Jurors heard dramatic testimony from a civilian eyewitness as the inquest into the death of Jeff Berg ended its first week. Sari Fujikawa choked back tears as she described how a uniformed police officer walked up behind Berg, struck him in the head or neck with his service weapon, knocking him to the ground, and then kicked his motionless body twice in the head. The officer then dragged Berg’s lifeless body across the alley “like a rag doll”. Ms. Fujikawa, the daughter of a Buddhist minister who lived near the scene, told her friends and family about the incident, but the police did not contact her for a statement. She came forward after seeing a poster seeking witnesses to the incident that had been posted by Berg’s sister Julie.

The jury heard that Berg was one of four men found in a car behind 4870 Slocan Street in Vancouver at about 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, October 22, 2004. The house had been the site of a marijuana grow operation and had been raided by police a few months earlier. Cst. Bruce-Thomas, a race car driver in his spare time, rammed the vehicle and smashed it into a nearby garage. After Berg got out, he sustained serious injuries and later died in hospital. Berg, 37, had no prior criminal record, no previous medical problems and had not consumed any alcohol or drugs immediately before he was killed.

Earlier in the week, the five inquest jurors heard testimony from the lead VPD homicide investigator on the file. Det. Phil Little confirmed Berg was unarmed and that Bruce-Thomas reported no injuries to himself: no scratches or bruises of any kind. Little said that he did not interview any police witnesses, inviting them to send him written statements instead. He did not immediately seize Bruce-Thomas’ boots, weapon or clothing for lab testing. He submitted a Report to Crown Counsel 14 months after the incident. As a result of Det. Little’s homicide investigation into the actions of his VPD colleague (an investigation described by former Crown Counsel Dana Urban, Q.C. as “incompetent at best”), no charges were laid.

Although the three people in the car with Berg that night were charged with offences, all the charges were dropped before trial. No evidence about the events of that evening ever came out in court.

In other developments, attempts by Berg family lawyer Cameron Ward to file various witness statements in evidence were rebuffed. When Coroner’s Counsel John Bethel sought to file statements from the the occupants of 4870 Slocan, the statements were made exhibits over Mr. Ward’s objections, on the basis that the makers of the statements could no longer be found. One of these people, Mo Thi Le, had been arrested and charged a few months before the break-in as a result of a police raid that netted over 22,000 grams of marijuana. Le did not ever stand trial. No explanation was offered as to what attempts were made to find the seven-member Le family so some of them could testify at the inquest, or how these seven people could have vanished without a trace.

At one point, Coroner Jeannine Robinson described the exchanges between lawyers as a “catfight”. Bill Smart is the lawyer for David Bruce-Thomas, Kevin Woodall represents all other VPD officers who may be witnesses and Catherine Kinahan is counsel for the VPD. Coroner Robinson conducted the inquiry into the death of Frank Joseph Paul, an aboriginal man who died of hypothermia after being dumped in an alley by Vancouver police. She classified the death as “accidental” and declined to hold an inquest in that case.

By a vote of 52.7% to 46.1%, the members of the Law Society of British Columbia have voted to make Canadian Bar Association membership fees voluntary for 2005, ending some fifty years of compelled payments. New Brunswick is now the only Canadian jurisdiction that forces lawyers to pay the CBA.

The CBA, a national advocacy group based in Ottawa, had opposed both the holding of the referendum and the concept of voluntary fees. It made $200,000 available from its national and provincial budgets to campaign against voluntariness.

For more information, see the Law Society’s website.

The Law Society of British Columbia has circulated ballots to its members on a referendum concerning the fixing of practice fees. Lawyers who want to have freedom to choose whether to join the Canadian Bar Association should vote for Resolution B.

For Mr. Ward’s position on the referendum, see “Tradition or Free Choice?“, recently published by BarTalk:

For more from the Law Society, see the Law Society of British Columbia website.

Lawyers representing a BC Liberal government social housing agency were in the Court of Appeal in Vancouver on Monday, June 7, 2004 to appeal a BC Supreme Court decision ordering them to pay $100 each in court costs to forty homeless people who occupied the abandoned Woodward’s building in September 2002.

In a factum filed with the Court, the lawyers for the Provincial Rental Housing Corporation argued that the award “was unjust because it penalizes an innocent party who only sought to protect its property rights.” Lawyers for the defendants countered by pointing out that the homeless were never convicted of anything and that “all citizens, even homeless ones, enjoy the presumption of innocence.” They sought to uphold the award, made because the provincial government dropped civil proceedings at the last moment, thereby inconveniencing the defendants and their lawyers.

“I wonder how much BC taxpayers have paid government lawyers to pursue this case in the province’s highest court for the last year and a half”, mused defence lawyer Cameron Ward. “I’ll bet it’s substantially more than $4,000.” After hearing oral submissions, the three Court of Appeal justices reserved decision. Arguments were later made in two separate appeals brought against the injunctions that resulted in the eviction of homeless squatters from the Woodwards building and adjacent sidewalks. Judgment was reserved in those cases also.

On Friday, May 28, 2004, the Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed the provincial government’s application for an injunction to restrain people from interfering with the construction of a proposed parking lot complex at Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island.

Madam Justice Quijano found that the government’s application, brought against 50 “John Does” and 50 “Jane Does”, deprived the parking lot opponents of due process. She determined that it was neither just nor equitable to grant the government the Order it was seeking.

The BC Liberal government intended to use the injunction as a weapon to quell the public opposition to the project and to enable the RCMP to arrest people for alleged contempt of court. There is no word yet from the Hon. Bill Barisoff as to whether the government will attempt to push ahead with the construction of the controversial parking lot.