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March 20, 2012

The Hon. Christy Clark
Premier, Government of British Columbia
PO Box 9041 STN Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E1

Dear Premier Clark,

Re: Open letter on the budget for BC’s Justice System

We write seeking clarification of the statements you made in the Legislature on February 15, 2012, regarding the current funding allocated to BC’s justice system. You said:

We’re putting more money in at the same time that crime is dropping, that the number of cases going to court is dropping, and the length of cases is actually staying the same. It just doesn’t add up. We are adding more money to the system, but in addition to that, we have a great responsibility to British Columbians. That is to get to the bottom of why, while there is more money and less work coming into the system, the delays are getting longer.

However, as set out below, your government’s own documents contradict your assertions. We are concerned that you may be relying on faulty or inaccurate information in your statements to the Legislature and the public on these important matters. We request your clarification as to what information you have to support your assertions that your government is “putting more money” into the justice system, and how that information squares with the Ministry of the Attorney General’s budget estimates and 2010/11 Annual Service Plan Report.

“We are adding more money to the [justice] system”

This statement is contradicted by the Ministry of the Attorney General’s budget estimates, which in fact show a significant decrease in the Attorney General’s operating budget over the past four years. The Ministry Budget Summaries show the following budget estimates (in 000s):

• 2008/9: $530,6441
• 2009/10: $465,1982
• 2010/11: $457,6393
• 2011/12: $443,2044

These documents also show that the budgetary allocation to the judiciary has decreased over the past four years, and allocations to prosecution services have remained constant; thus, accounting for inflation, both key line items in the Ministry’s budget have in fact decreased. These numbers do not reconcile with your assertion that the government is providing more money to BC’s justice system.

“The number of cases going to court is dropping”

The Ministry of the Attorney General’s 2010/11 Annual Service Plan Report5 directly contradicts the assertion that the demands being placed on BC courts have lessened. The Service Plan states:

• The volume of small claims cases in Provincial Court has increased by 13.7% over the past five years, to over 19,000 new cases opened in 2010/11;
• The total number of Provincial and Supreme Criminal Court cases (including adult, youth and traffic) coming into the system has increased by 7% over the last five years;

“The length of cases is staying the same”

This assertion is also contradicted by the Service Plan, which states that criminal trials have “steadily become more expensive, lengthy and complicated.”6 Further, despite the decrease in the crime rate, the complexity of criminal cases continues to increase, and large criminal trials that consume a disproportionate amount of justice system resources are becoming more common.

“Delays are getting longer”

This is true – the delays in scheduling both civil and criminal matters in Provincial Court has increased; the courts themselves report substantial delays for obtaining civil and criminal appearance dates7. For example, the median length of time it takes for a small claims case to get to trial has increased to 400 days, up from 320 days in 2008/9.

Notably, the Ministry failed to meet any of its goals with respect to timelines for civil and family matters.8 For example, the median time it took for an applicant in a family matter to obtain an initial order was 98 days. The Service Plan attributes this to “increased scheduling delays in Provincial Court for child protection cases and family hearings.”9 Such lengthy delays in these types of hearings are particularly troubling given the significant and serious interests at stake in family and child protection matters.

However, these facts must be placed in context – you say that “while there is more money and less work coming onto the system, the delays are getting longer”. In fact, as you can see from your own documentation, there is less money and more work straining the justice system, which may well explain the longer delays.

Funding for Legal Aid

Additionally, you commented in the Legislature that there is “more money for legal aid.”

The $2.1 million that will be added to the Legal Services Society’s budget in 2012/13 to support family law and child protection services will only allow LSS to maintain current levels of service, and represents the first funding increase for LSS’s family law programs since 2005.10 After the decimation of family law legal aid in 2002 and the slashing of LSS’s budget by almost 40 percent over three years, this tiny increase will do little to assist the thousands of individuals – women in particular – who need legal advice and representation to effectively access the justice system and meaningfully assert their legal rights.

