To the Vancouver Police Board for refusing to meet with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association to discuss important policy matters regarding the Vancouver Police Department including strip searches at the Vancouver jail and police complaints. Demonstrating their lack of interest in civilian accountability of the VPD, the police board offered the BCCLA five minutes at one of its public meetings when we asked for a one hour meeting to discuss substantive issues of mutual interest. The BCCLA has a much easier time arranging for substantive meetings with the Attorneys General of Canada and B.C. than with the Vancouver Police Board. Shame.

To the Vancouver Police Department, an over-the-top brickbat for their silly public show of force in closing down the da Kine Café, the store front marijuana operation on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive. The VPD is grappling with a serious fiscal deficit. Not surprising given this shocking waste of policing resources.

To the Directors of Abbotsford School District, a failing grade for teaching its students that fairness, privacy and respect for students’ integrity don’t matter when deciding that Abbotsford schools will now have drug dogs sniffing out student lockers. Nevermind that there is no particular drug problem in Abbotsford schools and that research shows that the best trained drug dogs will mis-accuse students for possessing drugs when they don’t in fact have any drugs up to 80% of the time. Now, that’s a good lesson we can all learn from.

To the Federal Government and Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler, a can’t-see-straight brickbat for introducing road side drug testing. Unlike testing for alcohol, road side drug testing will rely on fallible human judgment about use and impairment of drugs. Testing in the U.S. has demonstrated that such testing is unreliable and intrusive. The BCCLA, which supports prohibitions against impaired driving, recommends that authorities rely on 24 hour administrative prohibitions that currently exist instead of a criminal regime that will falsely accuse many innocent drivers of impairment.

• http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/government/C-16/C-16_1/C-16-3E.html
• http://www.bccla.org/othercontent/03roadsidedrugtesting.htm

To the Federal Government, and in particular Solicitor General Anne McLellan and acting Attorney General Geoff Regan, a secret brickbat for its Arar Inquiry legal team’s opposition to the proposed release of a summary of evidence. The government sought to base its opposition on specious national security concerns. The Arar Commission had bent over backwards to water-down the proposed release but even that didn’t satisfy the government who are intent on secreting as much information at the Inquiry from public view as possible. Too bad as we were ready to give a bouquet to Prime Minister Martin for having called the inquiry “to get to the bottom” of the Arar affair.

http://www.ararcommission.ca/eng/FinalrulingonnscREDACTED_Dec20.pdf

To TransLink’s Board of Directors, a dumb brickbat for failing to approve advertising that encourages students to vote in the next British Columbia election. TransLink relied on an outdated policy that does not permit “political” advertising. Aside from the fact that the ad in question could not be reasonably interpreted as political, TransLink needs to stop insulting its riders with a policy that suggests that riders shouldn’t be exposed to political messages.

To Lorne Mayencourt and the Provincial Government for the Safe Streets Act to deal with “aggressive panhandling”. Nevermind that the Criminal Code already deals with aggression and the new law makes even the meekest of solicitations illegal if they occur within certain zones around pay phones, bank machines, bus stops, public toilets or parking lots. Hmmmmm… you don’t think this has anything to do with street sweeping the poor, do you?

To the Federal Government, a recycled brickbat for the latest Child Porn bill. While the bill is a minor improvement over the last proposal, it still defines child pornography as including acts of the imagination. In other words, Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” is prima facie child porn under the new bill and its up to the person who possesses the book to show that they had a “legitimate purpose” for reading it. The BCCLA supports child pornography legislation that prohibits representations that involve actual children in its production and advocates for the exemption of all written materials because they do not cause legal harm. Moreover, the Supreme Court of Canada had upheld the current legislation based on the existence of a defence of artistic merit. This defence is a wise provision given the pressure on the police to throw out any modicum of due process in their pursuit of child pornographers.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/government/C-2/C-2_1/C-2_cover-E.html

To the Provincial Government for outsourcing Medical Services Plan and Pharmacare information without implementing the B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner’s recommendations. The government staunchly assured British Columbians that it was not jeopardizing their confidential medical information by outsourcing MSP to a US-linked company subject to FBI surveillance under the USA Patriot Act. The government even commissioned Commissioner Loukidelis to give an opinion on the risk posed by this kind of outsourcing. He found the risks to be real and significant. Yet, the government went ahead and signed the outsourcing contracts without implementing the privacy protections recommended in the report.

To Health Canada for the farce of medical marijuana access. Marijuana Medical Access Regulations have abysmally failed to ensure patients access to medical marijuana. You’d almost think they were designed to do that, considering how ineffective they’ve been. Meanwhile, terminally ill people are suffering and forced to turn to the black market. This is a tragedy in real time.

