Defending yourself—not worth the risk

Photo courtesy of kylebaker

We all know someone who has defended themselves in court—our own Langara media law instructor has done it, but there are risks to going to court by yourself.

Vancouver labour lawyer Dan Rogers said there are more people defending themselves than ever before.

"Lay litigants (people without lawyers) are increasing because of a) the cost. Totally understandable. People want access to justice and can't afford it—something wrong with that picture—and b) a lot of it has to do with the long term downsizing of Legal Aid and increasing of costs attached to the Courts.

Burnaby family law lawyer Mark Rozenberg disagrees that it is because of Legal Aid cutbacks. For family law cases, he says, it has been at least 12 years since aid has been available.

Since that time Legal Aid has only been available for extreme cases where violence is involved or some other extenuating circumstance that is very severe.

He attributes the increase mainly to the cost of hiring a lawyer and people just thinking they can defend themselves without help. Some people, he says, will hire a lawyer for an hour or so to do the paperwork and then go into court without legal assistance.

Rozenberg said the problem with not having a lawyer is "many don't understand what is going on. They may not know the procedures."

Rogers said that some lay litigants do just fine, but many are lost. Both men agree the  irony is that people without lawyers often slow the process down because judges have to stop proceedings to help them through the process and they because people without a legal background will litigate issues that a good lawyer could resolve. 

Rogers said, there are resources to help people understand the court system,  but there really is no substitute for a good experienced lawyer.

Resources if you defend yourself: 

The Canadian Bar Association - a step-by-step guide to what you need to know if you do decide to go to court on your own. 

Canadian Judicial Council - another guide to what you need to know if you are thinking of defending yourself and not hiring a lawyer.

The other side

Not everyone agrees that it is risky to defend yourself. Here is a site dedicated to helping people fight the law on their own.

The U.S.

The Gideon ruling of 1963 says that everyone has the right to a lawyer even if the person can not afford one. Is that right being honoured? This article looks at the legal situation for the poor in America.


Have you defended yourself in court? Let me know your story thuncher@shaw.ca

Question and answer with NDP candidate Janet Routledge

Photo courtesy of Janet Routledge

As we lead up to the provincial election, I will feature different points of view from each of the political parties. Janet Routledge is the Burnaby North NDP candidate.

1.What issue do you think is most important to your constituents?

Since I was nominated as the NDP candidate in Burnaby North I have knocked on the doors of more than 10,000 voters and had conversations about the issues that concern them most.

One frequently mentioned issue is the high cost of post-secondary education. I met a recent graduate who is working at three minimum wage jobs to pay off her student loan. I met a family who sold their house so they could afford to send their son to college. I met a senior who is only able to stay in his own home because his granddaughter moved in with him – so she could afford to go to SFU. I have also met leaders in emerging high tech industries who can't find enough locally-trained employees and must advertise outside B.C.

2. What would you and the NDP do differently if elected?

Adrian Dix and the NDP are making post-secondary education and skills-training a top priority. For example, once elected we will re-instate a tax on banks and earmark $100 million of the revenues for non-refundable, needs-based  student grants. We have made a commitment to tell the voters what we will do and how we are going to pay for it.

3. Many people are concerned about the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, what is your position on it?

 Like many of the people in Burnaby north, I am concerned about the potential environmental impact of a pipeline expansion and the risks associated with significantly increased tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet.

The B.C. NDP is publicly opposed to the Enbridge pipeline. Many of the concerns we have about the Enbridge pipeline also concern us about a Kinder Morgan expansion.

 Adrian Dix has already announced that, within a week of being elected, an NDP government will revoke the equivalency agreement that surrendered jurisdiction over the environment assessment of the pipelines to the federal government of Stephen Harper.

 Kinder Morgan has yet to make a formal application to expand its pipeline. Should such an application be made to an NDP government, it will be subjected to a rigorous made-in-B.C. environmental assessment process.

I welcome any of the candidates to contact me and I will present your point of view as well.  thuncher@shaw.ca

Burnaby fitness trainer gives top ten tips for toning teens

Debbie Jessen is a Burnaby fitness trainer and mom of two teen boys. She shares her tips on getting children of all ages into exercise.

1. Make exercise fun: 

• Put on some music and have a "so you think you can dance" contest. 
• Create a fitness circuit (push ups, sit ups, burpees, jumping jacks, etc) and make them do each station for 30 seconds to one minute.
• Find some stairs (or a hill) and see how many times you can go up and down  in a timed period.
• Make a walk into a scavenger hunt.
• Get a couple of pedometers and compare how many steps you take everyday.

2. Make exercise a family affair - put aside some time each day to exercise together. Children—and even teens—are more likely to get involved in activities when their parents participate with them.

