News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 16th, 2023
Vancouver, BC

The 2ND ANNUAL MOTHERS FOR JUSTICE MEMORIAL WALK was held on Saturday, May 13th at 1PM led by bagpiper to Premier Eby’s constituency office. Overall the event was a success with wonderful coverage from Global News, CTV, CBC, City TV, Hamyaari Media, and others.

Despite our efforts and pressure on Premier David Eby, his office completely ignored the families. All the photos of our wrongfully killed loved ones that we posted on his office were immediately ripped down by his office staff. He didn’t acknowledge the issue, or even our existence.

Media has been redirected to the Attorney General’s office. However, the Attorney General’s office has refused meetings with our Society and all families affected for 3+ years. There is no movement on this issue and the Attorney General’s office is LYING to the media.

With AG Niki Sharma only having been on the job for 4+ months, Eby is using Sharma as his human shield, when in fact as previous AG and now leader of the province, Eby is the one responsible for ensuring these laws are modernized.

Presently human life remains completely worthless only in our province.

For Your Reference Event Speakers Were:

Ann Forry – Daughter, Natasha, killed due to medical negligence after multiple hospital visits failed to diagnose a deadly infection.

Nona Gallagher – Daughter, Erin, called a “little hypochondriac” by medical staff, and later died as a result of undiagnosed benign brain tumour that ruptured. 

Sharon Andersen – Doctorally Prepared Nurse whose same sex-partner, Shirley Lamb, was stealth euthanized.

Beatrice Pereira – Mother, Theresa, killed as a result of medical negligence when a resident doctor injected lidocaine into her brain.

Rita McDonnell – Father, Gary Davis, neglected in extended senior care resulting in bed sores, a double leg amputation from the bed sore, and later died.

Mahshid & Ammar Sedghi – Brother, Amir, killed in a plane crash in Northern BC while working with the BC government to help prevent forest fires.

Legislative Background

Premier Eby, the former Attorney-General and now Premier, is the politician responsible for the current antiquated Family Compensation Act. The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society, comprised of a volunteer group of families with support from law students and advisement from the brightest minds in the legal community, has drafted the Wrongful Death Accountability Act to replace and modernize BC’s current wrongful death laws.

BC is still the last province in Canada and one of the last remaining jurisdictions in the developed world yet to modernize its 177-year-old wrongful death laws. For example, Ontario modernized in 1990 (33 years ago) and even the Yukon modernized in 2014 (9 years ago).

Currently, only breadwinners with young dependent children have worth under the law when they are wrongfully killed. Everyone else, especially vulnerable groups such as children, seniors, and the disabled, have no worth under the law when they are killed by the negligent, careless, incompetent, or even intentional actions of another. No worth under the law means no damage amount is available to pursue in the civil courts, which would otherwise allow the surviving family members to obtain justice and hold wrongdoers accountable. Accordingly, families are also prevented from ensuring the same wrong does not happen to another.

Premier Eby continues to refuse to meet with the families behind The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society. The Attorney General’s office has not provided any communication to our Society or the families in over 2 years, and legislative reform presently remains at a standstill.

Event Blog Post & Media Kit

Sincerely,

Michael-James Pennie, President

The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society

Press Contacts

For all media inquiries, please send us a message via our contact form.

Ann Forry – Mothers for Justice Memorial Walk Organizer

Michael-James Pennie – The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society President

Don Renaud – Legal Advisor to the Society and Expert on Wrongful Death

Faith Hayman – Legal Advisor to the Society and Expert on Wrongful Death

About the BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society

‘In Their Name’ is the campaign of ‘The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society’ – a BC registered non-profit organization comprised of volunteer families who have lost a loved one to wrongful death in BC and were denied access to justice. In response to the biggest human rights issue facing the province today, our goal is to modernize British Columbia’s antiquated wrongful death legislation, which predates confederation (1846). Under current legislation, the value of a human life is measured only by the deceased’s future lost income, so long as they had dependents.

As a result of the province’s antiquated law, access to justice has been denied to the families of the wrongfully killed who do not meet this discriminatory criteria. This has affected especially vulnerable groups, namely children, seniors, the disabled, and anyone without dependents when they are killed by the negligent or intentional acts of another.

BC is presently the last of all the provinces, yet to have undertaken this critical legislative modernization to allow for dignity, value, and protections for all its citizens under the law.

When it’s ‘free’ to kill in BC, wrongdoers are not held accountable. This lack of general deterrence holds the province back in terms of incentivizing innovation of safety measures and protocols to prevent wrongful deaths in the first place.

Here’s How You Can Get Involved…

The Premier of British Columbia, David Eby, is responsible for the modernization of BC’s wrongful death laws. Our Society provided David Eby with the drafted ‘Wrongful Death Accountability Act’ when he was acting as the Attorney General for British Columbia for 6 years between 2017-2022. The new Attorney General, Niki Sharma, also shares responsibility as she is the Minister responsible for the ‘Family Compensation Act’ – the current guiding piece of legislation that the civil courts must follow in cases of wrongful death. Minister Sharma receives feedback from the regional ‘Members of the Legislative Assembly’ (MLAs) and follows orders from the Premier, David Eby, who is ultimately responsible for modernization.

Reform is presently at a standstill, as the BC NDP government does not presently view access to justice for the surviving family members of the wrongfully killed as a priority in this province. This is despite the fact that the families behind our Society have been fighting for modernization for over two decades. And despite the fact that all other provinces, including the Yukon, have already modernized in most cases long ago.

The only way to move this forward is by creating massive public awareness and outcry for legislative modernization. Only under the scrutiny of the public and the media will our politicians be forced to take this necessary, and long overdue action.

How many more people will need to die from the same preventable wrongful actions before our politicians will do their job?

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