Court application latest development in civil case involving sexual assault allegations against Revelstoke City Councillor

When the news emerged on Jan. 18, many in Revelstoke were shocked to hear that popular city councillor Cody Younker was named as a defendant in a civil case alleging he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old high school student while volunteering with an outdoors program at a Langley high school in 2014.

Many Revelstoke residents know Younker as a young council member always quick to respond to social media questions and debates online. Cody Younker squeaked onto council in sixth place in the 2018 election, but buoyed by his high profile engagement on civic issues on social media, he has gained a loyal following. A grocery store manager, he has lots of contact with residents, who talk with him about his concerns. Cody’s been vocal on a number of issues, taken some oppositional stances, and has rocked the boat on council.

Revelstoke residents recognized the news the for the serious topic it was, expressing disbelief and lashing out at the news, while others said the civil claim was a legal fact and public document, the first step in a longer judicial process: that the news was unavoidable.

Days later, a brief statement from the City of Revelstoke said Younker was on a leave of absence from council.

Breaking news

Keith Fraser, a court reporter the Vancouver Sun, was first to break the news, publishing an online story at about 5 p.m. on Jan. 18, and also touching off a tense controversy in a small town hundreds of kilometres away.

After seeing the Vancouver Sun story revelstokemountaineer.com contacted Younker, who said he couldn’t comment. By then, the news was out and he had switched off his social media accounts. Since then, there hasn’t been any public statements from Younker or his legal representatives.

Over the intervening weeks, we reached out to some of the parties involved for more background.

The plaintiff’s lawyer

Sandra Kovacs is the lawyer for the complainant, who is now 22 years old. Kovacs explained she sends out media releases from time to time to a group of court reporters in the Lower Mainland, including Fraser. Kovacs told me the releases were mostly to give reporters a heads up so they don’t feel blindsided. Along with a scanned PDF of the notice of civil claim document, she emailed out a statement from the plaintiff, who tells her story detailing abuse and the aftermath. Those two documents form the core of most media stories filed on the lawsuit, including by the Revelstoke Review, Global BC, CBC, and spot on the Okanagan Global TV News.

The plaintiff, who Kovacs said wishes to remain anonymous, said that she met Younker when she was 15 and participating in the Harrison Hike Experience, a hiking and camping field trip organized by the Langley School District.

“During the hike, Mr. Younker encouraged me to open up to him about my depression and thoughts of suicide. He made me feel safe and I thought he cared about my wellbeing,” she alleged in the statement. “He started to invite me to spend time with him outside of school. He began helping me with my homework and he acted as a mentor. What I know now is that he was grooming me.”

The woman who is not named, Jane Doe, alleges that this escalated into touching, massages, and eventually to an invitation to his home.  She alleges that Younker sexually assaulted her there, then again at a later date. She said she told a friend about the alleged incidents and that led her to reporting them to her high school.

Doe goes on to describe being “petrified and embarrassed” reporting the incident in detail to police.

“Most people can fondly reminisce about their memories of high school. For me, it is traumatic to think back to high school. Every high school memory I have is remembered as something leading up to the assaults or clouded by the aftereffects of them,” Doe alleges in the statement. “The traumatic impact has not subsided; not one day has gone by where I haven’t been triggered to think about the events that occurred.”

Kovacs said the plaintiff is seeking accountability and change through the civil lawsuit, which also names the Langley School District and a school counselor as co-defendants.

No statement from defence team

Revelstokemountaineer.com reached out to Younker’s legal representative, Claire Hunter, QC, by email and telephone, but we didn’t receive a response.

The defence files publication ban application

The defence lawyer Claire Hunter, QC, has applied for an interim publication ban that would cover “any information which would tend to identify the defendant applicant or his family members until trial or further order of the court.” The hearing is set to take place later today, Feb. 9.

Leave of absence from council

Following a previously scheduled city council meeting on Jan. 19, the city issued a statement saying that Younker had requested a leave of absence from council without pay. It also said under the rules, a councillor can miss up to 60 days before rules kick in that could lead to a councillor’s removal.

To our knowledge, it is the only statement that has been made from the city, the mayor, or any councillors. There may have been a brief statement at a city meeting, but we’re not aware of it.

