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Updated: 5 weeks 2 days ago

BCCLA calls for independent review in VPD shooting

Wed, 12/21/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA is calling for a special prosecutor to review the decision not to lay criminal charges against the Vancouver Police Department officer involved in the Paul Boyd shooting. Boyd was shot eight times during the incident on Granville Street in August of 2007 and the inquest into his death concluded last week.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA to Ombudsman: Investigate Coroner’s resignation

Wed, 12/21/2011 - 22:00

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is asking B.C.’s Ombudsperson’s office to investigate the sudden resignation of the province’s Chief Coroner. The Association is concerned that political interference in the independent Coroner’s office may have led to the resignation.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA Calls on Canada to Facilitate UN Investigation

Wed, 12/14/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA is calling on Canada’s provincial and federal governments to support and facilitate a recently announced investigation of Canada by the United Nations. The Native Women’s Association of Canada and the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action have announced that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (“CEDAW”) will be investigating the disappearance and murders of Aboriginal women in Canada.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

Media Advisory: BCCLA to argue for protections of free expression on internet

Sun, 12/11/2011 - 22:00

On Wednesday, December 14, 2011, the BCCLA will argue before the Federal Court in Canadian Human Rights Commission v. Warman, et al., a case concerning the constitutionality of the hate speech provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act. The BCCLA is an intervener in the case.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

Father of Alvin Wright writes open letter to head of new police agency

Wed, 12/07/2011 - 22:00

The father of Alvin Wright has written an open letter to Richard Rosenthal, the head of the new Independent Investigation Office. He has requested that the BCCLA forward this letter to the media on his behalf. Alvin Wright was shot and killed by the RCMP in Langley, B.C.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA Supports RCMP Complaints Body That RCMP Not Self-Investigate

Wed, 12/07/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA endorsed a key recommendation that the RCMP no longer investigate itself in today’s report by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP into the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport.

BCCLA available to comment on new head of Independent Investigation Office

Mon, 12/05/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA has been advised that the B.C. government will be announcing the head of B.C.’s new civilian police accountability organization tomorrow morning (Dec 7) at 8:30 a.m. In the event the Province does announce the name of the head of the Independent Investigation Office (“IIO”), the BCCLA will be available for reaction to the announcement.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

Media Advisory: BCCLA to argue internet free speech case in Supreme Court

Mon, 12/05/2011 - 22:00

Ottawa – On Tuesday, December 7, 2010, the BCCLA will argue before the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of Crookes v. Newton that the owners of websites generally should not be held legally liable for hyperlinking to defamatory sites on the internet. The BCCLA is an intervener in the case.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA says RCMP watchdog must stop “cutting and running”

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA is disappointed by the evasive response of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP to a complaint filed by the BCCLA about the RCMP withholding sensitive files for more than a year.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

Rights groups condemn handling of child soldier detainees

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 22:00

In a letter sent to Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay, the BCCLA and Amnesty International Canada call on the Department of National Defence to take immediate action to bring its policies and practices regarding children apprehended in course of military operations in Afghanistan into compliance with international law.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA Endorses Report, Says Olympic Police Can Do Better

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA announced its general support for a series of recommendations issued today by the 2010 Olympic Civil Liberties Advisory Committee today, but added that the recommendations ought to go further to ensure free speech and free assembly rights are protected in and around the Winter Games venues and corridors between them.

BCCLA files complaint against senior RCMP officers for concealing files

Wed, 11/30/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA has filed a complaint against the most senior members of the RCMP for undermining the RCMP complaints process in the most serious and sensitive investigations of the force.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA supports public hearing for Wu complaint

Wed, 11/30/2011 - 22:00

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has announced a public hearing will review Mr. Yao Wei Wu’s complaint against two Vancouver Police officers for an alleged assault when the two officers attended at his home, mistakenly, months ago. The BCCLA had filed a complaint in relation to the incident, and demanded a public hearing in response to a flawed investigation report by the Delta Police department. 

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA demands RCMP retract misleading release

Wed, 11/30/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA says that a North Vancouver woman who alleged that she was assaulted by an RCMP officer was further victimised by an RCMP press release. The release misstated several key facts, including that the assault happened “during an arrest” while the officer was “conducting a liquor act investigation.” The officer has been charged with assault.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

Seriously ill patients and family members urge the B.C. Supreme Court to allow for the right to die with dignity

Tue, 11/29/2011 - 22:00

Plaintiffs in the BCCLA’s death with dignity case head to the B.C. Supreme Court tomorrow to challenge the laws that make it a crime for physicians to assist seriously and incurably ill people to die with dignity. It will be the first day of oral argument in the case.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

Human rights groups: STOP HIV/AIDS project fails to inform patients of new privacy risks

Tue, 11/29/2011 - 22:00

On the eve of World AIDS Day, the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network are calling on the STOP HIV/AIDS Project to stop disseminating misleading information about privacy protection in its public campaign to encourage everyone to have an HIV test.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA demands Coroner call inquest into Boyd death

Tue, 11/29/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA is demanding that the Coroner call an inquest into the death of Paul Boyd at the hands of the Vancouver Police Department. Recent media reports have suggested that the Coroner is not certain whether or not Paul Boyd was in police custody or not, and therefore whether or not a coroner’s inquest is required.

Media Advisory: Gloria Taylor heads to court seeking legal right to die with dignity

Mon, 11/28/2011 - 22:00

On Wednesday, November 30, 2011, the BCCLA will hold a press conference with Gloria Taylor, a British Columbia woman with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, who is asking the BC Supreme Court for choice in dying.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

BCCLA supports Public Health Officers’ call for review of drug laws

Mon, 11/28/2011 - 22:00

The BCCLA is congratulating the courage of B.C.’s professional association of public health physicians for calling for a national inquiry into Canada’s illicit drug laws and their efficacy.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News

Police and advocates push for sobering centres

Mon, 11/28/2011 - 22:00

A group of non-profit organizations, along with police, health authorities, first responders and housing groups will be at a meeting convened by the BCCLA to discuss how to save the lives of those who are arrested for being drunk, high or otherwise intoxicated in public.

Categories: Rights and Liberties News