3. Try new activities such as indoor rock climbing, yoga, kayaking or stand up paddle board.

4. Book a fitness play date for your children with some of their friends.

• Take them to the local  swimming pool or skating rink
• Take them to a local park with a basketball, soccer ball or frisbee.

5. Check out the drop-in activities schedule at your local recreation centre; they usually have programs for all ages.

6. Limit screen time.

• Try to keep it under two hours per day (TV, computer and personal gaming devices).
• Make them take an activity break every 20 minutes. 
• Schedule timed activity for every minute that they have screen time - for example, 20 minutes of screen time equals 10 minutes of physical activity.

7. Book an appointment to have your teen shown how to properly use the equipment in the weight room. Many gyms allow teens as young as 14 years old to use the weight room.

8. Encourage them to join sports clubs at school.

9. Educate yourself and your children about healthy nutrition by focussing on the lunches they take to school. 

10. Practise what you preach —if you want them to be healthy and fit, lead the way with your own active lifestyle!

Good-bye to Dolphin Theatre?

If council has its way, the legendary Dolphin Theatre in Burnaby may be closing to make way for a multi-unit rental housing facility for disabled residents.

At Monday night’s meeting, Burnaby council approved a grant to the non-profit Vancouver Resource Society for $95,000 to support the development of 11 units of accessible rental housing on one floor of the proposed complex to be built on the current Dolphin Cinema site.

Coun. Colleen Jordan, who put forward the motion for the grant, said the units in the private development will be rented to people with disabilities and seniors. There will also be a small office to accommodate the around-the-clock nursing needs some of the residents will require.

“There is an obvious need for this type of housing for differently abled citizens,” said Jordan.

She said that Bosa will not receive any profit from the rental housing portion of the development. The project will also include market residential units and retail space.

Mayor Derek Corrigan said that council had “bent the rules” in order to get this project in motion. Jordan said that usually such a project would require certain criteria, such as parking stalls for each unit, but because the units are for disabled people who are unable to drive, the city did not require the plan to include such things.

“This project is rather unique,” said Jordan.

City documents show this project is also the first such project in Burnaby not to be receiving any financial help from the federal or provincial government.

This lack of support for city housing issues was the target of Councillor Nick Volkow’s comments.

“It is important public understand the city is not responsible for housing issues—that is for senior levels of government,” said Volkow. He said the city of Burnaby does everything it can by being “creative” to deal with the lack of housing availability.

Burnaby council, and in particular Corrigan, have been under fire in local media lately for comments Corrigan made regarding the homeless and his refusal to open shelters in the city.

“One of the biggest challenges is when people play politics with people's misery," said Corrigan. He said he believes the media pick up on certain comments and ignore the reality that this council has always worked to provide housing, especially for the disabled and working poor.

He called on senior levels of government to work with the city to provide housing for more of the city’s vulnerable.

“Partnerships with the province and feds are seriously lacking,” said Corrigan.

He believes this project is an example of the council working within its jurisdictional limits to help its citizens.

While housing may be welcomed by needy residents, the closing of another locally owned independent theatre, on the heels of the recent Cineplex Entertainment purchase of Vancouver’s Fifth Avenue Cinemas and the Park Theatre, is sure to cause controversy admitted Jordan.

“Of course we know the closing of the Dolphin will be an issue for some people,” she said, “and it is too bad to lose another independent theatre.” But she said the redevelopment of the space for housing was a positive and necessary step for the area.

“It will be great for the residents, with the park right there, and they can access the stores and shops along the Heights in their wheelchairs,” she said.

Jordan said it will be at least six months before the public consultation and rezoning of the Dolphin site is complete and another year after that before people can move in to the development.

What do you think about this project?

Update: Council passed the project through first reading May 6- public consultation was May 28th. At the open house, many emails were read out against the rezoning of the Dolphin. One email was from the owner of the theatre who said he can not sustain a viable business with the theatre even though he has been given a break on his rent. Mayor Corrigan says he wishes council could force people to go to theatres, thus save Dolphin, but there just isn't the support. Civil Rights Now's P Canue spoke for the rezoning because the new building it will give opportunities for housing for those with disabilities.

Rev. Stephanie Shepard

In an effort to present different members of our community, I interviewed Rev. Stephanie Shepard of St. Timothy Anglican church on Kitchener Street in Burnaby.

1.  Tell us a little about yourself. 

I grew up in the lower mainland, in North Vancouver. From an early age I thought coming to God made me more fully human.  Before starting at St. Timothy's ten years ago, I served at St. Paul’s in the west end of Vancouver.
I am married to a teacher and have two daughters, one in high school.

