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2018 Bi-Monthly Update Series: March/April

May 4, 2018 Clicklaw Editor New on Clicklaw, The broader context

To keep you informed, here are some highlights of changes and updates made to Clicklaw in March and April:

New extended hours for Kamloops, Nanaimo, New Westminster locations: Monday to Friday, from 8:30-12:00 pm, 12:30-4:00 pm.

The Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch (CBA BC)

Many Dial-A-Law scripts have been updated. For a complete list of these resources, see their listings here (sorted by “last reviewed date”). Some of the updated scripts are:

Disability Alliance BC

The following resources have been updated:

CPP Disability Information & Assistance series
Advocacy Access Help Sheet series (sorted by “last reviewed date”)
CPP-D Benefits Checklist

The help sheets and videos from the series “How I Need to Know” are now available on Clicklaw. The publications provide information for people with disabilities who are victims of crime. See the listings here (sorted in alphabetical order).

Legal Services Society

New and updated publications:

The Child Protection Process (flowchart) – updated flowchart.
Parents’ Rights, Kids’ Rights: A Parent’s Guide to Child Protection Law in BC
Updated booklet explaining what happens if the Director of Child Welfare has concerns about a child’s safety or plans to remove them.
Your Welfare Rights: Welfare Benefits
The second booklet in the new series Your Welfare Rights. Describes monthly welfare benefits and supplements and how to get them.
Plain language booklets helping an accused person represent themselves in a criminal matter. Revised design and content in each.
If You Can’t Get Legal Aid for Your Criminal Trial: How to Make A Rowbotham Application – updated English version only.
If You Can’t Get Legal Aid for Your Child Protection Case – updated English version only.
Gladue Report Guide
New plain language guide for Gladue report writers.
A Guide to Aboriginal Harvesting Rights
Updated plain language booklet about Aboriginal harvesting rights.
Income Assistance on Reserve Insert (New Rates Update)
This new insert is now added to the booklet Income Assistance on Reserve.

New languages other than English are now available for the following publications:

For Your Protection
Sponsorship Breakdown
Is That Legal? What the Law Says About Online Harassment and Abuse – co-published with West Coast LEAF
Need Help with Your Refugee Claim?
Working with Your Legal Aid Lawyer

Parents Legal Centre

The Parents Legal Centre (PLC) provides a lawyer and an advocate to help parents in select locations settle their child protection matters early on and collaboratively (everyone works together). Locations: Surrey and Vancouver.

Nidus

Enduring Power of Attorney Fact Sheet
Updated with content based on questions from public and professionals, e.g. the difference between EPA & PoA, how do I know if I have an EPA?
Power of Attorney or Enduring Power of Attorney?
Updated with an upfront focus on wording to check for if someone has an Enduring Power of Attorney.
Dying Without a Will
New fact sheet explaining who has the legal authority to settle an estate and gives examples of how an estate must be distributed if there is no will.

Pivot Legal Society

One of our new contributor organizations have made their resources available on Clicklaw:

Rights cards, fact sheets, and a toolkit on issues affecting society’s most marginalized, for example:
Position papers and backgrounders, for example:

Is That Legal? (CyberMisogyny Legal Guide)
by West Coast LEAF

Understanding Canadian law on issues of online harassment, exploitation, & abuse. Now available in Arabic, Chinese (simplified & traditional), Punjabi, and Spanish. Co-published with Legal Services Society.

Strata Property Law—Phase Two
by British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI)

This project is intended to make recommendations to reform the Strata Property Act, in seven identified areas, to help in the development of the next generation of strata-property law in British Columbia.

Environmental Law Centre UVic

Their work on legal issues affecting the environment in BC have been recently added to Clicklaw. See the full listings here and some of their most recent reports below.

Landlord Registry™
by LandlordBC

A program for landlords & building/property managers in BC. For $39 plus tax, enrollees receive access to the e-learning tool I Rent It Right™ and a 3 year access to the online tool kit. This program provides them with fundamental education & best practises in regard to the Residential Tenancy Act.

Property Assessment Appeal Board – Online Dispute Resolution
by the Property Assessment Appeal Board of BC

This new service is available for you to appeal the property assessment of your residential properties. It allows you to have the option to resolve your appeal completely online.

An Evaluation of the Cost of Family Law Disputes: Measuring the Cost Implication of Various Dispute Resolution Methods
by the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family

This study describes the results of a survey of family law lawyers and their views of the use of collaborative processes, mediation, arbitration and litigation in family law disputes.

Stay informed:

Have your say on governance issues for strata corporations

March 20, 2018 Clicklaw Editor Community posts

by Kevin Zakreski, staff lawyer, BCLI

The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) is asking you for your views on proposals to change the law governing B.C.’s strata corporations. With its Consultation Paper on Governance Issues for Stratas, BCLI has made 83 tentative recommendations to reform the Strata Property Act, the Strata Property Regulation, and the standard bylaws applicable to strata corporations. You can comment on these tentative recommendations until 15 June 2018.

About strata-corporation governance

Governance is the method or system of an organization’s management. Good governance helps an organization to make timely, effective, and enforceable decisions. Laws on governance are intended to foster these goals.

The popular conception of decision-making in property law emphasizes the sovereignty of individual owners. It’s reflected in the saying, “my home, my castle.” This does not work for strata properties. Giving every owner a veto over every decision would make it next to impossible for the collective to manage common property and to ensure harmonious living.

So strata governance has been based on the corporate model. It provides for majority rule on most decisions, with some important, far-reaching decisions calling for greater-than-majority support.

The consultation paper doesn’t take issue with this basic premise of strata governance. But it does propose a significant level of fine-tuning in selected areas, to improve the operation of the law.

An overview of the consultation paper’s tentative recommendations

Highlights from the paper’s proposals include:

relocating 11 bylaws (or parts of a bylaw) from the Schedule of Standard Bylaws to the body of the Strata Property Act, to give stratas certainty that those provisions can’t be amended;
establishing a defined form of proxy appointment for strata-corporation general meetings, to clarify the relationship between the proxy and the person appointing the proxy and help to stamp out abuses of the proxy system;
establishing statutory qualifications for strata-council members, modelled on the qualifications for directors found in the Societies Act, which will set the minimum standards for serving on a strata council;
clarifying the order of agenda items for strata-corporation general meetings, to allow for better meeting procedure; and
creating a special four-year limitation period for claims that may be subject to the strata corporation’s lien under section 116 of the act, which will help stratas in enforcing their claims.

The consultation paper also considered, but declined to endorse, the following proposals:

extending the strata corporation’s lien to cover fines and charge backs;
limiting the number of proxy appointments for a general meeting that one person may hold.

How to have your say

Copies of the consultation paper are available for download at the BCLI website. Also on the BCLI website are links to interactive surveys maintained by BCLI and a response booklet, which may be completed and sent to <strata@bcli.org>. Finally, for those who prefer a more focussed experience, a summary consultation paper featuring three highlighted proposals is also available for download.

About the Strata Property Law Project—Phase Two

Since 2013, BCLI has been at work on the Strata Property Law Project—Phase Two. The goal of the project is to recommend changes to the law necessary to support the next generation of strata-property legislation in British Columbia.

In carrying out the project, BCLI has the benefit of assistance from an expert project committee, with 13 leaders drawn from the ranks of the legal, notarial, real-estate, and strata-management professions, public officials, and owners’ organizations.

The project is supported by nine funding organizations.

Tag: bcli