by Shelley Bentley

There are currently 69 active BC Branch provincial sections. These sections play a vital role in keeping members up-to-date on changes in the law and aware of legal and political issues affecting a given area of practice. They are the main resource utilized by the BC Branch in legislative review, law reform initiatives and in responding to matters affecting the profession.

What follows is a sampling of the recent activities of many of these sections. Copies of the minutes of these section meetings may be obtained at a cost of $10.17 (including GST) by contacting Fran Hodgkins at the Branch Office 604.687.3404.

Aboriginal - Vancouver Island
Geoff Plant, Liberal MLA for Richmond Steveston spoke on the Nisga’a Final Agreement and addressed specific problems with the Agreement. He outlined what he felt the objectives of non-aboriginal British Columbians should be in the treaty making process.

Administrative - Vancouver
Federal Court Justice Evans and Mr. Brown, a partner at Blake, Cassels and Graydon in Toronto and former professor of administrative law at Osgoode Hall, highlighted areas in their new book, “Judicial Review of Administrative Action.” Among the issues discussed were collateral attacks on the orders of administrative tribunals as well as the new "pragmatic and functional" approach in judicial review.

Jane Morely, QC, Chair of the Jericho Compensation Panel, explained the decision making process and the issues surrounding it as well as the goals of the Panel in determining compensation for claims of sexual abuse arising at the Jericho School for the Blind and Deaf.

Administrative - Victoria
Murray Rankin described the recent developments in a burgeoning area of administrative law, the area of institutional bias.

Alternate Dispute Resolution - Vancouver
Andy Baak from the BC Arbitration and Mediation Institute and David Cox, Chartered Arbitrator and Mediator spoke on the subject of mediation and arbitration qualifications.

The Honourable Chief Justice Bryan Williams spoke on how the courts are moving away from a purely adjudicative model and towards dispute resolution.

Kathy Lynn, a career parenting educator, spoke on family meetings as an alternative dispute resolution technique.

Banking
The Federal Government has prepared terms to allow provincial and federal governments to prepare harmonized laws relating to the disclosure of the cost of credit. The objectives of the reforms are to harmonize laws and develop uniform cost of credit disclosure requirements in order to reduce compliance costs and provide uniform consumer protection across Canada; to clarify and, where possible, simplify cost of credit disclosure rules; and to modernize laws to take account of developments in credit markets in recent years. A report prepared by the Canadian Bankers Association was presented at the section meeting.

Geoffrey Bird gave a presentation on issues arising in the area of corporate governance. He covered the areas of management of companies, duties and liabilities of officers and directors and conflicts of interest. Of special interest was his advice to lawyers acting as officers and directors. He warned of their additional duties and obligations as well as the ease with which conflicts of interest can arise.

John Rogers presented a paper he co-wrote with James Bond on “Franchising in British Columbia.” He provided a brief overview of the basic components of a new franchise system being established in BC and then discussed additional issues which arise when an existing chain of retail outlets is converted to a franchise system.

Construction
Shayne Ramsay, Chief Executive Officer of the Homeowner Protection Office, provided an overview of the main program areas of the Homeowner Protection Office and other aspects of the Homeowner Protection Act, the creation of which forms a major part of the Government’s response to the Barrett inquiry into the quality of residential construction in BC. The Office’s first priority was the establishment of a reconstruction program which provides no-interest loans to owners of leaky condominiums and others who are not able to finance repairs.

Computer
George Wowk presented a paper on “Legal Issues Relating to the Millennium Bug”.

Robert Barrigar considered the question of whether a client should consider patenting its software and examined the limitations of protecting intellectual property rights by contracts, trade secrets, copyrights and patents.

Mel Beaton gave a paper on the subject of “E-mail in the Workplace: Employer Rights and Liabilities” and gave tips to employers on establishing and monitoring adherence to policies designed to reduce liability.

Criminal Justice - Vancouver
Mr. Justice Romilly presented a paper on “What’s New in the Law of Search and Seizure”.

Criminal Justice - Victoria
Crown Counsel Lyle Hillaby discussed strategies and considerations in hearings before the Review Board for an accused with a mental disorder.

International
Asma Jahangir, Chair of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, advocate for women’s, children’s and religious rights, and UN special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial Summary and Arbitrary Executions, gave a fascinating presentation on advocating human rights in Pakistan. She outlined the history of orthodox Islamic rule and the movements toward and away from democracy. She stressed the importance of Canadian judges, lawyers and the public asking probing questions and sharing knowledge and support with their South Asian counterparts.

Gender Issues
Guest speaker Tarel Quandt, Administrator/Community Developer for the West Coast Domestic Workers’ Association outlined the legal assistance, law reform, networking and public legal education services offered by the Association. She also discussed the relatively recent changes to the BC Employment Standards Act relating to domestic workers.

Immigration
Andrew Wlodyka examined the overseas decisions made by immigration officials and the remedies that are available in the Federal Court of Canada to clients dissatisfied with the decisions.

International
Michael Stanley, Special Assistant to the Attorney General, Alaskan Department of Law, gave Alaska’s perspective on the Pacific Salmon Treaty and suggested some legal problems with the Canadian government’s position on pacific salmon.

Law Practice Management
Janet Dean, Executive Director of the Legal Marketing Institute, took a look at legal marketing in the areas of client relations, public profile, personal leadership and firm development.

Property and Commercial Law - Okanagan
The state of residential real estate conveyancing was one of the topics discussed during a recent meeting. Patrick Chen, real estate practitioner and Chair of the Real Estate Practice Issues Committee of the CBA, BC Branch, led a discussion of the issues raised in his “Open Letter to Residential Real Estate Practitioners”. One of the topics discussed was the prospect of offering the public a two or perhaps three tier set of conveyancing packages, thereby allowing the consumer to choose the desired level of service at a given price. Ron Usher followed with some information on the property selling system in Scotland where solicitors act as realtors as well as conveyancers. He noted with interest that the cost of this system to the consumer is about half of the cost to those in BC. He also gave a bibliography of solicitor-led property selling resources and articles.

Wills and Trusts - Victoria
University of Victoria Professor Robert Howell addressed the question of whether the intellectual property rights in personality are descendable. Professor Howell pointed out that the move in developed countries to information and service based economies within an international environment of consumerism, encouraged by advertising and the media, has led to the prominence of intellectual property law as the source of protection for the intangible commodities that now present the new wealth of nations, businesses and individuals. One such arena of wealth is the marketing potential that attaches to the use of a name, visual image or other indicia of identification. The relationship between property rights, privacy issues and the public interest in publication of information in the context of a case involving the estate of a celebrity were examined by Professor Howell.

Chris Starkey discussed some disturbing conflict of laws uncertainties relating to a common Canadian client situation: the case where a Quebec domiciled testator made a Will in Quebec, then married, then moved to BC and passed away domiciled in BC. The issue in the case was whether BC law applied to invalidate the Will or whether the law of Quebec could apply to the issue of validity.

Wills and Trusts - Vancouver
Dennis Dahl addressed the topic of will and estate planning in relation to advances in gay and lesbian equality litigation. AnnaMarie Laing covered matrimonial law considerations in estate planning.

Women Rainmakers - Vancouver
Dr. Janet Taylor, psychiatrist and mother of four daughters under the age of ten, and wife of the General Manager of the Vancouver Grizzlies, shared personal anecdotes and experiences of the challenges of balancing career demands with those of mother and wife.

Shelley Bentley is in-house counsel at CIBC Trust Corporation in Vancouver.

This article was published in the February 1999 issue of BarTalk. © 1999 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.