Numerous individuals and organizations highlighted the need for adequate legal aid funding in the government’s budget consultation last fall. As Sharon Matthews, president of the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association pointed out, “Without an adequately-funded legal aid program, the justice system will continue to face increased costs and stresses from unnecessary case filings, prolonged hours of trials and hearing and the attendant delays, and decreased public confidence as important cases get thrown out due to delay.”11

However, the government has declined the opportunity to invest in an effective and efficient justice system in its latest budget, maintaining the status quo for the province’s legal sector. While the budget allocated an additional $237-million over the next three years to the Ministry of Justice, much of that funding is reserved for existing services: $66-million to keep 168 police officers hired in 2009 to combat gang activity; $42-million to sustain court and prosecution- services staff hired within the past year to avoid the closing of some courtrooms; and $30- million to fund RCMP cost increases, mainly salary and pension expenditures.12

The underfunding of the justice system, and legal aid in particular, undermines our democracy and the rule of law. When low-income clients cannot access legal aid, they do not have equal access to the justice system, and cannot assert their rights on par with those who have the resources to pay for legal representation. This profound inequality in access to justice erodes public trust in the fairness and integrity of our court system.

We agree with the multiple statements from judges across the province in past months regarding the dysfunctional state of our justice system. Its ability to handle its caseload is “abysmal” and requires immediate action.13 The system is “threatened, if not imperiled,” by the lack of funding, which has contributed to “intolerable delays” that result in serious cases being thrown out of court. 14 We can say it no better than a frustrated Justice Russell of the BC Supreme Court who, in deciding a family case involving two middle class litigants who did not qualify for the “almost non-existent legal aid available,” but who could also not afford representation for their complex legal matter, wrote: “It is shameful that in our wealthy province we no longer have resources available which would give real help to parties in this situation.”15

Premier Clark, we call on you to clarify your comments in the Legislature on February 15, 2012, and to tackle the crisis in our justice system in a manner that prioritizes equality, fairness and the right to access justice. In particular, we seek your clarification regarding the information you were relying on in claiming that there is more money for the justice system, the number of cases are dropping and the length of cases is staying the same, in light of the contradictory information contained in the government documents set out above. We are pleased that you want “to get to the bottom” of the problems in the justice system, and we hope you will do so on the basis of the real facts.

We look forward to your response. Yours truly,

Kasari Govender Stephen Portman Jim Russell

Co-Chairs, on behalf of the Coalition for Public Legal Services, including:

• Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia
• ARA  Mental  Health  Action,  Research  &  Advocacy  Association  of  Greater Vancouver
• Atira Women’s Resource Society
• Battered Women’s Support Services
• BC Coalition of People with Disabilities
• BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre
• Community Legal Assistance Society
• Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC)
• First United Church
• Kootenai Community Centre
• Okanagan Advocacy & Resource Society (OARS)
• Parent Support Services Society of BC
• Pivot Legal Society
• The Poverty and Human Rights Centre
• Together Against Poverty Society
• Tri-City Transitions Society
• West Coast LEAF
• Vancouver & Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services

CC:

Hon. Adrian Dix, Leader of the Official Opposition
Hon. Shirley Bond, Minster of Justice and Attorney General
Hon. Leonard Krog, Opposition Critic for the Attorney General

Please send return mail care of West Coast LEAF, 555 – 409 Granville Street, Vancouver BC, V6C 1T2

1 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2009_Sept_Update/estimates/Estimates_Sept_2009.pdf
2 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2010/estimates/2010_Estimates.pdf
3 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2011/estimates/2011_Estimates.pdf
4 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2012/estimates/2012_Estimates.pdf
5 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2010_2011/pdf/ag.pdf
6 At page 13.
7 Supra 8 See Performance Measure 4: Civil and Family Timelines, at page 20.
9 At page 21.
10 Ministry of the Attorney General Press Release, “Legal aid for children and families increased” 30 December 2011, online: <http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2011/12/legal-aid-for-families-and-children-increased.html>.
11 Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, Report on the Budget 2012 Consultations, online: <http://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/39thparl/session-4/fgs/reports/PDF/Rpt-FGS-39-4-1stRpt- Budget2012Consultations-2011-NOV-15.pdf>.
12 Sunny Dhillon, “For BC’s strained justice system, a status-quo budget” 22 February 2012, The Globe and Mail, online: <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/for-bcs-strained-justice-system-a-status-quo-budget/article2345751/>.
13 R. v. Blattler, 2012 BCPC 0035 at para. 57, per Justice Steinberg.
14 Jonathan Fowlie, “Lack of court funding targeted by B.C.’s chief justice,” 24 November 2011, The Vancouver Sun, online:
<http://www.vancouversun.com/business/your-money/chief+justice+sounds+alarm+over+lack+funding+courts/5762815/story.html>.
15 DeKova v. DeKova, 2011 BCSC 1271 at paras. 14, 15.

