Cases to watch in 2011

Cases to watch in 2011: "A few of the cases to watch for in 2011. From the January 5, 2011 issue of 24 Hours Vancouver.

------------

2011 will be the year of drugs, sex and police in Canadian law. The rights to live in marriage-like relationships with more than one other person, inject illicit drugs in safe injection facilities, talk about getting paid to have sex, and for sex workers to work together will all be considered by Canadian courts in 2011.



Here’s a list of four legal files to watch in this legal year that will surely draw the attention of the media and the public in 2011.



1. Drugs - PHS Community Services Society v. A.G. of Canada – After winning twice in B.C., Vancouver’s Portland Hotel Society and an army of intervenors are off to the highest Court in Canada to argue that people addicted to drugs have the right to access medical treatment and supervision at safe injection sites. A drug user advocacy group called Cactus, based in Montreal, has already announced that, victory or not, they’ll be opening an injection site in Montreal in June.



2. Sex – Polygamy Reference – After repeatedly trying to charge Winston Blackmore, head of Canada’s largest known polygamist group in Bountiful, B.C. under Canada’s criminal law against polygamy, B.C. has given up. The province is now seeking to confirm the constitutionality of Canada’s polygamy law in B.C. Supreme Court through a rarely used “reference” process. The reference asks the Court whether it is appropriate for police to investigate and the state to punish living in a marriage-like relationship with more than one person. The reference will not examine issues of consent, education, and age of marriagability, which are core to the issues at Bountiful.



3. Sex – Prostitution cases, Ontario and B.C. – Sex workers in B.C. and Ontario are, in separate cases, challenging the constitutionality of Canada’s criminal laws related to sex work. Having sex for money is legal in Canada, but all of the associated activities (negotiating for price, working together for safety) are prohibited. In B.C., survival sex workers will be fighting for the right to even be in Court at the Supreme Court of Canada this year. In Ontario, sex workers have won their case at trial and will be appearing in early 2011 at the Ontario Court of Appeal.



4. Police – A big year for the RCMP - Beyond courts, law makers in B.C. have promised to reform the laws that regulate RCMP oversight in B.C., with likely implications for the few remaining provinces that still allow police to investigate themselves. The RCMP themselves have asked the feds to reform how they get rid of the “bad apples.” The RCMP contracts in all provinces in Canada, excluding Ontario and Quebec, expire March 31, 2012, and all provinces will likely ratify a new deal with the force by the end of 2011, perhaps with new rules about oversight, training and standards. Finally, a public inquiry into the policing failures around Robert Pickton in B.C. will examine what policing reforms, including merging RCMP and municipal forces into regional forces, are necessary to prevent a similar disaster.

Visit pivotlegal.org for more information about Vancouver's low-income housing crisis.

"