Children allowed to ride the bus alone, an aboriginal man sentenced to 12 months for marijuana and an ICBC COVID-19 backlog

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan:

The British Columbia Court of Appeal finds that the Director of Child, Family and Community Services acted unreasonably, and without authority, in telling a single father that children under 10 years of age could not ride the public bus without supervision.

The children that were riding the public bus together, to get to school, were 10, 9, 8 and 7 years old. 

The father had spent two years teaching his children how to use the public bus and provided them with a cell phone, with a tracking feature so that he could monitor their location.

The father was required to sign an agreement not to permit any child under the age of 10 to be unsupervised at any time, including on the bus, and implied that the children could be apprehended if he did not comply.

The father was able to raise money with a go fund me page to help pay for the court challenge that eventually reached the Court of Appeal.

The Director of Child, Family, and Community Services argued in court that the agreement the father was required to sign was just a suggestion. The Court of Appeal judges disagreed and pointed out that while lawyers were making this argument in court, social workers employed by the Director continued to treat the agreement as an order.

Also discussed is another British Columbia Court of Appeal decision dismissing a sentence appeal by an aboriginal man who was sentenced to 12 months in jail for growing marijuana and possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

This sentence was upheld despite the fact that marijuana is now being sold in government-run stores that have been deemed an essential service in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 1999 the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R. v. Gladue dealt with the massive overrepresentation of aboriginal people in Canadian jails.

Since 1999, however, the percentage of aboriginal people in jail has increased significantly. 

Aboriginal people make up approximately 5% of the Canadian population but now account for more than 30% of the federal prison population. This is an increase of 5% from four years ago.

The disproportionate percentage of aboriginal people in jail is even starker for women: 42% of women in federal prisons are aboriginal. 

Finally, the BC Attorney General is running into opposition from the Trial Lawyers Association over suggestions including the suspension of civil jury trials, or binding arbitration, to clear a backlog of ICBC cases caused by COVID-19 disruptions to courts.

The Trial Lawyers Association has asked the Attorney General to abandon his unpopular plan for mandatory ICBC no-fault insurance if he wishes assistance with the backlog.

Follow this link for a transcript of the show and links to the cases discussed.