BC Liberals confirm that Younker resigned from duties

In response to questions from revelstokemountaineer.com, the BC Liberals eventually sent out a statement that Cody Younker had resigned from his roles with the provincial political party. Younker had been an active volunteer and riding association member for Columbia River–Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok. He also served roles with the provincial BC Liberals organization, although exactly what he did is unclear.

Laws create difficult situation for councils

The provincial legal framework for dealing with situations like these is problematic, resulting in a number of high-profile cases where mayors, councillors, or school district trustees have been embroiled in controversies, but council or school board options were limited. At the provincial level, there has been discussion of updates and improvements, but for the time being, it’s still a challenging situation and any council’s options are constrained. The civil suit contains serious allegations against Younker, but the defence hasn’t yet filed in the case, and the allegations haven’t yet been tested in court.

BC Prosecution Service says case submitted to them twice

BC Prosecution Service spokesperson Dan McLaughlin said the Langley RCMP submitted the case to them twice, once in 2014 and again in 2019.

“The Langley RCMP submitted a file to the BC Prosecution Service in connection with this matter in 2014. The file was returned to the Langley RCMP for further information and resubmitted by the RCMP in 2019,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “After reviewing the file charges were not approved as the BCPS concluded the charge assessment standard for proceeding with criminal charges was not met.”

In Canada, the laws governing the relationship between police and prosecutors in criminal matters varies by province. Generally speaking, in some provinces police are involved directly in decisions on which cases to prosecute. In others, like B.C., police conduct their investigation, then forward the results to the BCPS, which then makes the decision on whether to prosecute.

In B.C., the BCPS uses their Charge Assessment Guidelines policy to guide prosecution decisions. The policy’s assessment standard states that Crown Counsel must “independently, objectively, and fairly measure” all the evidence against a two-part test: “1. whether there is a substantial likelihood of conviction; and, if so, 2. whether the public interest requires a prosecution.” In other words, if the prosecutors don’t think a conviction is likely, they can opt not to proceed. However, there are dozens of other considerations listed in the policy.

One of the results is that when the BCPS refers to this policy to explain its decision not to prosecute in any particular case, it doesn’t provide a definitive reason why the prosecutors didn’t proceed.

Langley RCMP spokesperson provides some background

Cpl. Holly Largy is the communications officer for the Langley RCMP. Largy said the Langley RCMP Serious Crime unit investigated the case in 2014 and submitted its findings to the BCPS for a determination in 2014. The file was returned to the RCMP. The RCMP continued to work on the case, but the complainant, Jane Doe, told police in 2017 that she didn’t want to continue. “At that time the victim was hesitant to proceed,” Cpl. Largy said.

However, in 2019, Jane Doe contacted Langley RCMP and indicated she wanted to proceed again. The RCMP then submitted to the BCPS again in 2019, but again the prosecution declined.

No comment from Langley School District

A brief statement from the Langley School District said the district was made aware “of a lawsuit involving serious allegations of misconduct against a form School District volunteer.” The school district said it was aware of the lawsuit, but based on the information it had, it didn’t have a comment.

Defence files for discretionary publication ban

The defence in the case has filed an application for a discretionary publication ban on the case, set to be heard on Feb. 9. In B.C., there are several different kinds of publication bans, each with specific restrictions. The results of the application are as yet unknown, but it could impact the ability to report on the allegations.

What’s next?

The lawsuit itself could take many paths. It could go to trial, or it could end with some kind of out-of-court agreement, for example. These are a couple of several possibilities. If it proceeds in court, it could take up to about two years before it proceeds to trial, with many technical steps in the interim.

The more imminent deadline is Younker’s leave of absence. If he misses more than about two months of meetings, council could take steps to remove him — for missing over two months of meetings. In the meantime, the question of Younker’s future on council remains open. As far as we’re aware, Younker or his legal representative hasn’t made public statements or declared his intentions regarding his council position since the allegations became public. Although the civil case may be active for years, the question of Younker’s future role has a tighter deadline of under six weeks.

None of the allegations in the civil lawsuit has been tested in court, and no defence filings currently appear on the court’s website.