2. Tell us a bit about your congregation.

When I came to this church the congregation was mostly older people who were well established in this community. They had been here a very long time. Now we have a lot more younger families, we still have the older people, but now there are a lot more young families.
We have about 60-70 people at the church. We also have around 40 children. We seem to have the older and younger segments of the community well covered. What is missing from our congregation is the 40-60 year olds—the boomers. They are really busy and perhaps have memories of Sunday school being boring. They remember being bored in stiff clothes. That isn't what the church is about anymore. We think of it as a time to recharge. Church is what happens out there in the world. All Sunday is, is a gathering.  It is a base camp.

3.  Beyond gathering on Sundays, what does your church do in the community?

Everywhere I go I get into conversations with people. That is what church is too. We also do a lot of pastoral visiting. For the church, helping people is not just a matter of giving out a loaf of bread. It is a continuum of care. 

Some specific examples of what we do—we are the north Burnaby depot for the food bank. We don't just offer people in need food. We also feed people's emotional and spiritual hunger. 

We also have "Free-cycling" where we share resources with each other. Everyone in the congregation goes through their closets and homes and brings in what they want to donate. We set up tables and everyone takes what they need. Whatever is left over at the end we donate to agencies. We support Burnaby Family Life and the Progressive Housing Society among other charities. 

4. What would you like people who don't come to your church to know?

That the church is very engaged in the community and in issues. We care about the environment and social justice. 

Reverend Shepard also spoke to us about the issue of youth and volunteering with the church. The raw video is here.  

Euthanasia in B.C. court

Photo courtesy of KateMcP's

Gloria Taylor’s suffering with ALS ended in October, and for her 85 year-old mother the pain is still fresh. “It is cruel, to make them suffer even more in dying,” said Anne Fomenoff as she fought back tears at the BC Civil Liberties press conference in support of doctor assisted suicide.

Taylor was given an exemption by the Supreme Court, which allowed her to ask a doctor to help her end her life, but euthanasia remains illegal. The BCCLA is in court to try and change the law. The family of Taylor appeared at a press conference Sunday to support the advocacy group’s lawsuit.


“My daughter believed, as do I, that people should be able to make choices as to how much suffering they can endure,” said Fomenoff.


Fromenoff, who has worked in hospice care most of her adult life, said that the worst day of her life was when her daughter called to tell her of her ALS diagnosis.

“It was horrendous,” she said.


ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that progressively shuts down the body to the point the person cannot breathe and dies of respiratory failure.


Taylor ultimately did not exercise her right to choose medical intervention to end her life. She died at home on Oct.4, 2011 of an infection, but her mother says knowing she could choose to end her own life helped Taylor live her final days without fear of further suffering.


“She was the voice for the rights of the seriously ill. We are continuing the struggle for compassion in Gloria’s name.” said Fomenoff.


The BC Court of Appeal will hear arguments in the case until March 8.

For information on those who oppose euthanasia, see the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

What is your opinion on this issue Burnaby residents? I would love your feedback. 

Changes in family law set to shake up divorces in Burnaby

Photo used with the permission of LegalAssistance

Effective March 18, 2013 The Family Law Act will change, possibly reducing the financial and emotional cost for divorcing couples.

One of the major changes is the push for different ways to solve disputes. Now, the courts encourage mediation, but it is left up to couple whether or not to pursue it. With the new statute, the court or one of the couple can impose mediation.

Those involved in the court system admit the current pervasiveness of litigation tends to make conflict increase. Garth Edwards, who has practised family law in Richmond for 27 years, says he sees couples come in to his office confused about what the legal system can offer them.

“Mainly people think they are going to receive ‘justice’ which is of course a movable concept,” said Edwards by written statement “In short, they expect a lot more than they get.”

Mediation is potentially less conflict ridden, often far less expensive and less intimidating than going to court, but how a disgruntled spouse will react to being forced into mediation is still to be seen.

In the new Act, the words custody and access are gone. Guardianship will be the only term to describe caring for the children. Parents will have parental responsibilities. The time a child spends with a parent will be called parenting time. The idea is to put the focus on the children and not who ‘owns’ the children, as the former language seemed to imply.

Change needed

Dean DenommeSime, of Burnaby, welcomes the changes. He divorced his sons' mother in 2000 and says nothing could have prepared him for the emotional and financial toll the three-year divorce and custody battle took. 

“There is inequality and no accountability to the system,” says DenommeSime.

Eventually, DenommeSime won sole custody, but it wasn’t without a heavy toll.  He believes because of the lengthy battle — and the lengths he had to go to to win in court — there are scars. Everyone was impacted, says DenommeSime.

The new Act has yet to be interpreted by a judge so it will be some time before it is clear how these changes will impact divorcing families.

Are you a Burnaby resident with something to share about your divorce experience? I would love to hear about it. Post below or email me at thuncher@shaw.ca