To all the Fathers out there who have lost a child to wrongful death, and to all the children out there who have lost a Father to wrongful death, or anyone for that matter, who has lost a loved one, our thoughts are with you today.
Under BC’s 174-year old wrongful death legislation, unlike all the other provinces, your loved one may have not had “monetary” value at the time they were killed.
You may not have had access to justice, been able to hold the wrongdoer accountable,or were able to ensure it never happened to another, but just know that the fight is not over.
The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society is being lead by a team of serious lean mean tough-as-nails people who will never let the memories of our fallen loved ones be lost without a change in legislated accountability happening in this province.
Big things are happening right now with our Society. We’ve added 6 new volunteer members to our team in the past month, each with highly specialized performance-based roles. Very motivated, university educated, high achievers from across the country, selected from over 100 applicants.
We’re using state-of-the-art marketing technology.
We’re actively fundraising.
We’re a team of pitbulls and we’ve got our jaws locked on the ankles of the politicians and we’re not letting go…
…Until they act, or until we draw blood, and perhaps a bit of both (preferably).
The writer of this post will be attending his Father’s grave this morning, and you will all be there with me in spirit.
Look forward to continuing this journey with you all until we get the job done.
Sincerely,
Michael-James Pennie
President – BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society https://intheirname.ca
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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?
#1 Kindly consider supporting the public awareness advertising efforts of our volunteer led Society by Donating Now »
‘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.