In The News

Starting next July Canada’s marijuana market will be very different indeed. The province answered a few of the questions around selling recreational pot on Dec. 5, including where it will be sold and to whom. But one remaining question is how to keep the roads safe and drivers sober?

Acumen lawyer Kyla Lee answers this question in her interview on CBC:

The prohibitions for street racing and stunt driving in BC have been significantly extended in an effort to combat these driving offences. At first blush, it looks like the penalties are a step in the right direction, but Vancouver lawyer Kyla Lee has some concerns.

CKNW: You wrote about this on your blog and raised many points of issues you have with this … what is your concern with what the government has announced?

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – As of December 1st tougher penalties will be imposed on dangerous drivers in BC and a local attorney says the existing system is bad but claims the incoming changes are worse.

Earlier this week the provincial government announced it was cracking down on dangerous drivers which could see those caught street racing lose their driving privileges for up to three years and not just a few days.
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On December 1, 2017, new rules came in with stiffer driving prohibitions for street racing and stunt driving. Under the rules prior to Dec.1, penalties for street racing or stunt driving could land you a 15-day penalty. But after Dec. 1, those same penalties could be increased to the range of three to 36 months. 

The NDP government says the penalties are intended for those who recklessly speed in urban areas, pointing to an example of travelling 180 km/h over the Lions Gate Bridge, which would be more than three times the speed limit in the area. 
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Scores of B.C. investors – many of them from the same church – have lost millions in an apparent Ponzi scheme. The woman they hold responsible still attends that church and as Grace Ke reports, this case is a real warning to others who may be promised unusually large returns on their investments. Grace Ke reports.
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In May, the federal government tabled Bill C-46, which would amend the Criminal Code for impaired driving offences. The proposed changes come on the eve of the government’s legalization of recreational cannabis use, and they include new “legal limit” drug offences, as well as mandatory alcohol screening.

Proponents say that mandatory alcohol screening, for one, will bring Canada into line with other Western nations that have lowered impaired driving charges using this form of screening; but the criminal defence bar cautions that aspects of the new bill may present Charter challenges and further burdens on the courts.
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Human remains of an 18-year-old teen girl were found on the Salmon Arm, BC farm where Curtis Sagmoen lives. Sagmoen, a 37-year-old, has been charged in connection with an alleged threat towards a sex worker using a firearm.

Whether any connection between the charges Sagmoen is currently facing, and the human remains of teen Traci Genereaux remains to be seen.
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A photograph uploaded by Vancouver police showing a driver apparently using two electronic devices behind the wheel is making headlines around the world.

The reason?

While the driver was being a bit absurd by tying the devices with what appears to be string to his steering wheel, the driver didn’t actually break BC’s distracted driving laws.
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Canada’s proposed overhaul of federal impaired driving rules could unfairly criminalize medical cannabis users, according to an open letter to Ottawa signed by more than 50 criminal defence lawyers.

The letter, which warns that medical marijuana users could be unfairly punished under the proposed system, underscores the challenges to preventing high driving. Experts are divided on just how much THC – the principal psychoactive compound of cannabis – would make someone impaired, and the government is still developing a reliable way to conduct a roadside test.
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​Family members of a cyclist who was killed in Richmond last year are outraged after learning the driver who allegedly ran him down won’t face serious charges.

“I was very confident that he would be criminally charged,” said Lianne Dean, whose son was six cyclists who were struck head-on while riding on River Road last November.

Thirty-three-year-old Brad Dean died, while two other riders were seriously injured.
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