Professional Employees Association Press Release
Vancouver, November 3, 2009 – Earlier today, staff at the Legal Services Society were notified that the LawLINE, the Community Advocate Support Line, and all but one of the regional legal aid offices will shut down as of March 2010.
News | Social Justice 04 Nov 2009
On March 23, 2009 Ombudsman Kim Carter released her report, Last Resort: Improving
Fairness and Accountability in British Columbia’s Income Assistance Program. All but one of
the report’s 28 recommendations has been accepted by the Ministry of Housing and Social
Development.
Download the BC PIAC Press Release.
Download the Press Release and Backgrounder
Download the Full Report
Disability Rights | Human Rights | News | Social Justice | Welfare Rights 30 Mar 2009
(Vancouver) Following eight years of investigations and appeals, 64 farmworkers from Abbotsford and Surrey are celebrating after learning that the federal Minister of National Revenue has stopped opposing the workers’ entitlement to EI for farm labour they did in 2001 for Abbotsford-based BC Labour Contracting Ltd.
Farmworkers Rights | News | Social Justice 21 Jan 2009
Vancouver lawyer Jim Quail has announced the launching of a Charter challenge to new federal voting laws requiring official identity documentation in order to cast a ballot. Quail is the Executive Director of the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre, which represents two individual voters and four community organizations named in the challenge.
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News | Social Justice 18 Sep 2008
Lawyers representing BC Hydro customers have criticized a decision by the BC Utilities Commission approving two-tiered rates for household electricity. Under the approved scheme, the price of residential electricity jumps to a higher rate once consumption passes a defined threshold, each 2-month billing period.
BC Hydro | Consumer Rights | Disability Rights | Human Rights | News | Social Justice | Welfare Rights 03 Sep 2008
A lawyer representing consumer groups sharply criticized a Utilities Commission decision that will mean huge increases in BC Hydro bills over the coming years.
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BC Hydro | Consumer Rights | News 16 Nov 2007
(Vancouver) Telus is breaking consumer protection laws and legal obligations to their customers, according to a lawyer representing Carolyn Friesen, a Telus customer who filed a complaint today with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority of British Columbia.
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Consumer Rights | News | Telecommunications 10 May 2007
(Vancouver) Advocates with the Farmworkers Legal Advocacy Program (LAP) are requesting BC’s Chief Coroner to conduct a full public inquest into the catastrophic van accident on Wednesday that killed three women farmworkers and injured 14 others.
“This accident shows once again that working conditions for farmworkers are dangerous, and sometimes fatal”, said Charan Gill, CEO of PICS. “We as a society need to look at comprehensive solutions to the dangerous transportation conditions endured by these workers. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families who have lost their loved ones.” Gurcharan Dhillon, an advocate with LAP and a former agricultural worker, added that “If a worker who is being picked up in the morning by the farm labour contractor’s van complains about an unsafe vehicle and refuses to get inside, chances are, that worker will not be given employment that day.”
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Farmworkers Rights | News 09 Mar 2007
(Vancouver) The BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC) recently filed a court case against BC’s welfare Ministry for effectively turning their client, a diabetic man, out onto the streets.
“When a welfare applicant has an immediate need for food or shelter, the Ministry is supposed to immediately assess the client’s eligibility for welfare”, explains Emily Mayne, an advocate at the Kettle Friendship Society.
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News | Welfare Rights 20 Feb 2007
Canada Revenue Agency’s final witness, Appeals Officer Lillian Callegari, will be cross-examined this week in Tax Court by lawyers assisting some of the 120 farmworkers denied EI due to false record-keeping by their employer during the 1997 harvesting season.
“These elderly berry pickers were not paid on time and in many cases never received the full amount of their earnings. Their employer’s conduct and record-keeping violated EI and Employment Standards laws meant to protect them,” said Pavan Joshi, a legal advocate with Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society. “The federal government has spent many years and an estimated $6M dollars investigating the workers, in many cases denying them several years of EI benefits, while the employer whose conduct was at fault has barely been penalized”.
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Farmworkers Rights | News 11 Dec 2006