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The Record

The People Behind the Decisions, From the Public Record

This section documents, from the public record, the staff reports, administrative decisions, and enforcement actions behind the expansion of enforcement powers, and the officials who carried them out. Sources: council minutes, staff reports, budgets, court records, regulatory filings, and freedom-of-information releases.

The record in four lines

  1. In 2022 Council directed staff to report on regular performance reviews of the CAO. He has never been reviewed.
  2. Bylaw enforcement cost $863,600 in 2021 and $1,598,600 in 2025, up 85 per cent. Residents rate it lower.
  3. Council put notices on twenty residents' titles from 2020 to 2025. Three owners asked for relief. All three were refused.
  4. The BC Supreme Court found the building official's evidence "conclusory and without an evidentiary foundation" (Saanich v. Kinney, 2025 BCSC 1132, para. 62).
Full record: the officials and their roles
BR

Brent Reems

Chief Administrative Officer

Director of Building, Bylaw, Licensing & Legal Services 2017 to 2021; acting CAO from 6 December 2021; five-year term from January 2023. The enforcement model is his.

  • Wrote the 2018 policy that dropped the safeguards he had recommended
  • Wrote Report 1970-20; had told council in 2019 that tickets would not pay for officers
  • Told council Bylaw 9694 made "no consequential changes"
  • Enforcement cost $644,700 in 2020, $1,598,600 in 2025
  • Council ordered his performance review in 2022; none has appeared
AB

Angila Bains

Director of Legislative & Protective Services / Corporate Officer

Holds the statutory office of Corporate Officer. Approved Report 161050 recommending the Section 57 notice. Made a June 23, 2025 statement to Council that the Section 57 notice addresses contraventions said to "impact life and safety" on the property; that statement is at issue in VLC-S-S-262461. The allegations are unproven and before the court.

  • Approved Report 161050 recommending Section 57 notice
  • Authorized service by registered mail only, ignoring known legal counsel
  • Remained silent at Council (Nov 20, 2023) about returned mail
  • June 23, 2025 statement to Council that the notice addresses contraventions said to "impact life and safety"
  • Subject of civil claim: misfeasance, negligence, defamation
DR

Doug Roberts

Manager of Legislative Services (Retired April 2025)

Former Manager of Legislative Services; retired from the District in April 2025. Named as a personal defendant in VLC-S-S-262461. The allegations are unproven and are before the court.

  • Current status: retired from the District of Saanich in April 2025; subsequently took a role with the Town of View Royal
  • Former Manager of Legislative Services (to April 2025)
  • Involved in the development of the enforcement-expansion model now under public scrutiny
  • Named defendant; allegations unproven and before the court
RT

Roy Thomassen

Manager of Inspection Services / Chief Building Official, RBO, ACBOA

Prepared 12 of the 16 Section 57 reports in the table on The Issue. Before Saanich he was Director of Building and Planning for the District of Oak Bay, from 2008 to 2017 (Oak Bay council minutes), the only official named on Section 57 items in two municipalities. Subject of a formal BOABC professional-conduct complaint (December 2025, BOA-025-2025) alleging that unqualified Bylaw Enforcement Officers were permitted to make Building Code determinations contrary to Building Act s.10(2). The complaint file was closed June 11, 2026; the delegation allegation was referred to the BOABC Registrar as file BA-026-2026 (Building Act ss.10(2) and 10(3)) and is now under investigation by the Registrar. Presented to Council on July 14, 2025 the inspection methodology later rejected by the BC Supreme Court in Saanich v. Kinney, 2025 BCSC 1132.

  • Prepared 12 of the 16 Section 57 reports in the table on The Issue
  • Methodology rejected by BC Supreme Court in Saanich v. Kinney, 2025 BCSC 1132
  • Presented rejected methodology to Council July 14, 2025 without disclosure
  • Allowed unqualified BEOs to make Building Code decisions
  • BOABC complaint BOA-025-2025 closed June 11, 2026; delegation allegation now under investigation by the Registrar as BA-026-2026
DRi

Dean Ridley

Senior Manager of Bylaw and Licensing (Left Saanich April 2025)

Former Senior Manager of Bylaw and Licensing; no longer employed by the District of Saanich as of April 2025. Named as a personal defendant in VLC-S-S-262461. The allegations are unproven and are before the court.

  • Current status: departed the District of Saanich in April 2025; per his LinkedIn profile, now works in enforcement with the BC Ministry of Forests
  • Former Senior Manager of Bylaw and Licensing (to April 2025)
  • Coordinated between the Bylaw and Building departments
  • Named defendant; allegations unproven and before the court
GN

Greg Nelson

Bylaw Enforcement Officer (Currently on Authorized Leave)

Bylaw Enforcement Officer who participated in the July 2023 enforcement action at the property. The exercise of building official functions by uncertified personnel is at issue in Building Act file BA-026-2026, now under investigation by the BOABC Registrar (ss.10(2) and 10(3)); no findings have been made. Named as a personal defendant in VLC-S-S-262461. The allegations are unproven and are before the court.

  • Bylaw Enforcement Officer involved in the July 2023 enforcement action
  • No BOABC Building Act s.10 certification
  • Under investigation in Building Act file BA-026-2026 (BOABC Registrar); no findings made
  • Named defendant; allegations unproven and before the court
RC

Robert Carrie

Bylaw Enforcement Officer (Left Saanich)

Former Saanich Bylaw Enforcement Officer involved in the 2022–2023 investigation at the property. The exercise of building official functions by uncertified personnel is at issue, alongside Greg Nelson, in Building Act file BA-026-2026, now under investigation by the BOABC Registrar (ss.10(2) and 10(3)); no findings have been made.

  • Former Bylaw Enforcement Officer; involved in the 2022–2023 investigation
  • Under investigation in Building Act file BA-026-2026 (BOABC Registrar); no findings made

What Residents Can Do

Read the source documents, attend council meetings, use the freedom-of-information process, and write to Council about independent oversight of how enforcement powers are used.

The Archive

Every Council Meeting, Searchable in Seconds

Saanich publishes its own record. It just does not make it findable. So we did.

1.2 million
timestamped moments of recorded speech
12.2 million
spoken words, searchable in under a second
495
council meetings transcribed, Sept 2017 to July 2026
6,699
staff reports and agenda attachments, 111,200 pages
698
agendas and minutes, 7,087 pages

That is 1,380 hours of recorded speech, fifty-seven days of continuous video, with every second stamped to the meeting and the moment it came from. Type in a phrase, and seconds later you can see who said it, when they said it, and what item was in front of Council at the time.

All of it is the District's own material, already published at saanich.ca and in the council video archive. We did not create any of it and we do not own it. What we did was make it findable, because searching the District's own site for something said out loud in a meeting four years ago is close to impossible.

The search box is not on this website yet. Until it is, just ask us. Name a topic, a date, an address, a councillor or a phrase, and we will send you back what the record says and the document it came from. It is free, there is nothing to sign up for, and it works just as well for trees, parking, taxes, housing or a rezoning nobody can remember the reasons for.

It also works against us. If we have got something wrong anywhere on this site, the same index will show you that in about ten seconds, and we would rather you found it than took our word for it.

Ask us to look something up

Meeting and speech counts read from the archive on 25 September 2026; document counts from the index build of 4 August 2026. Document coverage runs from January 2016; recorded speech coverage begins 11 September 2017, the earliest meeting in the District's published video archive.

Documents

Evidence & Resources

Informed citizens make better decisions. Explore the documentation.

v9.9 · 12 Oct 2026