21st Annual Feb 14th Women’s Memorial March

Website: http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/236552276421022/
Download poster and distribute it here.

The first women’s memorial march was held in 1991 in response to the murder of a Coast Salish woman on Powell Street in Vancouver. Her name is not spoken today out of respect for the wishes of her family. Out of this sense of hopelessness and anger came an annual march on Valentine’s Day to express compassion, community, and caring for all women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Unceded Coast Salish Territories. Twenty one years later, the women’s memorial march continues to honour the lives of missing and murdered women.

On Tuesday Feb 14th 2012, we will gather at noon at the Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main Street (corner Hastings, Vancouver) where family members speak in remembrance. Given space constraints, we ask the broader public to join us at 1 pm, when the march takes to the streets and proceeds through the Downtown Eastside, with stops to commemorate where women were last seen or found; speeches by community activists at the police station; a healing circle at Oppenheimer Park around 3 pm; and finally a community feast at the Japanese Language Hall. Thank you to Buffalo Spirit for the big drum.

Increasing deaths of many vulnerable women from the DTES still leaves family, friends, loved ones, and community members with an overwhelming sense of grief and loss. Over 3000 women are known to have gone missing or been murdered in Canada since the 1970s, and annual women’s memorial marches now occur in dozens of communities across these lands.

Women continue to go missing or be murdered with no action from any level of government to address these tragedies or the systemic nature of gendered violence, poverty, racism, or colonialism. The Feb 14th Women’s Memorial March Committee and DTES Women’s Centre have recently made submissions under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and are now seeking justice internationally.

This event is organized and led by women in the DTES because women – especially Indigenous women – face physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily basis. The February 14th Women’s Memorial March is an opportunity to come together to grieve the loss of our beloved sisters, remember the women who are still missing, and to dedicate ourselves to justice.

On February 4, 2011, the Employment Standards Branch (ESB) ordered Khaira to pay $236,800.52 to tree planters who worked for the company from March to July, 2010 in various parts of BC. Mr. Bajwa and Khaira unsuccessfully appealed the ESB’s decision, and in its June 28, 2011 decision, the Employment Standards Tribunal instead increased the amounts owing to 7 workers.

In October, 2011, the ESB paid the workers about 43% of the wages that they are owed by Khaira, using Khaira bid deposits held by the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Mines from 2010. ESB is also attempting to recover the remaining pay owed to the workers. “We appreciate that ESB continues to take proactive steps to see that the workers are paid the wages they are owed,” says Ros Salvador, a lawyer with the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre who is representing more than 25 former Khaira workers. “We will be following the criminal proceedings closely”.

The federal government has spent more than a year investigating Khaira, but has yet to provide employment insurance to many workers, choosing instead to rely on Khaira’s drastically underreported hours to deny the workers EI benefits they are entitled to.

- 30 -

For more information, please contact

Sarah Khan, co-counsel for the workers                                604-608-0383 ext. 28

Jessie Uppal, BC Federation of Labour                                 604-220-0739

BC’s Employment Standards Tribunal recently upheld the February 4, 2011 decision of the Employment Standards Branch (ESB), ordering Khaira Enterprises Ltd. to pay $236,800.52 in unpaid wages. To date, workers have not seen a penny of their money even though they won their appeal.

