According to news reports, Prince George RCMP shot an eleven year old boy with a TASER weapon last Thursday, and yesterday Vancouver police shot and critically wounded a 47 year old man. Few details have been provided by the police investigators who are investigating the incidents. In the latter case, Vancouver radio station CKNW reported:

“I.H.I.T.’s corporal Dale Carr says the two officers were on regular patrol in the area about 9:45 a.m. when they had an interaction with the man.”

“That interaction turned violent when the male produced a weapon, which caused one of the two police officers to then draw his service pistol and fire an undetermined amount of rounds at the individual.”

Carr says the man is not known to police.
He says it’s not known whether the man advanced towards the officers or what the initial interaction was about.”

Huh? It’s not known whether the man advanced…? The reason police investigators say they don’t know yet what happened is that in these cases, the police handle things very differently than they would handle civilian on civilian violence. They do not usually attempt to interview the police officers involved. Instead of taking them into custody, reading them their rights and attempting to extract an explanation for what happened, as investigators would do with civilians, they send them home, invite them to get legal counsel and ask them to submit a written statement when they are ready. When the lawyer-assisted statement is submitted, it usually contains an exculpatory explanation for what happened.

As former justice Tom Braidwood has repeatedly said, police should not be investigating police. Reform is long overdue.

Cameron Ward and TLABC President Azool Jaffer-Jeraj

Our firm is proud to announce that Cameron Ward has received the 2011 Bar Award, presented by the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia. The TLABC is the largest non-profit organization representing trial lawyers in this province, and it has bestowed this award annually since 1982. According to the TLABC’s website:

“…the TLABC Bar Award honours members of the profession who have demonstrated the ability and drive to go beyond the call of duty, whether for the benefit of their clients, the betterment of the legal profession or to further the cause of justice, in general, for the people of the province. Typically, recipients have given generously of their time in pursuit of improving the process of justice, protecting the rights of citizens or helping advance the interests of the profession as a whole.”

We are grateful to the TLABC for recognizing the work that Mr. Ward has done over his career. A list of past Bar Award recipients is available here.

The legal community has been shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of Donald Brenner, Q.C. The former Chief Justice had a distinguished career as a lawyer and judge and we remember him fondly for the wisdom and equanimity he brought to the problems we presented him with, both as a judge and, more recently, as a mediator. He was kind and unfailingly polite and will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

On Wednesday evening, January 19, 2011, Commissioner Wallace Oppal and thirteen of the Commission’s staff members attended an emotional pre-hearing forum in Vancouver. We attended in our capacity as legal counsel for the families of the following victims or alleged victims of convicted serial killer Robert William Pickton: Georgina Papin, Mona Wilson, Marnie Frey, Dianne Rock, Cara Ellis, Cynthia Dawn Feliks, Helen Mae Hallmark and Dawn Crey. We told Mr. Oppal that, although many of our clients are skeptical of the process, we have urged them to give the Commission a chance, as it will likely be their best opportunity to obtain answers to the many questions they have about why Pickton was able to prey on women in Vancouver’s downtown eastside for many years.

We are anxious to start working in earnest on the file, but we have not yet received confirmation that the families’ expenses in respect of the Commission hearings will be reimbursed. It is noteworthy that Pickton himself reportedly received some $12 million in public funds to cover his legal expenses for the criminal proceedings against him.

On January 15, 2011, a lengthy story appeared in The Vancouver Sun chronicling aspects of our representation of former client Susan Heyes. We are disappointed that Ms. Heyes took her story, and apparently her file, to the media. Solicitor client privilege prevents us from commenting on the matters she has raised, but we remain proud of the successful work we did on behalf of Susan Heyes Inc. in the Canada Line litigation. We wish Ms. Heyes well in her future business and personal endeavours.

We have received many messages of support since the story appeared, for which we are very grateful, and we will endeavour to personally thank each of those who have contacted us.