Edmonton Journal has reported:

The three-day trial of Shaely Wilbur, a former Dawson Creek city councillor charged with criminal breach of trust, concluded Thursday, with Crown and defence counsel set to submit written arguments. A justice will consider the submissions and evidence before deciding the verdict. No date for that decision has been announced.

The charge relates to alleged conduct during Wilbur’s employment as executive director of Obair Economic Society, from late 2020 or 2021 until August 2022. That period overlapped with the final part of her 2012 to 2022 tenure on Dawson Creek city council and her campaign work in fall 2022 for mayoral candidate Darcy Dober in that year’s municipal election.

The allegations were heard in Dawson Creek over three days. The prosecution’s case described purchases made with Obair credit cards or cheques that Crown counsel said were unrelated to Wilbur’s executive director duties. The trial included discussion of many individual expenses, while some larger purchases raised by witnesses were not addressed in court.

Obair Economic Society was established in 1987 by Dawson Creek residents concerned about unemployment. Its stated purpose was to help people move into work, particularly by removing barriers facing those who had the greatest difficulty finding jobs.

Among the larger expenses witnesses mentioned were a $5,000 fee for an artist to paint a mural, more than $10,000 for chuckwagon tarp and cowboy sponsorship, and airfare for livestock association personnel. Board chair Gordon Reid also described purchases that he said were not part of daily operations, including snowblowers, a barbecue, advertising, chuckwagon sponsorship, an airline expense for the livestock association chair and rent payments. These matters were largely not examined directly in court.

Reid testified that Wilbur was dismissed over alleged misappropriation of funds. Both Crown and defence noted that each cheque was endorsed by Wilbur and one of three Obair board members. The prosecution focused on other expenses, including Google games and phone applications, as well as physical purchases such as red disposable beer cups and a carton of cigarettes costing $159.

The Crown called four witnesses: two Obair board members and two staff members connected to Wilbur’s hiring or work at the society. The defence called Wilbur and a former long-time Obair employee. The former employee described credit card practices among staff from 2018 or 2019 through 2021, including sharing cards and using them for different programs and client expenses, with receipts linked to particular programs and clients.

The central dispute concerned the degree of board approval required for spending. Crown counsel focused on whether the board explicitly approved individual items at a meeting or by vote. The defence argued that a board member co-signed each cheque, that the money went to the purpose identified when the cheque was signed, and that the documentation gave the board member grounds to approve it.

Witnesses characterized Wilbur’s approach as a mix of incompetence and what one described as a “no one will stop me attitude.” The trial also heard that board members could have stopped signing cheques at any time, and that the funds were used for the purposes for which the cheques were signed.

After a day and a half, Crown counsel Shane Hickey closed the prosecution’s case. Defence counsel Jodie Hartman applied to have the case dismissed, arguing that there was no direct evidence and that the prosecution relied on secondhand accounts from staff and assumptions about purchases. The Crown responded that the breadth, duration and variety of the expenses showed the overall scope of the alleged breach of trust. The court found there was enough evidence to require a defence response, and the trial continued Wednesday and Thursday with Wilbur’s testimony.

Wilbur reviewed numerous receipts on the second and third days, saying each expense had a receipt and was connected to a specific program and client. She said Obair was operating six or seven programs during her time as executive director, from late 2020 or 2021 to August 2022.

Crown counsel questioned Wilbur about two liquor-related expenses: a purchase at a B.C. Liquor store and a Dawson Creek meal receipt that included liquor or drinks. Wilbur agreed both had been submitted in error and should not have been approved by Obair’s bookkeeper or board, or reconciled.

She was also asked about a fuel purchase in southern B.C. Wilbur said the wrong credit card had been tapped and that she repaid the amount from her personal account days later. Another receipt came from a personal trip to southern B.C. that included a work-related stop in Chetwynd. “It saved another trip to Chetwynd,” Wilbur said. The court did not discuss whether the fuel charge reflected work-related mileage or a full tank of gas.

A separate fuel receipt from Beaverlodge, Alta., had “Chetwynd” written on it. Wilbur said the client lived near Chetwynd, but she had picked the client up in Beaverlodge and refuelled her vehicle there.

The prosecution also raised seasonal barrels bought for decorations for the annual Dawson Creek Fall Fair. Obair officials and Crown counsel alleged that some were kept in the yard of Wilbur’s Dawson Creek home. “I have absolutely none of these barrels, the barrels in my yard have been there for years,” she testified.

Wilbur said she filed a wrongful dismissal claim against Obair after the organization dismissed her in August 2022 without telling her the reason. She said the matter became widely known in the community within weeks. Describing her job search, she told the court: “Everywhere I applied (for a new job), I was told ‘we know what you did at Obair’.”

Asked whether she had hidden receipts, Wilbur replied: “No - they have to be reconciled with programs and specific clients.” She also addressed a bill from a local photographer for staff photographs, saying other employees had their pictures taken along with hers. “It was not for photos of just myself, but other staff for (the Obair) website,” she said. She added that an unedited photo from those sessions appeared in her 2022 Dawson Creek mayoral campaign.

Another issue involved a laptop used by a client that left the Obair office. Google purchases were made using Wilbur’s work credit card number, which remained stored in the computer’s cache. Hickey questioned why Wilbur had not reported the card lost or stolen and why she allocated the charges to Obair’s “Peers” program. “Even though they were not purchases for the program, you put it towards the ‘Peers’ program. It wasn’t connected, but you allocated it,” he said. He also challenged her account that she changed the card password after the number was found on the laptop: “You didn’t report it stolen or lost? I’m going to suggest this makes no sense.”

Hartman argued that overspending or poor administration did not establish deliberate fraud. She said receipts had been collected and reconciled, and that Obair subsequently paid the expenses, while describing the organization’s breach of trust claim as confusing and strange. “Incompetence and overspending is not a case of proven intent to fraud,” Hartman said.

Crown counsel described the trial as “a credibility case.” The charge is under Section 336 of the Canadian Criminal Code, which concerns a trustee who converts property held for another person or a public or charitable purpose, contrary to the trust and with intent to defraud, to an unauthorized use. The offence is indictable and carries a maximum sentence of 14 years if Wilbur is convicted.

The next step is for Crown and defence counsel to file their final written arguments. The prosecution will set out why it believes the evidence proves the charge, while the defence will present its position on the case. The justice will then assess those submissions alongside the trial evidence and issue a verdict.