BCPIAC lawyer Ros Salvador, counsel to several former Khaira employees, recently received  internal government documents that show Khaira was awarded contracts in 2010 without any consideration of past health or wage payment issues during its 2008 and 2009 government contracts, and that the Ministry of Forests was fully aware of the deplorable conditions and non-payment of wages as early as March 2010 and refused to take any effective action.

The Western Silvicultural Contractors’ Association had warned the government that it was not possible to complete the contracts for the amount Khaira had bid. “All the government cared about was getting the trees planted and paying as little as possible” says Salvador. “Under the low-bid policy, government saves money through the exploitation of workers. We think the Ministry of Forests should pay the full amount of the workers’ wages, otherwise, government profits from the abuse caused by refusing to consider workers’ rights”.

Meanwhile, the federal government still has made no move to correct the workers’ hours and earnings so they can receive their Employment Insurance, continuing instead to rely on Khaira’s false records. Service Canada promised to apply to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to make the corrections once it received the ESB Determination, but the ESB Determination was released five months ago and the file still has not been referred to CRA.

“These workers have waited far too long for the back wages and Employment Insurance to which they are entitled. The appropriate Provincial and Federal agencies need to ensure that former Khaira workers receive this money immediately,” says Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour.

A report following an investigation by the B.C.’s Forest Safety Ombudsman is expected to be released shortly. “We hope the report will address the underlying government practices that ignore workers’ rights in favour of saving money” says Salvador.

Former Khaira workers will be available for comment at BCPIAC after 2 p.m. on July 20.

For more information, please contact

Ros Salvador, BCPIAC                                                  604-687-3063

Evan Stewart, BC Federation of Labour                          604-430-1421

Pat Bell, Minister of Forests, Lands and Mines, has told reporters that the government is holding bid deposits which can be accessed to pay the worker’s wages and that he expected the funds would be transferred to the workers quickly. The workers have still not seen a penny of this or any of the wages ordered by ESB.

Many workers have been in financial crisis for months due to the unpaid wages and the inability to collect Employment Insurance (EI). EI continues to rely on Khaira’s drastically underreported hours to deny the workers the benefits they are entitled to. “I wonder whether most Canadians know that if their employer lies about their hours, they can be made to wait up to six months or more before they see their EI benefits,” says Ros Salvador, a lawyer with the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre who is representing 25 former Khaira workers.

Several workers are homeless and workers continue to lose their housing due to the non-payment of their wages. One worker who lives in Quebec City and is owed $12,000, was scheduled to be evicted on February 14, 2011 because he has been unable to make rent. Despite repeated requests, Khalid Bajwa, a director of Khaira, has refused even to pay this worker the $1,400 that Bajwa admits is owed to him.

Salvador says “It is unthinkable that workers who are owed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages and unpaid EI are being left homeless because of inaction and delayed action on the part of the federal and provincial governments.”

Even if Bajwa appeals the ESB decision, Salvador says this is just a stalling tactic, and there is no legal impediment to the funds being distributed to the workers immediately.

BCPIAC is calling on the Ministry of Forests to fulfill its promise and transfer the funds to ESB right away, and ESB and the Minister of Finance to ensure those funds are immediately released to the workers. “We can’t accept any further delay in the workers receiving their money,” says Salvador.

The workers welcome the recent announcement that BC Forest Safety Ombudsman Roger Harris will be investigating the Khaira situation, and the workers are hopeful that the results of the investigation will address the broken systems that failed them.

For more information, please contact:

Ros Salvador, BCPIAC   604-687-3063

Evan Stewart, BC Federation of Labour  604-430-1421

The ESB has ordered Khaira to pay within five working days. The ESB has also ordered Khaira to pay $3500 in administrative penalties for contravening several provisions of the Employment Standards Act.

In his 110-page Determination of January 17, 2011, Karpal Singh of the ESB found that Khaira:

• under-reported the days and hours worked by employees
• didn’t pay workers as required for statutory holidays, overtime and vacation pay
• should have paid workers for travel time to the worksites
• made unauthorized deductions from the workers’ pay cheques

The BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC) is representing about 25 of the workers. “This is a monumental victory for the workers,” said BCPIAC lawyer Ros Salvador. “We hope Khaira pays right away”.

