Assisting individuals to address violations of their civil liberties, educating citizens about the importance of protecting civil liberties and encouraging changes to laws and policies that infringe on civil liberties.
In setting policy, our Board of Directors carefully weighs claims to rights and freedoms against competing rights and against the public interest. As a result, our views on matters of public importance are often sought by governments, private sector institutions and the media.When we judge that a law or policy violates civil liberties, our first, second and third strategies are to try to persuade the government or institution to change it. Going to court is expensive and time consuming. However, if all else fails, we are prepared to litigate the issue or intervene in a court challenge.
Casework
We do not normally offer legal advice or representation. We mainly offer paralegal and practical advice,help clients to use existing complaints mechanisms and make submissions to government bodies and officials on their behalf. In rare cases, we may arrange for pro bono counsel to represent a client when there is an important civil liberties principle at stake.
Typical examples of casework are:
successfully defending a local theatre charged with obscenity for producing the
critically acclaimed play The Beard
arranging
for counsel for clients facing Police Board hearings into their police complaints
successfully
challenging a provincial government decision to remove abortions from coverage
under the Medical Services Plan
meeting
with school officials and school boards on such topics as teaching creationism
in science classes, students’ access to sex education and random searches
of student lockers
approaching
the Police Commission with concerns about high speed police chases, police use
of "breach of the peace" powers and videotaping police interactions
with citizens
critiquing the McEwen Report into alleged sexism and racism in UBC’s Political Science Department
sitting
as a member of the PharmaNet Committee which oversees some uses of the sensitive
prescription
information on B.C. citizens
attending meetings with clients when they are interviewed by police about their complaints.
Public
The key to protecting fundamental rights and freedoms is an informed and vigilant citizenry. From the beginning, we have devoted considerable resources to producing and publishing handbooks, brochures and a quarterly journal, speaking at public gatherings and in the media and (more recently) taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the Internet. Our public education efforts have included:
producing and distributing continuously since 1963 our journal, The Democratic Commitment
publishing
and distributing three widely read handbooks: Youth and the Law, Discrimination, and Arrest: Civil Rights and Police Powers
conducting
two landmark studies, Ethnic Conflict in Vancouver and AIDS
Discrimination in Canada,
and distributing reports on these
publishing
and distributing the books Catastrophic Rights, on AIDS patients’ access to experimental
therapies; Liberties, a collection of important BCCLA position papers; and The Privacy Handbook,
a practical guide to citizens’ privacy
rights
writing, translating into four foreign languages, and distributing The Citizenship Handbook: A guide to citizenship rights and responsibilities; and a companion brochure Civil Liberties in Canada... and How to Protect Them
publishing and distributing the brochures Drug Testing in the Workplace and Making a Complaint Against the Police
organizing conferences
speaking
at numerous conferences, workshops and seminars on civil liberties topics
making numerous presentations in schools
traveling around the province to speak at public gatherings and encourage the formation of local civil liberties groups
appearing numerous times each year in the media
Public policy and law reform
Over the years, the Association's Board of
Directors has developed over 200 policy briefs, which serve as the principled
cornerstones for our work. We meet with government and private sector officials
to persuade them to change laws or policies which infringe on civil liberties
and to develop new laws and policies which protect fundamental rights and
freedoms. Our efforts have included:
playing
a major role in the development of the Human Rights Act, the Police
Act and the
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
making
a well received submission to the Supreme Court of Canada on allowing public interest
intervenors in court cases
advocating
for a provincial Ombudsman and Rentalsman
submitting
briefs on assisted suicide and the use of DNA for criminal investigation purposes
to
the Minister of Justice
meeting
regularly with the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the Information and
Privacy Commissioner, the B.C. Police Commission (now the Police Complaints
Commissioner)
and the Attorney General.
testifying before numerous provincial and federal government committees and commissions, including: Parliamentary committees considering the proposed Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act and the five year review of that Act, sentencing and corrections reform, the "rape shield" law, regulation of new reproductive technologies and changes to the Young Offenders Act, Senate committees on assisted suicide and on decriminalization of marijuana, the Oppal Commission on policing in British Columbia and the MacDonald Commission regarding illegal activities of the RCMP
When our efforts are unsuccessful, we are sometimes able to go to court, either by arranging for pro bono counsel for clients, by intervening in legal cases or by litigating the issue ourselves.Examples include:
challenging the mandatory features of the former Heroin Treatment Act
providing
counsel for two women who successfully challenged mandatory school prayers
under the School Act
successfully
challenging the lack of absentee voter provisions under the Election Act
launching
a constitutional challenge to Canada Customs’ censorship powers
supplying
counsel for a successful challenge to the Public Service Act provision
giving preference
to Canadian citizens
Intervening
in:
R.
v. Butler at the Supreme Court of Canada on the obscenity law
Trinity
Western University v. B.C. College of Teachers in B.C. Supreme Court and at
the
B.C. Court of Appeal
R.
v. Cuerrier at the B.C. court of Appeal and then Supreme Court of Canada on
consent
to sexual relations
James Chaimberlain et. al. v. School District #36 (Surrey) on religion in public schools
