November 20, 2011
Yesterday, the BC Human Rights Tribunal issued a decision on the application of Taylor Robinson, the Vancouver Police officer who was accused of pushing Sandy Davidsen to the ground on Hastings Street over a year ago. Robinson, who is facing criminal assault charges for this incident and will be having a trial in February, applied for a stay of proceedings of the Tribunal until his criminal trial is resolved.
Davidsen, through her counsel at Red Cedar Law, argued that Robinson had only introduced speculative evidence about the harm that could be caused by the Tribunal continuing and that several other factors made the criminal matter distinct from the Human Rights case. While the Tribunal agreed that the two proceedings were distinct, based on the potential for harm to Robinson and the short duration, a stay would be appropriate. The Tribunal granted the request and stayed the Human Rights proceedings until early March of next year.
According to Tribunal member Bernd Walter,
I am persuaded that proceeding on parallel tracks, with even the potential that his right to a fair trial might be impacted, could cause Mr. Robinson irreparable harm.
Sandy Davidsen is a client of Red Cedar Law.
The Vancouver Sun reports on this story here.
July 9, 2011
A new report by the BC Auditor General found that the provincial Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) wasn’t taking sufficient steps to monitor and regulate projects such as dams, mines and powerplants. As quoted in a recent Globe and Mail article, Auditor General John Doyle stated: Continue reading →
July 7, 2011
In yesterday’s Vancouver Sun, BC Senator Mobina Jaffer wrote a compelling opinion piece calling for Premier Christy Clark to revisit the funding of important interest groups in the Missing Womens Commission . In short, despite Commissioner Wally Oppal’s recommendation that the government fund the legal costs of 12 front-line groups who know the issues and the women who are the subject of the inquiry, Minister Barry Penner has said “no”.
Continue reading →
July 1, 2011
In a landmark move yesterday, Vancouver City Council approved a request to take injunctive relief against the owners of two of Vancouver’s most decrepit and dangerous rental properties: Wonder Rooms on East Cordova and the Palace Hotel on West Hastings. For over ten years, Pivot Legal Society has been urging the city to take action against George Wolsey and Doug Robinson and their companies who run these Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels in the Downtown Eastside.
Wonder Hotel
Now, after an evening of emotional testimony from residents who feared for their safety and were allowed to testify before Council anonymously, the City has made it clear that it will be taking action to enforce its Standards of Maintenance Bylaw against these landlords. In the Vancouver Sun article:
Speaking for the most part in soft voices, the residents described a litany of horrendous living conditions, including rats, mice and cockroach infestations, non-working or overcrowded shared bathrooms and serious problems with bedbugs.
They said their rents were arbitrary and some had been evicted with zero notice simply because they had complained. Others claimed Wolsey “offered” them work at $3 to $5 per hour but frequently never paid them.
Mayor Robertson asked one man what his living conditions were like.
“Well, we have mice but at least the mice eat the cockroaches,” the man said.
Pivot Legal Society made submissions before Council before the vote and is supporting tenants in bringing a joint claim for damages against the landlords before the Residential Tenancy Branch.
May 17, 2011
Last Thursday, Red Cedar Law’s Scott Bernstein had the honour of representing the Portland Hotel Society, Dean Wilson and Shelly Tomic in the Supreme Court of Canada along with Joseph Arvay Q.C. of Arvay Finlay and Monique Pongracic-Speier of Ethos Law Group. The landmark case concerned Insite, Vancouver’s safe injection facility. Continue reading →
April 18, 2011
A newly published study by the UBC scientists at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS adds to the collection of data demonstrating the effectiveness – and cost-effectiveness – of Insite, Vancouver’s safer injection facility. The new study shows that levels of overdose deaths in the neighbourhood of Insite dropped 35% after the facility opened. Continue reading →
April 7, 2011
UPDATE: I presented to Vancouver City Council Thursday on behalf of Pivot. My submissions were primarily on the effect of the by-law on homeless people. Surprisingly, the City’s lawyers – sixteen months after the Adams decision in the Court of Appeal - say that Adams doesn’t apply to Vancouver. Is the by-law in Adams (where Victoria allowed sleeping in parks, but prohibited a shelter) that different from a by-law that prohibits a shelter on a city street? In any event, there are a lot more people who wanted to speak to this by-law and the discussion is continued to a later date.
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In October, I wrote about the Court of Appeal’s decision in the Falun Gong’s Charter challenge to the Street and Traffic By-law. The Court ruled that the provision of the by-law creating a blanket prohibition for political structures was a violation of the Charter right to expression.
Now, just under the six-month deadline for legislative revision imposed by the Court, and with only two-days’ notice to the public, the City of Vancouver is introducing proposed amendments to Section 71 of the by-law. Not only are these proposed amendments still an infringement of the right to expression, but they fail to address the B.C. Court of Appeal’s decision in Victoria (City) v. Adams, which held that a City cannot prohibit construction of a temporary shelter by a homeless person on City property. The Vancouver Sun and other media are quoting lawyer Scott Bernstein on the impact of these changes.
Pivot's Red Tents on the boulevard of a street. Expression and/or shelter?
Continue reading →
Scott Bernstein will bring to your case passion, experience and old-fashioned hard work. When you’re in need of thoughtful and engaged legal representation, Scott can represent your interests in negotiations with other parties or before the courts.