To the Federal Government for developing No-Fly lists. Transport Canada has announced that it will implement a ‘no-fly’ list as endorsed by the new Public Safety Act. The list will contain names of people who are barred from commercial airlines because they are believed to pose an immediate threat to aviation security. No-fly lists in the U.S. have spawned class-action lawsuits for discrimination and lack of due process.

To the Federal Government for reproductive technologies legislation banning the sale of eggs, sperm and surrogacy. Attempting to prevent the “commercialization of human life”, the government inadvertently has condemned Canadians seeking fertility treatment to American clinics at costs that most cannot afford.

Bouquets (The Best)

A bouquet of bouquets to the Office of the Information and Privacy and Commissioner and David Loukedelis in particular for the Patriot Act report. The OIPC produced the first report of its kind in assessing that there is a real and substantial risk to British Columbian’s personal information through outsourcing to US-linked companies that could be subject to surveillance because of the operation of the USA Patriot Act. The report provided a comprehensive set of sixteen recommendations that are being looked to nationally and internationally:

http://www.oipcbc.org/sector_public/usa_patriot_act/pdfs/report/privacy-final.pdf

To the Vancouver Sun’s Daphne Bramham for her columns on Bountiful. Bramham’s tireless reporting on the concerns and allegations of child abuse, sexual exploitation and denial of equal access to education and property rights for women and girls in the community of Bountiful, B.C. prompted the BCCLA to call for a full and immediate public investigation. The Attorney General responded and an investigation has been launched.

To Geoff Plant, Attorney General of British Columbia, a bouquet of roses and an honourary library card to all libraries in B.C. for his shepherding new legislation that will better protect libraries and thus ensure public access to materials. Bill 62 will create a statutory immunity for libraries against legal proceedings for keeping controversial materials on their shelves. Until now, if a library was notified of an unproven defamation claim, they would be liable for damages if they permitted circulation of the material to continue and the book was eventually found to be defamatory. Faced with this risk, libraries have typically pulled books from their shelves.

An extra large bouquet of flowers to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Vancouver City Council, the Vancouver Police Department, Portland Hotel Society, and Federal and Provincial Governments for making InSite, the supervised injection site, a resounding success. The injection site received a favourable evaluation by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS which is responsible for evaluating the site over a three year period: http://www.vch.ca/sis/Docs/esis_year_one_sept16_042.pdf. This extraordinary cooperation among so many agencies representing all levels of government and beyond gives us real hope that future lives can be saved by treating drug use as a health rather than criminal justice issue.

To Julie Berg, for her unwavering perseverance in calling for a public hearing into the death of her brother Jeff Berg who died while in the custody of the Vancouver Police Department. After being denied a hearing previously, then new Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld ordered a public hearing into the conduct of the police officer in question in June 2003. The hearing will continue into 2005. Public hearings are the best means for independently evaluating allegations of misconduct by police officers.

To Goetz Hanisch for taking on the government and winning. Risking his own safety in a gale force storm, Mr. Hanisch secured a Parks Canada zodiac that had lost its moorings in the Queen Charlotte Islands. As a reward for his efforts and at the urging of a Parks Canada warden, the RCMP arrested him, took him far from his home, charged him and left him to find his own way back. After charges against Mr. Hanisch were unsuccessful, he sued for and won a lawsuit against Parks Canada and the RCMP for false arrest, false imprisonment and defamation. The B.C. Court of Appeal, affirming the decision of the B.C. Supreme Court, awarded Mr. Hanisch extensive damages including punitive damages against the government. Roses are also in order for Dan Burnett, Mr. Hanisch’s legal counsel. The court decision can be found at:

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/Jdb-txt/CA/04/05/2004BCCA0539.htm

To Michael Stevenson, President of Simon Fraser University, a bouquet fit for a measured, calm, but firm defender of academic freedom and free speech. His unwavering commitment to ensuring free and open dialogue on campus was seen in his condemnation of anti-Israeli protests that sought to silence speakers, and also in his response to those who over-reacted by equating the protests with the emergence of virulent anti-semitism at S.F.U. Dr. Stevenson’s leadership in the face of this controversy, one that has hit several Canadian campuses in recent years, can be seen in his speech to Hillel Vancouver and in his strong public statement in the wake of the protest:

http://www.sfu.ca/pres/president/speeches/20049.html

To the incredibly dedicated and selfless team of lawyers who have assisted the B.C. Civil Liberties Association in 2004 through their representation and advice in the cause of civil liberties: Joe Arvay, Q.C., Phil Bryden, Dan Burnett, Greg DelBigio, Robin Elliot, Q.C., Irene Faulkner, Q.C., Michael Jackson, Q.C., Elliott Myers, Q.C., Craig Jones, Gordon Maynard, Michael O’Keefe, Chris Sanderson, Q.C., Rebecca Smyth, Zool Suleman, Grant Russell, Melissa Yeung, Ed Wilson.