Submitted by Section Co-Chairs Paul Pearson and Carmen Rogers
Summary of Activities
Number of Meetings Held: 8
September 23, 2010
Guest Speakers: The Honourable Judge E. Quantz, Provincial Court of British Columbia, and Margot Tubman
Synopsis: The Honourable Judge Quantz and Ms. Tubman outlined proposed changes to front end procedures in the Victoria criminal courts and sought input from the Section.
October 20, 2010
Guest Speakers: Robert Mulligan, QC, Rod Garson, Lesley Ruzicka and Andrew Tam
Synposis: This meeting focused on the constitutionality of the new evidence to the contrary provisions in the Criminal Code and also included an update on the recent Supreme Court of Canada cases addressing s. 10(b) of the Charter.
November 17, 2010
Guest Speaker: Peter Juk, QC, Crown Counsel
Synopsis: The topic of this meeting was ethics in criminal law. Topics included inadvertant Crown disclosure, conflict of interest, plea bargains, and R. v. Cunningham.
January 26, 2011
Guest Speakers: The Honourable Judge Evan Blake, Provincial Court of British Columbia, Martin Allen and Lesley Ruzicka
Synopsis: The speakers all addressed the case law arising from s.24(2) of the Charter including the historical development of the law, the decisions post-Grant, and the impact on defence counsel.
March 9, 2011
Guest Speakers: Alanna Valentine, Andrew Clark, and Thomas Broeren
Synopsis: All speakers are associated with th e-Court initative within the Court Services Branch of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The evolution, present state and future of this initiative was address and input sought.
May 25, 2011
Guest Speakers: The Honourable Judge Adrian Brooks, Provincial Court of British Columbia, and Barclay Johnson
Synopsis: The Honourable Judge Brooks introduced himself as the new administrative judge in Victoria and spoke to the Bar about what they could expect in the months to come. Much of the discussion focused on the scarce resources available to the Court at this time. Mr. Johnson spoke about his views on wearing a red defence counsel badge in the courthouse in response to concerns that had beenr aised by the local Bar.
June 6, 2011
Guest Speaker: Orville Nickel
Synopsis: This was part one of a two-part presentation on police use of force. Mr. Nickel is an expert in the area and spoke about police training in the area and the issues that commonly arise in use of force incidents.
June 29, 2011
Guest Speakers: Lesley Ruzicka and Richard Neary
Synopsis: This was part two of a two-part presentation on police use of force. Ms. Ruzicka and Mr. Neary discussed the legal and analytical framework within which use of force issues are litigated in criminal courts.
Comments and Observations of the Chair
Again we have had an active year and anticipate offering our members more than the required 12 hours of professional development in 2011 (9 hours already this calendar year). Our meetings are well attended and again we have benefitted from a wide range of guest speakers including members of the Bench.