Vancouver mayor, Jewish leaders call for investigation into new councillor’s tweets - BC | Globalnews.ca (2025)

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, along with Jewish leaders in the city, held a press conference on Wednesday morning to address“recent developments of public concern.”

They denounced social media posts made several years ago by newly elected councillor Sean Orr.

“Many of these posts can be only viewed as incendiary or hateful by the Jewish community and other communities,” Sim said. “You know, seeing these hateful comments online, they’re extremely disheartening. They hit us to our core. They hit me to my core.”

In a 2021 tweet, Orr wrote, “Everyone knows Vancouver City planners are controlled by a secret cabal of Jews who have a bunker in the earth’s core fml.”

The Jewish community said comments like these are particularly troubling in light of what they say is a 70 per cent rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the city since the start of the recent Israel-Hamas conflict.

“Since October 7th, our children have had to walk past police guards and private security to feel safe going to school,” Ezra Shanken, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, said.

“Since October 7th, our community centres, I’ve had to have more and more security to ensure that people come together and embrace their Jewish heritage and culture.”

Speaking with Global News on Tuesday, Orr said the tweet is being taken out of context, and was a part of a larger thread where he replied to someone who had called Daily Hive co-founder Karm Sumal a “globalist shill.”

“Globalist shill is a dog whistle, an antisemitic dog whistle of that very nature, that there is some kind of elite that controls the world and it’s a Jewish elite. So I am actually criticizing antisemitism and pointing that out using sarcasm,” he said of the tweet.

Shanken said on Wednesday that they are not overreacting to the seriousness of the issue.

“Your callousness is unacceptable,” he said.

“Your behaviour and your comments are unacceptable to our community and would be unacceptable to any community. You have a responsibility to stand for all of us. We are relying upon you to create a safer Vancouver for all of us.”

Sim and the Jewish leaders called for a full and transparent investigation of these comments and a full apology from Orr and COPE.

Orr has not responded to any comments on Wednesday.