“We welcome the determination by the ESB that these workers were systematically underpaid,” says Jim Sinclair, president of the BC Federation of Labour. “However the $3,500 fine against Khaira is wholly inadequate. The message to rogue operators is you can rip off your workers for hundreds of thousands of dollars and if you get caught you will be fined a few thousand dollars.”

Many workers have been in financial crisis for months due to the unpaid wages and the inability to collect Employment Insurance (EI). EI continues to rely on Khaira’s drastically underreported hours to deny the workers the benefits they are entitled to.

Most of the workers are originally from Africa and they were routinely subjected to racial slurs, discrimination and racialized violence. BCPIAC has just filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal against Khaira, Mr. Bajwa and Mr. Sidhu on behalf of many of the workers.

“The ink is hardly dry on a binding order that tells BC Hydro what it must tell the public about these huge rate increases. BC Hydro agreed to the terms of that order.  But already they are breaking their own word and the Commission’s direction to them,” said Quail.

At issue is a release dated December 2, 2010.  It quotes BC Hydro CEO Cobb saying that “Given the measures taken by the Province, we estimate that the projected rate adjustments will result in an average monthly bill increase of about $7 each year for each of the next three years.”

The BC Utilities Commission issued an order that very same day, which finalized the terms of Hydro’s rate increases which took effect on April 1.  It included a protocol for the information that BC Hydro was to provide to the public about current and planned increases.  The order identified increases over each of the next four years amounting to 16.27%, 5.11%, 9.51% and 8.05%.  The Commission identified the total impact as 44% over the next three years, or 55% over the next four.

“The terms of the Utilities Commission order were negotiated.  BC Hydro consented to them.  We customers insisted on transparency of public information because we knew Hydro would try to sugar the pill, and minimize the impact on ratepayers if left to their own devices,” said Quail.  “They have ignored the order and done exactly what we feared.”

The complaint asks the Utilities Commission to direct BC Hydro to retract Cobb’s statement and re-issue it in corrected form which complies with the December 2 order.

for more information contact Jim Quail at (604) 687-3034

Workers employed by Khaira were forced to work extremely long hours with few breaks or days off. They slept in crammed storage containers with no ventilation and were forced to drink untreated water and eat expired or inadequately cooked food. We understand that the Ministry of Forests was aware of the situation and allowed these practices to continue until July 2010 when the camp was finally shut down due to the deplorable conditions.

Most of the workers are originally from Africa and they were routinely subjected to racial slurs, discrimination and violence. Ros Salvador of BCPIAC states, “This situation is just an extreme example of the widespread racism that Black people and refugees experience in BC on a daily basis. It is not an isolated incident.”

Many of Khaira’s former employees are living in a state of poverty as a result of Khaira’s non-payment of wages and other abuses. They are hopeful that Khaira will pay them the money that they are fairly owed. “We are expecting a decision from Employment Standards regarding unpaid wages later this month, but the company director Khalid Bajwa has hired a lawyer and is opposing the workers’ claims”, said Ros Salvador from BCPIAC.

Additional economic crisis and homelessness has resulted from Employment Insurance’s refusal to pay the benefits to which workers are fully entitled. EI has failed to recognize that the workers’ records of employment (ROEs) provided by Khaira are incorrect and vastly under-report the number of hours worked. “More than two months ago, we provided EI with extensive evidence detailing the actual hours worked, and yet EI is still being denied based on false records prepared by Khaira”, said Ros Salvador.

“Last summer these workers were let down by every single provincial agency entrusted with enforcing the regulations that would have prevented their abuse,” says Jim Sinclair, president of the BC Federation of Labour. “Now the federal government is ignoring the plight of former Khaira employees. These workers are entitled to Employment Insurance and they need it now.”

A former Khaira employee will be available for comment at BCPIAC on December 9.

For more information, please contact

Ros Salvador, BCPIAC                                                        604-687-3063

Jim Sinclair, BC Federation of Labour                                 604-430-1421

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