Vol. 7 No. 7 September 2010 How Much For an Illegal Don’t Let 1L Sink Strip Search? By: Alex Boland Your Battleship arrest, arguing that the police had no lawful By: Alex Blondin Five grand apparently. grounds to detain him; the arrest, search In Vancouver (City) v. Ward, 2010 and detention all infringed his Charter SCC 27, the Supreme Court of Canada rights. In the trial of fi rst instance (2007 confi rmed the BC Court of Appeal’s ruling BCSC 3) Justice Tysoe agreed in part, that the violation of charter rights could fi nding the initial arrest for breach of the lead to an award of damages, even where peace lawful and dismissing any action there is no basis for a claim in another against the individual offi cers, but fi nd- area of law. ing that the strip search and seizure of the The facts of the case are curious. Mr. vehicle violated Ward’s s. 8 Charter right Ward, a prominent Vancouver defence at- (right to be free from unreasonable search torney, was at a ceremony in Vancouver’s and seizure). Tysoe J. also found that by Chinatown where Prime Minister Chrétien detaining Mr. Ward longer than neces- was set to appear. The police received in- sary, the City had breached Mr. Ward’s s. formation that an unknown individual was 9 Charter right (right not to be arbitrarily in the area and intended to “pie” the Prime detained or imprisoned). In a novel turn, Minister. The police misidentified Mr. Tysoe J. awarded monetary damages for Ward as this unknown political “tartisan”, this Charter breach even though there was no fi nding of bad faith, abuse of power, or tortious conduct. At appeal (2009 BCCA 23), Justice Low and Chief Justice Finch upheld this ruling, holding that violations of Charter rights can themselves allow Entering law school is a serious step these people will work alongside you, and damages. Justice Saunder dissented and in one’s life. We all come from different others will naturally be your opponents. would not have awarded damages unless backgrounds and have used different skills, Everyone around you has come from a the police were acting in bad faith: an hon- techniques, and habits to get here today. The different upbringing, and brings their own est mistake on the part of the police should issue now is determining how to get through unique set of knowledge and skills to the not have led to an award of damages. the next three years. Like most important table. Section 24 of the Charter is used to things in life, this experience can be analo- Some of you have reached this remedy Charter breaches. It is available gized to a board game. point by being the subtle submarine, where there is some government action I chose Battleship, frankly because gliding through their past lives under the that infringes a person’s Charter rights. of the puns. radar, never being the center of attention The remedy itself must be an effective First year law is a lot like Battle- but always effi cient at staying on target. promotion of the purpose of the infringed ship. You are faced with a large, imposing Others are the cruisers – middle of the right. The range of possible remedies is playing fi eld, with a variety of others in the limited only by the language of s. 24(1) same boat as you are. As you play, some of See Battleship page 5 Cameron Ward, www.cameronard.com itself; where a right is infringed, a court chased him down, and handcuffed him. Mr. of competent jurisdiction may grant “such Ward vociferously protested this treatment remedy as the court considers appropriate The Deep End of the Pool and drew the attention of TV crews. and just in the circumstances”. In the past, By Gord Behan and Eric Gauf The police arrested Mr. Ward for remedies have included: the dismissal of breach of the peace and took him to the charges, the quashing of a search warrant, Vancouver jail. Once there, the police had an order requiring the return of improperly him strip down to his underwear as part seized goods, and even an order requiring of a strip searchand imprisoned him for a the government to provided state-funded few hours. He was released once the police counsel to those with low incomes. An realized they had no evidence with which award of damages under s. 24(1) is not to charge Mr. Ward for an attempted as- unheard of, but neither is it common; prior sault via pastry of the Prime Minister. His to Ward s. 24(1) did not allow compensa- car was also impounded while the police tion for harm caused by government agents attempted to fi nd grounds for a search who acted in good faith and under “the warrant. colour of right” of a statute later found to Mr. Ward sued the City, the Province, be unconstitutional. and the individual offi cers involved in his See Strip Search page 3 Eric: While the LSLAP ex- This year, the Legal Eye will be running ecutive does a great job of promoting the “The Deep End of the Pool” in each issue, program through the fi rst weeks of school, In This Issue a column aimed at the 1L Class of 2013. in my experience last year the fi rst few Illegal Strip Search 1, 3 This issue, the focus is on the Law Students LSLAP clinics can feel like a sink-or-swim 1L Will Sink You Battleship 1, 5 Legal Advice Program (LSLAP), and we’ll drop into the deep end of the pool. The LSLAP: Deep End of the Pool 1, 2,3 be moving through the 1L assignments and goal this month is to pass along a few tips Pro Bono Students Canada 2,3 exams as the year progresses. Each column and give a bit of insight into the work of a How to Survive Interview Week 4 will feature multiple voices on the issue at clinician. Then again, this may be the fi rst Star Wars Kid Redux 4 hand, as everyone has a unique perspective you’ve heard of the program, so I’ll let Gord Career Connections 6 on 1L. For September, we’re looking at the introduce things. A Resonable Person 6 LSLAP experience through the eyes of Eric Remember Last Year? 7 Gauf, the “host” voice for the column, and Gord: LSLAP plays an impor- Calender 8 Gord Behan, LSLAP Summer Clinician and tant role in fi lling a gap in legal aid services generally excellent human being. See LSLAP page 2 From LSLAP page 1 talk, and you realize that you really are this in the Vancouver area, and it survives on person’s last chance for help. As Gord says, UBC Pro Bono Students Club: your participation. As a volunteer (“clini- learning to manage your client’s storytell- cian”), you will be dealing with clients who ing is a key skill. Also important is learning An Introduction to read between the lines to sort out what have unsuccessfully sought help elsewhere. By Sara Hopkins, 2L You will be their last resort, and without actually happened, as the client will natu- dered (LGBT) Canadians, immigrants and rally retell events to portray themselves in your contribution, these clients generally As every UBC Law student knows refugees, low-income Canadians, seniors, the best possible light. This is a very human have nowhere else to go for legal advice. – and as every 1L is about to fi nd out – there women, youth and others. thing to do, but it doesn’t necessarily give Embrace this and contribute enthusiasti- are a million demands on your time while Through our program, PBSC law stu- you the details you need to help your client. cally. studying law. So why should you give some dent volunteers are given an opportunity to You will also have to learn how to say no to Participation in LSLAP will provide of your time, energy and skill to Pro Bono enhance their legal skills by providing free clients, sad as it can be, because as students practical experience. As an LSLAP clini- Students Canada? legal services to individuals and communi- the kinds of situations we can help with are cian, you will be acting as an independent Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) ties in need in Canada. Our volunteers are limited. You cannot be a hero, but you will general practitioner, albeit within a limited is a national, student-driven organiza- valued for their genuine passion for public help people who need it. scope and under the tutelage of the super- tion that provides legal services without interest work, and their commitment to Your biggest advantage over your vising lawyer, Brian Higgins. Your clients charge to organizations and individuals increasing access to justice in our local client isn’t access to Brian, it’s that by will run the gamut from tinfoil-hat crazy in need. Students lead our organization, community. being in law school you’ve proven you to entirely rational, with the distribution which means that students decide how their At UBC, our students have engaged in can jump through the hoops of reading being skewed toward the former. Do not be actions affect the community. As PBSC a variety of projects including researching comprehension and problem solving: alarmed. This is an opportunity to develop coordinators, Alison Hamer and I match pending legislation, legal issues or current use those skills. The LSLAP manual is a excellent client management and people law student volunteers with community policy questions; pro-actively monitoring valuable resource, but don’t overlook the skills.