September 2023

Mo Amir, host of the podcast This is VANCOLOUR, and Kyla Lee, a Vancouver criminal lawyer for Acumen Law Corporation, weigh in on B.C.’s latest five-year net new housing targets, the growing profile of the Conservative Party of B.C., and a B.C. poll that found swearing is becoming more common in the workplace.

“The provincial government is going to step in and it’s going to force municipalities to build these units, but it should also be working with municipalities to reduce the amount of red tape… The ability to get a permit to do anything and the number of permits you have to get for any type of project is so overwhelming and cost prohibitive.”

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Kyla Lee on CBC’s On The Coast with guest host Dan Burritt: Soapbox Social: Housing, B.C. politics, swearing at workRead More »

“In Canada, if you are responsible for the death of a police officer while they are in the act of duty, then that is automatically a first-degree murder charge… “

“I think this is something that may spur change. Particularly in the past week, the federal government passed a bill to the Senate regarding changes to our bail. This is just going to further ignite the very polarizing discussion we’re having across the country right now about potential repeat offenders, violent offenders… Incidents like this are only going to fuel that conversation further.”

B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma is promising more money to fix a chronic shortage of sheriffs that has led to at least 86 court appearances being cancelled or delayed this year.

Sharma says the government is responding to an internal report that painted a damning picture of working conditions, including bullying and sexual harassment, for the people who transport prisoners and protect British Columbia’s courts.

That report found a years-old recruitment and retention crisis within the BC Sheriffs Service, problems it attributed to low pay, a toxic work environment and ineffective management.

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In some cases, court appearances have been delayed, cancelled or moved because a sheriff was not available. The ministry’s office said there had been 86 such incidents this year as of Sept. 7; there were none in 2021 or 2022.

Kyla Lee, a criminal defence lawyer in Vancouver with Acumen Law, says she has had multiple cases where a trial was delayed because a sheriff was not available. She said such delays had a “snowball effect” because they lead to further delays in the court system as matters are re-scheduled.

“It’s really caused a lot of chaos for people. The experience of going to court is very stressful for people as it is,” Lee said.

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But Lee believes sheriffs are still not paid enough. Sheriffs, she said, often protect judges when there are credible threats to their safety. They are armed and also transport accused persons in custody, she said, who include violent offenders and people with complex mental health and substance issues.

“They have to be mental health professionals. They have to be physical security. They have to be drug addiction and medical experts all at the same time in different courts,” Lee said.

The government’s information sheet for applicants notes sheriffs deal with “with unpleasant, upset, hostile, angry and potentially violent clients.”

Read the full story here.

“I am supportive of this. I think it’s an easy way for government to limit people’s speeds and make the roads and highways safer, but doesn’t result in hitting people in their pocketbooks and increasing the penalties associated with traffic tickets which can have a disproportionate effect on low income (families).”

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“Ultimately we don’t have enough officers on the side of the road, standing there conducting visible and consistent enforcement to send the message home to drivers that if you speed, you will get caught…”