Langley City Councillor Delaney Mack is taking her own City council and Mayor Nathan Pachal to court, arguing that they violated her Charter rights to free speech.
Mack filed the legal action on May 6 as a petition to the court, a type of proceeding in which the courts are asked to intervene, often to overturn or block the actions of a government.
The alleged free speech issues arose due to a complaints process linked to the City’s code of conduct for its councillors.
The complaint against Mack, filed by Coun. Teri James in 2025, was linked to comments Mack left on Facebook. She commented on a number of issues, including how the City was spending its money, touching on financial reserves, capital spending, and bike lanes.
The complaint against Mack alleged that she had violated the code of conduct, which requires councillors to “accurately and in a positive manner, communicate the decisions of the council, even if they disagree with the majority decision of council, so that there is respect for and integrity in the decision-making processes of council.”
James’ complaint said that Mack’s comments were neither positive nor accurate. That started a process that can potentially lead to a number of sanctions, including a letter of reprimand, a request for an apology, remedial training, or removing the councillor from posts on City committees.
Mack’s legal response argues that the process has violated her freedom of speech rights.
Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that everyone has “freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression.”
Requiring council members to speak “in a positive manner” about council decisions could be a violation of those rights, the petition says.
“In a democracy, people must be free to discuss matters of public policy, criticize governments, and offer their own solutions to social problems,” it says.
The petition also criticizes the complaint process as procedurally unfair, and alleges that the strict confidentiality surrounding the process impeded Mack’s attempt to get legal advice. For instance, Mack’s lawyer was not allowed to keep a copy of the City’s investigation report into the complaint against Mack. Instead, the lawyer was only allowed to review it and take notes during a meeting.
This is not the first complaint Mack has been involved in. Her court filing notes that she has made complaints against two other councillors, who are not identified, both in 2025.
Mack’s court filing say she asked for James’ complaint to be dismissed at an early stage, because she claimed it was “retaliation” for Mack’s two previous complaints against other councillors.
She is asking the courts to order that any decision on James’ complaint against her be stayed, pending a full judicial review.
None of the allegations in Mack’s court petition has been proven in court, and the City has not yet filed a response.
“I believe the freedom to respectfully disagree is core to how our democratic governance works, and I am asking the courts to say so,” Mack said.
As far as whether she’s running for a second term as a councillor, or for the mayor’s seat, Mack said she is speaking to residents and has not yet made a decision.
She described the City as “poorly governed” over the last term.
“In my opinion, we need change on council, but I haven’t fully evaluated all the options at this time to achieve that,” Mack said.
The Langley Advance Times reached out to James, who said that she had not seen the petition, and understood the matter was confidential, so she could not comment.
City administrator Francis Cheung said that the City had not yet been served with legal notice of Mack’s petition to the court, and that as it was a legal matter, the City could not comment.