If you thought the IRP scheme was the low point in BC legal history, think again. Emboldened by aspects of the Sivia decision, the BC Government now plans to take away the Charter of Rights and your right to a trial when the police stop you for a driving offence. It’s the end of the Charter of Rights in BC.
More disingenuous than IRPs or ADPs, the Government has introduced a bill that will completely uproot our justice system. It will eliminate the Charter of Rights with respect to all driving offences in the Motor Vehicle Act. They did this while nobody was looking. With only 2 weeks left of the legislative session.
Here is the bill. It was introduced May 7, received second reading May 8 and is now on its way to becoming law.
What does it do? Our thumbnail sketch will be inadequate because it is a complete horror story. But you should know this:
The Charter of Rights has been eliminated by legislation. Section 287 says that sections 44 & 45 of the Administrative Tribunals Act applies, which says:
45 (1) The tribunal does not have jurisdiction over constitutional questions relating to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
We are the only province in Canada where the government has got away with legislating out of the Charter of Rights without relying on the Notwithstanding Clause. And now they are doing it with respect to your dealings with the police when you are pulled over for an alleged traffic offence.
They plan to create a board of their own making instead of a court, because they do not like courts, or fairness, and they do not understand the role of the courts. The board will be a Government office acting as part of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, i.e. the same people who adjudicated IRPs and ADPs, such as in the Spencer case.
NO APPEALS:
The legislation has a clause that ousts the jurisdiction of the court. You cannot appeal any decision of the board. See section 285:
Exclusive jurisdiction of board
285 (1) The board has exclusive and final jurisdiction to
(a) inquire into, hear and decide all matters and questions of law, fact and discretion arising or required to be determined in an application for a determination of whether a disputant contravened the driving enactment indicated on a driving notice that was served on the disputant, and
(b) to make any order permitted to be made.
(2) A decision or order on a matter in respect of which the board has exclusive jurisdiction is final and conclusive and not open to question or review in any court.
We have a Government that has decided to take justice out of the justice system. They appear to be court haters. They do not want people to have their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They do not want people to have due process. They do not believe that people deserve a fair hearing. With regards to our legal rights in relation to the Provincial Government, we are now seeing the end of the Charter of Rights in BC.
Looking back on our blog posts over the last 20 months, we have been too reserved. We believed that, however misguided, ignorant, unqualified and ill informed, they were trying to do the right thing. The problem is when you are misguided, ignorant, unqualified and ill informed you cannot distinguish what is right. Still, beyond negligent ignorance, this Government is devious, disingenuous and dismissive of our legal rights.
It is hard to imagine any one government doing so much to damage our society and our justice system as the BC Government has done in the last 2 years. It is hard to imagine any one government in our history doing so much to eliminate our legal rights.