March 2023 Newsletter

March 2023 Newsletter

March 17, 2023

BY Taja De Silva

A word from Karen Campbell

Big things have been happening at the British Columbia Law Institute in recent months. 

In late 2022, we hosted a reception to celebrate our 25th anniversary where we were delighted to welcome friends and supporters of the Institute. Former board member Geoff Plant, OBC, KC, and UBC Chancellor Steven Point, OBC, each shared their perspectives on the first 25 years and next 25 years of BCLI. Geoff Plant spoke of the origins and development of the BCLI, which emerged from the BC Law Reform Commission to continue the Commission’s “project of law reform” and has since become a “cog in the machinery of what makes British Columbia work.” Steven Point’s remarks looked to the future. He shared thoughts on the challenges of reconciling Crown and Indigenous legal frameworks in BC and looked at law reform as an avenue towards reconciliation.

We also bid farewell to Krista James, who departed the BCLI after 15 years, most of which was spent leading the Canadian Centre for Elder Law. The excellent reputation of the CCEL is in large part due to Krista’s dedication and we wish her all the best. The BCLI is now searching for a new Director for the CCEL; this job posting is open until March 24, 2023, and can be found on our website. 

Late last year we welcomed Megan Vis-Dunbar as a staff lawyer. Megan joins us from Courthouse Libraries B.C. where she coordinated the continuing education program. Prior to that she practiced in the areas of criminal and constitutional law. Megan is leading research for our Reconciling Crown Legal Frameworks Program and also working on our project to create guidance for supporting vulnerable witnesses. We also welcomed Taja De Silva as our Communications Manager. Taja previously worked in information and privacy and unauthorized practice at the Law Society of BC, and she currently volunteers as a Crisis Responder at the Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Center of BC.

We have great projects underway this year at BCLI and we look forward to sharing them with you.  You can learn more about current activities by visiting our website.

Karen Campbell Executive Director, BCLI

 @kcvancouver
 [email protected]

We have updated our widely used and frequently cited Guide on potential undue influence related to wills and other personal planning documents. Undue Influence Recognition and Prevention: A Guide for Legal Practitioners is intended to address issues related to remote signing, audiovisual technology, and increased use of videoconferencing generally by lawyers and notaries. Learn more about our updated Guide from our blog.

We are pleased to release our first primer as part of our Reconciling Crown Legal Frameworks program. We started this program last year to support the alignment of BC laws with Indigenous laws and governance under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. You can read more about the program here. We plan to release a series of primers on legal issues associated with Declaration Act implementation. The first primer – The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, can be found here. 

Last fall, we published a study paper that reviewed the existing regulatory framework for health care assistants in BC – Strengthening BC’s Health Care Backbone: Oversight of the Work of Health Care Assistants. Health care assistants, also called care aids, personal support workers, and community health workers, provide the bulk of day-to-day health and personal care to older people, adults living with disabilities, and those with complex health needs in British Columbia.   While they perform nursing tasks increasingly, their work is largely unregulated.  This report examines approaches to regulating this category of health care workers and identifies options for enhancing support. 

We have also recently begun a project to reform local-government public hearings. The Renovate the Public Hearing Project explores ways to better engage the public and reduce pre-development risk and barriers to housing. BCLI will make recommendations for specific reforms to the Local Government Act and related legislation. 

Law360, formerly the Lawyers Daily, has published an article about the “gigantic” task of making BC laws consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We are pleased that the Reconciling Crown Legal Frameworks program has been profiled in this article and look forward to developing a body of research and publishing reports in this important area.  The BCLI is delighted to have participated in the UBC Social Justice Forum in February. The forum was the perfect occasion for us to meet with UBC law students interested in social justice legal practice opportunities. We extend our thanks to the Allard Law School for hosting this annual event and for supporting diverse legal careers.   Our articling student, Sara Pon, started off our year of community engagement with a January presentation on Supported Decision Making to Aspire Richmond. Her talk focused on decision-making rights for people living with disabilities and provided strategies to support decision-making for parents of older-aged and soon-to-be adult children with disabilities.