After complaints from restaurants that new driving laws have negatively impacted the hospitality industry, Solicitor General Rich Coleman said today: “People don’t understand that they can go in and have a couple […]
Judges "must be seen to be independent and impartial" – Beverley McLachlin
“In its majestic equality the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets or steal a loaf of bread.” Anatole France – 1894 Justice Anne Mackenzie had […]
Officers of the Supreme Court owe more to the public
Once upon a time, bribing a public official with $50,000 would be a serious crime, one particularly offensive to public trust in government. I don’t know if developers Anthony Ralph (Tony) Young […]
Retributive justice still unserved, families owed more – UPDATED
Following denial of serial murderer Robert Pickton’s final appeal, the BC Supreme Court released a mass of evidence previously banned from public view. Contained are shocking disclosures that emphasize how authorities botched […]
Do you know this man?
Do you know this person? He was involved in vandalizing police cars in Toronto during G20 demonstrations. He is wearing this Arc’teryx jacket that costs $650 CAD. Bloggers, pass this picture on. […]
Unequal treatment of the privileged and the disadvantaged?
RossK, The Gazetter, examines the BC Railgate Rumour Mill. The participants have been wrangling for years and perhaps it was foolish to suppose this trial would progress expeditiously in a reasonable fashion. It […]
Filthier and richer
A friend said, “Hey, did you notice that Britain had an election, and everybody lost.” Governments don’t usually fall because of a single mistake or policy error. They fall when ordinary people, […]
Liberals master self-destruction
One thing that BC Liberals have mastered in this 39th Parliament is self-destruction. Oh, it’s been brewing for a time but, like an aging airliner, this government is about to be grounded […]
Best way to rob a bank is to own one, an anti-regulation story
PBS program Bill Moyers Journal has been available by broadcast, podcast and online transcript. Moyers is proudly a long time bane to public injustice and America’s military industrial complex. Also, of course, […]
Can you think of Canadian parallels ?
By George Monbiot, guardian.co.uk Why do our paranoid, anti-fun police seem to think they run the country?Morality policing here is starting to rival Saudi. At protests and festivals, we need to reassert […]
Judge for yourself
Read also Multiple Offenders from March 11. An extensive audit of the Victoria Police revealed: One of the findings – noted as an area of “key concern” – was that 13 officers […]
Justice is blind . . . to abuses
Attorney General Mike de Jong expressed concern about “. . . a growing disconnect between the justice system and the people.” No doubt, he is talking about citizen discomfort over his own […]
BC criminal prosecution earns failing grade
I am left wondering what the Criminal Justice Branch does with its time when it takes four years to charge an individual who apparently is the sole person responsible for loss of […]
Our wheels of ‘justice’ turn slowly
MV Queen of the North is in the news again. Examination of its sinking soon enters the fifth year, with little known that was not immediately apparent. After years of judicial consideration, […]
Multiple offenders
Police chief Jamie Graham and his boys are in the news again for accusations of assault. This time in Victoria. Two constables, Brent Keleher and Ryan Young, are charged with assaulting prisoners […]
Here, there and everywhere
The Times, Dec 11/09, Terror police to monitor nurseries for Islamic radicalization Nursery-age children should be monitored for signs of brainwashing by Islamist extremists, according to a leaked police memo obtained by […]
Roots of policing by consent
Much of what I’ve written on this blog is critical of the administration of justice, particularly in policing and specifically within the RCMP. Critics suggest that I am naively unfair and misunderstand […]
Sliding toward totalitarianism
The Independent, Dec 3/09 Jerome Taylor: I was questioned over my harmless snapshot I was on the South Bank of the Thames trying to compose a shot of the Houses of Parliament […]
Welcome to the court of public opinion
Ian Mulgrew of the Vancouver Sun wrote: Access to justice in B.C. is becoming more problematic for the less-than-wealthy and is a principal reason for declining confidence in the legal system. Court […]
Authorities now on notice…
At the Braidwood Inquiry, the late Robert Dziekanski’s mother is represented by Walter Kosteckyj of the Vancouver law firm Thompson Elliott. CBC says the lawyer is paid by the BC Government but […]
in-sights.ca 
Blair Fix at _Economics from the Top Down_ also wrote two very good papers on the converion of housing into…