On October 27, 2003, BC lawyers will have a chance to cast an historic vote. For the first time ever, the Benchers of the Law Society have submitted a fee resolution to the membership which does not include a mandatory CBA fee component.

The Law Society’s initiative comes after five separate lawsuits challenged the validity of the mandatory payment scheme.

Those who take time out to attend the mid day meeting (typically less than 5% of the membership) will also be considering a resolution by CBA supporters that would have the effect of continuing the mandatory CBA fee.

Some additional facts on mandatory CBA fees:

• New Brunswick is the only other province that has ever forced its lawyers to pay the CBA. Everywhere else in Canada, lawyers are free to choose whether or not to join or financially support the CBA.
• Ontario’s Benchers recently rejected the concept of mandatory CBA fees.
• The CBA describes itself as a “voluntary organization”.
• The Law Society has collected CBA fees as part of the annual practice fee even though it and the CBA are separate and unrelated organizations.
• The CBA seeks to collect about $4 million from BC lawyers for 2004.
• Each year, the BC Branch of the CBA spends about $1 million on “activities”.
• The CBA does not disclose how much it pays its Executive Director or the Executive Director of its BC Branch.
• The BC Branch spent about $450,000 to create its website, www.bccba.org.

The Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Board have now filed Statements of Defence in response to the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim that were filed on June 18, 2003. As expected, these defendants deny all allegations of wrongdoing. The plaintiffs have alleged, on behalf of themselves and all others who have been strip-searched at the Vancouver Jail since December 6, 2001, that such searches are routinely done at the jail in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Law Society of British Columbia attempted to hold its Annual General Meeting on Friday, September 19, 2003, but the meeting was adjourned due to technical difficulties before the substantive business could be conducted. The agenda included a series of practice fee resolutions addressing the issue of whether B.C. lawyers should be compelled to pay fees to the Canadian Bar Association. The Law Society has now announced that the AGM will be continued on October 27, 2003.

The issue of mandatory CBA fee payment is contentious, and at least five B.C. lawyers have taken the Law Society to B.C. Supreme Court over the matter since 1982. The latest to do so, Richard Gibbs, Q.C., a past president of the Law Society, is awaiting a reserved judgment on the question. New Brunswick is currently the only jurisdiction in Canada that still compels lawyers to join the CBA.

In a judgment released today, Mr. Justice Harvey of the B.C. Supreme Court has found 75 year old author and activist Betty Krawczyk guilty of criminal contempt of court for her actions in standing on a logging road when a court order forbade anyone from doing so. The judge rejected her procedural and Charter of Rights challenges to the injunction/contempt process. Ms. Krawczyk is in her 108th day of custody at the Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women. No date has been set for sentencing and Ms. Krawczyk is considering an appeal.

Read the judgment

The B.C. Supreme Court has indicated that the Honourable Mr. Justice Harvey will deliver his judgment with respect to Betty Krawczyk on October 8, 2003.

At trial, lawyer Cameron Ward advanced Charter and procedural arguments, opposed the Crown’s submission that Ms. Krawczyk be convicted for criminal contempt of court, and sought her outright release. Ms. Krawczyk, a 75 year-old great grandmother, author and environmental activist, enters her 105th day of imprisonment today awaiting disposition of the case. She has not been charged with a Criminal Code offence, but instead faces allegations by the Attorney General of British Columbia that she defied an Order of the Court made in a civil lawsuit commenced by Hayes Forest Services.