Chris Shaw's lawsuit is now worthy of suspicion in terms of his motivations.
I have been supportive of the lawsuit filed by Dr. Chris Shaw and Alissa Westergard-Thorpe with the backing of the BC Civil Liberties Association. It was, and still is, my belief that the lawsuit was a wake-up call for the City of Vancouver, and that it was a solid step towards initiating changes.
I then acknowledged the City’s efforts to incorporate additional measures to protect citizens’ Charter rights.
But after reading the release sent out by the BCCLA on the same day as the City’s notification communicating that changes were on the way, I am now seriously beginning to question the motivations of Shaw et al.
The BCCLA’s Executive Director David Eby states this about the city’s intentions:
“After making a mockery of our concerns in the media, the City now appears to be trying to buy time so that our lawsuit can’t get to court.”
Eby follows up with the following:
“These bylaws were passed at the last minute, with limited public input. The time for amendments and consultation was July at the latest, not three months before the Olympics. We don’t have the time or the inclination to wait and see how close the City wants to cut their constitutional duties to protect free speech.”
So they don’t have time to look at tangible changes that the city is proposing at this point, because they are too preoccupied with the publicity and attention that the lawsuit would generate, making these complaints part of an exercise in public relations rather than a fight to maintain rights.
Furthermore, Eby’s claims about the amendments being forwarded suddenly to avoid the lawsuit before the games is false, as proven by this staff report presented to Council on July 23, 2009:
“In general, the by-law changes are for the Games period, January 1 to March 31, 2010.
However, for many items such as street closures, staff will have to determine specific
implementation dates closer to the Games. The By-law provides or will provide that time
periods for activities such as street closures and noise relaxations which impact residents and
businesses will be as short as possible.Staff will report back to Council in the fall with additional proposals for by-law amendments and relaxations that are contingent on the Legislature enacting additional Vancouver Charter powers.” (page 2)
“On January 20, 2009, Council approved a series of proposals for Vancouver Charter changes
but, to date, the Province has not legislated those changes. Staff is expecting that the
Province will do so in the fall. As a result, the by-law changes included in this report rely on
powers currently included in the Vancouver Charter. If the Province incorporates the
proposed changes to the Vancouver Charter, staff will report back to Council in the fall with proposals for additional by-law amendments and relaxations. Staff will also report to Council in the fall on proposed changes to the Ticket Offences By-law to support Games-time by-law enforcement.” (page 3)
Suggested staff amendments were always in the plans. Why does it take so long for the City to move? Well that is an entirely different issue altogether, as a variety of different issues (MMA sanctioning springs to mind as an example) take forever to reach a conclusion within the City’s processes.
But to accuse the city of playing politics, and in attempting to get a lawsuit heard regardless of the changes made by the City of Vancouver, Eby has proven once again how savvy he is in terms of generating maximum exposure for his causes.
