The BC Court of Appeal decision on the first version of the IRP scheme is going to come any day. At least, that’s the consensus among the very few lawyers with expertise in this area of the law. The media will be all over the story when it comes out and so we expect an IRP storm to follow.
On Wednesday we finally got the court time to argue the applicability of the Wilson ruling to 90-day IRPs. We’ve been trying for months to get this argument heard. As you probably know if you’re a regular reader of our blog, the IRP scheme has very few procedural protections, but one of the protections that exists is that, if you blow a Fail, the officer must form an opinion reasonably based and express that opinion for there to be a valid prohibition. This serves to address some of the dangers of taking problematic roadside tests with sometimes-malfunctioning breathalyzers.
The Government takes the position that they can’t consider this issue at the review of IRPs because it’s not listed as a possible reason to revoke an IRP in the Motor Vehicle Act.
In the Criminal Code it lists self-defence as defence to a charge of assault. It doesn’t list “innocent.” Thankfully we’re not limited to self-defence as the only defence to an allegation of assault. Otherwise many innocent people would be convicted.
In any event, we expect a decision on the Wilson issue in mid February. And we expect that decision to be appealed to the BC Court of Appeal either way.
The Court of Appeal decision on the first version of the IRP scheme is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. What that means is that, although the BC Court of Appeal decision may answer some questions in the short term, this is all going to drag on for some time.
In some respects it doesn’t really matter what the appeal court decision says. Over 60,000 people have been issued IRPs in BC. Many are innocent, and many are guilty but all are upset at the rough handling they received at the hands of the BC Government, the police and BC Government contractors.
Conspicuous, however, is the silence of those people who received IRPs and who feel that they got the shaft. Each time the IRP scheme gets in the news we’re asked by reporters if there’s a client or person who is willing to tell their story and make it public. We have had clients who are willing to do this, but in some cases we can’t do it because we’re bound by non-disclosure agreements with the parties we’re suing. Our point here is that, if you feel you were jerked around receiving your IRP and by the way it was processed, we want to encourage you to speak up. The Government has managed to shame many people into silence.
We understand pretty well the stigma that comes with an IRP. But the point is, unless you wish to stand by as your legal system descends down the slippery slope toward a police state, you need to step up and speak out about the injustice of the IRP system. It’s your duty as a human. The public should not be left with the erroneous view that our lawyers are the only people who are vocal opponents of this legal scheme.
Don’t run for cover when the IRP storm comes. Get out and make your experience and wisdom heard.