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Live Event – ‘A Call to Action’ – An Evening With Ann Forry & The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society

Join us for a Live Zoom Call on Jan 13, 2021 07:00 PM

As recently covered on CBC, CTV, Global News, CKNW and more, join Ann Forry, the mother of Natasha Forry, whose tragic and preventable death has shaken the entire community to the core and touched British Columbians from across the province. Ann will share her experience of losing Natasha, and how she was confronted afterward with the shocking reality that Natasha’s life had no “value” under British Columbia’s colonial era wrongful death laws from 1846. No “value” has meant no access to justice, no ability to hold the wrongdoers accountable, to right the wrong, and ensure it doesn’t happen to another. Ann was further outraged to learn that all other provinces in Canada, including the Yukon, have long since modernized and that the families behind the BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society have been fighting with the provincial government on this issue for over two decades.

Other speakers include:

Parmis Ghodsi – one of Natasha’s best friends from childhood and recently featured in the CBC coverage of the story.

Catherine Adamson – author of “Heidi Dawn Klompas: Missed Opportunities” and Co-founder, Past President and now Vice President of the BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society, who lost her daughter Heidi to a preventable wrongful death in 1997.

Don Renaud – Senior Trial Medical Malpractice Lawyer, Co-founder and current board member of the BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society.

Michael-James Pennie – Current President of the BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society, after having volunteered for the Society for the past 5 years following the severe neglect of his father at an extended care facility.

Join us live on the Zoom call for a proactive evening of information sharing and a ‘Call to Action’ to hold our local elected Members of the Legislative Assembly accountable to the public.

Register Here

Look forward to seeing you!


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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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