

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press