An interesting development is taking place in British Columbia. The Canadian Society For The Advancement Of Science In Public Policy (CSASPP) had a weeklong hearing to determine — among other issues — if their class action would be certified. This took place all week, and was to challenge the various dictates of BCPHO Bonnie Henry, and her political handlers.
For their part, the Defense is attempting to get the case struck (thrown out) at least in part. They’ve alleged that it does not disclose a reasonable cause of action, among other things.
This isn’t the trial, to be clear. It’s a series of procedural issues in order to get to trial. The decision is reserved, and expected in the new year.
If certification is successful, the class action trial would begin in April 2023.
A few questions to be determined here:
- Should the claim be certified as a class action?
- Can additional Plaintiffs be added to the original claim?
- Should the claim be struck, in all or in part?
As per an earlier ruling, the proceedings for certification could be posted online.
The videos (for December 12th to 15th) are now available here:
https://www.covidconstitutionalchallengebc.ca/hearing-videos
The December 16th video should be up soon.
Surprisingly, there was real contention at the beginning as to what kind of site should be hosting the videos. While YouTube was suggested, there were concerns that the Terms Of Service would make it too easy to redistribute. Ultimately, they ended up on Vimeo.
However, please do take heed of the warning. Although the hearings are being made public, the usual rules against redistribution and rebroadcasting still apply. Screenshotting, and otherwise generating new copies would breach the order. We more of this type of content available, not less.
This is a recording of judicial proceedings which may not be further broadcast, rebroadcast, transmitted, reproduced, communicated to the public by telecommunication, or otherwise made available in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, or stored in whole or in part in any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written authorization of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Any unauthorized use of this recording in breach of the Order of the Supreme Court of British Columbia shall expose the person doing so to legal proceedings for contempt of court.
For the purposes of this pretrial application, the facts alleged in the plaintiff’s Amended Notice of Civil Claim are assumed to be true for the sake of argument. If this matter proceeds to trial, those allegations will be contested and may in the end be found to be false.
It’s worth noting that Action4Canada got an honourable mention on December 14th. The section is from 2h:18m:34s until 2h:19m:20s. The stellar work of their legal experts needed to be showcased.
The CSASPP provides a page for their status updates, which is in reverse chronological order. If the court documents themselves are a bit overwhelming, this will provide a “Coles Notes” version.
Below are a significant portion of those documents. It’s not exhaustive, but should provide readers with much needed background information. These can be saved or duplicated at will.
DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE FROM CASE
(A) CSASPP 20210126 Notice of Civil Claim
(B) CSASPP 20210321 Request for Assignment of Judge
(C) CSASPP 20210331 Response to Civil Claim
(D) CSASPP 20210531 Cease and Desist Letter to Regulators
(E) CSASPP 20210621 CSASPPs Case Plan Proposal
(F) CSASPP 20210621 Dr Bonnie Henrys availability requested
(G) CSASPP 20210731 Defendants Case Plan Proposal
(H) CSASPP 20210813 Requisition for JMC for 1 October 2021
(I) CSASPP 20210817 Demand for Particulars
(J) CSASPP 20210821 Plaintiffs Response to Demand for Particulars
(K) CSASPP 20210913 Oral Reasons for Judgment Short Leave Application Seeking Stay
(L) CSASPP 20210915 Amended Notice of Civil Claim
(M) CSASPP 20211025 Affidavit No 2 of CSASPP Executive Director
(N) CSASPP 20211028 Proceedings in Chambers Defendants Application for Further Particulars
(O) CSASPP 20221101 Affidavit No 3 of Redacted Deponent Redacted
(P) CSASPP 20221102 Dr Henry and HMTKs Application Response for Webcast Application
(Q) CSASPP 20221115 Respondents Requisition Seeking 16 Nov 2022 CPC to Be Held by MS Teams
(1) https://justice.gov.bc.ca/cso/index.do
(2) https://www.covidconstitutionalchallengebc.ca/court-documents
(3) https://www.covidconstitutionalchallengebc.ca/status-updates
(4) https://www.covidconstitutionalchallengebc.ca/faq
(5) https://www.covidconstitutionalchallengebc.ca/transparency
(6) https://www.covidconstitutionalchallengebc.ca/hearing-videos
(7) https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2022/2022bcsc2108/2022bcsc2108.html