By Mental Health Advocate Christina Pontikis The terms mental health and mental illness are often used interchangeably. And, while the societal stigma attached to mental illness appears to be declining, the concept of maintaining one’s...

By Staff Lawyer Daniel Soiseth On May 6, 2013, the BC Human Rights Tribunal released a significant decision on a reconsideration of a human rights complaint made by a paramedic, Peter Cassidy, against his employer, BC Ambulance Service...

In the lead up to the provincial election on May 14th, CLAS has some suggested social justice-related questions for you to ask your local candidates in order to highlight these important issues: Questions on poverty reduction in BC The...

By Jess Hadley, staff lawyer Today CLAS and 5 other tenants' rights groups publicly released a joint report: BC's Residential Tenancy System: 13 recommendations for change .  We announced the release at the site of Kwantlen Park Manor,...

If you're interested in finding out more about the kind of work we do here at CLAS, or if you just want to know what we've been up to in the last few months, please check out our spring 2013 newsletter . In it you'll find descriptions of some...

CLAS is pleased to be hiring an articling student for 2014/15! This is an exciting opportunity for law students interested in a social justice focus. The deadline for applying is  June 28, 2013 at 4:00 pm PST . All information required to...

CLAS, First Call , and West Coast LEAF are calling on all four political party leaders to commit to amending BC’s income assistance legislation so that it better supports some of the province’s most vulnerable children....

By staff lawyer Jess Hadley In March 2011, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal dismissed a complaint that alleged the Canadian government had discriminated against on-reserve First Nations children by underfunding their child welfare...

Bill C-54, recently introduced by the Conservative Government, proposes significant changes to the mental disorder provisions of the Criminal Code . This proposed legislation is presently before the House of Commons for second reading....

By staff lawyer Jess Hadley This week CLAS lawyer Kaity Cooper obtained intervener status for the TRAC Tenants Resource & Advisory Centre in an important tenancy case at the BC Court of Appeal.  The Court also granted intervener...

The BC Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that the Victoria Times Colonist 10k (“TC10K”) race organizer’s failure to accommodate a blind runner amounts to discrimination. Graeme McCreath, a committed athlete, runs with a...

The following is an excerpt from our 2013 Winter Newsletter . Please check out what else we've been up to in the past few months.   The whole person: part one of a two part series on BC’s mental health system By...

By staff lawyers Jess Hadley and Kendra Milne We read with interest Kathy Tomlinson’s January 21 st CBC Go Public story, “ Landlords 'powerless' as tenants get free ride ” , which investigates one family of tenants who...

By Jess Hadley, staff lawyer We have just received Madam Justice Bruce's reasons in Rutherfoord v. Neighbourhood Housing Society .  This judicial review successfully challenged a Residential Tenancy Branch decision that failed to deal...

By David Mossop, Q.C. CLAS recently successfully represented an elderly woman with mobility issues in her fight against her landlord to be allowed accommodated access to her building. Joyce Stewart is 68 years old and suffers from severe...

By Staff Lawyer Kevin Love The federal government recently announced plans to reform the mental disorder provisions of the Criminal Code . Media coverage suggests that the changes will increase the amount of time certain individuals can be...

By CLAS Staff Lawyer Frances Kelly (Adapted from her paper prepared for CLEBC Human Rights Conference 2012)   Introduction  On November 9, 2012, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”)...

By staff lawyer Daniel Soiseth CLAS recently represented a pharmacist who was formerly employed by Thrifty Foods. In its decision , the BC Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Thrifty discriminated against our client in two distinct ways. First,...

By staff lawyer Frances Kelly Today the Supreme Court of Canada released a landmark decision that held that severe learning disabled students are entitled to the same access to education as students without disabilities. The court also ruled...

By Lindsay Waddell, CLAS staff lawyer In a unanimous decision this morning, the B.C. Court of Appeal allowed our appeal on behalf of our client N.M. and affirmed that sexual harassment is de facto sex discrimination contrary to...

By Jess Hadley, CLAS staff lawyer My colleague Kevin Love and I are thrilled to report that the Supreme Court of Canada has just denied the WCB’s application for leave to appeal in this this landmark administrative law...

By Jess Hadley, CLAS staff lawyer Yesterday, the BC government released Part One of its White Paper on Justice Reform .   This document focuses mostly on management-level reforms (e.g. the need for better planning, consultation,...

CLAS is representing Graeme McCreath in his legal fight to be accommodated in the Times Colonist 10K run. Graeme, an athlete, is blind and runs with a guide. The run organizer’s rule is that people start with the masses at their estimated...

(Attorney General) v. Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society, 2012 SCC 45 By Kaity Cooper, Poverty Law Services Lawyer This past January, CLAS appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada as an intervener in...

Adequate reasons are important for confidence in the justice system By Kendra Milne, CLAS staff lawyer Over the past few years, CLAS lawyers and others have successfully built a body of case law highlighting the necessity of fulsome...

CLAS is pleased to announce the start of a year-long Residential Tenancy Administrative Justice Project, funded by the Law Foundation of BC.  Over the past several years we (and other poverty advocates across BC) have observed...

In May of this year, Bill 23, the Finance Statutes Amendment Act , 2012 , received royal assent. Within that Act, there are numerous amendments to the Cooperative Association Act (the “ CAA ”). While the amendments are not yet...

In Eadie and Thomas v. Riverbend Bed and Breakfast , 2012 BCHRT 247 , the BC Human Rights Tribunal found that the owners of a Grand Forks B&B had discriminated contrary to the Human Rights Code by declining to rent a room to two gay...

M.J. v. British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Board), 2012 BCCA 174 by Robin Elliot, Q.C. In this landmark administrative law case, CLAS lawyers Kevin Love and Jess Hadley have successfully challenged a controversial...

Bill 44 - Why we really don’t need another new tribunal by Jess Hadley, staff lawyer Last week the government introduced a bill that would create a new “Civil Resolution Tribunal" with the power to...