To clients, suppliers and friends:

Due to circumstances beyond our control, our new premises on the top two floors at 58 Powell Street are not yet ready for occupancy. We are advised that BC Hydro, which was to have connected the electrical utilities in August, is giving priority to 2010 Olympic-related installations. We are accordingly unable to advise when we will be in full possession of our new premises.

We can be reached by telephone, facsimile, e-mail and regular mail at the coordinates set out below.

Yesterday, Ivan Henry emerged from Mountain Institution into the waiting arms of his family, hours after Mr. Justice Lowry of the Court of Appeal decided that he could be released pending the hearing of his appeal. Mr. Henry was arrested nearly 27 years ago, when his two daughters were nine and six years old, and he had been imprisoned ever since. In January, the Court of Appeal granted him the extraordinary opportunity to appeal his convictions for sexual assault on the merits.

At his original trial before a judge and jury, Mr. Henry defended himself. The Crown tendered no physical evidence to link him to any of the crimes he was accused of. The only evidence was eyewitness identification evidence from the female complainants, after many had participated in viewing a questionable lineup:

Portion of a photo of the lineup, from The Vancouver Sun

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Friday’s decision is due in no small measure to the hard work of Mr. Henry’s legal team, especially David Layton, Marilyn Sandford and law student Tony Paisana. On a personal note, being present for the reunion of Mr. Henry and his family was quite a thrill, and is no small reward for deciding to enter this profession all those years ago…

The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia awarded the Victoria Human Rights Institute’s Human Rights Medal to Cameron Ward in a ceremony at Government House on May 26, 2009.

Courtesy of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor

The interim report of Commissioner William Davies, Commissioner of Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Frank Paul, has been released to the public, more than a month after it was delivered to the Attorney General of British Columbia. The report says that the justice system failed Frank Paul and his family and calls for sweeping reforms, including eliminating the current approach of having police investigating police when they are implicated in a civilian death.

The entire report is available online at www.frankpaulinquiry.ca.

The public comments of Mr. Davies, a well-respected former British Columbia Supreme Court justice, can be found here:

REMARKS OF COMMISSIONER Press Conference March 12 2009

The report is not complete, as the Attorney General has appealed a BC Supreme Court decision upholding Commissioner Davies’ order that the Crown prosecutors involved in the case testify at the inquiry. That aspect of the case, that centers on the Crown’s repeated decisions to lay no charges, has been argued and we are awaiting a decision from the Court of Appeal.

That said, it is hard to avoid the unsettling notion that anyone other than a uniformed police officer who had caused a death like Frank Paul’s would have been charged with criminal negligence causing death in no time.

March 10 Update:

Here is the touching song by Kendel Carson and Chip Taylor called “I Don’t Want to Live on a Street”:

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As the Braidwood Commission of Inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski plods along, one thing should be apparent to the most casual observer; when the RCMP investigates itself, the interests of justice are not well-served.

Strip away the obfuscation created by a couple of dozen lawyers and their well-rehearsed clients, and the basic facts are now pretty clear. Four burly, well-armed male members of Canada’s national police force confronted a confused, weary, disoriented, unarmed immigrant and immediately shot him repeatedly with the “less than lethal” Taser. He expired as the RCMP stood around waiting for medical attention to arrive. Incidentally, these basic facts do not resemble the self-serving description that RCMP media spokesperson Pierre Lemaitre gave the public after the event, and before bystander Paul Pritchard’s video surfaced.

Were it not for the amateur video, the RCMP would have successfully covered up the fatality, like so many others, and there would have been no multimillion dollar public inquiry into the affair. Sure, this inquiry will have a predictable result; the Commissioner will be urged to put himself in the police officers’ shoes – they didn’t know how much of a threat they were facing, Dziekanski was non-compliant and combative, they followed their training, blah, blah, blah -and there may be some recommendations about better airport services, better communication, better police training etc., but hopefully the public will see the single biggest issue.

Our criminal justice system is biased in favour of police officers. They get breaks and benefits that no other civilians receive. When they make serious mistakes resulting in a civilian death, their colleagues close ranks around them and ensure that they will not face the accountability that the law demands of the rest of us.

We need a new system and we need it now, before the next unfortunate person, like Robert Dziekanski, Ian Bush or Kevin St. Arnaud, is killed by the RCMP in this province. We need to have immediate independent investigations performed by a civilian investigative team that reports to an independent prosecutor. This isn’t rocket science, but the powerful police lobby will fight these necessary changes tooth and nail.