It’s a disturbing time to be living in Canada. In BC we see that our provincial Government is attempting to undermine the justice system. For political and economic reasons they want to eliminate justice. It’s an upsetting trend. No, the actual purpose from what we can see is to stack the deck in favour of […]
Steps to eliminate justice Continue Reading »
In Canada, except in BC, courts have accepted that there are certain restrictions on the use of evidence that the police get by violating your rights. There is an understanding that, if the police violate your rights while forcing you to blow into a screener breathalyzer, the evidence won’t be used against you for the
Breathalyzer screeners and “Your Rights” Continue Reading »
On Thursday, January 23, 2014, the decision was rendered in the first IRP case at the Supreme Court of Canada. We’re celebrating the decision and the quality of our work and contribution to the case. Followers of our blog may recall that back in August 2013, the BC Court of Appeal confirmed an earlier decision
The first IRP case at the Supreme Court of Canada Continue Reading »
The BC Court of Appeal decision on the first version of the IRP scheme is going to come any day. At least, that’s the consensus among the very few lawyers with expertise in this area of the law. The media will be all over the story when it comes out and so we expect an
Expect an IRP storm Continue Reading »
At this moment in time we are counsel on perhaps hundreds of petitions or appeals of IRP decisions in BC Supreme Court. We’ve actually lost count of the number of IRP decisions we’ve appealed, but the files fill a few filing cabinets. At the same time we’re working with other law firms on the proposed
What are we waiting for? Continue Reading »
Good Canadians suffered, fought and died for our country and to protect us from living under governments that rule by force rather than accepting the rule of law. We admire their heroism and we are thankful for their sacrifice. And so we find it very offensive that our governments are simply derisive of our rights.
What about our rights? Continue Reading »
There’s been a lot happening in the last few weeks, particularly behind the scenes in IRP appeals now before the court. Although we try to keep everyone updated here on our blog, our workload has jumped tremendously since the Wilson, Buhr and Murray decisions were released. Consequently, we’ve been working on client files and neglecting
Behind the scenes in IRP appeals Continue Reading »
As our regular readers know, over a couple of years our blog has become the source for news on Immediate Roadside Prohibitions (IRPs). As far as we’re concerned, the current drunk driving laws in BC mark a low point in our history. We have sacrificed fairness for expedience. Many innocent people have had their lives
The public mood has shifted on IRPs Continue Reading »
The chatter about the July 12 Sivia ruling is stepping up among the legal community. One of the issues that a number of people have pointed out is that those who took it upon themselves to challenge the law — an unlawful law, should be rewarded for their courage and compensated for their losses. They
What happens if people don’t challenge an unlawful law? Continue Reading »
We discussed in general the opportunity a tribunal has to change the evidence, if in fact their goal is to uphold an allegation. The reason that this can happen is a lack of transparency at the tribunal level. There is no substitute for the cold dispassionate hand of justice as you will find in the
Opportunities for mischief Continue Reading »
We have been discussing the Government’s steps to remove decision making from the courts, i.e. the justice system, and to move it in-house. Our concern is that the Government has decided that justice is not in its interest because it costs money and justice is not as effective at taking people’s money as an in-house
Transparency at tribunal hearings Continue Reading »
October 2, 2014 UPDATE: The Supreme Court of Canada reversed the decision of the BC Court of Appeal, essentially reinstating the trial judge’s ruling. As we originally said, the BC Supreme Court judge called it like it is. The decision can be found here: http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/14375/1/document.do The newspaper headline will talk about the BC Supreme
The BC Supreme Court calls it like it is Continue Reading »
